Circle of Willis
Well-known member
Ostrogothic Italy was an interesting place. After conquering the peninsula from the probably-Scirian warlord Odoacer at the behest of Eastern Emperor Zeno, the Ostrogoths took to Romanitas or 'Roman-ness' like a fish to water: Theodoric the Great and his immediate heirs cultivated close ties to the Pope and Senate despite remaining Arian themselves, sustained the Roman legal system, were famously religiously tolerant toward both Chalcedonian Christians (the majority of their subjects) and Jews, restored Roman architecture, temporarily united with the Iberian-based Visigoths and nominally remained vassals of the Eastern (and by then, only remaining) Roman Empire. This all came to a crashing halt when Theodoric's similarly pro-Roman daughter Amalasuintha was overthrown and murdered by her cousin Theodahad, who had the backing of anti-Roman members of the Ostrogoth military aristocracy, and Justinian took the usurpation as an excuse to invade.
In the end the Eastern Romans prevailed after two decades of bitter fighting, but at the cost of pretty much destroying not just the Ostrogoths but Italy itself. Most of its cities were left ruined, the populace was devastated & impoverished not only by the back-and-forth fighting but by the Plague of Justinian, the original Roman Senate which Theodoric had so carefully tended to and worked with stopped existing altogether not long after the Ostrogoth defeat, and to top it all off the Romans only got to savor their victory for a pitifully short time - the more barbaric Lombards hit Italy's burnt-out husk like a speeding train ~15 years later, quickly ended Byzantine authority there outside of a handful of tenuously connected cities, and further reduced their presence over the course of next century.
So, what if all of the above is averted? For the POD, perhaps Amalasuintha's son (Theodoric's grandson and initial successor) Athalaric has a better upbringing and doesn't drink himself into an early grave, or Amalasuintha herself outmaneuvers Theodahad. Among other questions, the first that come to mind are: how long can the Ostrogoth kingdom survive? Given enough time, could they abandon Arianism in favor of Chalcedonian Christianity and (even more) fully assimilate into the ranks of their subjects, as their Visigothic cousins in Iberia eventually did? And how would Italy surviving as a unified political entity with a non-totally-ruined economy and Roman institutions like the Senate still around affect the later portions of the Middle Ages?
In the end the Eastern Romans prevailed after two decades of bitter fighting, but at the cost of pretty much destroying not just the Ostrogoths but Italy itself. Most of its cities were left ruined, the populace was devastated & impoverished not only by the back-and-forth fighting but by the Plague of Justinian, the original Roman Senate which Theodoric had so carefully tended to and worked with stopped existing altogether not long after the Ostrogoth defeat, and to top it all off the Romans only got to savor their victory for a pitifully short time - the more barbaric Lombards hit Italy's burnt-out husk like a speeding train ~15 years later, quickly ended Byzantine authority there outside of a handful of tenuously connected cities, and further reduced their presence over the course of next century.
So, what if all of the above is averted? For the POD, perhaps Amalasuintha's son (Theodoric's grandson and initial successor) Athalaric has a better upbringing and doesn't drink himself into an early grave, or Amalasuintha herself outmaneuvers Theodahad. Among other questions, the first that come to mind are: how long can the Ostrogoth kingdom survive? Given enough time, could they abandon Arianism in favor of Chalcedonian Christianity and (even more) fully assimilate into the ranks of their subjects, as their Visigothic cousins in Iberia eventually did? And how would Italy surviving as a unified political entity with a non-totally-ruined economy and Roman institutions like the Senate still around affect the later portions of the Middle Ages?