Amalasuintha. Massimiliano Vitiello
The virtues of a good ruler that Amalasuintha embodied in her public persona were the ideal result of the model of female education for Roman elite women. Ennodius emphasized them in his eulogy of Barbara, when he praised her simplicity and clarity of speech.44 About sixty years later, Gregory of Tours would attribute similar qualities to Brunhild as wife of Sigibert: “virtuous and well-behaved, wise in her advice and pleasant in her address.”45
The Roman education and lifestyle that Theoderic promoted at his court in Ravenna strongly influenced Amalasuintha’s political activity. Fundamentally pro-Roman herself, Amalasuintha also placed great store in the Roman educational model and chose it for her son. Procopius tells us that she attempted to educate Athalaric as a Roman prince by having him schooled by a grammarian and surrounding him with wise elders. He suggests that the conservative Goths at the palace opposed her plans.46 That she did in fact desire a Roman education for her son seems even more likely when we consider that she gave exactly that kind of education to her daughter, Matasuintha. A fragment of a Cassiodoran panegyric from 537 celebrating Queen Matasuintha suggests her education in the Roman model:
Therefore gather here, O most honorable sisters, in the chambers of the court; come here accompanied by the supreme beauty that can adorn you. First let divine chastity (castitas) train the brow, then rosy modesty (verecundia) color the cheeks, moderate temperance (temperantia) cheer up the look of the bright eyes, gentle pity (pietas) rule over the noble heart, honored wisdom (sapientia) bestow speech to the tongue (sermonem linguae), quiet modesty (modestia) compose god-fearing (religiosos) steps. Such a cortege of deference deserves to have she, who could be discovered the descendant of so many kings.47
The virtues that are emphasized here mirror far more than the model of education eulogized by Ennodius in his pamphlet. They recur in panegyrical literature, but they also accord with those virtues of the Christian model of education that Pelagius, Augustine, and Jerome had recommended a century earlier to the women of the Anician family.48 From Roman circles, the study of grammar and the cultivation of Christian virtues penetrated the palace of Ravenna; here they became part of the culture of those few wealthy Goths who benefited from the privilege of a Romanized education.
While ruling for Athalaric, Amalasuintha not only endeavored to give her children a Roman education, she also guaranteed that the schools of the old capital received support. In late 533 she ensured payments to the Roman teachers, who had not been regularly remunerated. The letter is in Athalaric’s name but, as in other cases, it represents Amalasuintha’s will, and it clearly expresses her thoughts:
Now recently … I came to know by discreet report from various people, that the teachers of eloquence at Rome are not receiving the constituted rewards for their labours, and that the trafficking of certain men has caused the sums assigned to the masters of the schools to be diminished…. For the school of grammar has primacy: it is the fairest foundation of learning, the glorious mother of eloquence…. Grammar is the mistress of words, the embellisher of the human race; through the practice of the noble reading of ancient authors, she helps us, we know, by her counsels…. Therefore, fathers of the Senate, with God’s approval, I enjoin on you this duty, this authority: a succeeding professor in the school of liberal studies, whether the grammarian, the rhetorician, or the teacher of law, shall receive from those responsible, without any diminution, the income of his predecessor…. For, if I bestow my wealth on actors for the pleasure of the people, and men who are not thought so essential are meticulously paid, how much more should payment be made without delay to those through whom good morals are advanced, and the talent of eloquence is nurtured to serve my palace!49
This letter reflects those views about education that Amalasuintha shared with Theoderic. After all, it was Theoderic who had guaranteed these subsidies, and Amalasuintha here followed in the footsteps of her father, who had regularly supported grammatici, oratores, medici, and iurisperiti.50 The enthusiastic tone with which grammatica and rhetorica are exalted is reminiscent of Ennodius’s eulogy of higher education. Amalasuintha had experienced at first hand the importance of grammar and oratory for the palace. The schools of Rome incubated the younger generation, and the most skilled youths educated in Rome and in a few other places would later be summoned to the court to take up the most important appointments in the administration and palatine bureaucracy. Roman education distinguished the kingdom of Italy from the kingdoms of the other peoples, and Theoderic made this a point upon which to claim his supremacy.51
When in late 534 Amalasuintha raised Theodahad to the throne, she did so with another reference to Roman culture, celebrating her cousin for his Platonic virtues and for his knowledge of literature.52 This was not entirely a lie, considering Theodahad’s interest in philosophy; in Cassiodorus’s words, he was nourished at the breast of Rome.53 Such a representation was also in line with Amalasuintha’s wish to commemorate her father as a purple-clad philosopher in late 533: “To the master of the state, you [i.e., Cassiodorus] acted as a household judge, and a private courtier. For, when free from public business, he asked you to recount the opinions of the wise, so that he might compare his own deeds with those of antiquity. The courses of the stars, the gulfs of the sea, the marvels of springs were investigated by this shrewd enquirer, so that, by diligent scrutiny of the natural world, he might seem a kind of purple-clad philosopher (purpuratus philosophus).”54 This image of Theoderic reflected Amalasuintha’s ideals, and perhaps also her wishes for Athalaric; but it was Amalasuintha herself whom Cassiodorus represented as the one whose firmness of mind “surpasses even the most famous philosophers,” because “from her mouth issue words of goodwill, and promises that can be trusted.”55 The Platonic Theodahad would celebrate her as model for the philosophers: “Certainly the philosophers would really learn new things, if they saw [her] and if they would acknowledge how much more inferior are the contents of their books, to the things they could understand [that are] ascribed to her.”56
Returning to the question of Amalasuintha’s youth and education, we should consider the circumstances under which Barbara was summoned to the palace, probably as a mentor, around 510. This choice took place at a troubled moment for the dynasty. Audefleda was probably alive in 506/7, when Ennodius in his panegyric warmly wished that Theoderic would receive a male heir soon, a sacer parvolus who would play on his lap.57 But it seems likely that the queen died shortly afterward. There is no reference to her in the Variae (the earliest of which date to circa 507), and she probably died shortly after 508. This is speculative, because Audefleda’s death is not recorded by any of our authors, and we do not know how she died. We have only the story of Gregory of Tours, who claims that Amalasuintha killed her own mother, but we have no reason to seriously entertain his version (particularly since he claims that all this happened after the death of Theoderic!).58 But what we do know is that in 510 Theoderic was in his late fifties and still without a direct heir. It is reasonable to think that at this point the king, who after he was widowed never remarried, had given up the idea of a son, and that he changed his strategy for a successor.
While Theoderic was searching for the right husband for his daughter, Amalasuintha was at a formative age. At this point Theoderic probably did not have a precise plan about how to regulate his succession. But Amalasuintha was now the best candidate to be the future queen of Italy and to govern over the Romans (especially considering the reservations that Theoderic had about Theodahad, which I discuss later). An education was not just desirable; it was indispensable for Theoderic’s daughter. Barbara belonged to the crème de la crème of the female aristocracy of the old capital, and given her political and cultural connections with the senatorial environment, she was the ideal figure to bring to the palace. Not only was she an exemplary instructor of grammar and of manners (as Ennodius claims), she was also the right person to prepare Amalasuintha for the female world of power, including politics and diplomacy.
Amalasuintha benefited from a much higher level of education than Amalafrida and Amalaberga, whose instruction, as I discuss later, was functional to the queenship and who were trained to offer their husbands wisdom and advice.59 For Amalasuintha, Roman culture had become a necessity for her future role in the government. Indeed, after his Frankish wife died, Theoderic had to rely