ALARIC II. (d. 507), eighth king of the Goths in Spain,
succeeded his father Euric or Evaric in 485. His dominions
not only included the whole of
Spain except its north-western
corner, but also Aquitaine and the greater part of Provence.
In religion Alaric was an Arian, but he greatly mitigated
the persecuting policy of his father Euric towards the
Catholics and authorized them to hold in 506 the council of
Agde. He displayed similar wisdom and liberality in
political affairs by appointing a commission to prepare
an abstract of the Roman laws and imperial decrees, which
should form the authoritative code for his Roman subjects.
This is generally known as the Breviarium Alaricianuni,
or Breviary of Alaric (q.v..) Alaric . was of a peaceful
disposition, and endeavoured strictly to main- tain the treaty
which his father had concluded with the Franks, whose king
Clovis, however, desiring to obtain the Gothic province in
Gaul, found a pretext for war in the Arianism of Alaric.
The intervention of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths and
father-in-law of Alaric, proved unavailing. The two armies
met in 507 at the Campus Vogladensis, near Poitiers, where
the Goths were defeated, and their king, who took to flight,
was overtaken and slain, it is said, by Clovis himself.
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed