ALARIC II. (d. 507), eighth king of the
Visigoths 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 Alaricianum,
or [Breviary of Alaric]
?.
Alaric was of a peaceful disposition, and endeavoured strictly to maintain 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.
see History of Spain
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed