Theodoric

Theodoric, or THEODERIC (455-526 A.D.), sur-named THE GREAT, was the founder of the Ostrogothic monarchy. The history of his reign is given at GOTHS, Vol. V. p. 322. To the Germans he is known as Dietrich von Bern (Bern being the German name for Verona, one of his principal residences), and is one of the great heroes of old Germanic legend, figuring in the second part of the Nibelungenlied. In some of the legends the historical element predominates (his expulsion from Italy and sojourn with Attila and his Huns, &c.); in others he is mixed up with giants, dwarfs, and dragons, so that it seems likely the series comprise, along with tales of the king Theodoric, mythological elements that properly belonged to the god Thor. See Hodgkin, Theodoric (1891).