Theodoric I

Theodoric ruled the Visigoths from 418, leading a people who had settled in what is now southern France after decades of migration and conflict with Rome. His reign spanned over three decades of consolidation. In June 451, he joined a Roman-led coalition against Attila the Hun's forces at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. The Visigoths held the line, but Theodoric was killed in the fighting — on the 20th or 24th, accounts differ. The battle blunted Attila's westward momentum, and the king became one of the few who can claim they died holding back the Huns.