Totila

Totila was elected king by Ostrogothic nobles in autumn 541 after they'd killed two predecessors for trying to surrender to Rome. A grandnephew of Theodoric the Great's sword-bearer, he proved both commander and populist: he freed slaves, gave land to peasants, and beat a larger Roman force at Faventia in 542. By 543 he'd recaptured most of what the Eastern Empire had seized three years earlier. He took Rome from Belisarius in 546 after a yearlong siege and emptied the city, lost it, then retook it in 549 after Belisarius withdrew to Constantinople. By late 550 only Ravenna and four coastal towns remained outside his control. In summer 552, Justinian's general Narses marched 35,000 men down the Adriatic and met Totila near present-day Fabriano. The Gothic army broke at Taginae, and Totila died of his wounds on 1 July. His successor Teia fell months later, and Gothic resistance flickered out over the next decade.