7 Attila 7the Danube, and the tribute payable by them was contin-
ued, although the rate is not known.
Attila’s next great campaign was the invasion of Gaul.
He announced that his objective in the West was the
kingdom of the Visigoths (a Germanic people who had
conquered parts of the two Roman empires) centred on
Tolosa (Toulouse). He also announced that he had no quar-
rel with the Western emperor, Valentinian III. But in the
spring of 450, Honoria, the emperor’s sister, asked Attila
to rescue her from a marriage that had been arranged for
her. Attila thereupon claimed Honoria as his wife and
demanded half the Western Empire as her dowry. He then
invaded Gaul in 451, but was defeated by an alliance
between Aetius, a Roman general, and Theodoric, the
Visigothic king. The decisive engagement was the Battle
of the Catalaunian Plains, although some authorities
would place it at Maurica (both places are unidentified).
After fierce fighting, in which Theodoric was killed, Attila
withdrew and shortly afterward retired from Gaul. This
was his first and only defeat.
In 452 the Huns invaded Italy and sacked several cit-
ies, including Aquileia, Patavium (Padua), Verona, Brixia
(Brescia), Bergomum (Bergamo), and Mediolanum (Milan).
Aetius could do nothing to halt them. But the famine and
pestilence raging in Italy in that year caused the Huns to
leave anyway.
In 453 Attila intended to attack the Eastern Empire,
after the new emperor Marcian had refused to pay the sub-
sidies agreed upon by his predecessor, Theodosius II. But
during the night following the last of his marriages, Attila
died in his sleep. Those who buried him and his treasures
were subsequently put to death by the Huns so that his
grave might never be discovered. He was succeeded by
his sons, who divided his empire among themselves.