In the first half of the 5th century, one of the Hunnic princes, Attila, having exterminated other leaders, united all the Slavic-Hunnic hordes under his rule. Despite his greed for conquest and prey, this barbarian was gifted with a cunning mind and a strong will. The capital of his kingdom was located in Pannonia, on the banks of the Tissa, and was a vast military camp, built up with wooden houses and clay huts. Those close to Attila sported expensive clothes and horse harness, plundered carpets and silver dishes, and he himself did not like pomp; ate from wooden dishes and ate simple food.
Outwardly, he was a real Hun, but the proud posture and lively penetrating gaze of his small eyes revealed in him the consciousness of his superiority over others. Tradition tells that one Hunnic shepherd once saw a deep wound on the leg of his cow; following the bloody trail, he found the edge of a large, rusty sword protruding from the ground. This sword was probably one of those that the ancient Scythians dedicated to the god of war. The shepherd brought the sword to Attila, he accepted it with great joy and announced that the gods were sending him this sacred sword so that he would conquer the universe.
Not content with the tribute of the subordinate peoples, Attila planned to attack the Western Roman Empire and plunder its rich cities. First, he defeated the northern provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire, imposed a large tribute on the emperor Theodosius II, and demanded that he give up some more lands. Theodosius sent an embassy to Attila in Pannonia to negotiate peace. They say that at the same time he gave a secret order to kill a terrible neighbor, but the king of the Huns, warned of this treachery, repaid him only with contempt.
Among the Byzantine ambassadors was the historian Priscus, who described Attila, his court and capital. Successor of Theodosius II, Emperor Marcian. refused to give the Huns tribute and announced that "he has gold for his friends, and iron for his enemies." The firmness of Marcian and the inability to take Constantinople forced Attila to leave alone the Eastern Roman Empire and turn to the Western. The reason; with the attack served as his claim to the hand of Valentinian III's sister, Honoria, and half of the lands of the Western Empire, as her dowry.
From the Huns, Germans, Danube Slavs and other subordinate peoples, Attila gathered a huge militia, more than half a million soldiers. Devastating everything in his path, he passed Germany and entered Gaul. The peoples in horror called it the Scourge of God; he was proud of this nickname and said that grass should not grow where his horse steps.
Gaul's folk legends tell of various miracles during this invasion. For example, Paris was saved by the prayers of a simple girl, Genevieve. The inhabitants were already preparing to leave it, but the Huns turned away from the city, Attila went further to the banks of the Loire and laid siege to Orleans. The Bishop of Orleans (Saint Anyan) supported the courage of the townspeople with the hope of God's help. Finally, the besieged were driven to extremes: the suburbs were already occupied by the enemy, and the walls of the city were shaking under the blows of rams. Those who could not bear arms prayed fervently in the temples. The bishop has already sent sentries to the tower twice; twice the messengers returned, seeing nothing. For the third time, they announced that a cloud of dust had appeared on the horizon. “This is God's help!” Exclaimed the bishop. Indeed, it was the Roman general and governor of Gaul Aetius, who, in addition to the Roman legions,led with him allies - the Visigoths and the Franks.
Attila retreated to Chalon on the Marne (in Champagne) in the Catalaunian fields, where there was room for cavalry (451). A battle of the nations took place here; the streams that flowed through the valley turned into bloody rivers, and the wounded, who quenched their thirst, immediately died. More than one hundred and fifty thousand people remained in place. (The bitterness of the opponents was so great that, according to popular belief, the souls of the slain fought in the air for three more days.) The art of Aetzius and the courage of the Visigoths prevailed. The Huns locked themselves in their camp; Attila ordered to surround him on all sides with wagons, and in the middle to lay down a huge bonfire from the saddles, on which he decided to burn if the enemy burst into the camp. But he managed to deceive the Romans, he pretended to want to renew the offensive himself: the Huns blew their trumpets, shook their weapons and shouted militantly. “So the lion,pursued by the hunters to their lair, turns around, stops them and terrifies them with a roar”(words of Jordan). The Romans did not dare to attack the camp, especially since the young Visigothic king Thorismund left Aetzius with his retinues, Attila crossed back the Rhine. Thus, the Battle of Catalaun saved Western Christian Europe from the enslavement of the pagan barbarians.
The following year, Attila, with fresh forces, launched an invasion of Italy. He devastated the valley of the Po River and wanted to go to Rome. The faint-hearted Emperor Valentinian III tried to appease Attila and send the Pope (High Priest) Leo I to him as an ambassador with gifts. Attila graciously received the embassy, especially since the hot Italian climate, the abundance of unusual delicacies and wines caused exterminating diseases among the Huns, and his victor, Aetius, managed to get help from the Byzantine emperor Marcian. Attila agreed to a truce and returned to his capital. And here the Scourge of God died suddenly, during his wedding with the German princess Hildegund. Tradition says that Hildegunda avenged him for killing her parents. The king's corpse was enclosed in three coffins, gold, silver and iron. He was buried at night by torchlight in a desolate place; all the slaves who served at the same time were killed so that no one would know where the grave of Attila and the precious booty buried with him were.
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The kingdom of the Huns was divided among the sons of Attila. The subordinate Germanic and West Slavic peoples rebelled and overthrew the rule of the Huns.
