ATTILA, fit'ti-IA (Ger. Et, fl; Hung. Ethele, conjectured to have been originally a title of honor). A king of the Huns, the son of Munzuk, a Hun of the royal blood. In A.D. 434 he suc ceeded his uncle, lions, as chief of countless hordes scattered over the north of Asia and Eu rope. His brother, Bleda, or Model, who shared with him the supreme authority over all the Huns, was put to death by Attila in A.D. 444 or 445. The Huns regarded Attila with supersti Cons reverenee; C'h•istendom held him in super stitious dread, as the 'scourge of God.' He was believed to be armed with a supernatural sword, which belonged to the Scythian god of war, and which must win dominion over the whole morld. It is not known when the name 'scourge of God' was first applied to Attila. lie is said to have received it from a hermit in Gaul. The whole race of Huns were regarded in the same light. In an inscription at Aquileia, written a short time before the siege in 452, they are de scribed as imminentia percatorum flagella the threatening scourges of sinners). The Ahead, Ostrogoths, Gepidie, and many of the Franks, fought under his banner, and in a short time his •dominion extended over the people of Germany and Scythia—i.e. from the frontiers of Gaul to those of China. In 447, after an unsuccessful -campaign in Persia and Armenia, he advanced through 111yria, and devastated all the countries between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Those inhabitants who were not destroyed were compelled to follow in his train. The Emperor Theodosius II. collected an army to oppose the inundation of the barbarians, but in three bloody -engagements fortune declared against him. Con stantinople owed its safety solely to its fortifica tions and the ignorance of the enemy in the art of besieging; but Tbraee, Alacedon, and Greece were overrun; seventy flourishing cities were desolated, and Theodosius was compelled to cede a portion of territory south of the Danube, and to pay tribute to the conqueror, after treacher ously attempting to murder him. In 451 Attila turned his course to the west, to invade Gaul, but was here boldly confronted by Afftius, leader of the Romans, and by Theodorie, King of the Visi goths. who compelled him to raise the siege of -Orleans. He then retired to Champagne, and in the wide plain of the Marne—called anciently the Catalaunian Fields—waited to meet the en Iny. Here the army of the West, under Akins and Theodorie, encountered the forces of the Huns. The engagement is known in history as the battle of Chalons. Both armies strove to oh fain the hill of moderate height which rises near 31ury, and commands the field of battle; and after a terrible contest, the ranks of the Romans and their allies, the Visigoths, were broken. Attila now regarded victory as certain, when the Gothic prince, Thorismond, immediately after his father had fallen, assumed the command, and led on the brave Goths, who were burning to avenge the death of Theodorie. Their charge
from the height into the plain was irresistible. On every side the Huns were routed, and Attila with difficulty escaped into his encampment. 'This, if old historians are to be trusted, must have been the most sanguinary battle ever fought in Europe; for it is stated by contemporaries of Attila that not fewer than 25:2,000 or 300,000 slain were left on the field. Attila having retired within his camp of wagons, collected all the shields, saddles, and other baggage into a vast funeral pile, resolving to die in the themes rather than surrender; but by the advice of Ai:tins, the Roman general, the Huns were al lowed to retreat without much further loss, though they were pursued by the Franks as far as the Rhine. (See AiImfa.) In the following year Attila recovered his strength and made an -ether incursion into Italy, devastating Aquileia, Milan, Padua, and other cities, and driving the terrified inhabitants into the Alps, the Apennines, and the lagoons of the Adriatic 'ea. where they founded Venice. The Roman Emperor was help less, and Rome itself was saved from destruc tion only by the personal mediation of Pope Leo 1., who visited the dreaded barbarian, and is said to have subdued his ferocity into awe by the apostolic majesty of his mien. This deliveranee was regarded as a miracle by the affrighted Ro mans: and old chroniclers relate that' the Apos tles. Peter and Paul, visited the camp of Attila and changed his purpose. By 453, however, At tila appears to have forgotten the visit of the two beatified apostles, for he made preparations for another invasion of Italy, but died of hem orrhage on the night of his marriage with the beautiful ildiko (or Hilda). Hie; death spread consternation through the host of the Huns. His followers cut themselves with knives, shaved their heads, and prepared to celebrate the funeral rites of their King. It is said that his body was placed in three coffins, the first of gold, the sec ond of silver, and the third of iron; that the caparison of his horses, with his arms and orna ments. were buried with him; and that all the captives who were employed to make his grave were put to death, so that none might betray the resting-place of the King of the Buns.
Jornandes describes Attila as having the Mon golian characteristics—low stature, a large head, with small, brilliant, deep-seated eyes, and broad shoulders. There can be little doubt that cir cumstances conspired, in the case of Attila, to give a certain largeness to his barbaric concep tions, which made him a most formidable foe to the civilization of Europe. Consult: Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (London, 1854-55) ; and Thierry, llistoire d'Attila (Paris, 1874). See also the article Hulvs.