Ereleuva

Ereleuva (born before AD 440, died ca. 500?cite book
last = Amory
first = Patrick
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489-554
publisher = Cambridge University Press
date = 1997
location = Cambridge
pages = 450
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=7ndeDi_fwq0C&pg=PA450&vq=eusebia&dq=people+and+identity+in+ostrogothic+italy+%22489+554%22&sig=JutSxo0EK4syKdIKGPleEbqBv5s
doi =
id =
isbn = 0521571510 ] ) was the mother of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great. She is often referred to as the concubine of Theodoric's father, Theodemir, although historian Thomas Hodgkin notes "this word of reproach hardly does justice to her position. In many of the Teutonic nations, as among the Norsemen of a later century, there seems to have been a certain laxity as to the marriage rite..."cite book
last = Hodgkin
first = Thomas
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Theodoric the Goth: Barbarian Champion of Civilisation
publisher = G.P. Putnam's Sons
date = 1897
location = London
pages = 34
url = http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20063
doi =
id =
isbn = ] That Gelasius refers to her as "regina" ("queen") suggests that she had a prominent social position despite the informality of her union with Theodemir.

Ereleuva was Catholic, and was baptised with the name Eusebia. She had probably converted from Arianism as an adult, but the details are unclear in the historical record. Ereleuva is regarded as having taken to Catholicism quite seriously, as indicated by her correspondence with Pope Gelasius and mention of her in Ennodius's "Panegyric of Theodoric".cite book
last = Amory
first = Patrick
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489-554
publisher = Cambridge University Press
date = 1997
location = Cambridge
pages = 268-269
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=7ndeDi_fwq0C&pg=PA268&vq=eusebia&dq=people+and+identity+in+ostrogothic+italy+%22489+554%22&sig=xGES1zHIc6vWpPWFJFpcgJgaTnI
doi =
id =
isbn = 0521571510 ]

Her name was variously spelled by historians in antiquity as Ereriliva (by Anonymus Valesianus [See " [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/valesianus2.html Anonymus Valesianus Pars Posterior: Chronica Theodericiana] ". The Latin Library.] ) and Erelieva (by Jordanes), and is now largely known to modern historians as Ereleuva, as she was addressed most frequently by Pope Gelasius I.

References