Feletheus

Feletheus was the son of Flaccitheus, king of the Rugii and founder of the Kingdom of the Rugii. His brother was Ferderuchus. Feletheus was married to the Goth Gisa, who was probably the cousin of the Amal Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great. After the death of his father, probably in 475, Feletheus succeeded his father as king of the Rugii. Their territory at the time was based in Lower Austria. In 476, Feletheus supported Odoacer and his Scirian and Herulian allies in the overthrow of the Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus. Feletheus was a close confidant of Severinus of Noricum. After the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno attempted to create conflict between the Rugii and Odoacer, Feletheus executed his nephew Fredericus, who supported Odoacer. Odoacer subsequently invaded the Kingdom of the Rugii, utterly defeating them at a battle near present-day Vienna. Feletheus and his wife were captured, and executed in Ravenna in 487. Two years later, under his son Frideric, the Rugii joined the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great, who invaded Italy and defeated and murdered Odoacer in 493.

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