Athalaric, Italian king (b. 516)

Athalaric (Latin: Athalaricus; 516 – 2 October 534) was the king of the Ostrogoths in Italy between 526 and 534. He was a son of Eutharic and Amalasuntha, the youngest daughter of Theoderic the Great, whom Athalaric succeeded as king in 526.As Athalaric was only ten years old, the regency of the realm was assumed by his mother, Amalasuntha. His mother attempted to provide for him an education in Roman tradition, but the Gothic people were very concerned about this, and some of the Anti-Roman nobles pressured her to allow them to raise him as they saw fit. As a result of thing ever going feud over how he should be raised and educated, Athalaric drank heavily and indulged himself in vicious excesses from a young age, which ruined his constitution early on. At the age of eighteen he died of overconsumption of alcohol.