Tribigildo (? - 399?) was an Ostrogothic general whose invasion of the Eastern Roman Empire precipitated a major political crisis during the reign of Emperor Arcadio.
Tribigildo was the head of a colony of Ostrogoths in Phrygia and a foederati of the Roman state (with the title of eat) during a period when his people lived under the domination of the Huns. In 399, he was wounded in his honor for having been received with little pomp at the imperial court in Constantinople, broke with Arcadio and began the sacking of the interior of Asia Minor. The turmoil of the population and the rumors that arose from Tribigildo's action forced Arcadio's prime minister, the eunuch Eutropio, to send an expeditionary force through the Hellespont. Meanwhile, Tribigildo had easily defeated the peasant militias, but when the imperial legions arrived, he easily understood that he could break the loyalty of the barbarians who formed the basis of the force and disperse the rest.
Gainas, commander of the expeditionary force, who had been sent against Tribigildo (who may have been a relative of his), returned to divulge that the rebel was insurmountable and that negotiation would be the safest tactic. He rolled the head of Eutropius, perhaps negotiated in advance by Gainas and Tribigildo, but Gainas soon changed sides and openly allied with Tribigildo, who was apparently killed during the advance of the combined Gothic army towards Constantinople.
wiki
