THE LEONINE HUN REPELLENT

On a particular lousy day in 452, Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III was presented with an ultimatum from Attila the Hun. Attila, having conquered most of Europe, had run roughshod over Italy and was now camped outside the gates of Rome. The heinous Hun relayed to the Emperor that if Valentinian wanted to save Rome, Valentinian had better send his own sister, along with a generous dowry, to Attila to become his bride.

The Emperor dispatched Pope Leo I and two other emissaries to discuss matters with Attila. After rapping for a little while with the Pope, Attila turned his army around and left, abandoning his conquest both of Rome and of Valentinian's sis (and, perhaps even more importantly, her dowry).

What golden words of Pope Leo I changed Attila's mind? No one knows for sure. One common theory promulgated during the Middle Ages was that St. Peter and St. Paul, each brandishing a huge sword, appeared along with Leo and made Attila a counter-offer that he couldn't refuse. Other scholars cite more mundane possibilities such as Attila not having enough supplies to sustain his campaign further or that he had lost too many troops to illness to proceed with any additional conquests.

None of these theories appear all that plausible. 

There is no reliable contemporary witness to the appearance of the two saints during this transaction, and there is no evidence indicating that Attila had suddenly embraced Christianity and the altruistic ideals that the religion (and hopefully most of its followers) embrace.

Nor is it reasonable to presume that Attila backed off merely because he could not follow through on his threat to take Rome. Attila was no conqueror-come-lately. He was a pillager par excellence and had the street creds to prove it. As such, he would never make the head-of-state rookie mistake of losing all of his credibility by issuing an ultimatum without having both the will and the ability to implement the threatened sanctions if it was ignored. 

Was the Pope himself such a badass that he frightened Attila, or maybe Attila was cowed by the Pope's position as head of the Catholic Church? Unlikely. It is doubtful that Attila had any residual childhood hangups arising from nuns rapping him on the knuckles with rulers which would hold him back from employing carnage against Catholic officials. He had a track record of going medieval (or, in 452, would it be "pre-medieval"?) on his perceived foes. Furthermore, on a personal level, Pope Leo I was not the bloodthirsty warrior type and certainly would not inspire physical fear on the part of the barbarian who had just overrun half of the known world. Unlike some of the other Popes which followed Leo, he eschewed barbaric tortures or punishments on those who disagreed with him or Church doctrine and relied primarily on strongly written missives instead to modify undesirable behavior.

Maybe there was Divine intervention. Or, perhaps, maybe Attila retreated simply because he respected the courage an obviously highly-principled man who unflinchingly was willing to risk his life for what he believed.

The Meeting between Leo the Great and Attila by Raphael