476 CE
The Emperor, the child Romulus Augustus, was deposed in 476 by the military general Odoacer. Odoacer was in turn overthrown (and killed) by Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Theodoric was ostensibly a subject of the Eastern Emperor in Constantinople with respect to his position in Italy but he was king of his own people and effectively ruled in Italy from 493. The Eastern Emperor Justinian invaded and eventually took back rule in 554.