Last updated An illustration of the First Council of Braga, showing Ariamir (right) with the bishops Lucretius, Andrew and Martin of Dumio. From the 10th-century Codex Vigilanus.
Ariamir (died before 566) was the SuevicKing of Galicia, with his capital at Bracara, from 558/9. The bishops of the First Council of Braga recorded Ariamir as the king who summoned them and under whose auspices they deliberated. Because the bishops mention theirs as being the first Nicene synod to be held in Galicia in a long while, Ariamir is sometimes assumed to have been the king who led the conversion of his people from Arianism to orthodoxy and thus to have lifted the ban on Nicene councils.
The conversion of the Suevi to Catholicism, however, is presented very differently in the primary records, of which the minutes of the council of Braga are the only contemporary ones. Specifically, the minutes of the council—which met on 1 May 561 (in the era of the province 599, the third year of his reign, anno tertio Ariamiri regis)—state explicitly that the synod was held at his orders, ex praecepto praefati gloriosissimi Ariamiri regis, and the bishops allude to him as "our most glorious and pious son" (gloriosissimus atque piissimus filius noster). Based on the dating clause, Ariamir's reign can be said to have begun between 2 May 558 and 1 May 559. While his Catholicism is not in doubt, that he was the first Catholic monarch of the Sueves since Rechiar has been contested.[1]
It has also been suggested that Ariamir was the same person as Theodemir, who is mentioned by Isidore of Seville in connection with the Suevic conversion and Martin of Dumio.[1] He is likewise also said to have been a son of Chararic, a king mentioned by Gregory of Tours in connection with the conversion and Martin of Tours. It is likely, however, that Chararic and Theodemir must have reigned after Ariamir, since Ariamir must have been the first Suevic monarch to lift the ban on Catholic synods and it is inconceivable that a Catholic monarch could have continued the ban for "a long time".[2] On the other hand, some scholars see the conversion of the Suevi as progressive and stepwise and regard Ariamir's lifting of the ban on synods as the second step following Chararic's public conversion.[3]
Aside from the council held in his name, nothing else is known of Ariamir except that he was probably succeeded sometime between the end of May 561 and the year 566 by Theodemir.
Thompson, E. A. "The Conversion of the Spanish Suevi to Catholicism." Visigothic Spain: New Approaches. ed. Edward James. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980. ISBN0-19-822543-1.
The Suebi were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and Czechia. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names such as the Marcomanni, Quadi, Hermunduri, Semnones, and Lombards. New groupings formed later such as the Alamanni and Bavarians and two kingdoms in the Migration Period were simply referred to as Suebian.
This is a historical timeline of the Iberian Peninsula during the period of the Germanic kingdoms.
Hermeric was the king of the Suevi in Galicia from perhaps as early as 406 and certainly no later than 419 until his retirement in 438. He was a pagan and an enemy of the Roman Empire throughout his life. He is given a reign of thirty-two years in most manuscripts of Isidore of Seville's Historia Suevorum, but one manuscript does list his reign as fourteen years.
Rechila was the Suevic King of Galicia from 438 until his death. There are few primary sources for his life, but Hydatius was a contemporary Christian (non-Arian) chronicler in Galicia.
Rechiar or Rechiarius was the Suevic king of Gallaecia from 448 until his death. He was the first Chalcedonian Christian (Catholic) Germanic king in Europe and one of the most innovative and belligerent of the Suevi monarchs. Despite his orthodox Christianity, Hydatius, the contemporary bishop and chronicler from Galicia who is the sole contemporary source for biographical details of Rechiar, established his reputation as that of a barbarian with little sense of Roman law, culture, or custom.
Maldras was the Suevic King of Galicia from 456 until his death. After the execution of Rechiar by the victorious Visigoths, the Suevi are said to have established Maldras on the throne. During his reign the Suevic nation became fragmented.
The Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallæcia or Suebi Kingdom of Gallæcia, was a Germanic post-Roman kingdom that was one of the first to separate from the Roman Empire. Based in the former Roman provinces of Gallaecia and northern Lusitania, the de facto kingdom was established by the Suebi about 409, and during the 6th century it became a formally declared kingdom identifying with Gallaecia. It maintained its independence until 585, when it was annexed by the Visigoths, and was turned into the sixth province of the Visigothic Kingdom in Hispania.
Aioulf or Ag(r)iwulf was an obscure King of Galicia from 456. In 448, after eight years in captivity, the Roman ambassador Censorius was executed by one Agiulf at Seville (Hispalis). This Agiulf has sometimes been identified with Aioulf.
Remismund was the Suevic king of Galicia from c. 464 until his death.
Chararic or Chararich was the King of Galicia according to Gregory of Tours, who is the only primary source for a Suevic king of this name.
Theodemir or Theodemar was one of the last Suevic kings of Galicia and one of the first Chalcedonian Christians to hold the title. He succeeded Ariamir sometime between the end of May 561 and the year 566 and ruled until his death.
Miro was the Suebian King of Galicia from 570 until his death in 583. His reign was marked by attempts to forge alliances with other Chalcedonian Christian nations with the goal of checking the power of the Arian Visigoths under Leovigild. During his reign relations were established with both Francia and the Byzantine Empire and the kingdom reached its zenith, but it collapsed within three years of his death.
Saint Martin of Braga was an archbishop of Bracara Augusta in Gallaecia, a missionary, a monastic founder, and an ecclesiastical author. According to his contemporary, the historian Gregory of Tours, Martin was plenus virtutibus and in tantum se litteris imbuit ut nulli secundus sui temporis haberetur. He was canonized in the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church for his work in converting the inhabitants of Gallaecia to Chalcedonian Christianity, and his feast day is 20 March.
Ajax was an Arian missionary to the pagan Suevi of Galicia who converted them to Christianity in 464 or 466.
Veremund or Veremundus was a Suevic king of Galicia around 500. His existence is conjectured on the basis of a sixth-century inscription discovered at Salvador de Vairão. The date in the inscription is interpreted as either 485 or 535. Some scholars have dated the inscription to the eighth century, arguing that the Veremundus of the inscription is King Bermudo I of Asturias.
The Second Council of Braga, held in 572, presided over by Martin of Braga, was held to increase the number of bishops in Galaecia. Twelve bishops assisted at this council, and ten decrees were promulgated: (1) that the bishops should in their visitations see in what manner the priests celebrated the Holy Sacrifice and administered baptism and the other sacraments, thanking God if they found everything as it should be, and instructing the priests if they were found wanting in knowledge, and obliging all catechumens to attend instructions for twenty days before baptism and to learn the creed; (2) that the bishop must not be tyrannical towards his priests; (3-4) that no fee must be accepted for Holy orders, and the holy chrism must be distributed free; (5-6) that the bishop must not ask a fee for consecrating a church, that no church should be consecrated without the bishop being sure of the endowment of the ministers, and that no church built on private property for the purpose of emolument should receive consecration; (8) that if a cleric should accuse any one of unchastity without the evidence of two or three witnesses he should be excommunicated; (9) that the metropolitan should announce the date of Easter, and have it made known to the people after Christmas, so that they might be prepared for the beginning of Lent, when litanies were to be recited for three days; on the third day the Lenten fast should be announced after the Mass; (10) that any one saying Mass without fasting, as many did, as a result of Priscillianist tendencies, should be deprived of his office. This council was attended by the bishops of the suffragan sees of Braga, and by those of the Diocese of Lugo, and Pope Innocent III removed all doubt as to its authenticity.
The Council of Lugo was a Catholic synod called by the Suevic king Theodemir in 569 in order to increase the number of dioceses within his kingdom. One possible reason for this restructuring was that some of the territory of the Suevic Kingdom was under the jurisdiction of bishoprics whose seats were in the Visigothic Kingdom, and this was an attempt to consolidate the kingdom politically.
In the First Council of Braga of 561 eight bishops took part, and twenty-two decrees were promulgated. In a number of canons, the council took aim directly at doctrines of Priscillianism.
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