Audeca or Andeca (Latin: Audacer) was the last SuevicKing of Galicia from 584 until his deposition in 585. He deposed Eboric and usurped the throne by marrying the young king's mother, Siseguntia (or Sisegutia), the widow of Eboric's father and predecessor, Miro. He consigned Eboric to a monastery.
This action gave the Visigothic king Leovigild an excuse to invade the Suevic kingdom, which he did in 585. According to John of Biclar, "Leovigild devastated Galicia, deprived the captured King Audeca of his rule, and brought the people, treasure, and territory of the Suevi under his own power. He made Galicia a province of the Goths."[1] John goes on to say that he "tonsured [Audeca] and dignified [him] with the honour of the priesthood, after having held that of the kingship."[2] The deposed usurper was relegated to the city of Beja. To Isidore of Seville, his deposition meant the end of the Suevic kingdom, which had lasted 177 years from Isidore's starting point of 408: "the kingdom which they [the Sueves] held in idle lethargy, they have now lost at an even more shameful cost, although it may seem quite amazing that they had managed to retain up to the present day that which they have now given up without any show of resistance."[3]
After Audeca, the Suevic kingdom ceased to exist, but one pretender, Malaric, briefly led opposition to the Visigoths.
A coin bearing the inscription ODIACCA REIGES (probably "King Odiacca") has been identified as one belonging to the reign of Audeca. The sole known coin of the type was kept in Madrid and lost in 1936. The only other Suevic king to mint coins bearing his name that have survived to this day is Rechiar.[4]
Grierson, Philip, and Blackburn, Mark. Medieval European Coinage, with a Catalogue of the Coins in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, vol. 1, The Early Middle Ages (5th–10th Centuries). Cambridge University Press, 1986.
The Suebi were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. 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 post-Imperial kingdoms.
Hermeric was the king of the Suevi from at least 419 and possibly as early as 406 until his abdication in 438.
Witteric was the Visigoth King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia. He ruled from 603 to 610.
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 Flavius Rechiarius was the third Suevic king of Gallaecia, from 448 until his death, and also the first one to be born in Gallaecia. He was one of the most innovative and belligerent of the Suevi monarchs. 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; accusations already discredited, but very common at that time.
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 Galicia or Suebi Kingdom of Galicia, 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.
Richimund or Rechimund was a Suevic leader in Galicia from 457 until about 464. He was not recorded as a king (rex), though Hydatius wrote that inter Frumarium et Rechimundum oritur de regni potestate dissensio. In 457 the Suevi split into two factions, one headed by Maldras raiding Lusitania and another led by Framta remaining in Galicia. After a few months of rule, Framta died and Rechimund appeared as his successor. While it is possible that the Suevi were living under a diarchy, it is more likely that the two factions remained independent of one another. Maldras' eventual successor, Frumar, was also not described as a king, but in 464 or thereabouts the entire Suevic nation was unified under a king named Remismund. Presumably, Rechimund and Frumar had battled for the throne and both had been eliminated, paving the way for Remismund. Some scholars have equated Remismund with Rechimund, but this seems far-fetched.
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.
Eboric or Euric was the last legitimate Suevic King of Galicia. He was the adolescent son of Miro and Sisegutia and he succeeded his father in 583, ruling for a year before being deposed by his mother's second husband, Audeca, who threw him in a monastery. His deposition gave the Visigothic king Leovigild casus belli to invade Galicia and remove Audeca from power.
Malaric or Amalaric was the last man to claim the kingship of the Suevi of Galicia. In 585, after the last king, Audeca, was defeated and captured by the Visigoths, Malaric, who claimed to be related to king Miro, rose in rebellion. According to John of Biclar, he was "defeated by King Leovigild's generals and was captured and presented in chains to Leovigild."
Ariamir was the Suevic King 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.
Ajax was an Arian missionary to the pagan Suevi of Galicia who converted them to Christianity in 464 or 466.
The Ruccones were a tribal group, probably related to the Astures or the Basques, who lived semi-autonomously in northern Hispania from the fifth through to the seventh centuries. Their population area extended approximately from modern-day Asturias to La Rioja.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
