Gothic war in Spain of 456 | |||||||
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Part of the Fall of the Roman Empire and Roman–Germanic Wars | |||||||
![]() Map of Spain prior to the Gothic War. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Visigoths Western Roman Empire Burgundians Franks | Suebi Bagaudae | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Theodoric II Gundioc Avitus | Rechiar Basilius | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
unknown | Suebi: 6,000 [1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
unknown | unknown, high |
The Gothic War in Spain of 456 was a military operation of the Visigoths commissioned by the West Roman emperor Avitus. [2] This operation consisted of an extensive campaign aimed at reclaiming the Spanish provinces of Lusitania and Betica that were in the hands of the Suebi and threatened Roman power in the provinces of Cartaginensis and Tarraconensis. The main players in this war were Theoderic II who led the army of the Visigoths and Rechiar the king of the Suebi. The Visigothic army was supported by Franks and Burgundian auxiliary troops.
The story of this war is briefly reported by the Spanish bishop Hydatius who was an eyewitness to the looting of the city Braga by the Visigoths. In addition Sidonius Apollinaris the son-in-law of Emperor Avitus, whom Theodoric knew personally, is also a useful source for information. Other early source is Jordanes who wrote a history about the Goths in the sixth century.
The Suebi arrived in 409 in Spain where they have since stayed in the poor and mountainous Gallaecia. Initially, they were not a threat to the Romans. Compared to the Visigoths and Vandals, they only brought small war gangs on their feet. In contrast, they were never part of the Roman covenant policy, so that they behaved differently from the foederati in Gaul who served as garrison soldiers and were under the supervision of the Roman army . [3] Emperor Honorius did not think it was necessary at the time that the military campaign of Wallia from 415 to 418 was also directed against the Seubi. Nevertheless, there was a lack of a strong imperial army in northwestern Spain to offer sufficient counterweight, usually the inhabitants had to defend themselves. [4]
Under King Hermeric (409-438) the Sueve mainly stayed in Gallaecia. His successor Rechila (438-448), on the other hand, pursued a very warlike policy aimed at territorial expansion. From Gallaecia he led several campaigns against the Romans in the nearby Hispania Baetica and Hispania Lusitania. Rechila defeated the Vandal captain Andevotus in 438, [5] who was possibly in Roman service. He then conquered the provincial capital Mérida (439) of Lusitania. This gave him his hands on this entire province. Two years later he repeated this trick by conquering the city of Sevilla (441) in the adjacent Baetica'. [6]
With the provincial capitals in their hands, Rechila put an end to Roman rule. The Imperial Army was too weak to expel him. Taking advantage of the situation, Richila now also set his arrows on Carthaginensis . His wargangs penetrated deep into this province. A Roman attempt to drive them back stranded in 446. General Vitus' army, which was reinforced with Gothic auxiliary troops, suffered a great defeat, after which the Suebi were free rein and were able to wread great devastation. Only the presence of the Visigoths in the north prevented them from also getting their hands on Tarraconesis and thus the whole of Spain.
In 448 Rechila was succeeded by his son Rechiar who was at least as warlike. At the beginning of his reign, he had the comes Hispanae Censorius, who was imprisoned in Seville, murdered. He plundered the Ebro Valley and sought rapprochement with the Bagaudae who were active here. [7] Later in 449 he went on a diplomatic mission to Toulouse, where Theodoric I, his father-in-law and Roman ally sat. [8] On his return journey, Rechiar made an alliance with Basilius, the leader of the Bagaudae, and again went through the Ebro Valley, where he attacked Caesareas Augusta and took the city Lleida. [9] He took many prisoners, but failed to take the province and thus complete the Suevi conquest of Spain.
In 452–453, the commander-in-chief of the Roman army Aëtius sent a delegation to the court of Rechiar to talk about peace. [10] This delegation consisted of the military counts Mansuetus and Fronto. They concluded an agreement in which conditions were imposed over and over again. Rechiar renounced the province of Carthaginensis.
After the murder of Aetius and the emperors Valentinian III and Petronius Maximus in 455, Rechiar no longer felt bound by this and resumed his attempt to conquer all of Spain on the Romans. According to Jordanes, based on his relationship with the Visigothic king and Roman foederatus Theodoric II (his brother-in-law), he had 'the suspicion' that he could rule all over Hispania.
In Toulouse, Avitus, the commander-in-chief of the Gallic field army, was declared new emperor in 455. [11] This emperor had very good contacts at the Visigothic court, where a change of power had recently taken place. He maintained a friendly relationship with Theodoric II, the new king who was very Roman. Avitus inherited an empire that was threatened on multiple fronts. In addition to the Mediterranean area that was made unsafe by Vandal pirates, the new emperor received messages from the Spanish provinces that were very disturbing. Rechiar had meanwhile conquered the city Cartagena (Spain), taking control of the province of Carthaginensis and had started the conquest of Tarraconensis. [9] However, if Jordanes information is correct, Rechiar made a colossal mistake, for Theodoric had his friendship with the emperor pre-laved over the family bond with Rechiar. Together with the emperor, the Gothic leader prepared a military operation to completely recapture Spain and put an end to the Suevi domination once and for all. Theodoric was given the important task of leading this army.
While Avitus travelled to Italy to monetize his claim to the title of emperor there, Theodoric marched with a large army of foederati towards Spain to restore Roman rule. The army that was leaving consisted of Burgundian and Frankish auxiliary troops in addition to a main force of Visigoths. [12] Once in Tarraconensis Roman units also joined Theoderic. . [13] Data on the size of this army is missing. According to Thompson, the Sueven had an estimated 6,000 warriors, a real number compared to other groups from that period, [3] and additionally reinforced with Bagaudae , which Rechiar had hired as mercenaries. The army that Theodorik led was at least equal to or larger than that of the Suebi.
Theodoric's campaign went well. The combined army moved towards Galicia and encountered little opposition along the way. Rechiar had deployed his army on the River Urbicus (Órbigo), close to the city Astorga. On 5 October 456, Theodoric defeated Rechiar here in a battle on the Campus Paramus, twelve miles from the city Astorga. Rechiar was injured during the battle, but according to Hydatius he managed to flee to Portuscale (today Porto) in the heart of his kingdom. [14] There he was eventually defeated and captured. [15] Theodoric then conquered Bracara Augusta (Braga), the capital of the Suebi. According to tradition, things went rough and Theodoric's army looted several cities in Gallaecia next to Braga. Some of the Suevens were slaughtered and even holy places were attacked, probably because of the support of local clergy to the Suevens. [16] After this, Theodoric's army controlled the Spanish provinces Hispania Baetica, Hispania Tarraconensis and South-Lusitania. The Suebi kingdom collapsed and quickly broke up into rival factions in the following years. [17]
When Theodoric reached the message about the deposition of the emperor and the revolt in Gaul, he left the command to his generals Sunerik and Cyril and returned to Toulouse, while Gundioc with his entire army returned to the mountains of Sapaudia. [18]
The battle of the Urbicus was the beginning of the conquest of Spain by the Visigoths. The returned king of the Visigoths turned himself against the new Roman authority in Italy. Now that his comrade Avitus had been deposed and murdered, Theodoric set aside the treaty with the Romans at the beginning of 457 and revolted, breaking out the Gothic War of 457-458. In Spain, the Gothic garrisons were instructed to take over the power in the cities from the Romans.
Primary sources
Year 456 (CDLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Avitus without colleague. The denomination 456 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Majorian was the Western Roman emperor from 457 to 461.
Flavius Aetius was a Roman general and statesman of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was a military commander and the most influential man in the Empire for two decades (433–454). He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian federates settled throughout the West. Notably, he mustered a large Roman and allied (foederati) army in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, ending a devastating invasion of Gaul by Attila in 451, though the Hun and his subjugated allies still managed to invade Italy the following year, an incursion best remembered for the ruthless Sack of Aquileia and the intercession of Pope Leo I.
Eparchius Avitus was Roman emperor of the Western Empire from July 455 to October 456. He was a senator of Gallic extraction and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza.
This is a historical timeline of the Iberian Peninsula during the period of the post-Imperial kingdoms.
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.
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.
The Visigothic Kingdom, Visigothic Spain or Kingdom of the Goths occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic successor states to the Western Roman Empire, it was originally created by the settlement of the Visigoths under King Wallia in the province of Gallia Aquitania in southwest Gaul by the Roman government and then extended by conquest over all of Hispania. The Kingdom maintained independence from the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, whose attempts to re-establish Roman authority in Hispania were only partially successful and short-lived.
Hispania was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two new provinces, Baetica and Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed Hispania Tarraconensis. Subsequently, the western part of Tarraconensis was split off, initially as Hispania Nova, which was later renamed "Callaecia". From Diocletian's Tetrarchy onwards, the south of the remainder of Tarraconensis was again split off as Carthaginensis, and all of the mainland Hispanic provinces, along with the Balearic Islands and the North African province of Mauretania Tingitana, were later grouped into a civil diocese headed by a vicarius. The name Hispania was also used in the period of Visigothic rule.
Theodoric I was the King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. Theodoric is famous for his part in stopping Attila the Hun at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, where he was killed.
Sunieric was a Visigoth general, who collaborated with the Roman army in the re-conquest of Spain on behalf of Emperor Majorian.
The Battle of the Nervasos Mountains occurred in the year 419 and was fought between a coalition of Suebi, led by King Hermeric together with allied Roman Imperial forces stationed in the Province of Hispania, against the combined forces of the Vandals and Alans who were led by their King Gunderic. This battle occurred in the context of a contemporary Germanic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. The battle took place in what is today the Province of León, Spain, and resulted in a Roman/Suebian Victory.
The Diocese of Hispania was a late antique administrative unit (Dioecesis) of the Roman Empire on the Iberian Peninsula. It existed from 298 to about 409 AD. Its capital was Augusta Emerita. The diocese was governed by a vicarius responsible to the praetorian prefect of Gaul.
The Gothic revolt of Theodoric I was an uprising of the Gothic Fouderati in Aquitaine during the regime of Emperor Valentinian III (425-455). That rebellion was led by Theodoric I, King of the Visigoths and took place in the South of France. The uprising took place between 425 and 426, in the period shortly after the death of usurpator John and was terminated by a military operation under the command of Aëtius.
The Gothic War (436–439) was a military conflict between the Gothic foederati and the Western Roman Empire under Emperor Valentinian III. It occurred primarily in the Gallic provinces from 436 to 439. The key figures involved were the Gothic leader Theodoric I and the Roman army's commander-in-chief, Aetius. Contemporary sources characterize this conflict as a war. Additionally, there were uprisings of the Burgundians and the Bagaudae during the same period.
The Gothic War in Spain was a military operation of the Visigoths commissioned by the West Roman Empire. This operation consisted of multiple campaigns that took place between 416 and 418 and were directed against the Vandals and the Alans to restore Roman power in the Spanish provinces of Betica, Lusitania and Cartaginense. As far as is known, the Roman field army was not involved in the battles, only foederati units fought on the side of the Romans. According to Thompson the Hasdingi in Gallaecia played a dubious role in this war.
The Gothic War of 457-458 was a military conflict between the Visigoths of Theoderic II against the Western Roman Empire of Emperor Majorian. The war began in 457 with a revolt of the Goths in Aquitania that pushed aside Roman authority, followed by an aggressive conquest in the adjacent Septimania aimed at area expansion. The war ended with a Roman victory over the Goths in the Battle of Arles in 458.
The Roman Civil War of 456 was a civil war fought in the Western Roman Empire during the second half of 456 AD.