Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum

Last updated

The Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum ("History of the Kings of the Goths, Vandals and Suevi") is a Latin history of the Goths from 265 to 624, written by Isidore of Seville. It is a condensed account and, due to its diverse sources, somewhat inconsistent. The history of the Vandals is appended after that of the Goths, followed by a separate history of the Suevi.

Isidore begins his history with a prologue, Laus Spaniae, praising the virtues of Spain. [1] It is here that he invents the phrase mater Spania (mother Spain). The rest of the work elaborates and defends the Gothic identity of a unified Spain. Isidore uses the Spanish era for dating throughout. The main source for his early history was Jerome's continuation of Eusebius to the year 378. From there he used primarily Orosius (to 417) and, for Spain, Hydatius (to 469). For his later history he relies on Prosper Tiro's continuation of Jerome (405–53). Victor of Tununa is his primary African witness for the years 444 to 566 and John of Biclar for recent Spanish history (565–90). Isidore also made use of a partially lost chronicle of Maximus of Zaragoza. For events in Spain between 590 and 624 Isidore is the modern historian's primary source.

The Historia was composed in two versions, both surviving. The first, completed probably in 619, the year of the death of king Sisebut, is shorter. The longer version was probably completed in 624, in the fifth year of the reign of Suinthila. Only the longer version contains the Laus Spaniae and the Laus Gothorum, a eulogy of the Goths, which divides the Goths' history (to the reign of Suinthila) from that of the Vandals. The edition of the longer version by Theodor Mommsen is the standard [2] and was the basis of the first English translation. [3] The Historia was previously translated into German. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alaric II</span> King of the Visigoths from 484 until 507

Alaric II was the King of the Visigoths from 484 until 507. He succeeded his father Euric as king of the Visigoths in Toulouse on 28 December 484; he was the great-grandson of the more famous Alaric I, who sacked Rome in 410. He established his capital at Aire-sur-l'Adour in Aquitaine. His dominions included not only the majority of Hispania but also Gallia Aquitania and the greater part of an as-yet undivided Gallia Narbonensis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isidore of Seville</span> Hispano-Roman scholar (c. 560–636)

Isidore of Seville was a Hispano-Roman scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of the ancient world".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">549</span> Calendar year

Year 549 (DXLIX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 549 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.

Year 551 (DLI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 551 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athanagild</span> King of Hispania and Septimania

Athanagild was Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania. He had rebelled against his predecessor, Agila I, in 551. The armies of Agila and Athanagild met at Seville, where Agila met a second defeat. Following the death of Agila in 554, he was sole ruler for the rest of his reign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reccared I</span> Visigothic King

Reccared I was Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania. His reign marked a climactic shift in history, with the king's renunciation of Arianism in favour of Roman Christianity in 587.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gesalec</span> Visigothic King

Gesalic, Gesaleico in Spanish and Portuguese, Gesaleic in Catalan,, was a king of the Visigoths from 507 to 511, and died in 513.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermeric</span> Early 5th-century King of the Suebi

Hermeric was the king of the Suevi from at least 419 and possibly as early as 406 until his abdication in 438.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liuva I</span> Visigothic king

Liuva I 571–572, or 573) was a Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witteric</span> King of the Visigoths

Witteric was the Visigoth King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia. He ruled from 603 to 610.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gundemar</span> Visigothic king

Gundemar was a Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia (610–612).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olite</span> Municipality in Navarre, Spain

Olite is a town and municipality located in the Comarca de Tafalla comarca, Merindad de Olite merindad, in Navarre, Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of the Suebi</span> 409–585 Germanic kingdom in northwestern Iberia

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miro (Suebian king)</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spania</span> Province of the Eastern Roman Empire

Spania was a province of the Eastern Roman Empire from 552 until 624 in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. It was established by the Emperor Justinian I in an effort to restore the western provinces of the Empire.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodoric I</span> King of the Visigoths

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theudigisel</span> King of the Hispania and Septimania

Theudigisel, was king of the Visigoths in Hispania and Septimania (548–549). Some Visigothic king lists skip Theudigisel, as well as Agila I, going directly from Theudis to Athanagild.

The Chronicle of 741 is a Latin-language history in 43 sections or paragraphs, many of which are quite short, which was composed in about the years 741-743 in al-Andalus. It is the earliest known Christian work produced under Muslim rule in Iberia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baddo (queen)</span> Queen consort of the Visigothic Kingdom

Baddo (Bauda) was a Visigoth queen consort by marriage to King Reccared I (580–601). She is the only Visigoth queen consort known to have signed official state documents and church documents, which signifies that she played a role in politics and had some influence over the government.

References

  1. For an analysis of the Laus Spaniae, see Andrew H. Merrills, History and Geography in Late Antiquity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 185–96. Note that before the union of Aragon and Castile in 1479, the Latin word Hispania , in any of the Iberian Romance languages, either in singular or plural forms (in English: Spain or Spains), was often used to refer to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula, and not exclusively, as in modern usage, to the country of Spain, which excludes Andorra, Gibraltar and Portugal.
  2. In Monumenta Germaniae Historica , Auctores Antiquissimi, XI, 241–303 (Berlin: 1894). See also the edition [usurped] of Jacques-Paul Migne, Patrologia Latina , 83, col. 1057 (Paris: 1844–55).
  3. Guido Donini and Gordon B. Ford, Jr., translators. Isidore of Seville's History of the Kings of the Goths, Vandals, and Suevi (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1966).
  4. D. Coste, trans. Isidors Geschichte der Goten, Vandalen, Sueven (Leipzig: 1910).