Maldras (or Masdras) (died February 460) 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.
Maldras was the son of Massilia (or Massila) and was not said to be related to the dynasty of Hermeric, which had ruled the Suevi since 406. [1] The wording of the contemporary chronicler Hydatius may be taken to signify that the Suevi population had some part in electing Maldras. [1] They certainly had a part in dividing the kingdom in 457, when part of them refused to accept him as their leader and chose instead Framta. [1] The two Suevic kings acted independently and on Framta's death within a few months his followers are found led by Rechimund, though scholars dispute whether or not the two parties rejoined. [2]
In 457, while Framta was still ruling, Maldras led his people in a large raid on Lusitania. [2] They sacked Lisbon by pretending to come in peace and, once admitted by the citizens, plundering the city. [3] Maldras is also accused of having murdered his brother. In 458 he received envoys from the Visigoths and the Vandals.
His people continued to plunder western Lusitania until Maldras was strangled, perhaps by his own men, in February 460. [2] Maldras' people turned to Frumar as their war-leader then. [2] Afterwards Remismund became king and reunited the Suevic people. He is claimed by Isidore of Seville to be a son of Maldras, but there is some doubt on this. [4]
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.
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.
Framta, Framtan or Framtane was one of the kings of the Suevi in Galicia in 457.
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.
Frumar was a Suevic warlord who succeeded Maldras, as leader of the Suevic group then raiding Lusitania. He probably competed with Rechimund, the Suevic war leader in Gallaecia, for the throne until his death.
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.
Audeca or Andeca was the last Suevic King of Galicia from 584 until his deposition in 585. He deposed Eboric and usurped the throne by marrying the young king's mother, Siseguntia, the widow of Eboric's father and predecessor, Miro. He consigned Eboric to a monastery.
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.
Heremigarius was a Suevic military leader operating in Lusitania in the early fifth century. He may have been a joint monarch with Hermeric or his successor, but no primary source directly attests it. Writing in the mid-seventh century, Fredegar calls Heremigarius rex Suaevorum, king of the Suevi.
Ajax was an Arian missionary to the pagan Suevi of Galicia who converted them to Christianity in 464 or 466.
Theodoric I was the King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. Theodoric is famous for his part in stopping Attila at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, where he was killed.
