Last updated Miro and Martin of Braga, from an 1145 manuscript of Martin's De virtutibus quattuor (Federzeichnung lm Co. 791, fol. 109v), now in the Austrian National Library.
Miro (Mir, Mirio, Latin: Mirus) was the SuebianKing 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 ArianVisigoths 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.[1][2]
Miro enjoyed good relations with the Church during his reign. In 572 he called the Second Council of Braga, a supplementary council to the First Council of Braga of 561.[2] It has even been suggested, based on the lack of a signatory for the diocese of Dumio in the concilar acts, that Miro himself may have represented that see.[3]
Miro also maintained "intimate and friendly" relations with Martin of Dumio, the Archbishop of Braga and Metropolitan of Gallaecia.[2] Martin's principal work, Formula Vitae Honestae, is dedicated to him, and the Exhortatio Humilitatis, printed among Martin's works, is also probably addressed to him.[2] Indeed, Martin advised Miro's counsellors to read his Formula so as to be able better to counsel the king.[4]
In the same year as the council of Braga, Miro conducted an expedition against the Ruccones (Runcones) of Cantabria, possibly a Basque tribe,[2] with the intention of expanding his kingdom.[5] This attack on a people within the Gothic kingdom was perhaps an excuse for Gothic reprisals against the Sueves. In 573 Leovigild subdued the region of "Sabaria" (probably between Zamora and Salamanca) with the likely intention of preempting Miro.[5] In 574 he "restored the province [of Cantabria] to his dominion."[5] In response, Miro sent envoys to Guntram, the FrankishKing of Burgundy and a consistent thorn in Leovigild's side, but they were intercepted and detained on the way by Leovigild's ally, Chilperic I, the Frankish king of Neustria.[2][6]
In 575 Leovigild invaded the "Aregensian Mountains" near Ourense and captured "the lord of the region, along with his wife, children, and riches, bringing the region under his power."[6] Aspidius, the "lord of the region", may have been a Hispano-Roman landowner who had sided with the Suevi.[6] In 576 Leovigild again marched to the southern frontier of Galicia (the Douro) and menaced the small kingdom, even founding the city of Villa Gothorum (modern Toro). Miro sued for peace, and obtained it for a short time.[2] In 580 Miro endeavoured to support Leovigild's Catholic son Hermenegild in rebellion.[2]
For the events surrounding Miro's death, the contemporary and near-contemporary accounts conflict. According to Gregory of Tours, in 583 Miro led an army to raise the siege of Seville by Leovigild, but the two kings held a conference before Miro had reached Seville and he returned to Galicia, where he died shortly after, supposedly from the effects of the bad air and water of Baetica.[2] On the other hand, two Iberian chroniclers, John of Biclar and Isidore of Seville, concur that he died before Seville while assisting Leovigild with the siege of the town.[2] Modern scholarship favours Gregory's interpretation, taking into account Miro's alliances with Francia and Byzantium, Suevic animosity to the Goths, and the shared Catholic faith of Sueves and rebels.[7]
He was succeeded in provincia Gallacciæ by his adolescent son Eboric.[7] He also left a widow, Sisegu(n)tia, who married Andeca, who deposed Eboric and took to ruling in Gallaccia Suevorum regnum.[7]
"Miro." In Henry Wace and William C. Piercy, edd. A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature. London: John Murray, 1911. Reprinted as Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies. United States: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999. ISBN1-56563-460-8.
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.
The 580s decade ran from January 1, 580, to December 31, 589.
Year 583 (DLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 583 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.
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.
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.
Sisebut was King of the Visigoths and ruler of Hispania and Septimania from 612 until his death in 621. His rule was marked by forced Christian conversion, anti-Judaic measures, Roman-like administration, and intellectual cosmopolitanism.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The following is a history of Galicia, a subsection of the Iberian Peninsula.
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."
Saint Martin of Braga, also known as Saint Martin of Dumio, 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 later canonized by the Catholic Church for his work in converting the inhabitants of Gallaecia to Chalcedonian Christianity, being granted the cognomen of "Apostle to the Suevi". His feast day is 20 March.
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.
Hermeneric was a Suevic King of Galicia according to a now lost document described by the priest Antonio de Yepes. According to Yepes, the king reigned around 485, which falls within a century-long period (469–c.560) of obscurity during which the Sueves were predominantly Arian Christians. Hermeneric was said to be a destroyer of churches and persecutor of Catholic Christians.
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.
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