Rechila, Suebic King of Gallaecia

• Son of Hermerich, King of the Suevi and Daughter of Valaravans

Project MedLands, VANDALS, SUEVI and VISIGOTHS

HERMANRICH [Hermerico] (-441). Isidor's Historia Gothorum, Wandalorum, Sueborum records that "Suevi principe Hermerico" entered Spain with the Alans and Vandals[73]. He established himself as HERMERICO King of the Suevi in Spain after 411. He associated his son on the throne in 438 because of his serious illness[74]. The Chronicon of Bishop Idatius records that “Hermericus Rex” resigned the throne due to serious illness in favour of “Rechilam filium suum” in 438, adding in a later passage that he died in 441 after seven years of illness[75]. married?, The name of Hermerico's wife or concubine is not known.

King Hermerico & his [wife] had one child

• 1. RECHILA (-Aug 448). Isidor's Historia Gothorum, Wandalorum, Sueborum names "Riccila filius eius" when recording that he succeeded his father as Suevi king in Spain and reigned for 8 years[76]. He defeated Andevoto, a Vandal chief who had remained in Spain after the Vandals' mass exodus to Africa, at Genil in 437. The Chronicon of Bishop Idatius records that “Hermericus Rex” resigned the throne due to serious illness in favour of “Rechilam filium suum” in 438, although it is not certain whether he replaced his father entirely as a later passage records that he obtained “Bæticam et Carthaginensem Provincias” on his father´s death in 441[77]. He conquered Mérida in 439. He succeeded his father in 441 as RECHILA King of the Suevi in Spain. He conquered Seville in 441. Although he was defeated by Roman forces led by Vito in 446, the Romans were unable to prevent the Suevi from continuing to consolidate their position in Spain during the reign of King Rechila[78]. The Chronicon of Bishop Idatius records the death in Aug 448 of “Rechila Rex Suevorum”[79]. m ---. The name of Rechila's wife or concubine is not known.

King Rechila & his [wife] had one child

• a) RICHGAR [Requiario] (-killed in battle Portugal Dec 456). Isidor's Historia Gothorum, Wandalorum, Sueborum names "Recciarius Reccilani filius" when recording that he succeeded the latter as Vandal king in Spain[80]. He succeeded his father in 448 as REQUIARIO King of the Suevi in Spain. The Chronicon of Bishop Idatius records the death in Aug 448 of “Rechila Rex Suevorum” and the succession of “filius suus Catholicus Rechiarius”[81]. He converted to Catholicism. He allied himself with the Visigoths of Toulouse in 449, confirmed by his marriage to the daughter of the Visigoth King. On his return from the wedding, King Requiario ravaged the area around Zaragoza and captured Ilerda[82]. Faced with continuing Suevi incursions into areas claimed by the Visigoths, the latter defeated the Suevi by the River Órbigo in Oct 456[83]. The Chronicon of Bishop Idatius records that “Rechiario” was killed in Dec 456 and that “Rex Theudoricus” succeeded “de Gallæcia ad Lusitaniam”[84]. The Chronicon Albeldense records that “Teudericus” entered Spain, defeated “Ricciarium Suevorum regem” in battle “Asturica apud Urbicum fluvium”, and pursued him into “Portucale” where he killed Requiario and captured “Bracarum”[85]. married (Toulouse 449[86]%29 --- of the Visigoths, daughter of THEODERIC I King of the Visigoths. Isidor's Historia Gothorum, Wandalorum, Sueborum records that "Recciarius Reccilani filius" married "Theuderedi regis Gothorum filia"[87]. The Chronicon of Bishop Idatius records that “Rechiarius” married “Theodoris Regis filia” in 449[88].
  

From the English Wikipedia page on Rechila

Rechila[1] (died 448) was the Suevic King of Galicia from 438 until his death. There are few primary sources for his life, but Hydatius was a contemporary Catholic chronicler in Galicia.

When his father, Hermeric, turned ill in 438, he retired from active political life (dying in 441) and handed the reins of government and the royal title over to his son Rechila.[2] He endeavoured to expand the Suevic kingom to fill the vacuum left by the retiring Vandals and Alans. In 438 he defeated Andevotus, the comes Hispaniarum, on the river Jenil (Singillio).[3] The Roman position in Iberia became so tenuous that three magistri utriusque militiae (masters of both services) were sent to the peninsula between 441 and 446.

Invading southern Iberia, Rechila took the provincial capitals of Mérida in 439 and Seville in 441.[4] These conquests were extremely significant, but nothing of the sequence of events leading to them is known. The provinces of Lusitania, Baetica, and Carthaginiensis were subjected to the Suevi with the exception of the Levante and the Mediterranean seaboard.[5]

Rechila was involved in near constant war with the Romans. While returning in 440 from his third embassy to the Suevi, the Roman legate Censorius was captured by Rechila near Mértola (Myrtilis). The king had him imprisoned for the remainder of his reign.

Rechila died a pagan in Mérida: gentilis moritur ("died a gentile") according to Hydatius, but Isidore of Seville, writing well over a century and a half later, and whose source was Hydatius, says ut ferunt, gentilitatis vitam finivit ("finished his life a gentile, so they say"). There is no reason, however, for accepting Isidore's doubts, which were probably precipitated by the fact that Rechila's son and successor was the Catholic Rechiar.[6] Some scholars have raised the contention that his father raised him that way in order to foster good relations with the Church and bring about the easy conversion of the Suevi.

The Suebi or Suevi (from Proto-Germanic *swēbaz based on the Proto-Germanic root *swē- meaning "one's own" people,[1] from an Indo-European root *swe-,[2] the third person reflexive pronoun) were a group of Germanic peoples[3] who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c. 58 BC;[4] Ariovistus was defeated by Caesar.

Some Suebi remained a periodic threat against the Romans on the Rhine, until, toward the end of the empire, the Alamanni, including elements of Suebi, brushed aside Roman defenses and occupied Alsace, and from there Bavaria and Switzerland. Except for a pocket in Swabia, and migrants to Gallaecia (modern Galicia, in Spain, and Northern Portugal), no more was heard of the Suebi.

Sources

• Spanish: Requila; in Portuguese: Réquila or Réquita.
• Thompson, Romans and Barbarians, 165. Hermeric did not, as Isidore mistakenly believed, retain some royal powers after 438 (Thompson, 220).
• Thompson, Romans and Barbarians, 173.
• Thompson, Romans and Barbarians, 172.:
• Thompson, Romans and Barbarians, 152
• Cambridge Ancient History, vol.13 s.v. "Barbarian Invasions and first Settlements"
• Michael Kulikowski, Late Roman Spain and its Cities (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), 156–157
• Thompson, Romans and Barbarians, 150
• Kulikowski, Late Roman Spain and its Cities, 156–157
• Burgess, The Chronicle of Hydatius, 81
• Thompson, Romans and Barbarians, 153
• Burgess, The Chronicle of Hydatius,83
• Thompson, Romans and Barbarians,154
• Burgess, The Chronicle of Hydatius, 83
• Burgess, The Chronicle of Hydatius, 83
• Thompson, Romans and Barbarians, 83
• Donini and Ford, Isidore,40
• Domingos Maria da Silva, Os Búrios, Terras de Bouro, Câmara Municipal de Terras de Bouro, 2006. (in Portuguese)
• Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 14, Late Antiquity: Empire and Successors, ed. Averil Cameron and others (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2001), s.v. "Spain: The Suevic Kingtom"
• Kulikowski, Late Roman Spain and its Cities, 173
• Donini and Ford, Isidore,40
• Kulikowski, Late Roman Spain and its Cities, 180–181
• Cambridge Ancient History, col. 14., s.v. "Spain: The Suevic Kingdom"
• Kulikowski, Late Roman Spain and its Cities, 183–184
• Thompson, Romans and Barbaians, 168

References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rechila

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1. RECHILA (-Aug 448). Isidor's Historia Gothorum, Wandalorum, Sueborum names "Riccila filius eius" when recording that he succeeded his father as Suevi king in Spain and reigned for 8 years[76]. He defeated Andevoto, a Vandal chief who had remained in Spain after the Vandals' mass exodus to Africa, at Genil in 437. The Chronicon of Bishop Idatius records that “Hermericus Rex” resigned the throne due to serious illness in favour of “Rechilam filium suum” in 438, although it is not certain whether he replaced his father entirely as a later passage records that he obtained “Bæticam et Carthaginensem Provincias” on his father´s death in 441[77]. He conquered Mérida in 439. He succeeded his father in 441 as RECHILA King of the Suevi in Spain. He conquered Seville in 441. Although he was defeated by Roman forces led by Vito in 446, the Romans were unable to prevent the Suevi from continuing to consolidate their position in Spain during the reign of King Rechila[78]. The Chronicon of Bishop Idatius records the death in Aug 448 of “Rechila Rex Suevorum”[79].

m ---. The name of Rechila's wife or concubine is not known. King Rechila & his [wife] had one child: