Atanagildo, rey de los visigodos

Athanagild, King of the Visigoths

• Reign 554-567
• Predecessor Agila I
• Successor Liuva I and Liuvigild
• Born c. 517
• Died December 567
• Consort Goiswintha
• Issue Brunhilda of Austrasia; Galswintha, Queen of Neustria

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Biography

Athanagild (c. 517 – December 567) 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.[1] Following the death of Agila in 554, he was sole ruler for the rest of his reign.

Roger Collins writes that Athanagild's reign "is perhaps more significant than our sources may care to let us believe." Collins argues that the account of Isidore of Seville may be colored by the hostility subsequent Visigothic kings had towards Athanagild and his descendants.[2]

The Roman invasion

During the conflict between the two, a Roman force sent by Justinian seized control of a large portion of Hispania Baetica (Andalusia). The pretext for their arrival is unclear. Peter Heather states that Jordanes implies that Agila had summoned them.[3] Isidore of Seville offers two conflicting stories: in the section on Agila, the Goths surrounding him killed him out of fear "that Roman soldiers might invade Spain on the pretext of giving help"; while in the following section Isidore states Athanagild had asked Justinian for his help, but once they arrived in Spain "he was unable to remove them from the territory of the kingdom despite his efforts."[4] Collins notes that "in both of the emperor Justinian's other western interventions, Africa in 533 and Italy in 535, he came in ostensibly to uphold the rights of legitimate monarchs against usurpers", thus agreeing with Jordanes' version of the events.[2]
Although Athanagild recovered a few cities, the Romans held most of their conquest, which was organized as the province of Spania, long after the end of his reign. It is unclear the exact area this province covered. J. B. Bury states that it "comprised districts and towns to the west as well as to the east of the Straits of Gades" and included the cities of New Carthage (Cartagena), Corduba (Córdoba), and Assionia.[5] Peter Heather, while agreeing it included New Carthage and Assionia, is dubious about Corduba, and is certain Málaga, and Sagontia were included.[6] Collins agrees that Corduba did not come under Roman control, nor did the Guadalquivir valley, stating that their principal strongholds were Medina Sidonia, Málaga and New Carthage.[7]

Athanagild died of natural causes in Toledo, according to Isidore, then, after an interregnum of five months, Liuva I became king.[8]

Dynastic alliances

His queen, Goiswintha, gave him two daughters — Brunhilda and the murdered Galswintha — who were married to two Merovingian brother-kings: Sigebert I of Austrasia and Chilperic, king of the Neustrian Franks. Although Gregory of Tours states the reasons for this were that Sigebert disdained the prevalent practice of "taking wives who were completely unworthy of them", and sought the beautiful and cultured Brunhilda, while Chilperic married her sister out of sibling rivalry, Ian Wood points out that the circumstances and the scale of the morgengab suggest that the situation was more complex. "Athangild had no sons. By marrying two daughters to Frankish kings, he may have intended to involve the Merovingians in the Visigothic succession. Perhaps he hoped that the marriages would produce grandsons who could succeed him."[9]

However Athanagild's death in 567 altered the situation. Wood speculates that the date of Galswintha's murder followed soon after his death.[10] Brunhilda avoided her sister's fate, and became a central figure of Frankish history for the remainder of the sixth century.[11] Lastly, Goiswintha survived the upheaval that followed Athangild's death, and became the second wife of Liuvigild, the brother of Athangild's successor Liuva, and himself a future king of the Visigoths.[12]

References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanagild cites

1. Isidore of Seville, Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum, chapter 46. Translation by Guido Donini and Gordon B. Ford, Isidore of Seville's History of the Goths, Vandals, and Suevi, second revised edition (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1970), p. 22
2. ^ Jump up to: a b Collins, Early Medieval Spain: Unity in Diversity 400-1000, second edition (New York: St. Martins, 1995), p. 39
3. ^ Peter Heather, The Goths (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), p. 278; Jordanes, Getica 303
4. ^ Isidore, chapters 46, 47; translated by Donini and Ford, p. 22
5. ^ Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, (Macmillan, 1923), p. 287
6. Peter Heather, The Goths (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), p. 278
7. ^ Collins, Early Medieval Spain, pp. 38f
8. ^ Isidore, chapters 46; translated by Donini and Ford, p. 22
9. ^ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IV.27, 28; translated by Lewis Thorpe, History of the Franks (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974), pp. 221f. Wood, The Merovingian Kingdoms: 450-751 (London: Longman, 1994), p. 170
10. ^ Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms, p.170
11. ^ Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms, pp. 126-136
12. ^ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V. 38; translated by Thorpe, History of the Franks, pp. 301f.

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1. ATANAGILDO ([520/25]-Toledo 568). His birth date range is estimated from the birth date range of his second daughter Brunechildis, who gave birth to her first child shortly after her marriage in 566. Iordanes records that "Atanagildus" rebelled against King Agila[169]. Isidore of Seville records that Atanagildo was at Seville when Agila was killed by the Goths and that they "handed themselves over to the rule of Athanagild…in the era 592 (554)"[170]. He sought Byzantine support and was ceded the coastal territories between Cádiz and Valencia in 552[171]. He strengthened his position with the arrival of Byzantine reinforcements and deposed King Agila in 554, succeeding as ATANAGILDO King of the Visigoths. He moved his capital in Spain from Barcelona to Toledo in [554][172], symbolising a change in the political centre of the Visigothic kingdom away from the remnants of their kingdom around Toulouse. Having helped King Atanagildo to power, the Byzantines remained and attempted to expand their control to the west in Spain, but the king was able to enforce a territorial agreement with them which limited their authority to south-east Spain. Seville rebelled against central Visigothic authority in 555, followed by Córdoba[173]. The Iohannis Abbatis Biclarensis Chronica records the death of "Athanaildus rex Gothorum in Hispania" in 568[174]. The Chronicon Albeldense records that “Atanagildus” died naturally in Toledo during the reign of Emperor Justinian[175]. Isidore of Seville records that Atanagildo ruled for fourteen years[176]. The Chronica Regum Visigotthorum records that “Athanagildus” reigned for 15 years, six months, or 14 years[177]. m as her first husband, GOSVINTA, daughter of --- (-589). Her two marriages are confirmed by the Iohannis Abbatis Biclarensis Chronica which records the marriage in 569 of "Leovegildus germanus Livvani regis" and "Gosuintham relictam Athanaildi"[178]. Nothing is known about her family origin, but her connection with Arianism, recorded in primary sources after her second marriage, suggests that she may have been of Visigothic origin. She married secondly Leovigildo King of the Visigoths. Gregory of Tours names "Goiswinth, mother of Brunhild", as wife of Leovegildo[179]. She contributed to the difficulties, which culminated in the rebellion of her stepson Hermenegildo, by trying to force the latter's wife to convert to Arianism[180]. The Iohannis Abbatis Biclarensis Chronica records that Gosvinta was the focus of a plot to restore the Arian faith in 589[181]. King Atanagildo & his wife had two children:

a) GALSWINTHA (-murdered [567]). Gregory of Tours records the marriage of King Chilperic and Galswintha, older daughter of King Atanagildo, after the marriage of King Sigebert to her younger sister, specifying that she converted from Arianism to Catholicism and came to France with a large dowry, but never stopped complaining about the insults she had to endure to the king who eventually had her garrotted by one of his servants[182]. Herimannus names "Geisluindam, sororem Brunæ [filiam Athanagildi regis Gothorum]" as wife of "Hilpericus frater Sigibertus rex", recording that she was strangled by her husband's concubine "Fridegundis"[183]. m (564) as his second wife, CHILPERIC I King of the Franks, son of CLOTAIRE I [Chlothachar] King of the Franks & his fourth wife Arnegundis (before 535-murdered Chelles [27 Sep/9 Oct] 584, bur Paris, Saint-Germain-des-Prés).

b) BRUNECHILDIS [Brunequilda/Brunehaut] ([545/50]-Renève-sur-Vingeanne Autumn 613, bur Autun, abbaye de Saint-Martin). Gregory of Tours records the marriage of King Sigebert and Brunechildis, daughter of King Atanagildo, describing her as "elegant in all she did, lovely to look at, chaste and decorous in her behaviour, wise in her generation and of good address", specifying that she converted from Arianism to Catholicism and came to France with a large dowry[184]. After her husband's death, her brother-in-law King Chilperic seized her treasure in Paris and banished her to Rouen[185]. Paulus Diaconus records that "Brunihilde matre" became regent after the accession of her son "Childepertus…adhuc puerulus"[186]. Herimannus records her second marriage to "Meroveus, Hilperici filius"[187]. Her power in Austrasia appears to have increased when her son King Childebert II assumed more direct control from [584], confirmed under the Treaty of Andelot in 587 which recognised her right to protection[188]. According to Fredegar, after her son's death in 596, she was regent for her grandson King Theodebert until 599 when she was "hunted out of Austrasia"[189]. Wood highlights that Pope Gregory I's correspondence with Queen Brunechildis concerning reform of the Frankish church appears to indicate that she still retained power in Austrasia as late as 602[190]. Fredegar reports that she was found "wandering alone near Arcis in Champagne" by a poor man (who was rewarded with the bishopric of Auxerre for his service)[191], and taken to the court of her grandson Theoderic II King of the Franks at Orléans, where she plotted against King Theodebert, culminating in the latter's overthrow and murder in 612 by King Theoderic. Fredegar records that she was the "bedfellow" of Protadius, a Roman, whom she "loaded with honours" and appointed patrician over the territory east of the Jura in [603][192]. After King Clotaire II defeated and captured her great-grandsons in 613, Brunechildis was arrested at the villa of Orbe by the constable Herpo and taken to Clotaire. According to Fredegar, she was tortured for three days, led through the ranks on a camel, and finally tied by her hair, one arm and a leg to the tail of an unbroken horse, being cut to shreds by its hoofs as it ran[193]. m firstly (early 566) SIGEBERT I King of the Franks, son of CLOTAIRE I [Chlothachar] King of the Franks & his third wife Ingundis [Ingonde] ([535]-murdered Vitry [Nov/Dec] 575, bur Soissons, basilique Saint-Médard). m secondly (576) MEROVECH of the Franks, son of CHILPERICH I King of the Franks & his first wife Audovera (-Thérouanne, Pas-de-Calais 577, bur Paris Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés). He was murdered on the orders of Frédégonde, the concubine of Merovech's father.
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