Rechiar
Encyclopedia
Rechiar or Rechiarius was the Suevic King of Galicia from 448 until his death. He was the first Catholic Germanic king in Europe and one of the most innovative and belligerent of the Suevi monarchs. Despite his orthodox Christianity, 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.
Historia Suevorum) before reaching the throne. Rechiar's conversion to Catholicism predated that of the more famous Clovis
of the Franks
by half a century. The argument was even raised in the late nineteenth century that the Spanish church had primacy over the French because Rechiar's conversion predated Clovis'. Rechiar was the son of the pagan
Rechila
, whom he succeeded on the throne, and a daughter of the Visigothic king Wallia
. The date and circumstances of Rechiar's conversion from paganism are unknown and it is possible that Roman missionaries took some part in it, since he was not converted to the Arianism
which was preached by the Visigothic missionaries. Rechiar was one of the only Suevi to convert at that time; his people remained pagan. Hydatius records opposition, possibly secret, to his succession, but the basis of this opposition he does not mention. It is not inconceivable that it was religiously motivated.
Rechiar married an Arian Visigothic princess from Toulouse
, the daughter of Theodoric I
. The marriage of Catholic to Arian was not advantageous for the church of the former and the influence of Rechiar's queen and another later Arian queen helped bring about the conversion of the Suevi not to Catholicism, but to Arianism. If Rechiar did make any effort to convert his people to his faith, it was entirely ephemeral and "bore no detectable fruit".
e) bearing his name and the first to claim the right (ivssv) to mint them. Three of these coins survive, bearing witness to his complete independence from even nominal Roman authority. Rechiar's kingship was primitive enough, however, that it appears he took the royal thesaurus (treasure) with him on his campaigns. He also did not employ Roman bureaucrats or lawyers, for he did not recognise Roman law
nor did he have a formal relationship with the Roman empire or the land on which his men settled, roamed, and marauded. He kept his capital at Braga
.
was executed at Seville
by a Suevic nobleman named Agiulf
. It has been surmised by some that this act was connected with Rechiar's warlike attitude towards Rome. He even allied with the Bagaudae
in ravaging the Ebro valley, a unique occurrence between Germanic rulers and local peasant rebels. Rechiar also impelled the first contact between the Suevi and the Basques: he made war on them in February 449. The expedition may have been a mere raid or an attempted conquest of Vasconia
as a prelude to the conquest of the Ebro valley. Later in 449 he visited his father-in-law in Gaul
. On his return home to Galicia, Rechiar allied with Basilius, leader of one of the Bagaudae, and raided the Ebro valley, attacking Zaragoza
and even entering Lérida (Ilerda) "by a trick". He took many prisoners, but he failed to take the region and thus complete the Suevic conquest of Spain. Rechiar did not approach Tarragona
, the provincial capital.
Following the assassination of the patrician Flavius Aëtius
and the emperors Valentinian III
and Petronius Maximus
in 455, Rechiar led an attack on Carthaginiensis, probably with the intent of conquest. Later that year he attacked the province of Tarraconensis, the only province of Spain still under Roman control, but did not conquer it. According to Jordanes
, he had "presumed" on the basis of his relationship to the Visigothic king and Roman foederatus
Theodoric II
(his brother-in-law), that he could rule all of Spain. Theodoric, acting on the orders of the emperor Avitus
, invaded Spain in 456 with an army of Goths, Franks
, Burgundes under their kings Chilperic I
and Gundioch, and perhaps even Romans to confront the Suevi, who in turn planned to meet the invaders on the borders of Tarraconensis. On 5 October 456 Theodoric defeated Rechiar in a battle at the Campus Paramus twelve miles from Astorga on the Urbicus (Órbigo
). He was wounded during the battle, but according to Hydatius managed to flee as far as Oporto in the heart of his kingdom, while Jordanes says he took ship in the Tyrrhenian Sea
(i.e., the western Mediterranean) before winds forced him back and he was captured. Jordanes is almost certainly wrong; at Oporto Rechiar was captured and executed in December. The Suevic monarchy collapsed and rapidly disintegrating into rival factions in the next years. Braga fell on 28 October and the Visigoths brutally sacked the city and the churches before moving on to conquer Andalusia
. During the century of Arianism that soon commenced, nothing about the Suevi was recorded.
Hydatius
Hydatius or Idacius , bishop of Aquae Flaviae in the Roman province of Gallaecia was the author of a chronicle of his own times that provides us with our best evidence for the history of the Iberian Peninsula in the 5th century.-Life:Hydatius was born around the year 400 in the...
, 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.
Religion
Rechiar was almost certainly not raised Catholic, though 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. What is certain is the Rechiar had been converted (catholicus factus according to Isidore'sIsidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
Historia Suevorum) before reaching the throne. Rechiar's conversion to Catholicism predated that of the more famous Clovis
Clovis I
Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...
of the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
by half a century. The argument was even raised in the late nineteenth century that the Spanish church had primacy over the French because Rechiar's conversion predated Clovis'. Rechiar was the son of the pagan
Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age until their Christianization during the Medieval period...
Rechila
Rechila
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 chronicler in Galicia....
, whom he succeeded on the throne, and a daughter of the Visigothic king Wallia
Wallia
Wallia was king of the Visigoths from 415 to 419, earning a reputation as a great warrior and prudent ruler. He was elected to the throne after Athaulf and then Sigeric were assassinated in 415....
. The date and circumstances of Rechiar's conversion from paganism are unknown and it is possible that Roman missionaries took some part in it, since he was not converted to the Arianism
Arianism
Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
which was preached by the Visigothic missionaries. Rechiar was one of the only Suevi to convert at that time; his people remained pagan. Hydatius records opposition, possibly secret, to his succession, but the basis of this opposition he does not mention. It is not inconceivable that it was religiously motivated.
Rechiar married an Arian Visigothic princess from Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, the daughter of Theodoric I
Theodoric I
Theodoric I sometimes called Theodorid and in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian Teodorico, was the King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. An illegitimate son of Alaric, Theodoric is famous for defeating Attila at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, where he was mortally wounded.-Early...
. The marriage of Catholic to Arian was not advantageous for the church of the former and the influence of Rechiar's queen and another later Arian queen helped bring about the conversion of the Suevi not to Catholicism, but to Arianism. If Rechiar did make any effort to convert his people to his faith, it was entirely ephemeral and "bore no detectable fruit".
Administration
Rechiar was a powerful enough ruler to mint his own coinage, on which he had stamped the legend ivssv rechiari reges. Indeed, he was the first Germanic king to mint coins (siliquaSiliqua
The siliqua is the modern name given to small, thin, Roman silver coins produced from 4th century and later. When the coins were in circulation, the Latin word siliqua was a unit of weight defined as one-twentyfourth of the weight of a Roman solidus .The term siliqua comes from the siliqua graeca,...
e) bearing his name and the first to claim the right (ivssv) to mint them. Three of these coins survive, bearing witness to his complete independence from even nominal Roman authority. Rechiar's kingship was primitive enough, however, that it appears he took the royal thesaurus (treasure) with him on his campaigns. He also did not employ Roman bureaucrats or lawyers, for he did not recognise Roman law
Roman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...
nor did he have a formal relationship with the Roman empire or the land on which his men settled, roamed, and marauded. He kept his capital at Braga
Braga
Braga , a city in the Braga Municipality in northwestern Portugal, is the capital of the Braga District, the oldest archdiocese and the third major city of the country. Braga is the oldest Portuguese city and one of the oldest Christian cities in the World...
.
Wars
Rechiar was a bellicose ruler, who made war on all of his neighbours. In 448, at the commencement of his reign, the Roman count CensoriusCensorius
Censorius was a count of the Western Roman Empire from 432 until his death. He is mentioned in the Chronicle of Hydatius under the years 432 and 440....
was executed at Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
by a Suevic nobleman named Agiulf
Aioulf
Aioulf or Ag'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...
. It has been surmised by some that this act was connected with Rechiar's warlike attitude towards Rome. He even allied with the Bagaudae
Bagaudae
In the time of the later Roman Empire bagaudae were groups of peasant insurgents who emerged during the "Crisis of the Third Century", and persisted particularly in the less-Romanised areas of Gallia and Hispania, where they were "exposed to the depredations of the late Roman state, and the great...
in ravaging the Ebro valley, a unique occurrence between Germanic rulers and local peasant rebels. Rechiar also impelled the first contact between the Suevi and the Basques: he made war on them in February 449. The expedition may have been a mere raid or an attempted conquest of Vasconia
Vasconia
Vasconia is an historical name derived from the ancient tribe of the Vascones and used in different times, specially in the Middle Ages, to refer to the Basque territories...
as a prelude to the conquest of the Ebro valley. Later in 449 he visited his father-in-law in Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
. On his return home to Galicia, Rechiar allied with Basilius, leader of one of the Bagaudae, and raided the Ebro valley, attacking Zaragoza
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
and even entering Lérida (Ilerda) "by a trick". He took many prisoners, but he failed to take the region and thus complete the Suevic conquest of Spain. Rechiar did not approach Tarragona
Tarragona
Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...
, the provincial capital.
Following the assassination of the patrician Flavius Aëtius
Flavius Aëtius
Flavius Aëtius , dux et patricius, was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was an able military commander and the most influential man in the Western Roman Empire for two decades . He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian peoples pressing on the Empire...
and the emperors Valentinian III
Valentinian III
-Family:Valentinian was born in the western capital of Ravenna, the only son of Galla Placidia and Flavius Constantius. The former was the younger half-sister of the western emperor Honorius, and the latter was at the time Patrician and the power behind the throne....
and Petronius Maximus
Petronius Maximus
Flavius Petronius Maximus was Western Roman Emperor for two and a half months in 455. A wealthy senator and a prominent aristocrat, he was instrumental in the murders of the Western Roman magister militum, Flavius Aëtius, and the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III...
in 455, Rechiar led an attack on Carthaginiensis, probably with the intent of conquest. Later that year he attacked the province of Tarraconensis, the only province of Spain still under Roman control, but did not conquer it. According to Jordanes
Jordanes
Jordanes, also written Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life....
, he had "presumed" on the basis of his relationship to the Visigothic king and Roman foederatus
Foederati
Foederatus is a Latin term whose definition and usage drifted in the time between the early Roman Republic and the end of the Western Roman Empire...
Theodoric II
Theodoric II
Theodoric II was King of Visigoths from 453 to 466.Theoderic II, son of Theodoric I, obtained the throne by killing his elder brother Thorismund...
(his brother-in-law), that he could rule all of Spain. Theodoric, acting on the orders of the emperor Avitus
Avitus
Eparchius Avitus was Western Roman Emperor from July 8 or July 9, 455 to October 17, 456. A Gallic-Roman aristocrat, he was a senator and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza.A representative of the Gallic-Roman aristocracy, he...
, invaded Spain in 456 with an army of Goths, Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
, Burgundes under their kings Chilperic I
Chilperic I of Burgundy
Chilperic I was the King of Burgundy from 473 until his death. He succeeded his brother Gundioch and co-ruled with his nephews Godomar, Gundobad, Chilperic II, and Godegisel.-Sources:*Gregory of Tours. translated Earnest Brehaut, 1916....
and Gundioch, and perhaps even Romans to confront the Suevi, who in turn planned to meet the invaders on the borders of Tarraconensis. On 5 October 456 Theodoric defeated Rechiar in a battle at the Campus Paramus twelve miles from Astorga on the Urbicus (Órbigo
Órbigo
The Órbigo River is a river in the provinces of León and Zamora, Spain. It begins at the convergence of the Luna River and the Omaña River in the town of Santiago del Molinillo. It flows from north to south through the province of León and ultimately flows into the Esla River below Benavente.How...
). He was wounded during the battle, but according to Hydatius managed to flee as far as Oporto in the heart of his kingdom, while Jordanes says he took ship in the Tyrrhenian Sea
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy.-Geography:The sea is bounded by Corsica and Sardinia , Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Basilicata and Calabria and Sicily ....
(i.e., the western Mediterranean) before winds forced him back and he was captured. Jordanes is almost certainly wrong; at Oporto Rechiar was captured and executed in December. The Suevic monarchy collapsed and rapidly disintegrating into rival factions in the next years. Braga fell on 28 October and the Visigoths brutally sacked the city and the churches before moving on to conquer Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
. During the century of Arianism that soon commenced, nothing about the Suevi was recorded.