Theudis
Encyclopedia
Theudis was king of the Visigoths in Hispania
from 531 to 548. He was the sword-bearer of Theodoric the Great
, who sent him to govern the Visigothic kingdom during the minority of Amalaric
, the son of king Alaric II
and Theodegotho, the daughter of king Theodoric.
According to Procopius
, during his governorship Theudis had married a Spanish woman who "belonged to the house of one of the wealthy inhabitants of that land, and not only possessed great wealth but also a great estate in Spain." With this wealth he was able to muster a private army of two thousand men, effectively making him independent of Theodoric's authority. Theodoric did not take any action against Theudis. One reason was that doing so would give the Franks
, who had killed the Visigothic king Alaric in the Battle of Vouillé
an excuse to take to the field once again. Another was that Theudis was careful to obey the commands of his king, and never failed to send the annual tribute.
Following the death of Amalaric, last of the Balti dynasty
, Theudis was elected king. Herwig Wolfram believes one factor that led to his selection was support of fellow Ostrogoths who had gone west with him. Peter Heather posits a second, noting that several of Theudis' Italian relatives -- Ildibad
and Totila
-- became kings of the Ostrogoths following the fall of the House of Theodoric in the Gothic Wars: "They probably represent, therefore, a particularly powerful non-royal clan."
In 541, Theudis had to confront the Franks under Chlothar I
and Childebert I
, who had penetrated as far as Zaragoza
, which they besieged for forty-nine days, but according to Gregory of Tours
the Franks lifted their siege when they learned the city was protected by the relics of Saint Vincent of Saragossa
. The primary sources disagree over the outcome of this Frankish invasion: Isidore of Seville
writes that the future king Theudigisel
, who was then a general of Theudis, had killed all of the invaders except a group which had bribed him to allow them to escape; Although Gregory of Tours writes that "they succeeded in conquering a large part of Spain and they returned to Gaul with immense booty", Roger Collins observes that this was the first Visigothic victory over their Frankish rivals -- an achievement which undoubtedly added to Theudis' prestige.
Early in his reign Theudis (533) received a delegation from the Vandal king Gelimer
seeking help against the impending Byzantine
assault. Theudis received them cordially, throwing a banquet in their honor, at which he asked them how matters were at home. The envoys had travelled slowly to Hispania, and out of contact with events in Carthage
; meanwhile a merchant ship, which had left Carthage the same day it fell to the Byzantines, encountered favorable winds and reached Hispania first with the news, which Theudis had known when the Vandal envoys arrived. So when they proposed an alliance against the Byzantines, Theuder declined, telling them to go to the sea-coast, "For from there you will learn of the affairs at home with certainty." Puzzled at this response, the envoys eventually followed his advice and returned to Carthage where they were taken prisoner by the victorious Byzantines. Roger Collins suggests that Theudis exploited the Vandals defeat by occupying a portion of North Africa opposite Spain. This would explain why in 542 the Visigoths made an unsuccessful attempt to come to the defense of Ceuta
, when the Byzantines
besieged it from land and sea. According to Isidore of Seville, the invading army refused to fight on the Sabbath
, and when the Byzantines learned of this attacked the Visigoths and left not one alive.
Despite his being an Arian Christian
, Isidore of Seville praises Theudis, for he not only tolerated the practices of the native Roman Catholic citizens, but permitted their bishops to meet at Toledo
to arrange "those matters which were necessary for the teaching of the Church." Collins notes that "of the few provincial councils that are known to have taken place in Spain before 589, nearly half were held during his [Theudis] reign: I Barcelonia in 540, Lerida in 546 and Valencia also in 546." During his reign a further codification of Gothic law was effected and promulgated November 546, quoting numerous Roman authorities.
In 548, he was assassinated in his palace by a man who had feigned madness in order to get close enough to strike the fatal blow. According to Isidore of Seville, as he bled out Theudis called out that no one kill his murderer, "saying that he had received a requital agreeing with his own deserts, because he himself too as a private citizen had killed his leader."
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
from 531 to 548. He was the sword-bearer of Theodoric the Great
Theodoric the Great
Theodoric the Great was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , regent of the Visigoths , and a viceroy of the Eastern Roman Empire...
, who sent him to govern the Visigothic kingdom during the minority of Amalaric
Amalaric
Amalaric, or in Spanish and Portuguese, Amalarico, was king of the Visigoths from 526 until his assassination in 531. He was a son of king Alaric II and his first wife Theodegotho, daughter of Theodoric the Great....
, the son of king Alaric II
Alaric II
Alaric II, also known as Alarik, Alarich, and Alarico in Spanish and Portuguese or Alaricus in Latin succeeded his father Euric on December 28, 484, in Toulouse. He established his capital at Aire-sur-l'Adour in Aquitaine...
and Theodegotho, the daughter of king Theodoric.
According to Procopius
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History...
, during his governorship Theudis had married a Spanish woman who "belonged to the house of one of the wealthy inhabitants of that land, and not only possessed great wealth but also a great estate in Spain." With this wealth he was able to muster a private army of two thousand men, effectively making him independent of Theodoric's authority. Theodoric did not take any action against Theudis. One reason was that doing so would give 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...
, who had killed the Visigothic king Alaric in the Battle of Vouillé
Battle of Vouillé
The Battle of Vouillé or Vouglé was fought in the northern marches of Visigothic territory, at Vouillé, Vienne near Poitiers , in the spring of 507 between the Franks commanded by Clovis and the Visigoths of Alaric II, the conqueror of Spain.Clovis and Anastasius I of the Byzantine Empire agreed...
an excuse to take to the field once again. Another was that Theudis was careful to obey the commands of his king, and never failed to send the annual tribute.
Following the death of Amalaric, last of the Balti dynasty
Balti dynasty
The Balti dynasty, Baltungs, Balthings, or Balths, existed among the Visigoths, a Germanic tribe who confronted the Western Roman Empire in its declining years. The Balti took their name from the Gothic word balþa...
, Theudis was elected king. Herwig Wolfram believes one factor that led to his selection was support of fellow Ostrogoths who had gone west with him. Peter Heather posits a second, noting that several of Theudis' Italian relatives -- Ildibad
Ildibad
Ildibad was a king of the Ostrogoths in Italy, being chosen to replace Witiges, who had been engaged in various intregues with Belisarius, and had left Ravenna...
and Totila
Totila
Totila, original name Baduila was King of the Ostrogoths from 541 to 552 AD. A skilled military and political leader, Totila reversed the tide of Gothic War, recovering by 543 almost all the territories in Italy that the Eastern Roman Empire had captured from his Kingdom in 540.A relative of...
-- became kings of the Ostrogoths following the fall of the House of Theodoric in the Gothic Wars: "They probably represent, therefore, a particularly powerful non-royal clan."
In 541, Theudis had to confront the Franks under Chlothar I
Clotaire I
Chlothar I , called the Old , King of the Franks, was one of the four sons of Clovis. He was born circa 497, in Soissons .-Life:...
and Childebert I
Childebert I
Childebert I was the Frankish king of Paris, a Merovingian dynast, one of the four sons of Clovis I who shared the kingdom of the Franks upon their father's death in 511...
, who had penetrated as far as Zaragoza
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
, which they besieged for forty-nine days, but according to Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours
Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
the Franks lifted their siege when they learned the city was protected by the relics of Saint Vincent of Saragossa
Vincent of Saragossa
Saint Vincent of Saragossa, also known as Vincent Martyr, Vincent of Huesca or Vincent the Deacon, is the patron saint of Lisbon. His feast day is 22 January in the Roman Catholic Church and Anglican Communion and 11 November in the Eastern Orthodox Churches...
. The primary sources disagree over the outcome of this Frankish invasion: Isidore of Seville
Isidore 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"...
writes that the future king Theudigisel
Theudigisel
Theudigisel was king of the Visigoths in Hispania and Septimania...
, who was then a general of Theudis, had killed all of the invaders except a group which had bribed him to allow them to escape; Although Gregory of Tours writes that "they succeeded in conquering a large part of Spain and they returned to Gaul with immense booty", Roger Collins observes that this was the first Visigothic victory over their Frankish rivals -- an achievement which undoubtedly added to Theudis' prestige.
Early in his reign Theudis (533) received a delegation from the Vandal king Gelimer
Gelimer
Gelimer , King of the Vandals and Alans , was the last ruler of the North African Kingdom of the Vandals...
seeking help against the impending Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
assault. Theudis received them cordially, throwing a banquet in their honor, at which he asked them how matters were at home. The envoys had travelled slowly to Hispania, and out of contact with events in Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
; meanwhile a merchant ship, which had left Carthage the same day it fell to the Byzantines, encountered favorable winds and reached Hispania first with the news, which Theudis had known when the Vandal envoys arrived. So when they proposed an alliance against the Byzantines, Theuder declined, telling them to go to the sea-coast, "For from there you will learn of the affairs at home with certainty." Puzzled at this response, the envoys eventually followed his advice and returned to Carthage where they were taken prisoner by the victorious Byzantines. Roger Collins suggests that Theudis exploited the Vandals defeat by occupying a portion of North Africa opposite Spain. This would explain why in 542 the Visigoths made an unsuccessful attempt to come to the defense of Ceuta
Ceuta
Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish...
, when the Byzantines
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
besieged it from land and sea. According to Isidore of Seville, the invading army refused to fight on the Sabbath
Sabbath
Sabbath in Christianity is a weekly day of rest or religious observance, derived from the Biblical Sabbath.Seventh-day Sabbath observance, i.e. resting from labor from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, is practiced by seventh-day Sabbatarians...
, and when the Byzantines learned of this attacked the Visigoths and left not one alive.
Despite his being an Arian Christian
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...
, Isidore of Seville praises Theudis, for he not only tolerated the practices of the native Roman Catholic citizens, but permitted their bishops to meet at Toledo
Toledo
- Places :Belize:*Toledo District*Toledo SettlementBrazil:*Pedro de Toledo, São Paulo*Toledo, ParanáColombia:*Toledo, Norte de SantanderPhilippines:*Toledo City, CebuSpain:*Toledo, Spain *Kingdom of Toledo...
to arrange "those matters which were necessary for the teaching of the Church." Collins notes that "of the few provincial councils that are known to have taken place in Spain before 589, nearly half were held during his [Theudis] reign: I Barcelonia in 540, Lerida in 546 and Valencia also in 546." During his reign a further codification of Gothic law was effected and promulgated November 546, quoting numerous Roman authorities.
In 548, he was assassinated in his palace by a man who had feigned madness in order to get close enough to strike the fatal blow. According to Isidore of Seville, as he bled out Theudis called out that no one kill his murderer, "saying that he had received a requital agreeing with his own deserts, because he himself too as a private citizen had killed his leader."