Kings of the Visigoths
Pagan kings
Athanaric (369–381) - his Gothic name, Athanareiks, means "king for the year".
Rothesteus (underking)
Winguric (underking)
Rebel leaders
Alavivus (c.376)
Fritigern (c.376–c.380)
Balti dynasty - Arian kings
Alaric I (395–410) - the first Germanic leader to take the city of Rome
Ataulf (410–415)
Sigeric (415) - Sigeric was a Visigoth king for seven days
Balti dynasty - Arian Kingdom of Toulouse
Wallia (415–419) - was granted Aquitaine in 417
Theodoric I (419–451) - completed the settlement of the Visigoths in Aquitaine
Thorismund (451–453)
Theodoric II (453–466) - murdered his older brother Thorismund to become king
Euric (466–484) - became the first ruler of a truly unified Visigothic nation (after murdering his brother Theodoric II)
Alaric II (484–507)
Balti dynasty
Gesalec (507–511) - illegitimate son of Alaric II
Regency of Theodoric the Great (511–526)
Amalaric (526–531) - asassinated by his own troops in 531.
Later kings
Theudis (531–548) - assassinated in his Barcelonan palace (or in Seville) by the pretender Theudigisel.
Theudigisel (548–549)
Agila (549–554)
Later kings - Arian Kingdom of Toledo
Athanagild (554–567) - founded Toledo
Liuva I (568–573) - last of the Arian Visigoths
Liuvigild (568–586) - last of the Arian Visigoths
Later kings - Catholic kingdom of Toledo
Reccared I (586–601) - in January 587 Reccared renounced Arianism for Catholicism
Liuva II (601–603) - Witteric cut off the Liuva II's right hand and later had him exectuted
Witteric (603–610) - In April 610, a faction of Catholic nobles assassinated him during a banquet
Gundemar (610–612)
Sisebur (612–621)
Reccared II (621) - Reccared II (in Spanish abd Portuguese, Recaredo) was king of the Visigoths in Hispania briefly in 621. His father and predecessor was Sisebut. He was but a child when placed on the throne and as with most Visigothic attempts to establish a royal dynasty, Sisebut's was opposed by the nobility and ultimately failed. His death allowed the strongman and general Suintila to accede to the throne
Suintila (621–631) - From 621 to 631, Suintila (or Swinthila, Svinthila) was King of the Visigoths in Hispania. There was a new peace in the Kingdom of the Visigoths. As a direct result, by 624, the king was able to retake those lands that had been under the control of Byzantium.
On the linguistic front, it was around Suintila's time that a secondary form of the word Hispania was growing in usage: Spania, from which the modern name of Spain originated. According to Isidore of Seville, who died in 636, it was with the Visigothic domination of Hispania that the idea of a peninsular unity was sought, and the phrase mother Spain was first spoken. Up to that date it had been the word Hispania that designated all of the peninsula's lands. In Historia Gothorum, Suintila appears as the first king of totius Spaniae; the history's prologue is the well-known De laude Spaniae ("About Spain's Pride") where Spain is dealt with as a Gothic nation.
Sisenand (631–636) - Sisenand, or Sisinand, in Spanish and Portuguese Sisenando, was king of the Visigoths in Hispania (631-636). Sisenand overthrew Suintila with the aid of Dagobert I, king of the Franks, bought for five hundred pounds of gold. He occupied the throne in 631.
He convoked the IV Council of Toledo, which drew up laws civil and ecclesiastical. He succeeded in increasing the power of the king and the Gothic race. He had himself confirmed in his election to the kingship and had Suintila declared a tyrant for his many crimes, his iniquity, and his accumulation of wealth at the expense of the poor. He also removed all taxes on the clergy. The council did not concede any hereditary right to the king, however. The king would be elected of the bishops and magnates.Between 632 and 633, there was a rebellion by one Iudila. Not mentioned in any annals, it is attested to by two coins from Mérida and Granada bearing the inscription IUDILA REX.
Sisenand died in Toledo and was succeeded by Chintila
Chintila (636–640) - Chintila was king of the Visigoths in Hispania (636-639/640). He succeeded Sisenand in a time of weakness and reigned until his death.
He was elected and confirmed by a convention of bishops and nobles in accordance with the 75th canon of the IV Council of Toledo. With his election, nothing changed and instability reigned. He never solved the many problems which plagued his time in office and, as the chroniclers of the age tell us, this included rebellions in Septimania and Galicia. In the three years of his reign, he permitted the bishops wide authority and they were the monarchs de facto, if not de jure.
He dedicated his time to councils, the V Council of Toledo in June 636 and the VI Council of Toledo in June 638. They coverred many topics and legistaled many new regulations. The king had to be chosen from among the nobility; never a tonsurado (cleric), member of the servil classes (peasants), or foreigners. They dictated the penalties for insurrection and determined that property acquired justly by the king could not be confiscated by his successor. Finally, they outlawed noncatholics within the frontiers of the kingdom, which resulted in many forced conversions.
Chintila died in 639 or 640 of natural causes and was followed by Tulga
Tulga (640–641) - Tulga (or Tulca) was a king of the Visigoths in Hispania from 640 to 642, if his father died in December 640, as some sources state. Although some sources have his rule beginning as early as 639 or ending as early as 641. He came after his father Chintila in another vain attempt to establish dynastic kingship in Spain.
In 642, Chindasuinth, a Gothic warlord, commenced a rebellion. He was already 79 years old. He had command of the frontier with the Basques. He saw the crown's weakness and a convention of nobles (landholding Goths) and the people (other Gothic inhabitants) at Pampalica (probably modern Pampliega) proclaimed him king without the support of the church.
According to Sigibert of Gembloux, the rebel deposed Tulga in Toledo and tonsured him, sending him to a monastery to live out his days as a monk (since monks were ineligible for the elective throne). However, St Ildefonso says that the rebellion failed without the church's support and Chindasuinth succeeded only on the death of Tulga. From our vantage point, so far in the future, it is impossible to decipher the truth
Chindasuinth (641–649)
Reccesuinth (649–672) - Reccesuinth; or Recceswinth, Recceswint, Reccaswinth, Recdeswinth, Recesvinto (Spanish and Portuguese), Reccesvinthus (Latin); ruled as a king of the Visigoths from 649–672: jointly with his father from 649 and as sole king from 653.
Beginning in 654 Reccesuinth was responsible for the promulgation of a law code to replace the Breviary of Alaric; he placed a Visigothic common law over both Goths and Romans in the kingdom. However, this Liber Judiciorum showed little Germanic influence, adhering more closely to the old Roman laws.
Moreover, the church councils in the capital became the most powerful force in the government and the bishops the primary support of the monarchy. Will Durant writes in The Age of Faith: "By their superior education and organization they dominated the nobles who sat with them in the ruling councils of Toledo; and though the king's authority was theoretically absolute, and he chose the bishops, these councils elected him, and exacted pledges of policy in advance
Wamba (672–680)
Erwig (680–687)
Ergica (687–701)
Wittiza (701–710)
Roderic (710–711)
Agila II (711–713) - Agila II (also spelled Achila, Aquila, or Akhila because the sound represented by /j/ did not exist in Latin) (c. 681-716) was the king of the Visigoths in Hispania after the defeat of Roderic in 711. His disputed reign is attested to by coins from mints in Gerona, Narbonne, and Tarragona. If his reign is recognised, then the first Agila must be numbered Agila I.
He was the son of Witiza and was associated with his father's reign from 708. He was proclaimed king upon his father's death in 710, but only had the support of the northern regions, with Arian-dominated Tarraconensis and Jewish-dominated Narbonensis[citation needed]. The rest of Hispania elected Roderic, whose capital was Toledo. Agila's uncle, Oppas, bishop of Toledo, solicited the aid of the Muslims of Morocco against Roderic and it was this which led to the conquest of the peninsula in 711. When Roderic died in battle against the Moors, Agila was probably crowned in Toledo.
In 712, he travelled to Toledo to meet the Muslim leader, Tariq ibn Ziyad. Despite his expectation that the alliance which was formed at Ceuta would place him on the throne, he received no mercy for his conquered subjects and lands from Tariq. Agila had underestimated the strength of Islamic faith in refusing to submit to infidels and Tariq with a wide open country before him used it as a pretext to ignore the king. While Tariq reorganized his forces for the final conquest of Iberia, Agila continued to pester Tariq for a final treaty respecting his right and that of the Visigoths to Iberia. Unable to obtain such a treaty the Witizian faction deposed him in 714, and elected Ardo. Nonetheless, the man who brought down an ancient kingdom and opened Europe to Saracen depradations for centuries continued to call himself king until his death
Ardo (713–721) - Ardo was the last of the Visigoth kings in Hispania, reigning from 713 until his defeat and death in 721. The Visigoth kingdom was already severely reduced in area and power when Agila II renounced the throne, and Ardo was unable to stop the muslim conquest of Hispania which had commenced with the Battle of Guadalete (711).
The Umayyad Jihadi and Jewish troops occupied Jewish dominated Tarragona and other disloyal regions of Visigothic Iberia bifurcating the kingdom and reducing the ability to organize a common front. Consequently the combined Judeo-Jihadi Umayyad troops cut off the remaining Visigothic garrisons at Barcelona which retreated following a defeat outside of the city gates 717.
Simulteneously, Girona and Empuries were also formerly Jewish dominated cities and their armies quickly surrounded the cities and forced the Visigoths to abandon the cities. By the end of the year Visigoth nobles were forced to retreat across the Pyrenees to Septimania and their reorganize their forces for an expedition to retake the country.
In 720, Ardo led an invasion of Jewish ruled Narbonne. However, this was met by an invasion of the Pyranees by Moorish forces. Cutting off much of Ardo's rear support. In 721 the Morrish army turned south and surrounded Narbonne which was besieged until the death of Ardo that year. In following campaigns, The muslim conquest of Septimania was completed by 725.
The line was now extinct.
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