Chintila

Chintila
King of the Visigoths
Chintila, King of the Visigoths (Congress of Deputies)
Reign	636 – 639/640
Predecessor	Sisenand
Successor	Tulga
Died	639/640
Issue	Tulga

Chintila (Gothic: Kinþila; ? – 639/640) was King of the Visigoths between 636 and 639/640. We know very little about his reign, since the chronicles are scarce. Almost everything we know comes from the acts of the Fifth and Sixth Councils of Toledo. His name can also be found written as Khíntila.

Life

When the previous King, Sisenand, died, he left a greatly weakened and unstable monarchy. Chintila was named King by the nobility and the bishops in the year 636. This was how the ceremony and the election were carried out, following a custom established long before and in accordance with Canon No. 75 of the Fourth Council of Toledo.

He convened the Fifth Council of Toledo in the month of June 636, where usurpers and those who made attempts against the King were essentially threatened with harsh penalties. Moreover, it anathematized all those who did not respect the inheritance of the King to his children and relatives. From this some authors deduce that from the very beginning of his reign Chintila felt threatened.

He then convened the Sixth Council of Toledo in June of the year 638. It legislated on many matters; among others, it was determined that the person chosen as King should come from the nobility and in no case from among the tonsured, those of servile origin, or foreigners. Canonical penalties were decreed against conspiracies against the crown, and it was agreed that the properties acquired by the King with justice and law could not be confiscated by his successor on the throne. A law was also enacted prohibiting non-Catholics from residing within the borders of the kingdom. For this reason there were many forced conversions of Jews.

This continual obsession with usurpers, and the mentions in later reigns of certain rebels from the time of Chintila, make the existence of several rebellions during his reign almost certain.

Chintila died a natural death in 639 or 640 and was succeeded by his son Tulga, whom he had named as his successor.