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Reccared I
| Reccared | |
|---|---|
| King of the Visigoths | |
 | |
| Reign | 586–601 |
| Predecessor | Leovigild |
| Successor | Liuva II |
| Born | 559 |
| Died | December 21, 601 Toledo |
| Spouse | Baddo or Bada |
| Issue | Liuva II Suintila[citation needed] Unknown (father of Agila, count) |
| Father | Leovigild |
| Mother | ? |
Reccared I (Latin: Flavius Reccaredus, in Gothic: Rekkareþ) (559 – Toledo, December 21, 601) was King of the Visigoths from 586 until 601, when he died in Toledo.
Son and successor of Leovigild and of his first wife, he fought the Franks, the Byzantines (still present on the Andalusian coast) and the Vascones, and had to put down several revolts by the Visigothic nobles.
The most notable event of his reign took place in 589, when he convened the Third Council of Toledo, at which, together with several nobles and ecclesiastical dignitaries, he abjured Arianism and converted to Catholicism, thereby bringing about the religious unification of Visigoths and Hispano-Romans, which his father had aspired to in the opposite direction, and who, apparently and paradoxically, advised him to take this path; thus the spiritual and territorial unity of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania was sealed.
Biography
Brother of Hermenegild, he was associated with the throne by his father, which provoked protests from the Visigothic nobles, who saw in this action an attempt to institutionalize hereditary succession in the Visigothic monarchy, which was characterized precisely by being elective.
In 584, in his desire to establish family ties and reach an alliance with the Franks, he sent ambassadors to marry Rigunth, daughter of Chilperic I, King of Neustria, and Fredegund. Once the marriage was agreed, Rigunth was sent with a splendid dowry, in August 584, to the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania to marry Reccared. After a very eventful journey, with a multitude of robberies that left her with nothing, she reached Toulouse, where she received news of the murder of her father Chilperic, so that her marriage to the Visigothic King no longer made sense as an alliance between kingdoms. A short time later, maintaining the same desire to establish family ties with the Franks, Reccared sent a new delegation of ambassadors to marry Chlodosind, daughter of Sigebert I, King of Austrasia, and Brunhilda, but the negotiations failed for unknown reasons.
Accession to the throne
When his father Leovigild died, Reccared was in Septimania. He probably remained there, as the war against Guntram of Burgundy was continuing, despite the latter's defeat the previous year. Carcassonne was attacked again by Desiderius, a Neustrian noble who held the office of dux (Duke) of Aquitaine, although he was repulsed.
Peace with Austrasia and war with Burgundy
Reccared, advised by his stepmother Goiswintha, sent messengers to Childebert II of Austrasia asking for peace. Much time had already passed since Goiswintha had mistreated Ingund, and the treaty could be concluded with some ease. As there was no outstanding conflict with Neustria, only one of the three Merovingian kings, Guntram of Burgundy, remained hostile to the Visigoths.
Reccared also sent messengers to Guntram, but the latter refused to receive them and closed the border with Septimania. The Visigoths carried out various attacks in the region of the mouth of the Rhône.
Execution of Sisbert
Not long after acceding to the throne, the new king had the Goth Sisbert executed, the man responsible for the death of his brother Hermenegild, although probably on Leovigild's orders, since had he not had the King's authorization, he could not have disobeyed him so gravely and continued living.
The conversion of Reccared:
In the era DCXXIIII, in the third year of the reign of Maurice, Leovigild having died, his son Reccared was crowned king. He was endowed with great respect for religion and was very different from his father in his customs, for the father was irreligious and much inclined to war; he was pious in faith and illustrious in peace; the former extended the dominion of his nation through the use of arms, the latter was to enlarge it more gloriously with the trophy of faith. From the very beginning of his reign, Reccared indeed converted to the Catholic faith and brought the whole Gothic nation to the worship of the true faith, thus erasing the stain of a deep-rooted error. He then assembled a synod of bishops from the different provinces of Spain and Gaul to condemn the Arian heresy. This council was attended by the most religious prince himself, and with his presence and his signature he confirmed its acts. With all his people he renounced the perfidy which, until then, the people of the Goths had learned from the teachings of Arius, professing that in God there is a unity of three persons, that the Son has been begotten consubstantially by the Father, that the Holy Spirit proceeds jointly from the Father and the Son, that both have but one spirit and, consequently, are but one.
— (Las historias de los godos, vándalos y suevos,
by Isidore of Seville, ed. Cristóbal Rodríguez Alonso, León, 1975, pp. 261–263).
Conversion of Reccared
At the beginning of the year 587
Reccared, who must already have had Catholic sympathies, had himself baptized in secret. From then on he tried to convince the Arian bishops to accept Trinitarian doctrine, holding three meetings: one with the Arian bishops, whom he encouraged to meet with Catholic bishops to discuss the theological problems and determine which was the true faith; a joint meeting of Catholic and Arian bishops, with fierce disputes between the two sides, and with Reccared pressing in favor of the Catholics; and finally, having failed to convince the Arians, a meeting with the Catholic bishops, to whom he announced that he had already made his choice for Catholicism. When he informed the Catholic bishops of his faith, many Visigothic nobles were present and apparently followed him, and around the spring and summer of 587 the Arian churches were expropriated and handed over to the Catholics.
New embassies to the Frankish kings
After his conversion, Reccared sent new embassies to Childebert of Austrasia and Guntram of Burgundy. He offered Childebert a large sum (ten thousand solidi), and the Austrasian King (advised by his mother Brunhilda) acknowledged that Reccared was in no way guilty of the death of Ingund, and a treaty of alliance was concluded. Reccared even negotiated his marriage with Chlodosind, Childebert's sister, but before granting her Brunhilda asked for Guntram's assent. The embassy sent to Burgundy requested this consent, but Guntram refused to give it. A few months later, Childebert expressed his approval of the marriage, claiming that he knew the Visigoths were already Catholics, but apparently it never took place, since by 589 the King was already married to Baddo, his Gothic commoner concubine.
Arian conspiracies and new war with Burgundy
The Arian reaction was not long in coming. The Arian Bishop of Mérida, Sunna, and the Gothic nobles Segga and Vagrila (probably counts) planned to assassinate the local Catholic Bishop, Masona, and the dux of Lusitania, Claudius, and to raise the whole province in revolt, probably proclaiming Segga king. We do not know how the conspiracy unfolded, but it seems that some Gothic nobles—who had agreed to return to Arianism—recovered their former faith and that many Roman citizens (supposedly Catholics) joined them. When the attempt to assassinate Masona failed, one of the conspirators, the future king Witteric, probably a count, revealed the details of the plot. Claudius easily put down the attempt. Segga had his hands cut off (a punishment that seems to have been reserved for usurpers), his property was confiscated and he was banished to Galicia.[1] Vagrila took refuge in what is today the Basilica of Saint Eulalia (Mérida), and the King ordered his property confiscated and given to that Church, but Bishop Masona pardoned him and returned it to him. Sunna was offered another bishopric if he converted to Catholicism (the Arian bishopric of Mérida must have been abolished and the Catholic one was already filled; in any case, the bishopric offered would not be a metropolitan one). Sunna refused and was banished, departing for Mauretania, where he spread Arianism until his violent death, the date of which is unknown (it is assumed to have been around 600).
Reccared ordered the burning of all Arian books and texts, excluded Arians from any public office and abolished the organization of the Arian Church, which disappeared within a few years. Some Goths were forced to convert to Catholicism.
A second Arian attempt had as its protagonists Bishop Uldila, whose see is unknown, though it is supposed that he may have been the Bishop of Toledo, who, although he had nominally abjured, kept his Arian beliefs, and Queen Goiswintha, widow of Athanagild and Leovigild. The conspiracy was thwarted and Uldila was sent into exile. Goiswintha died shortly afterward.
A third conspiracy had been in the planning for some months: some nobles of Septimania were preparing a plot to overthrow the King. It was led by the counts Granista and Wildigern and the Arian Bishop of Narbonne, Athaloc. The conspirators asked for help from the King of Burgundy, Guntram (who was a Catholic).
Hostilities with Burgundy, suspended since 586, suddenly resumed in 589. The Burgundian forces under the command of Boso, who had been summoned by the conspirators, approached Carcassonne, which apparently was occupied, but they were defeated by Visigothic forces under the command of Claudius, dux of the Lusitanian province (apparently a Hispano-Roman, although he may have adopted a Roman name on converting to Catholicism), near the Aude River. The Franks left five thousand corpses and two thousand prisoners on the field. The defeat was complete and the security of Septimania was assured. It seems that Granista and Wildigern died in the fighting and that Athaloc died shortly afterward of natural causes.
The Third Council of Toledo
Shortly before the Council of Toledo was held, Reccared announced that he was lifting the prohibition on the Church holding provincial synods of bishops.
On May 8, 589, the Third Council of Toledo began. Reccared made a profession of Catholic faith and anathematized Arius and his doctrines, and credited himself with the conversion of the Gothic and Suevic people to Catholicism. Several Arian bishops publicly abjured their beliefs, among them four probably Suevi: Beccila of Lucus (Lugo), Gardingus of Tude (Tui), Argiovittus of Portus Cale (Porto) and Sunnila of Vaceum (Viseu, probably of the Lusitanian Province); and four other Goths: Ugnus of Barcino (Barcelona), Fruisclus of Dertosa (Tortosa), Maurila of Palentia (Palencia) and Ubiligisclus of Valentia (Valencia). We know that a Bishop of Pamplona named Loliolo (a Gothic name) attended the meeting, but afterward the see ceased to be represented until the year 684. The resolutions of the Arian Synod of Toledo of 580 were condemned. Seventy-two bishops attended the Council, in person or through delegates (in addition to the five metropolitans), the principal figures being Leander of Seville (instigator of the conversion of Hermenegild) and the Abbot of Servitanum, Eutropius.
The decisions of the Council acquired the force of law when the King published an Edict confirming the Council. Disobedience was punished with severe penalties (confiscation of half of their property for the honestiores, and banishment and loss of their property for the inferiors).
The fourth conspiracy
After the council, in the year 590, a new conspiracy was organized, led by Argimund, cubicularius of the King and dux of a province, and by influential persons of the palace. Although the conspirators intended to assassinate the King and proclaim Argimund in his place, it is unknown whether they were trying to restore Arianism or were driven by ambition for power. When the plot was discovered, Argimund suffered flogging, decalvation, amputation of the right hand and public humiliation.
Social changes
We know that, coinciding with the conversion to Catholicism, some social changes took place among the Goths: their way of dressing adapted to that of the Romans, the traditional brooches and buckles disappearing, and the belongings of the deceased were no longer buried with them,[2] but were instead incinerated.
Family of Reccared
There were negotiations to marry Reccared to the Frankish princesses Rigunth and Chlodosind, but there is no record that these marriages ever took place. Shortly before the Third Council of Toledo (589), Reccared married the commoner Baddo, Bado or Bada, with whom he had already been involved for some years and with whom he had had his son Liuva. His marriage was carried out to please the Church, when it was already planned that at that Council the King would make a public and solemn profession of embracing the Catholic faith and, consequently, also on behalf of the kingdom. Proof of the importance of the act is the fact that Baddo, his wife, was the only Visigothic Queen to sign the acts of a Council.
Although the King's date of birth is unknown, it is known that Hermenegild, his elder brother, had been born around 564, so he himself must have been born in 565 or after that date. Therefore, in 589 he was at most 24 years old. His brother Hermenegild married in 579, being, then, 15 years old (Princess Ingund would have been about 13 or 14). The negotiations to marry him to Rigunth took place around 582 or 583, when he would have been little more than 15, and the new negotiations of which we have news date from 587, when he was a little over 20. The marriage must by then have had a certain urgency, not because he was already king (since the monarchy was not hereditary), but because of Reccared's age, who immediately married Baddo, his former concubine.
His son, Liuva, was born around 581 or 582 (in any case before 584) and was the product of his relationship with Baddo before the canonical marriage, a point supported by the text of the Chronicle of Saint Isidore, which says: «Ignobile quidem matre progenitus, sed virtutum indole in signitus» (which could be translated as «He was raised by a mother of undoubtedly obscure origin, but his virtuous character stood out»).
The Byzantine question
Around 599 there was a war against the Byzantines, whose causes and course we do not know, although it seems that the fighting went in favor of Byzantium, which occupied various territories (not very extensive in any case). It must have been after this that Reccared requested, through the mediation of the Pope, a copy of the treaty concluded with the Byzantines, which set the limits of the province of Spania (it is possible that the Visigoths' copy had been lost, and the imperial copy is supposed to have been destroyed in a fire, probably in 564 or 565). The Pope replied that he should desist from this, because, should the treaty turn up, even with the presumed Byzantine conquests, the Visigothic kingdom would be harmed, since the extent of the province must have been smaller than at the time of the treaty (551?, 564?). As we know that Leovigild had recovered all or part of the Region of the Strait (with Asidona), the regions near Málaga and Baza (and perhaps Baza itself) and probably the territory between Baza and Málaga, the regions occupied by the Byzantines would have been located either in the coastal area between Málaga and Cartagena or in the area of the Strait.
Death of Reccared
Reccared died in Toledo of natural causes on December 21 of the year 601, and was succeeded by his still very young son Liuva II,[3] about whose legitimacy various authors disagree.
References
- ↑ Isidore of Seville, Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum, ch. 54.
- ↑ Strategies of Distinction: Construction of Ethnic Communities, 300-800 (Transformation of the Roman World) by Walter Pohl, ISBN 90-04-10846-7 (p.119-120: dress and funerary customs cease to be distinguishing features in 570/580)
- ↑ Ann Christys, Christians in Al-Andalus, 711-1000, page 37 (Curzon Press, 2002). ISBN 0-7007-1564-9
Bibliography
- Fuente, María Jesús (2009. 3rd edition.). Reinas medievales en los reinos hispánicos (in español). La Esfera de los Libros. Serie Historia nº 15. ISBN 978-84-9734-237-7.
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- Thompson, E.A. (2007). Los godos en España (in español). Alianza: Serie Humanidades. ISBN 978-84-206-6169-8.
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- Flórez, Enrique (1770). Memorias de las reynas catholicas, Historia Genealógica de la Casa Real de Castilla, y de León (in español). Vol. 1. Antonio Marín, Madrid. p. 22.
See also
External links
- Coin of Reccared (in Spanish)
