Roderic

From Hispanopedia
For other uses, see Rodrigo (disambiguation).
Roderic
Among the frescoes of Qusair Amra (present-day Jordan) is a depiction of six kings submitting to the Umayyad caliph, identified by their names written in Greek and Arabic characters. One of them is "Roderic".Qusayr ‘Amra at metmuseum.org
King of the Visigoths
Reign710–711
Rival and in dispute with Agila II
PredecessorWitiza
SuccessorArab invasion: Musa ibn Nusair, governor of Ifriqiya
Died711
SpouseEgilona
FatherTheodofred (son of Chindasvinth and Riciberga)

Roderic or Rodrigo (Gothic: Hroþareiks, Latin: Rodericus, and Arabic: لذريق, Ludharīq; 688–711), named in numerous classical sources as Don Rodrigo, was Visigothic King between 710 and 711. He came to the throne by violent means, which led to the secession of part of the kingdom. He was defeated by the Muslims at the Battle of Guadalete, owing to a betrayal by Visigothic opponents of the King himself.

The sources

The Mozarabic Chronicle of 754 offers little information about the events that took place immediately after the reign of Witiza. It indicates that Roderic seized the throne and that he reigned for one year. It adds that there was a civil war before the invasion of the Arabs and that he was betrayed by some of his troops. However, it does not mention Agila II, nor that the supporters of Witiza carried out the betrayal, nor that there was in any case a request for help to dethrone Roderic.[1][2]

The Chronica regum Visigothorum records the names of the Visigothic kings and the years of their reigns. After the enthronement of Ervig, the manuscripts differ in the continuation of the following kings.[3]

The Continuatio codicis C Parisini, which appears in a 12th-century manuscript, does not mention Roderic and indicates that Witiza was succeeded by Agila and, after three years, Agila was succeeded by Ardo. But the Continuatio Legionensis, which appears in an 11th-century manuscript, indicates that Witiza was succeeded by Roderic, who reigned for seven years and six months.[4][5] However, it is not known when they were first compiled and, given that they assign different reign lengths to the successors of Ervig, it is possible that there may have been transcription errors. But ultimately the implication is that Witiza was succeeded by two kings who controlled different parts of the kingdom.[6]

Don Rodrigo, King of the Visigoths
Don Rodrigo, King of the Visigoths (Museo del Prado, Madrid)

As for the Arabic chronicles, the first version of the conquest of Hispania dates from around 860. The work of Ibn Abd al-Hakam relates that the Lord of Ceuta, eager to take revenge on Roderic, offered to transport Tariq ibn Ziyad to the Iberian Peninsula. The Visigothic King went to halt his advance, but was defeated and Roderic was killed. The rest of the Arabic chronicles share this view: the role of the Lord of Ceuta and the defeat of Roderic in a battle.[7][7] For their part, the Asturian Chronicles—the Chronicle of Albelda and the Chronicle of Alfonso III—presented the Kingdom of Asturias as the continuator of Roderic's Visigothic kingdom and blamed the Arab conquest on the Witizans, to whom they attribute the conspiracy by which they summoned the Arabs.[8][9] The Chronicle of Alfonso III dates from the 9th century. The Rotensis version indicates that Roderic was the grandson of Chindasvinth and son of Theodofred, who had been murdered by Egica to prevent him from becoming a rival for the throne.[10] In addition, it indicates without further detail that Roderic succeeded Witiza and in the third year of his reign was defeated by the Arabs and the betrayal of the sons of Witiza.[11] The Sebastianensis version adds that the sons of Witiza asked the Arabs for help to expel Roderic from the throne, but that they perished along with Roderic.[12] Given that the Chronicle of Alfonso III indicates that Witiza was the son of Egica and Cixilo, at the moment he ceased to reign he would have been about twenty-five years old and, therefore, his offspring would not at that time have been old enough to betray anyone, so the chronicle contradicts itself.[13]

Neither the Mozarabic Chronicle nor the later ones mention Agila II, nor do the Arabic chronicles. The situation arises that the chronicles written in Agila II's area of influence were unaware of the existence of Roderic until after the middle of the 13th century, when the work of Bishop Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada was translated.[14] However, there has been an erroneous methodological drift of trying to match the name of Agila with one of the unnamed figures in the Chronicles, such as making him the son of Witiza, whose name does not appear in the Asturian chronicles,[15] and even accommodating him as a son or relative of Witiza who was associated with the throne in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula.[14] The Asturian chronicles, given their conception that Roderic had been the last Visigothic king and that the Kingdom of Asturias was identified as his successor,[8] eliminated Agila, who reigned two more years, and added those years to the reign of Roderic, so that the latter would have reigned three years.[16]

Succession of Witiza

There is no record of his death or of the circumstances of the succession of Witiza, although it can be deduced that it was not peaceful.[17] According to the Chronica Regum Visigothorum, the reign of Witiza ended in 710, while the Mozarabic Chronicle places it in 711. It is generally accepted that the reign of Witiza ended with his death, when he would not yet have reached thirty years of age, at around twenty-five years of age,[18][19] depending on whether he is considered to have been the son of Queen Cixilo; although if Witiza is considered not to have been the son of Cixilo, but of an earlier marriage of Egica, then he would have been of a relatively advanced age.[20]

Of the following King, Roderic, the Mozarabic Chronicle seems to indicate that he seized the throne by violent means with the support of a significant part of the aristocracy that made up the secular and ecclesiastical elite of the kingdom that took part in the election of the King.[21] In this way Witiza would have been overthrown and very probably murdered.[19] Had he died of natural causes and had Roderic been elected, then the conflictive situation would not have arisen.[22] Although it could have been the case that Witiza died of natural causes and that Roderic rose up to prevent Witiza's relatives from designating one of their members to the throne.[5] It has been supposed that there might have been an interregnum of several weeks or months during which a state of war would have existed between Roderic and other claimants to the throne.[23]

However it happened, what is certain (according to the sources) is that this coup d'état weakened the consensus among the aristocracy, and that Roderic's accession to the throne produced internal conflicts that occurred at the moment when the Arabs had begun to attack towns in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. The noble elite would have split and, as had already happened with the succession of Chindasvinth in 653 and of Recceswinth in 672,[13] there was a regional rebellion of territories that did not recognize Roderic's authority,[5] so it is possible that Roderic had to face the division of the kingdom with Agila II in the northeast,[13] since the coins minted in the name of Agila come from the northeast of the kingdom—from Narbonensis and Tarraconensis—with no geographical overlap with the coins minted in the name of Roderic.[24][25]

Muslim conquest

King Don Rodrigo Haranguing His Troops at the Battle of Guadalete, by Bernardo Blanco, 1871 (Museo del Prado, Madrid).
Title page of La crónica del rey don Rodrigo, which gathers the traditions about the last Visigothic king and the loss of Spain.

There are Arabic sources indicating that Roderic was campaigning against the Vascones at the moment of the Arab landing commanded by Tariq ibn Ziyad. This is feasible if it is considered a prestige expedition to consolidate his power in a newly begun reign. However, the Chronicle of 754 does not indicate that there had been any military expedition, and therefore, the army was summoned to confront the Arabs. The Arabic sources create exaggerated figures to magnify the Arab victory, but an approximate figure may be somewhat larger than the army summoned by Wamba to subdue Count Paul,[26] from 12,000 to 14,000 Visigoths against 10,000 Arabs.[27]

While the Arabic chronicles speak of the existence of a single Arab incursion, the Mozarabic Chronicle of 754 indicates that the Arabs were carrying out a series of incursions when Roderic undertook the offensive to confront them.[28] The location of the battle is not clear; Isla Frez indicates that the Visigothic army followed the route from Córdoba to the Bay of Algeciras, which bypassed Seville, where the Chronicle of Abu Bakr Ibn Umar Al-Qutiyya indicates that there were relatives of Witiza, and where Roderic would not expect to find support.[29]

The result was the complete debacle of the Visigothic army and the death of the Monarch himself.[30] It can be glimpsed that the outcome of that battle was decided by a betrayal, for which no name is given, which produced a desertion in the Visigothic ranks.[22] The betrayal of the King appears not only in the Mozarabic Chronicle but also in the Arabic ones, which can be corroborated in the sense that Roderic would not have decided to give battle to the Arabs had he not had a numerical and logistical advantage, hence the final outcome would have been the fruit of a betrayal.[31] However, given that Roderic had acceded to the throne in a conflictive manner against Witizan interests and would not yet have affirmed his authority, and that within the Visigothic army there would have been noble clienteles attached to the family of Witiza, these would have abandoned the King at the very moment of the battle, which would have sealed the final disaster.[27] The intention of the traitors would have been for the King to be eliminated or greatly weakened, so that they could seize power,[32][8] and therefore it was not to hand over the kingdom to the invaders, but to bring about a change of King.[33]

But their plan did not go as they expected and they perished in the same battle,[34][35] or shortly afterward in other episodes such as the taking of Toledo;[36][37] which points to the lack of prior agreements and would serve to refute the accusations of the Asturian chronicles, which established that the Arabs were summoned by the Witizans.[9][38] These accusations would have arisen from the rapprochement between the Arabs and the Witizans after the conquest, in which the latter would have sought to secure the maintenance of their political and economic position.[34]

A second attempt by the Visigothic army to halt the Muslims took place at Écija shortly afterward, with a new defeat, which annulled all Visigothic resistance.[39] The Mozarabic Chronicle may imply that the defeat of King Roderic provoked a civil war among the Visigoths, and that Roderic would have lost control of Toledo to Oppas, the son of Egica,[37][36] who, according to Roger Collins, could have been crowned King at the moment when Roderic went to stop the Arabs or after he had been defeated by them.[28] Nevertheless, the expulsion of Oppas from Toledo by the high aristocracy supportive of Roderic that remained there would attest to the lack of support the Witizan faction would have had for such an attempt.[40]

The death of the King and of the court elite, both supporters and adversaries of Roderic, as well as [the loss] of the capital, paralyzed the political system, and the regional nobility submitted to the invaders, negotiating the preservation of their political and economic status.[41] In addition, the elimination of a significant part of the Visigothic aristocracy facilitated mixed marriages with the invaders, such as that of the widowed Queen Egilona with Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa, wali of Al-Andalus.[30]

Narratives and legends

There are much later narratives originating in Egypt from an unreliable oral tradition, which link Don Rodrigo with the Count of Ceuta, Don Julián, who sent his daughter Florinda la Cava to the court of Toledo to be educated,[7] and also with the idea that it was a good place to find a husband among the sons of other nobles.

At that time, the Visigothic King Don Rodrigo suffered from scabies, and Florinda was the one chosen to clean his scabies with a delicate golden pin. Thus King Don Rodrigo began to take notice of her, wanting to possess her, but not in marriage. In time, and driven by lust, he forced the young woman. She, after the consummation of the act, sends her father a series of gifts among which she places a rotten egg. Don Julián, on receiving it, understood what had happened. He went to Toledo to reclaim his daughter, although so as not to arouse suspicion, he says that he must take Florinda with him, since his wife was terribly ill and only the sight of her daughter could restore some of her health. Don Rodrigo does not suspect anything and hands the girl over to her father. Don Julián returned to Ceuta and, more offended than ever, opens talks with Musa ibn Nusair to land on the Iberian Peninsula and dethrone Roderic.[42]

King Don Rodrigo spying from the bushes on the left on Florinda la Cava bathing, daughter of Count Don Julián,
Painting Florinda (1853) by Franz Xaver Winterhalter

In another version, referring to what both the legend and the Romancero relate, Florinda la Cava was a young woman of great beauty who was sent by her father, Count of the city of Ceuta (then called Septem), to the Visigothic court in Toledo, in order to receive a good education. At that time, it should be remembered, Visigothic Spain was ruled by Roderic, the last Visigothic king, who had a reputation for being a womanizing King. At court, Florinda met Roderic, who instantly fell in love with her beauty and began to court her.

"La Cava, so called by the Arabs and whose name means «bad woman», had gone out with her maidens through the gardens of her residence and decided to take a bath without realizing that Don Rodrigo was watching her. The sight of the beautiful young woman «set ablaze» the monarch who, obsessed with the girl, would end up forcing her. «Florinda lost her flower, the king suffered punishment», says the Spanish Romancero, which blames this outrage for the subsequent disaster at the Battle of Guadalete and the end of the Visigothic kingdom: «Of the loss of Spain / here was the fatal beginning»."

"«She says there was force; he, that the pleasure was shared», says the Romancero without clarifying whether or not there was rape, something that is indeed indicated in other chronicles, such as in «La verdadera historia del rey Don Rodrigo» (1589), by Miguel de Luna. Other versions claim, on the other hand, that it was the young woman who seduced Don Rodrigo and that he managed «to lie with her» under a promise of marriage, but did not keep what he had promised."

Be that as it may, Florinda, far from wanting to be with the King, rejected him. The King, enraged and full of fury, kidnapped Florinda and forced her to have sexual relations. Florinda told her father everything that had happened, and he decided to take revenge on Roderic. Don Julián met with the Muslims ("in Ceuta is Don Julián, in Ceuta the well-named, who through the streets beyond comes bringing the embassy"), providing them with the necessary vessels to reach the Iberian Peninsula through Ceuta. This combination of "loves, hatreds and revenges" was the legendary origin of the Muslim occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. The troops of Tariq ibn Ziyad, the Muslim general of Musa, in the summer of 711 defeated the hosts of Don Rodrigo at the Battle of Guadalete.

A legend, transmitted by Ibn al-Qutiyya in his History of the Conquest of al-Andalus,[43] tells that a King of Spain built a tower in Toledo in which he locked away a secret with a padlock and imposed on his successors the obligation to add one more padlock. King Roderic, determined to discover the secret, had the chamber opened, and in it figures of Arab horsemen were painted on the walls; in the middle of the room there was a richly carved table on which it was engraved that it was the table of King Solomon, and on top of the table was a chest with a parchment that said: «If this chamber is violated and the enchantment contained in this chest is broken, the people painted on these walls will invade Spain, overthrow its kings and subjugate the whole country».[44]

In art and literature

The Scottish writer Walter Scott and the Englishmen Walter Savage Landor and Robert Southey, drawing on the legends associated with the figure, wrote various works: Scott, his poem The Vision of Don Roderick, in 1811; Landor, his tragedy Count Julian, in 1812; and Southey, Roderick, the Last of the Goths, in 1814.

The American writer Washington Irving, during his stay in Spain, returned to Don Rodrigo in his Moorish Chronicles: Legends of the Conquest of Spain (1835): «The Legend of Don Roderick», «The Legend of the Subjugation of Spain» and «The Legend of Count Julian and His Family».

Don Rodrigo has also given his name to two operas: Rodrigo by George Frideric Handel (1707) and Don Rodrigo by Alberto Ginastera.

See also

Wikisource logo
Spanish Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Sayas Abengochea & Abad Varela 2013, pp. 415–416.
  2. ↑ Collins 2005, pp. 146–148.
  3. ↑ Huete Fudio 1994, p. 11.
  4. ↑ Sayas Abengochea & Abad Varela 2013, p. 416.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Isla Frez 2010, p. 116.
  6. ↑ Collins 2005, p. 146.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Collins 2005, p. 149.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Isla Frez 2010, p. 123.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Barkai 2007, p. 41.
  10. ↑ Collins 2005, p. 150.
  11. ↑ Collins 2005, p. 151.
  12. ↑ Sayas Abengochea & Abad Varela 2013, pp. 416–417.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Collins 2005, p. 153.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Hernández Juberías 1996, p. 168.
  15. ↑ Collins 2005, p. 152.
  16. ↑ García Moreno 1992, p. 445. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFGarcía_Moreno1992 (help)
  17. ↑ Fouracre 2005, p. 368.
  18. ↑ Orlandis 2003, p. 129.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Collins 2005, p. 125.
  20. ↑ Isla Frez 2010, p. 115.
  21. ↑ Sayas Abengochea & Abad Varela 2013, p. 418.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Collins 2005, p. 147.
  23. ↑ García Moreno, Luis A. (1992). "Los últimos tiempos del reino visigodo". Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia (in español) (CLXXXIX): 432. ISSN 0034-0626.
  24. ↑ Collins 2005, p. 145.
  25. ↑ Sayas Abengochea & Abad Varela 2013, p. 417.
  26. ↑ Isla Frez 2010, pp. 117–118.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Isla Frez 2010, p. 121.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Collins 2005, p. 154.
  29. ↑ Isla Frez 2010, pp. 119–120.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Isla Frez 2010, p. 124.
  31. ↑ Isla Frez 2010, p. 120.
  32. ↑ Sayas Abengochea & Abad Varela 2013, pp. 418–419.
  33. ↑ Collins 2005, pp. 148, 154.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Isla Frez 2010, pp. 123–124.
  35. ↑ García Moreno 1992, p. 449. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFGarcía_Moreno1992 (help)
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Collins 2005, p. 148.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Sayas Abengochea & Abad Varela 2013, p. 419.
  38. ↑ Isla Frez 2010, pp. 122–123.
  39. ↑ Martínez Díez 2005, p. 41.
  40. ↑ García Moreno 2013, p. 542.
  41. ↑ Collins 2005, p. 158.
  42. ↑ Robles 1874, p. 101.
  43. ↑ Viguera Molins 2000, p. 11.
  44. ↑ Fletcher 2000, p. 31.

Bibliography

Wikimedia Commons logo
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rodrigo.
Retrieved from "https://en.hispanopedia.com/index.php?title=Roderic&oldid=1960"