Tulga

Tulga (or "Tulca") was Visigothic King of Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) 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 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, Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo 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.