- Athanagild
Athanagild (died 567) was Visigothic King of
Hispania (theIberian Peninsula , today,Spain andPortugal ).With the help of a Roman force, including a fleet to watch the coasts, sent from
Gaul in 551 by the emperor of the eastern Roman empire, Justinian, Athanagild defeated and killed his predecessor, KingAgila , nearSeville in 554. Athanagild then became king.But the ports and coastal fortifications taken in the name of Athanagild weren't swiftly turned over by his Byzantine allies. Athanagild was able to recover a few cities but was forced to cede a large portion of
Hispania Baetica (Andalusia) to a Byzantine governor of high standing but advanced years named Liberius. Liberius set about enlarging the gift.Athanagild then endeavoured to drive his Roman allies out of Iberia but was unsuccessful. He had invited the establishment of a Byzantine exclave in the south, that would last for a further seventy years. It seems clear that the Roman population of
Baetica was solidly behind this orthodox patrician Roman governor.There are few details about this far western extension of Byzantine power, which is overlooked by Justinian's historians
Procopius andAgathius . It straddled the Straits of Gades and included major cities: New Carthage (Cartagena), Corduba (Córdoba), and Assionia.Although throughout his rule he had to fight the Byzantines, the
Franks , and theSuevi , and was harassed in thePyrenees by the Basques, Athanagild strengthened his kingdom internally by conciliating theCatholics , whom hisArian predecessors had oppressed. When the king of the Suevi declared for CatholicChristianity about 560, Athanagild and the Visigothic nobility found themselves isolated in theirArianism .Athanagild's court at the city he founded, Toledo, was famed for its splendor. His queen was
Goiswintha , who gave him two daughters: Brunhilda and the tragically murderedGalswintha , who married the Frankish brother-kingsSigebert of Austrasia and Chilperic, king of theNeustria n Franks, who set aside his first wife in favor of Galswintha, then had her strangled.Athanagild died peacefully in his bed, a fact his chronicler didn't overlook, and was succeeded by his brothers
Liuva I and the powerful restorer of Visigothic unity,Liuvigild , last of the Arian Visigoths.ee also
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Spania External links
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/19D*.html#Athanagild J.B.Bury, "History of the Later Roman Empire,"] , 1923, ch. XIX
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