Suebi
The
Suebi or
Suevi were
Elbe-
Germanics whose origin was near the
Baltic Sea.
2000 years ago the Baltic Sea was known to the
Romans as the
Mare Suebicum. Partially because of his unfamiliarity with the various Germanic peoples interacting with Rome at the time, the historian
Tacitus referred to all Elbe-
Germanics as Suebi. More recent scholarship has shown that view to be an oversimplification. The Suebi eventually migrated south and west to reside for a while in the
Rhineland area of modern
Germany, where their name survives in the historic region known as
Swabia. The Suebi under
Ariovistus were invited into
Gallia by the
Sequani but soon came to dominate them and were finally defeated by
Julius Caesar in
58 BC.
Closely related to the
Alamanni and often working in concert with them, the Suebi for the most part stayed on the right bank of the
Rhine until
December 31,
406, when much of the tribe joined the
Vandals and
Alans in breaching the Roman frontier at
Mainz, thus launching an invasion of the province of
Gaul.
Part of the Suebi, the northern Suebi were mentioned in
569 under
Frankish king
Sigebert I. in areas of today's
Saxony-Anhalt. In connection to the Suebi,
Saxons and
Lombards, returning from the
Italian Peninsula in
573, are also mentioned.
While the
Vandals and
Alans clashed with the Roman-allied
Franks for supremacy in Gaul, the Suebi under their king
Hermeric worked their way to the south, eventually crossing the
Pyrenees and entering the
Iberian Peninsula which was out of Imperial rule since the rebellion of
Gerontius and
Maximus on
409.
Passing through the
Basque country, they settled in the Roman province of
Gallaecia, in north-western
Hispania (modern
Galicia and
northern Portugal), swore fealty to the Emperor
Honorius and were accepted as
foederati and permitted to settle, under their own autonomous governance. Contemporaneously with the self-governing province of
Britannia, the kingdom of the Suebi in Gallaecia became the first of the sub-Roman kingdoms to be formed in the disintegrating territory of the Western Roman Empire. Suebi Gallaecia was the first kingdom separated from the Roman Empire to mint coins.
|
Iberian Peninsula (530 AC-570 AC) |
The Suebi kingdom in
Gallaecia and northern
Lusitania was established at
410 and lasted until
584 after a century of slow decline. Unlike the
Ostrogoth kingdom of Italy or the
Visigoth kingdom in
Hispania, it never reached major political relevance.
Braulio of
Zaragoza depicted it as
the extremity of the west in an illiterate country where naught is heard but the sound of gales. Therefore very little remains from it. As the Suebi quickly adopted the local
Hispano-Roman language, few traces left of their Germanic tongue. Some influence on the
Galician language and
Portuguese language remained, like "lawerka" for Portuguese "laverca" (archaic form of "cotovia" -
lark).
German invaders settled mainly in the areas of
Braga (Bracara Augusta),
Porto (Portus Cale),
Lugo (Lucus Augusta) and
Astorga (Asturica Augusta). Bracara Augusta, the modern city of
Braga and former capital of Roman Gallaecia, became the capital of the Suebi.
In
438 Hermeric ratified the peace with the Hispano-Roman local population and, weary of fighting, abdicated in favour of his son
Rechila.
The irruption of Visigoths in the Iberian Peninsula from
416 sent from Aquitania by the Emperor of the West to fight the
Vandals and the
Alans resulted into an ephemeral expansion of the Suebi Kingdom: at its heyday Suebic Gallaecia extended as far as
Mérida or
Seville.
In
448 Rechila died, leaving the crown to his son Rechiarius who had converted to Roman Catholicism circa
447. Catholicism became official to the pagan Suebi and mostly
Priscillianist population base, just to convert to
Arianism few years later, under the rule of Remismund and to revert back to Catholicism again by the middle of the next century.
In
456 Rechiarius died after being defeated by the
Visigoth king Theodoric II, and the Sueve glory began to fade. The Sueve kingdom got cornered to the hostile northwest and political division arose across the river Minius (
Minho or Miño) with two different kings ruling in both sides of the river. Despite the
Visigoths pressure, the Suebi maintained their nominal independence on the northwest until
584, when the
Visigoth king
Leovigild, dethroned
Andeca, last king of the Suebi, in
585.
*
Hermeric (
409-
438)
*
Rechila (
438-
448)
*
Rechiar (
448-
456)
*
Aioulf (
456-
457), in the south alone
*
Framta (
456-
457), in the north alone
*
Maldras (
457-
459), in the south alone
*
Richimund (
459-
463), in the north alone
*
Frumar (
459-
463), in the south alone
*
Remismund (
459-
469), whole realm from 463
Obscurity (
469-
550), during this time one name alone is known:
Theodemund, but perhaps also a Vermund, Rechila II, and Rechiar II
*
Carriaric (
550-
559)
*
Theodemar (
559-
570)
*
Miro (
570-
583)
*
Eboric (also called
Euric) (
583-
584)
*
Andeca (
584-
585), deposed and put in a
monastery by
Leovigild*
Malaric (
585-
586), opposed Leovigild and defeated
The
Visigoths conquered the Suevi in 585.
*
Migrations period*
Kingdom of Galicia*
History of Galicia*
Timeline of Galician History*
Timeline of Portuguese history**
Germanic Kingdoms (5th to 8th Century)**
Al' Garb Al'Andalus and the beginning of the Reconquista (8th to 9th Century)*
Gallaecia*
Galicia (Spain)*
History of Spain*
Swabia
