Petty king

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The Latin term regulus (plural reguli ) is the deminutive of rex (" king ") and is usually rendered in German as small king (in Anglo-American research it is referred to as petty king ). As a rule, this refers to a ruler in antiquity or the Middle Ages who ruled over a part of a tribe (the opposite is the great king ), or generally the ruler of an (mostly monarchical) independent but locally strongly restricted area of ​​rule in premodern times . The respective rulership is occasionally referred to in the specialist literature as a small kingdom .

The reguli mentioned in various ancient and medieval sources must be viewed in a differentiated manner. Ancient Roman historians such as Sallust , Livius , Tacitus and late antiquity such as Ammianus Marcellinus used it to designate very different tribal leaders, be it Numidian , Celtic , Mauritanian , Alemannic and Frankish .

The term “tribal leader” could indeed be reproduced as rex , but also as regulus . This is already evident from the use of the term by Sallust and Livius: Both of them referred to tribal leaders of the Numidians as reges or also as reguli , and Livy proceeded similarly with regard to Celtic tribal leaders. These were largely interchangeable terms.

In some cases, regulus could also be used to identify a different political role. This can already be seen in Sallust, who at a specific point describes two Numidian princes as heirs of their father and not as reges , but as reguli . This should probably emphasize the aspect of co-rule; Something similar can be found in Livius with regard to Numidian and Celtic princes: In both cases, regulus is not to be understood as a devaluation of the princes concerned.

However, the term was also used to denote the limited political scope of action of ancient and medieval tribal leaders. In this sense, the traditional Latin reports on the Alemannic and Frankish reguli are usually understood. In any case, there were recognizable tribal leaders in both tribal groups who only ruled over parts of the entire association of different sizes.

Ammianus Marcellinus emphasized that different Alemannic tribal leaders allied to act against the Romans. The bishop and historian Gregor von Tours , who wrote in the late 6th century , also reported on Frankish tribal leaders (such as Sunno , Marcomer and Gennobaudes ) who allied and jointly took action against the Romans. Furthermore, Gregor referred to the corresponding Franconian leaders as subreguli , making it clear that they only ruled over subgroups of the Franks. Accordingly, they are often referred to as petty kings in modern research (referring to both the Alemanni and the Franks) . In the case of the Franks, Clovis I , the son of the Frankish petty king Childerich , succeeded in eliminating the other Franconian kings and establishing an all-Franconian rule.

The decisive factor here is that these "petty kings" - the Alemanni, Franks, Anglo-Saxons (see Heptarchy ) or in Ireland before the English conquest - were leaders of fragmented associations in the late late antiquity and the early Middle Ages , who did not succeed in to gain dominion over the entire tribe, or who contented themselves with a limited rule.

In this sense, the term “petty king” is applicable to leaders or rulers of tribal or other associations and territories that exercised a very limited local rule, such as the Slavs or Vikings . Furthermore, a regionally limited autonomous rule within an empire whose central power fell apart can be referred to as a small kingdom. For example, the provincial princes and regional rulers in Al-Andalus , the Muslim-ruled part of the Pyrenees Peninsula , who established so-called Taifa kingdoms ( taifas ) in several waves from the 11th to the 13th centuries , are often referred to as "minor kings" in German historiography.

Although “small king” is not necessarily meant derogatory in the sources or in the historiography, the term was used very polemically in some sources. In the “Regensburg continuation” of the Annales Fuldenses for the year 888, it is noted disparagingly that after the death of the emperor, many reguli in Europe had reached for power. Once again pointed was regulus in the Staufer period of Rainald of Dassel , the Chancellor Emperor Frederick I used. In order to emphasize the primacy of the Roman-German Empire as propagated by the Hohenstaufen side, Rainald von Dassel described the other kings of Latin Europe as provincial kings ( reges provinciarum ) and reguli compared to the emperor .

literature

  • Matthias Becher : "Rule" in the transition from late antiquity to the early Middle Ages. From Rome to the Franks. In: Theo Kölzer , Rudolf Schieffer (ed.): From late antiquity to the early Middle Ages. Continuities and breaks, concepts and findings (lectures and research 70). Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2009, pp. 163–188.
  • Steven Fanning: Reguli in the Roman Empire, late antiquity, and the early medieval Germanic Kingdoms. In: Ralph Mathisen (Ed.): Romans, barbarians, and the Transformation of the Roman World. Farnham et al. 2011, pp. 43-54.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Sallust, Iugurtha 5.7, Iugurtha 9.4 and Iugurtha 11.5; Livy 42.65.
  2. ↑ Livy 43: 5, 8.
  3. ↑ Ammianus 29: 5, 2.
  4. ↑ Passim, for example Ammianus 17,2,8.
  5. ↑ On the use of the terms rex / regulus in Livius in relation to the Celts, cf. also Gerhard Dobesch: The Celts in Austria according to the oldest reports of antiquity. Vienna / Cologne / Graz 1980, p. 388ff.
  6. ^ Cf. Steven Fanning: Reguli in the Roman Empire, late antiquity, and the early medieval Germanic Kingdoms. In: Ralph Mathisen (Ed.): Romans, barbarians, and the Transformation of the Roman World. Farnham et al. a. 2011, p. 45.
  7. ^ Steven Fanning: Reguli in the Roman Empire, late antiquity, and the early medieval Germanic Kingdoms. In: Ralph Mathisen (Ed.): Romans, barbarians, and the Transformation of the Roman World. Farnham et al. a. 2011, pp. 45-47.
  8. ↑ Steven Fanning argues against this interpretation of research, which is still common today: Reguli in the Roman Empire, late antiquity, and the early medieval Germanic Kingdoms. In: Ralph Mathisen (Ed.): Romans, barbarians, and the Transformation of the Roman World. Farnham et al. 2011, p. 49ff., Who here (not always convincingly) emphasizes the role of co-rule.
  9. ^ Gregory of Tours, Historiae 2.9.
  10. ^ Dieter Geuenich : History of the Alemanni. 2nd, revised edition. Stuttgart 2005.
  11. ^ Ulrich Nonn : The Franks. Stuttgart 2013, see especially p. 63ff.
  12. ^ Matthias Becher: Clovis I. The rise of the Merovingians and the end of the ancient world. Munich 2011.
  13. ^ Klaus Herbers : History of Spain in the Middle Ages. Stuttgart 2006, p. 133.
  14. ↑ Stefan Weinfurter : The Empire in the Middle Ages. Munich 2008, p. 121.