Rekkeswinth

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King Rekkeswinth's votive crown from the Guarrazar treasure
Pendant (Pendilien) of the votive crown

Rekkeswinth ( Flavius ​​Reccessvindus Rex ; † September 1, 672 in Gerticos) was king of the Visigoths . He ruled from January 20, 649 (as co-regent of his father) and September 30, 653 (as sole ruler) until his death.

Origin and assumption of government

Rekkeswinth was the son and successor of King Chindaswinth . Chindaswinth had come to power through a coup in 642 when he was already around eighty years old. On January 20, 649 Chindaswinth raised his son to co-ruler. He wanted to found a dynasty and turn off the right to vote. Previously, Bishop Braulio of Saragossa, together with another bishop and a senior official, had written a constitutionally informative letter to Chindaswinth. The three senders ask the king to make his son co-ruler, since Rekkeswinth was at an age when he was able to wage war. They make this request on behalf of the entire population of the areas under their control. Chindaswinth probably asked the bishops and important secular officials of his empire to write such letters. Apparently he wanted to give legitimacy to his son's uprising ; the missing electoral act should be replaced by written declarations of intent. The mention of the will of all subjects is possibly an indication of an old, not yet forgotten idea of ​​a right of participation of the people (i.e. a popular assembly) in such decisions. The background of the efforts to secure the succession formed the strong tensions between Chindaswinth and the clergy and nobility of the empire; Chindaswinth was widely hated.

Because of his old age, Chindaswinth Rekkeswinth increasingly left the business of government. When Chindaswinth died on September 30, 653, Rekkeswinth could immediately assume sole rule; a king election did not take place.

government

In northern Spain, a usurper named Froia rebelled in 653, allying himself with the Basques. The insurgents besieged Zaragoza , but the revolt was quickly put down. Apart from this episode, it appears that Rekkeswinth's reign was largely marked by internal and external peace.

Rekkeswinth convened two imperial synods, the 8th council of Toledo in 653 and the 10th council of Toledo in 656 (the 9th council was only a provincial synod ). Since he was dissatisfied with the results of these councils, he did not allow any more imperial councils in the remaining 16 years of his reign. The Council Fathers had opposed his interests with their decisions, above all by emphasizing the concept of office in their remarks on kingship and insisting on the principle of electoral kingship. In doing so, they indirectly doubted the legitimacy of his rule. The 8th Council of Toledo determined Toledo as the place of king's election or the place of death of the late king. There was also a difference of opinion between the king and the bishops over the extensive possessions that Chindaswinth had confiscated, which the bishops believed had been wrongly done.

In 654 Rekkeswinth published a code of law, the Liber iudiciorum ( Book of Judgments ) or Liber iudicum ( Book of Judges ), which from then on should be the only code of law in the empire; the use of other legal sources was prohibited. This work contained the territorial law, which was equally valid for Goths and Romans, and which, unlike tribal law, was not based on the ethnicity of the people. It was mainly determined by Roman, only in places by Germanic legal thought. The code of law forbade Jewish customs and rites, because Rekkeswinth, like other Visigoth kings, wanted to put strong pressure on the Jews to force them to convert to Christianity. Insulting the ruler ( lese majesty ) became a criminal offense and was punishable by the confiscation of half of the perpetrator's property; flogging was provided for in the event of an insult to majesty against a ruler who had already died.

Rekkeswinth was married to Recciberga, who, according to her funerary inscription, died at the age of 22 years and eight months after seven years of marriage. Apparently he did not have a male heir.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ For the controversial localization of this place see Yves Bonnaz: Chroniques asturiennes , Paris 1987, p. 107f.
  2. ↑ Dietrich Claude: Adel, Kirche und Königum im Westgotenreich , Sigmaringen 1971, pp. 131-133.
  3. ^ Concilium Toletanum VIII c. 10, ed. José Vives, Concilios visigóticos e hispano-romanos , Barcelona 1963, p. 283.
  4. ↑ Dietrich Claude: Adel, Kirche und Königum im Westgotenreich , Sigmaringen 1971, pp. 133–145.
  5. ↑ Lex Visigothorum XII.2.3-11, XII.2.15, ed. Karl Zeumer, MGH Leges I.1, Hannover 1902, pp. 413-417, 423f.
  6. ↑ Lex Visigothorum II.1.9, ed. Karl Zeumer, MGH Leges I.1, Hannover 1902, p. 57f.
  7. ↑ The name of the queen is only passed down through her funerary inscription (carmen 26) composed by Metropolitan Eugenius II of Toledo († 657): Paulo Farmhouse Alberto (ed.): Eugenii Toletani opera omnia , Turnhout 2005, p. 243. See also Olivia R. Constable (Ed.): Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources , Philadelphia 1997, pp. 24f.
predecessor Office successor
Chindaswinth King of the Visigoths
653–672 		Wamba
personal data
SURNAME Rekkeswinth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of the Visigoths
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century or 7th century
DATE OF DEATH September 1, 672
Place of death Gerticos