Rechila (died 448) was the

Suevi The Suebi (or Suebians, also spelled Suevi, Suavi) were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names ...

c king of Galicia from 438 until his death. There are few primary sources for his life, but

Hydatius Hydatius, also spelled Idacius (c. 400 – c. 469) was a late Western Roman writer and clergyman. The bishop of Aquae Flaviae in the Roman province of Gallaecia (almost certainly the modern Chaves, Portugal, in the modern district of Vila Real), h ...

was a contemporary Christian (non-

Arian Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God t ...

) chronicler in Galicia. When his father,

Hermeric Hermeric (died 441) was the king of the Suevi from at least 419 and possibly as early as 406 until his abdication in 438. Biography Before 419 Nothing is known for sure about Hermeric before 419, the year in which he is first mentioned; ...

, turned ill in 438, he retired from active political life (dying in 441) and handed the reins of government and the royal title over to his son. He endeavoured to expand the Suevic kingdom to fill the vacuum left by the retiring

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal Kingdom, Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The ...

and Alans. In 438 he defeated Andevotus, the ''

comes Hispaniarum ''Comes'' ( ), plural ''comites'' ( ), was a Roman title or office, and the origin Latin form of the medieval and modern title "count". Before becoming a word for various types of title or office, the word originally meant "companion", either i ...

'', on the river

Genil The Genil River is the main (left) tributary of the river Guadalquivir in Andalusia, Spain. The Roman ''Singilis'', its modern name derives from the Moorish rendering of the Roman name: ''Sinyil, Sannil'', and ''Sinnil''. Route The source of the ...

(Singillio). The Roman position in Iberia became so tenuous that three ''magistri utriusque militiae'' (masters of both services) were sent to the peninsula between 441 and 446. Invading southern Iberia, Rechila took the provincial capitals of Mérida in 439 and

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

in 441. These conquests were extremely significant, but nothing of the sequence of events leading to them is known. The provinces of

Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusita ...

, Baetica, and Carthaginiensis were subjected to the Suevi with the exception of the Levante and the Mediterranean seaboard. Rechila was involved in near constant war with the Romans. While returning in 440 from his third embassy to the Suevi, the Roman legate Censorius was captured by Rechila near Mértola (''Myrtilis''). The king had him imprisoned for the remainder of his reign. Rechila died a

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

in Mérida: ''gentilis moritur'' ("died a gentile") according to Hydatius, but

Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...

, writing well over a century and a half later, and whose source was Hydatius, says ''ut ferunt, gentilitatis vitam finivit'' ("finished his life a gentile, so they say"). There is no reason, however, for accepting Isidore's doubts, which were probably precipitated by the fact that Rechila's son and successor was the Catholic

Rechiar Rechiar or Flavius Rechiarius (after 415 – December 456) was the third Suevic king of Gallaecia, from 448 until his death, and also the first one to be born in Gallaecia. He was one of the most innovative and belligerent of the Suevi monarch ...

. Some scholars have raised the contention that his father raised him that way in order to foster good relations with the Church and bring about the easy conversion of the Suevi.Thompson, "The Conversion of the Spanish Suevi", 79, who denies this. Rechila may have been the father or perhaps uncle of the ''

magister militum (Latin for "master of soldiers", plural ) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, ...

'' Ricimer.Gillett, "The Birth of Ricimer".

Notes

Sources

* Gillett, Andrew. "The Birth of Ricimer." ''Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte'' 44, 3 (1995): 380–84. * Thompson, E. A. "The Conversion of the Spanish Suevi to Catholicism."

Edward James Edward Frank Willis James (16 August 1907 – 2 December 1984) was a British poet known for his patronage of the surrealist art movement. Early life and marriage James was born on 16 August 1907, the only son of William James (who had inherite ...

, ed., ''Visigothic Spain: New Approaches''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980. . * Thompson, E. A. ''Romans and Barbarians: The Decline of the Western Empire''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982. .
{{Galician monarchs 5th-century Suebian kings Germanic warriors Medieval Portugal 448 deaths Year of birth unknown