The Ruccones (also called Rucones, Runcones, or Roccones) were a
tribal group
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...
, probably related to the
Astures or the
Basques
The Basques ( or ; eu, euskaldunak ; es, vascos ; french: basques ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Bas ...
, who lived semi-autonomously in northern
Hispania
Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania ...
from the fifth through to the seventh centuries. Their population area extended approximately from modern-day
Asturias to
La Rioja.
Primary sources
The ''Chronica'' of
John of Biclar
John of Biclaro, Biclar, or Biclarum (''c.'' 540 – after 621), also ''Iohannes Biclarensis'', was a Visigoth chronicler. He was born in Lusitania, in the city of ''Scallabis'' (modern Santarém in Portugal). He was also bishop of Girona.
Earl ...
says, under the sixth year of the
Emperor Justin II and the fourth of
Leovigild, that is, 572, ''Miro Suevorum rex bellum contra Runcones movet'' ("Miro, king of the Suevi, moved
o make
O, or o, is the fifteenth Letter (alphabet), letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in ...
war on the Runcones"). The ''
Historia Suevorum
The ''Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum'' ("History of the Kings of the Goths, Vandals and Suevi") is a Latin history of the Goths from 265 to 624, written by Isidore of Seville. It is a condensed account and, due to its diver ...
'' of
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 ...
notes that "the Suevic king Miro, son of Theudemir, in the year 572, attacked and lorded it over the Arragones and the Rucones." In the same author's ''
Historia Gothorum
The ''Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum'' ("History of the Kings of the Goths, Vandals and Suevi") is a Latin history of the Goths from 265 to 624, written by Isidore of Seville. It is a condensed account and, due to its diver ...
'', he writes, under the heading ''Sisebutus rg. an. VIII°'' (the eighth year of Sisebut) that ''Astures et Ruccones in montibus reuellantes humiliabit et suis per omnia benibolus fuit'' ("the Astures and Ruccones, surrounded in the mountains, he
isebuthumiliated and forced to submit"). The tenth-century ''
Chronica Albeldense'' copies the record of Isidore:
:''Iste potestate Iudeos ad fidem Xpi perduxit. Eclesiam sancte Leocadie Toleto opere miro fundabit. Astures et Ruccones in montibus reuellantes humiliabit et suis per omnia benibolus fuit. Hunc uni proprio morbo, alii inmoderato potionis austo asserunt interfectum sub imperatore Eraclio. Tune nefandus Mahomat in Africa nequitiam legis stultis populis predicabit.''
History
In 572
Miro, the king of 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 ...
of
Galicia, campaigned against the Ruccones, as much to prevent them from falling under the sway of the
Visigoths
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...
as to reassert his own sovereignty over them. In 616 the Visigothic king
Sisebut is recorded as having reduced some Asturian rebels and then surrounded the Ruccones in the mountains and defeated them. Under Sisebut the general
Suinthila
Suintila, or ''Suinthila'', ''Swinthila'', ''Svinthila''; (ca. 588 – 633/635) was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia from 621 to 631. He was a son of Reccared I and his wife Bado, and a brother of the general Geila. Under Suinti ...
attained the rank of ''
dux
''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, ''dux' ...
'' (duke) and is recorded as scoring a victory over the Ruccones. Campaigns against the Ruccones may be related to the foundation of a mint at
Pésicos, which coined ''
trientes
The triens (plural trientes) was an Ancient Roman bronze coin produced during the Roman Republic valued at one-third of an as (4 unciae). The most common design for the triens featured the bust of Minerva and four pellets (indicating four un ...
'' for
Gundemar and Sisebut. The Visigoths are known to have established mints in territories recently conquered as a way of spreading their authority.
Identification
Scholars have worked out many identifications for the obscure Ruccones with more well known peoples. Ignacio Fernández de Mata identified them with the
Cantabri. On another hypothesis they may be the
Araucones, who lived in a semi-autonomous state on the border of the Visigothic and Suevic kingdoms. According to the ''
Parroquial Suevo'' they were attached to the
diocese of Astorga
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Astorga ( la, Asturicensis) is a diocese whose seat is in the city of Astorga, in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain.[toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...]
ic evidence, they may have inhabited the region around
Villuercas
Las Villuercas is a ''comarca'' located in the province of Cáceres, western Spain. It belongs to the Autonomous Community of Extremadura.
Despite the traditional strong identity of its inhabitants, this historical region has not been able to ach ...
, along the banks of the
Ruecas and
Árrago rivers in the modern
Extremadura between
Trujillo and
Logrosán
Logrosán () is a municipality within the province of Cáceres in Extremadura, Spain. It is the capital of the administrative and commercial sub-area of Don Benito-Villanueva. Logrosán was an important and growing community in the first half of ...
, which was a Suevic territory in the fifth century. The Spanish Royal Academy of History makes the case for an identification with the
Basques
The Basques ( or ; eu, euskaldunak ; es, vascos ; french: basques ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Bas ...
, considering them, like the Cantabrians, a regional subcategory. Finally, they may be identified with the
Luggones, one of the principal peoples of the
Asturias. Among scholars assenting to this last suggestion are the archaeologist José Luis Maya, who follows Diego Santos, and Miguel Calleja Puerta, who regards it as at least an increasing possibility.
[In ''Historia de Asturias'', Adolfo Fernández Pérez and Florencio Friera Suárez, edd. (2005), 173.]
References
{{reflist
Kingdom of the Suebi
Celtic tribes of the Iberian Peninsula
Visigothic Kingdom