Recceswinth (died 1 September 672) was the

Visigothic 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 ...

King of Hispania, and

Septimania Septimania (french: Septimanie ; oc, Septimània ) is a historical region in modern-day Southern France. It referred to the western part of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed to the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septim ...

in 649–672. He ruled jointly with his father Chindaswinth until his father's death in 653.

Name

His

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

name is believed to have been *𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌺𐌰𐍃𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌸𐍃 (*''Raikaswinþs''), from the roots '' reiks'' ("king") and ''swinþs'' ("strong"). His

votive crown A votive crown is a votive offering in the form of a crown, normally in precious metals and often adorned with jewels. Especially in the Early Middle Ages, they are of a special form, designed to be suspended by chains at an altar, shrine or im ...

used the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

spelling . Other Latin spellings include ''Recceswinthus'', ''Recesvindus''. In English his name is also spelled ''Reccesuinth'', ''Recceswint'', ''Reccaswinth''; Spanish ''Recesvinto''; Portuguese ''Recesvindo''; German ''Rekkeswint''; French ''Réceswinthe''.

Reign

Under Recceswinth, the

Visigothic Kingdom The Visigothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of the Goths ( la, Regnum Gothorum), was a kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic successor states to ...

enjoyed an unbroken peace for 19 years (653–672) — except for a brief rebellion of the

Vascons The Vascones were a pre-Roman tribe who, on the arrival of the Romans in the 1st century, inhabited a territory that spanned between the upper course of the Ebro river and the southern basin of the western Pyrenees, a region that coincides wi ...

, led by a noble named " Froya," an exiled Goth, who fleeing the monarch’s persecutions had settled, like many others, in Basque territory. Froya and the Vascons ravaged the lands of the Ebro Valley, looted churches, murdered clerics, and laid siege to the city of

Saragossa Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributar ...

. Recceswinth reacted, broke the siege, and killed Froya". Beginning in 654 Recceswinth was responsible for the promulgation of a law code, '' Liber Iudiciorum'', to replace the Breviary of Alaric; he placed a Visigothic common law over both Goths and Hispano-Romans in the kingdom. This ''Liber Iudiciorum'' showed little Germanic influence, adhering more closely to the old

Roman law Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...

s. In his general law code of 654, he outlawed a set of essential Jewish practices, including male

circumcision Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. Top ...

, dietary laws (

kashrut (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fr ...

), marriage laws and ceremonies, and the celebration of

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. ...

. Moreover, the church councils in the Visigothic capital Toledo (''Toletum'') became the most powerful force in the government and the bishops were the primary support of the monarchy. Will Durant wrote in ''The Age of Faith'': "By their superior education and organization they dominated the nobles who sat with them in the ruling councils of Toledo; and though the king's authority was theoretically absolute, and he chose the bishops, these councils elected him, and exacted pledges of policy in advance." Recceswinth died on 1 September 672, just before the first Arab raid on

Hispania Baetica Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula). Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of the basic di ...

The votive crown of Recceswinth

The votive crown of Recceswinth is an example of

Visigothic art The Visigoths entered Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal) in 415 and they rose to be the dominant people there until the Umayyad conquest of Hispania of 711 brought their kingdom to an end. This period in Iberian art is dominated by thei ...

made in

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: Hi ...

. It was found in the

Treasure of Guarrazar The Treasure of Guarrazar, Guadamur, Province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain, is an archeological find composed of twenty-six votive crowns and gold crosses that had originally been offered to the Roman Catholic Church by the Kings ...

, a goldsmith's treasure made up of crowns and crosses that several kings of Toledo offered in their time as a gesture of the orthodoxy of their faith and their submission to the ecclesiastical hierarchy; the treasure was found between 1858 and 1861 at the archaeological site called Huerta de Guarrazar, located in the city of Guadamur, near Toledo. The

of Recceswinth is in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

National Archaeological Museum of Spain The National Archaeological Museum ( es, Museo Arqueológico Nacional; MAN) is a museum in Madrid, Spain. It is located on Calle de Serrano beside the Plaza de Colón, sharing its building with the National Library of Spain. History The museu ...

. Among the crowns, made of gold and precious stones, it is the one that attracts the most attention because of the exquisite workmanship of its

goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...

ery, with gemstones suspended beneath the

filigree Filigree (also less commonly spelled ''filagree'', and formerly written ''filigrann'' or ''filigrene'') is a form of intricate metalwork used in jewellery and other small forms of metalwork. In jewellery, it is usually of gold and silver ...

Latin letters hanging from its base, which read: ''RECCESVINTHVS REX OFFERET'' ("King Receswinth offered it").

References

External links

Coins of King Recceswinth
{{Authority control 7th-century Visigothic monarchs 672 deaths Year of birth unknown

Name

Reign

The votive crown of Recceswinth

See also

References

External links