Theodemir or Theudimer (died 743) was a
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 kno ...
''comes'' (count) prominent in the southeast of
Carthaginensis
Hispania Carthaginensis was a Roman province segregated from Hispania Tarraconensis in the new division of Hispania by emperor Diocletian in 298.
The capital of the new province was settled in Carthago Nova, now Cartagena.
It encompassed ...
(the region around
Murcia
Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...
) during the last decades of the Visigothic kingdom and for several years after the
Moorish conquest
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania, also known as the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom, was the initial expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate over Hispania (in the Iberian Peninsula) from 711 to 718. The conquest resulted in the decline of t ...
. He ruled seven cities in southeastern Spain, mentioned in the
Treaty of Orihuela
Treaty of Orihuela (also known as the Treaty of Tudmir/Theodemir) was an early Dhimmi treaty imposed by the invading Umayyad Caliphate on the Christians in the city of Orihuela in the Iberian Peninsula in 713.
History
The Treaty of Tudmir was a ...
that was preserved by the Andalusian historian
Ibn Adarí in the thirteenth century:
Orihuela
Orihuela (; ca-valencia, Oriola ) is a city and municipality located at the feet of the Sierra de Orihuela mountains in the province of Alicante, Spain. The city of Orihuela had a population of 33,943 inhabitants at the beginning of 2013. The mun ...
, Valentila (possibly an equivalent for
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
),
Alicante
Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...
,
Mula,
Bigastro
Bigastro () is a municipality in the Valencian Community (Spain) situated in the south of the province of Alicante, in the comarca of Vega Baja del Segura. It had a population of 6,450 at the time of the 2005 census.
History
In La Loma there is ...
, Eyya (probably
Ojós), and
Lorca.
[Collins, ''The Arab Conquest of Spain'', 39–41.]
Sometime probably during the joint reign of
Egica
Egica, Ergica, or Egicca (''c''. 610 – 701/703), was the Visigoth King of Hispania and Septimania from 687 until his death. He was the son of Ariberga and the brother-in-law of Wamba.
Accession
He was married (''c''. 670) to Cixilo (also k ...
and
Wittiza
Wittiza (''Witiza'', ''Witica'', ''Witicha'', ''Vitiza'', or ''Witiges''; 687 – probably 710) was the Visigothic King of Hispania from 694 until his death, co-ruling with his father, Egica, until 702 or 703.
Joint rule
Early in his reign, Ergi ...
, a
Byzantine fleet
The Byzantine navy was the naval force of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire. Like the empire it served, it was a direct continuation from its Imperial Roman predecessor, but played a far greater role in the defence and survival of the state than ...
raided the coasts of southern Iberia and was driven off by Theudimer. The dating of this event is disputed: it may have occurred as part of
Leontios' expedition to relieve
Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...
, under assault by the
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...
, in 697; perhaps later, around 702;
or perhaps late in Wittiza's reign. What is almost universally accepted is that it was an isolated incident connected with other military activities (probably against the
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...
) and not an attempt to reestablish the province of
Spania
Spania ( la, Provincia Spaniae) was a province of the Eastern Roman Empire from 552 until 624 in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. It was established by the Emperor Justinian I in an effort to restore the western prov ...
, lost in the 620s. As
E. A. Thompson
Edward Arthur Thompson (22 May 1914 – 1 January 1994) was an Irish-born British Marxist historian of classics and medieval studies. He was professor and director of the classics department at the University of Nottingham from 1948 to 197 ...
states, "We know nothing whatever of the context of this strange event."
After the defeat of king
Roderic
Roderic (also spelled Ruderic, Roderik, Roderich, or Roderick; Spanish and pt, Rodrigo, ar, translit=Ludharīq, لذريق; died 711) was the Visigothic king in Hispania between 710 and 711. He is well-known as "the last king of the Goths". He ...
at the
Battle of Guadalete
The Battle of Guadalete was the first major battle of the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, fought in 711 at an unidentified location in what is now southern Spain between the Christian Visigoths under their king, Roderic, and the invading forces of t ...
in 711 or 712, Theudimer resisted the invading Arabs, but he was eventually defeated in pitched battle and made peace with the Muslim
emir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...
Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa ibn Nusayr ( ar, عبد العزيز بن موسى) was the first governor of Al-Andalus, in modern-day Spain and Portugal. He was the son of Musa ibn Nusayr, the governor of Ifriqiya. ‘Abd al-Aziz had a long history of polit ...
. "The text of the treaty he signed has been preserved in at least three separate sources, including a fourteenth-century biographical dictionary, and is dated to 5 April 713 (
4 Recheb 94 AH)."
The treaty allowed that Christians who
submitted to Muslim rule ("the patronage of God") would be spared their lives and allowed to continue living with their families according to their mores and practising their Catholic faith in their churches, but they were required to pay
a tribute ''per capita'' and to turn over any enemies of the conquerors to the government.
The tribute consisted of one
dinar
The dinar () is the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, and its historical use is even more widespread.
The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin of ...
, four measures (or jugfuls) each of wheat, barley, grape juice, and vinegar, plus two of honey and oil; and half this for slaves.
Theudimer retained his land and his local authority.
Theudimer later travelled to
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
to have his treaty confirmed by the
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
Caliph. However, it is unknown how long this treaty lasted in practice, whether it continued until Theudimer's death (which is recorded in the ''
Chronicle of 754
The ''Chronicle of 754'' (also called the ''Mozarabic Chronicle'' or ''Continuatio Hispana'') is a Latin-language history in 95 sections, written by an anonymous Mozarab (Christian) chronicler in Al-Andalus. The ''Chronicle'' contains the earlie ...
'') or after, or was cut short before his death.
[Collins, ''The Arab Conquest of Spain'', 191.] His prominence in the region is testified by the number of later Gothic nobles in the same region who tried to claim descent from him.
The region itself was given the commemorative name Tudmir by the Arabs.
Theudimer left a son, Athanagild, who was described as very wealthy by the ''Chronicle'', but whether or not he was his successor is debated by scholars.
If he did succeed, he would have done so around 740, but his fate is unknown and the region of Tudmir had lost its independence by the 780s.
[Collins, in Gerli, ''Medieval Iberia'', 128.]
In fiction
In the
historical novel
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...
''
Amaya o los vascos en el siglo VIII
''Amaya o los vascos en el siglo VIII'' (''Amaya, or the Basques in the 8th century'') is a Romantic historical novel published in 1877 (in the magazine '' Ciencia cristiana'') and in 1879 (as a book) by Francisco Navarro-Villoslada, a noted ...
'' (1879), the characters mention ''Teodomiro'' "duke of Aurariola and Baetica, general prevost of the army" as one of those who successfully resist Islamic dominance along with
Pelayo of Asturias
Pelagius (; ; ; ; ''c''. 685 – 737) was a Hispano-Visigoth nobleman who founded the Kingdom of Asturias in 718. Pelagius is credited with initiating the ''Reconquista'', the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors, and estab ...
and
García Jiménez
García or Garcia may refer to:
People
* García (surname)
* Kings of Pamplona/Navarre
** García Íñiguez of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 851/2–882
** García Sánchez I of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 931–970
** García Sánchez II of Pam ...
of
Navarre
Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
.
['']Amaya o los vascos en el siglo VIII
''Amaya o los vascos en el siglo VIII'' (''Amaya, or the Basques in the 8th century'') is a Romantic historical novel published in 1877 (in the magazine '' Ciencia cristiana'') and in 1879 (as a book) by Francisco Navarro-Villoslada, a noted ...
'', p. 276, Francisco Navarro Villoslada, 1973, Editorial La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca.
Notes
References
*
*
*{{cite book , last=Collins , first=Roger , author-link=Roger Collins, title=Visigothic Spain, 409–711 , year=2004 , publisher=Blackwell Publishing , location=Oxford , isbn=0-631-18185-7
External links
*
Charles Morris"The Stratagem Of Theodomir" ''Historical Tales: Spanish'', Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1898.
Gothic warriors
8th-century Visigothic people
8th-century Al-Andalus people
Region of Murcia
History of the Valencian Community
Umayyad conquest of Hispania
743 deaths
Year of birth unknown