Ardo (or ''Ardonus'', possibly short for ''Ardabastus''; died 720/721) is attested as the last of all

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 ...

kings of

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 ...

, reigning from 713 or likely 714 until his death. 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 ...

was already severely reduced in power and area at the time he succeeded

Achila II Achila II (also spelled Agila, Aquila, or Akhila; died ''c.'' 714) was the Visigothic king of Hispania from 710 or 711 until his death. The kingdom he ruled was restricted to the northeast of the old Hispanic kingdom on account of the Arabo-Berber ...

, and his dominions probably did not extend beyond

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 ...

and present-day

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

, due to the Arab conquests of the previous three years. Ardo is only recorded in one Visigothic regnal list as reigning for seven years.Collins, ''Visigothic Spain'', 140. As of 716 the Arabs crossed over the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

and invaded

Narbonensis Gallia Narbonensis ( Latin for "Gaul of Narbonne", from its chief settlement) was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in Southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), because it wa ...

, the last province under Gothic control. Over the next three years Ardo probably defended what remained of the Visigothic kingdom and he "may have gone down fighting like his predecessor" after the Arabs took

Narbonne Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the ...

and before they conquered all that remained of the old kingdom. If Ardo is to be identified with Ardobastus, then he survived the invasion and negotiated a treaty, wherein he represented Christians as the Count of the Christians of al-Andalus. This title would pass to a number of individuals until the tenth century at least. Other counts included: Rabî’ ibn Theodulph, Abû Sa’îd al-Qûmis, (a descendant of Ardabastus) and Mu’âwiya ibn Lubb.Molénat, Jean Pierre. "Minorités in miroir. Mozarabes et mudéjars dans la Péninsule Ibérique médiévale." Ethnic-religious minorities in the Iberian Peninsula: Medieval and modern period . Edições Colibri, 2008.

Notes

Bibliography

Thompson, E. A. 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 1979 ...

''The Goths in Spain''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969. * Collins, Roger. ''The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–97''. Blackwell Publishing, 1989. *Collins, Roger. ''Visigothic Spain, 409–711''. Blackwell Publishing, 2004. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ardo 721 deaths Gothic warriors 8th-century Visigothic monarchs Year of birth unknown