Froia 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 ...

nobleman, probably a count, who rebelled and tried to seize the kingship in 653, either in the final weeks of the reign of

Chindasuinth Chindasuinth (also spelled Chindaswinth, Chindaswind, Chindasuinto, Chindasvindo, or Khindaswinth ( Latin: Chintasvintus, Cindasvintus; 563 – 30 September 653) was Visigothic King of Hispania, from 642 until his death in 653. He succeeded Tul ...

or in the opening weeks of that of his son,

Reccesuinth Recceswinth (died 1 September 672) was the Visigothic King of Hispania, and Septimania in 649–672. He ruled jointly with his father Chindaswinth until his father's death in 653. Name His Gothic name is believed to have been *𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌺 ...

. He had the support of 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. Ba ...

in the upper Ebro valley, where he had a small circle of supporters. He besieged

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Province of Zaragoza, Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Ara ...

, where the bishop Taius was whiling away at a revision of the '' Lex Visigothorum'', unable to leave the city. Reccesuinth led an army to put down the revolt in person and force the Basques back into the mountains.

Sources

*Collins, Roger. ''Visigothic Spain, 409–711''. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. . *Castellanos, Santiago
"The Political Nature of Taxation in Visigothic Spain."
''Early Medieval Europe'', 12:3 (October, 2003), pp. 201–28. {{refend 7th-century people of the Visigothic Kingdom 7th-century rulers in Europe Gothic warriors Basque rebels