Maldras (or Masdras) (died February 460) was the Suevic

king of Galicia Galicia is an autonomous community and historical nationality in modern-day northwestern Spain on the Iberian Peninsula, which was a major part of the Roman province known as Gallaecia prior to 409. It consists of the provinces of A Coruña, ...

from 456 until his death. After the execution of

Rechiar Rechiar or Flavius Rechiarius (after 415 – December 456) was the third Suevic king of Gallaecia, from 448 until his death, and also the first one to be born in Gallaecia. He was one of the most innovative and belligerent of the Suevi monarch ...

by the victorious

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 ...

, the Suevi are said to have established Maldras on the throne. During his reign the Suevic nation became fragmented. Maldras was the son of Massilia (or Massila) and was not said to be related to the dynasty of

Hermeric Hermeric (died 441) was the king of the Suevi from at least 419 and possibly as early as 406 until his abdication in 438. Biography Before 419 Nothing is known for sure about Hermeric before 419, the year in which he is first mentioned; ...

, which had ruled the Suevi since 406.Thompson, 166. The wording of the contemporary chronicler

Hydatius Hydatius, also spelled Idacius (c. 400 – c. 469) was a late Western Roman writer and clergyman. The bishop of Aquae Flaviae in the Roman province of Gallaecia (almost certainly the modern Chaves, Portugal, in the modern district of Vila Real), ...

may be taken to signify that the Suevi population had some part in electing Maldras. They certainly had a part in dividing the kingdom in 457, when part of them refused to accept him as their leader and chose instead Framta. The two Suevic kings acted independently and on Framta's death within a few months his followers are found led by

Rechimund Richimund or Rechimund was a Suevic leader in Galicia from 457 until about 464. He was not recorded as a king (''rex''), though Hydatius wrote that ''inter Frumarium et Rechimundum oritur de regni potestate dissensio'' ("between Frumar and Rechimund ...

, though scholars dispute whether or not the two parties rejoined.Thompson, 167. In 457, while Framta was still ruling, Maldras led his people in a large raid on Lusitania. They sacked Lisbon by pretending to come in peace and, once admitted by the citizens, plundering the city.Thompson, 171. Maldras is also accused of having murdered his brother. In 458 he received envoys from the Visigoths and the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...

. His people continued to plunder western Lusitania until Maldras was strangled, perhaps by his own men, in February 460. Maldras' people turned to

Frumar Frumar (or Frumarius) (died 464) was a Suevic warlord who succeeded Maldras (who was assassinated in February 460), as leader of the Suevic group then raiding Lusitania.Thompson, 167. Hydatius wrote: ''Inter Frumarium et Rechimundum oritur de regni ...

as their war-leader then. Afterwards

Remismund Remismund (or Rimismund) (died 469) was the Suevic king of Galicia from c. 464 until his death. According to Isidore of Seville, Remismund was a son of Maldras. Remismund's early career was spent as an ambassador between Galicia and Gaul, which tr ...

became king and reunited the Suevic people. He is claimed by Isidore of Seville to be a son of Maldras, but there is some doubt on this.Thompson, 218–219.

Sources

* Thompson, E. A. ''Romans and Barbarians: The Decline of the Western Empire''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982. .

Notes

, - {{Galician monarchs 5th-century Suebian kings 460 deaths Germanic warriors Year of birth unknown 5th-century murdered monarchs Deaths by strangulation