Theudigisel (or Theudegisel) (in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''Theudigisclus'' and in Spanish, Galician and Portuguese ''Teudiselo'', ''Teudigiselo'', or ''Teudisclo''), ( 500 – December 549) was king of the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian military group unite ...

Hispania Hispania was the Ancient Rome, Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two Roman province, provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divide ...

and

Septimania Septimania 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 Septimania was ceded to their king, Theod ...

(548–549). Some Visigothic king lists skip Theudigisel, as well as

Agila I Agila, sometimes Agila I or Achila I (died March 554), was Visigothic king of Hispania and Septimania (549 – March 554). Peter Heather notes that Agila's reign was during a period of civil war following the death of Amalaric, the last member of ...

, going directly from

Theudis Theudis (Gothic language, Gothic: 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌴𐌹𐍃, ''Þiudeis'', Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teudis'', Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Têudis''), ( 480 – June 548) was king of the Visigoths in Hispania from 531 to 548. Biograp ...

Athanagild Athanagild ( 517 – December 567) was the Visigothic king of Hispania and Septimania. He had rebelled against his predecessor, Agila I, in 551. The armies of Agila and Athanagild met at Seville, where Agila met a second defeat. Following the dea ...

Biography

Theudigisel was a leading Ostrogoth general during the reign of

(531–548), and was attested as the last member of the House of Theodoric, being the son of Theodahad (535–536) & grandnephew of

Theodoric the Great Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal, was king of the Ostrogoths (475–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526, regent of the Visigoths (511–526 ...

. He had repelled the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

from Spain after their invasion of 541, cutting them off in the pass of Valcarlos, but accepted a bribe to allow them to return to home. Years later, when Theudis was murdered by a disgruntled servant, Theudigisel had managed to make himself King of Visigoths shortly after his Predecessors death. He ruled from June 548 – December 549. According to

Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville (; 4 April 636) was a Spania, Hispano-Roman scholar, theologian and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seville, archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of the 19th-century historian Charles Forbes René de Montal ...

, Theudigisel was assassinated because he "defiled the marriages of very many powerful men by public prostitution", and was assassinated by a group of conspirators during a banquet in Seville. Although he agrees that Theudigisel died during a banquet,

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...

records a different tale of his end: in the middle of the feast, the lights were blown out and an unidentified person killed Theudigisel in the dark. "The Goths had adopted the reprehensible habit of killing out of hand any king who displeased them and replacing him on the throne by someone they preferred," Gregory concludes.Gregory of Tours, ''Decem Libri Historiarum'', III.30. Translated by Lewis Thorpe, ''History of the Franks'' (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974), p. 187

References

549 deaths Assassinated Gothic people 6th-century murdered monarchs 6th-century Visigothic monarchs Year of birth unknown {{europe-noble-stub