Theudis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Theudis[1] (in Spanish, Teudis, in Portuguese Têudis) was king of the Visigoths in Hispania from 531-548.
After the death of Amalaric, last of the Balti dynasty, the strongman Theudis, a former commander of Theodoric the Great, was elected king. He transferred the capital from Narbonne to Barcelona.
During his reign the sole codification of law since Euric was realized. It was promulgated in November 546 with numerous Roman quotations.
In 541, he had to confront the Franks under Chlothar I and Childebert I, who had penetrated as far as Pamplona and Zaragoza, which they besieged for forty-nine days. After successfully defending it he drove them out of the country. However, he didn't come to the defence of Ceuta in 542, when the Byzantines besieged it from land and sea.
In 548, he was assassinated in his Barcelonan palace (or in Seville [2]) by the pretender Theudigisel.
[edit] Sources and external links
J.B. Bury. History of the Later Roman Empire, Chapter 19, section 14.
Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 41.
- ^ Theudis is the name assigned him by Isidore of Seville, but his real name was probably Theodoric.
- ^ "Theudis", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 23 July 2006
| Preceded by: Amalaric |
King of the Visigoths 531–548 |
Succeeded by: Theudigisel |
