Chapter LVI
Hispania on fire
In 534 Rome’s most loyal ally was assassinated, king Agila had fallen victim of his stepson’s conspiracy. By taking advantage of Agila’s decreasing popularity and his son’s absence from the kingdom, the two young princes Alaric and Theodoric had managed to overthrow their stepfather and seize power for themselves. All of this took place while the imperial army was crushing the last remains of the Vandal kingdom, while in the East Amalaric, another pretender to the Gothic throne was preparing his offensive against the empire. Agila’s death meant that now Alaric, the third of his name, was the ruler of a kingdom now hostile to Rome. He wasn’t, however, the only one to claim the kingship over the Goths. Lots of help came to Alaric’s cause from the aristocracy of his kingdom and now they were more than eager to make sure that the king would listen to their will. One of the main cause for their support was the desire to replace a powerful king with one more amenable to their desire and for this reason they had asked Alaric, as condition for their help, to share his kingship with his younger brother Theodoric.
A minor damage to his rule sure, but nothing compared to the open defiance of his authority coming from part of his kingdom. The assassination of his predecessor was not at all completely accepted by all layers of the Gothic and Roman society. Loyal to Agila and now loyal to Athalaric were the cities of Baetica, where the memory of Gesalec’s sack of Carthago Nova was still alive. Carthago Nova, Hispalis, Dianium and many other cities along the coast, counting on support from Rome, closed their gates to Alaric’s men, while urging Athalaric to return to Hispania, to take his father’s throne. Unfortunately for them no help could come their way, as the empire was already too stretched thin with wars in Africa, Dalmatia and Sardinia. All the help they could receive was limited to naval support and supplies. An attempt by Athalaric to land in Hispania was met with failure once he arrived. Too few men could join his army as his main supporters had fled to the northern part of the kingdom, and the southern cities couldn’t spare any man of their garrisons to provide him with an army to avenge his father. His stay in Baetica was also too short to have any lasting consequence in the civil war of his kingdom, since most of the army had already joined his rivals to the throne and now Theodoric, at the head of 4000 men, was marching against him. Back to Septem the Romans led by Dux Mauretania Procopius and the local Gothic garrisons loyal to Athalaric had to withstand a siege for the whole length of the summer, before Theodoric was forced to retreat, unable to dislodge the Romans. Shortly after that, Athalaric went to Italia to enter directly into the service of the emperor against Amalaric, hoping that his service would earn him more support for his cause in the future.
In the north meanwhile far greater threats were ready to strike at the Visigoths. In Tarraco a Roman named Caecilius proclaimed himself emperor, once news of the civil war between the three brothers reached that part of the kingdom. A short lived usurper, however Caecilius came close to achieving recognition of his rule from Rome, where one of his embassy had reached emperor Marcianus petitioning for military support, in exchange for Caecilius ruling in Hispania as Caesar in the name of Marcianus. The whole thing came to nothing, both because the whole endeavour was deemed too costly and risky and because Marcianus died shortly after Caecilius’s request reached Rome. In Agilapolis even more determined to resist Alaric and Theodoric were Agila’s friends and former supporters. Built by Agila himself after his victory against king Ricimer as a bastion of his kingdom, it was now a bastion against that same kingdom. Ruling over the city and the surrounding territories was a council of men, Goths and Romans, who had served under Agila during his days of glory. Formally these men where exerting authority in the name of their new king Athalaric, who had no hope of joining them in the fight and could barely communicate with his supporters, and for this reason their city was now a safe haven for anyone whose life was now endangered by Alaric and Theodoric’s rule. As a consequence of the fall of Agila, new anti-Roman policies were now enacted by Alaric aimed at the local Hispano-Roman aristocracy, the Nicene churches and their assets. To have these riches redistributed between his supporters, the Arian clergy and himself was the perfect way for Alaric to secure his rule and finance his wars. The drawback of this was further fueling of the fire of rebellion of the many Goths and Romans opposed to him.
True was that the city of Agilapolis was well fortified but the real reason why Alaric’s army could never subdue the city was the support coming foreign powers. The new anti-Roman stance of the Visigoths had forced the Romans to seek the support of other kings. Thus that same year the Suebi were recognized as Foederati of the empire while king Ricimer and his son, also called Ricimer, were elevated to the rank of Comes. More meaningful was the subsidy paid by the Imperials to the Suebi to have them wage war against Alaric while supporting the rebels at Agilapolis. For Ricimer this was the occasion to free himself of the tribute imposed to him by Agila and to expand his kingdom at the expense of the Goths by making common cause with the rebels. Two sieges of this stronghold were thwarted by the Suebi and the local garrison. The first siege took place in 538 and the second one in 543 and during the latter king Alaric almost lost an eye to an arrow. Further help to the rebel’s cause indirectly came from Caecilius contemporary rebellion. Despite the lack of external support this usurper proved capable enough to secure much of the kingdom north of the Ebro for himself and to hold his position against Alaric until his final defeat in 537. After that, and having finally secured the southern flank of his kingdom with the capture of the last centre of resistance there, Carthago Nova, king Alaric moved against the Suebi. All of this allowed Patricius Clotaire of Aquitania to launch a powerful raid against the northern border of the Gothic kingdom, forcing Alaric to withdraw from the siege and focus on improving the fortification to the North. After another failed siege of Agilapolis had left the two sides too exhausted to prolong the conflict and after some years of minor skirmishes, in 547 king Alaric and Ricimer finally agreed to a truce freeing the Suebi of their tribute and allowing them to extend their influence over Agilapolis, officially though still independent and at war with Toletum. That same year would also be remembered for the only attempt made by the Romans to meddle directly into the civil war. Led by Magister Militum per Gallias Flavius Vitrasius, units of the Gallic army supplemented by Burgundians and Franks attempted an offensive against the kingdom. The army only made it to the walls of Tarraco before the retreat of the Franks forced the whole army to withdraw and give up their attempt to take the city, despite the promise of a local inhabitant, a former supporter of Caecilius, to open the city’s gate.
With Alaric’s power growing more secure with each year passing, the king felt safe enough to take some drastic measures. The first one, in 535, was the banishment of his wife, Agila’s niece, whom his predecessor and his mother had forced him to marry in 530 as a condition for being associated to the throne. Despite taking a new wife immediately after that, the son that had come from that marriage was acknowledged as heir of his father’s kingdom. And after the already mentioned expropriations aimed against his enemies and his victories had strengthened his rule, Alaric took the final step towards complete power: the ousting of his brother and young nephews from the royal palace in 539, forcing them to retire to the countryside, closely watched by Alaric’s guards. After so many wars and losses once again a member of the legitimate Balti dynasty was sitting firm an alone on the throne of his people. His love for the pleasures of life and his many vices, especially his heavy drinking, would cost him his life at the beginning of 551, leaving behind his 19 years old heir Alaric IV and his 12 years old daughter from the second marriage, Matasunta.
This was the situation in Hispania at the beginning of the second half of the VI century.
Note
After more than a year we are back to the Visigoths and other events taking place outside the empire. Hopefully from now on the story should proceed more quickly.
