Remismund (or Rimismund) (died 469) was the Suevic king of Galicia from c. 464 until his death. 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 ...

, Remismund was a son of Maldras. Remismund's early career was spent as an ambassador between Galicia and

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

, which trip he made several times.Thompson, 167. After an

interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...

of approximately four years (460–464), during which the Sueves who had previously recognised Maldras as king were led by Frumar and those who had recognised Framta followed Rechimund while both their leaders fought for the throne, Remismund, returning from one of his embassies, succeeded in having himself recognised as king of a unified Suevic people. This occurred after Frumar's death, but scholars are not certain of the significance of that statement. Had Frumar become sole king? Or did Remismund initially succeed Frumar only over part of the Suevic nation? Furthermore, Remismund is sometimes identified with Rechimund. Remismund was confirmed in the kingship when the

Visigothic 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 military group united under the comman ...

monarch,

Theodoric II Theodoric II ( 426 – early 466) was the eighth King of the Visigoths, from 453 to 466. Biography Theoderic II, son of Theodoric I, obtained the throne by killing his elder brother Thorismund. The English historian Edward Gibbon writes that ...

, sent him gifts, including weapons, and a Gothic princess for a wife.Thompson, 168. The involvement of Theodoric in the succession of Remismund has, however, been exaggerated by

Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...

, who claims that after the Gothic king put down the revolt and usurpation of Aioulf, he allowed the Suevi to elect a king of their own, and they chose Remismund. In 466, on the authority of Hydatius, Theodoric sent an envoy, Salla, to the court of Remismund. Remismund may have sent one Palagorius, a noble Galician, as an envoy to Theodoric, but it is possible that Palagorius went on a private mission.Thompson, 209. In 465 he sacked

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of . The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...

or Conímbriga and in 468 destroyed it, plundering the goods of a noble family called the Cantabri.Thompson, 201. In 469 the city of

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

was betrayed to the Suevi by a native Roman named Lusidius. Also in 469 Remismund began negotiations with the Roman Emperor

Anthemius Procopius Anthemius (; died 11 July 472) was the Western Roman Empire, Western Roman emperor from 467 to 472. Born in the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, Anthemius quickly worked his way up the ranks. He married into the Theodosian dyna ...

through a large embassy of Sueves led by Lusidius. In 466 he requested an

Arian Arianism (, ) is a Christological doctrine which rejects the traditional notion of the Trinity and considers Jesus to be a creation of God, and therefore distinct from God. It is named after its major proponent, Arius (). It is considered he ...

missionary from the Gothic court and received

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

, a Gaul or Galatian, who converted the Suevic nobility and established an Arian church in Galicia.Arias, 21.

Sources

*Arias, Jorge C
"Identity and Interactions: The Suevi and the Hispano-Romans."
University of Virginia: Spring 2007. *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 469 deaths 5th-century Arian Christians Year of birth unknown