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Theodemir or Theodemar (also ''Teodomiro'', la, Theodemirus; died 570) was one of the last Suevic kings of Galicia and one of the first Chalcedonian Christians to hold the title. He succeeded
Ariamir Ariamir (died before 566) was the Suevic King of Galicia, with his capital at Bracara, from 558/9. The bishops of the First Council of Braga recorded Ariamir as the king who summoned them and under whose auspices they deliberated. Because the bis ...
sometime between the end of May 561 and the year 566 and ruled until his death. Theodemir has been posited as the first Orthodox Christian monarch of the Suevi since the death 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 ...
and the monarch who brought about the conversion of his people from
Arianism Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God ...
to orthodoxy with the help of the missionary Martin of Dumio. This theory is largely based on the ''
Historia Suevorum The ''Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum'' ("History of the Kings of the Goths, Vandals and Suevi") is a Latin history of the Goths from 265 to 624, written by Isidore of Seville. It is a condensed account and, due to its diver ...
'' of
Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...
: ''regni potestatem Theodimirus suscepit: qui confestim Arrianae impietatis errore destructo Suevos catholicae fidei reddidit''. However, other sources, notably John of Biclarum and
Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Floren ...
, plus the minutes of the
First Council of Braga In the First Council of Braga of 561, eight bishops took part, and twenty-two decrees were promulgated. In a number of canons, the council took aim directly at doctrines of Priscillianism. Those decrees included the following: that in the service ...
, give or imply different occurrences: John that
Reccared I Reccared I (or Recared; la, Flavius Reccaredus; es, Flavio Recaredo; 559 – December 601; reigned 586–601) was Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania. His reign marked a climactic shift in history, with the king's renunciation of Arianis ...
of the
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 k ...
brought about the conversion of both peoples, Gregory that the saintly intercession of
Martin of Tours Martin of Tours ( la, Sanctus Martinus Turonensis; 316/336 – 8 November 397), also known as Martin the Merciful, was the third bishop of Tours. He has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints in France, heralded as the ...
at the bequest of the king Chararic brought it about, and the minutes of First Braga that Ariamir was the first to lift the ban on orthodox Catholic synods. Most scholars have attempted to meld these stories. It has been alleged that Theodemir must have been a successor of Ariamir's, since Ariamir was the first Suevic monarch to lift the ban on Catholic synods; Isidore therefore gets the chronology wrong. Reinhart suggested that Chararic was converted first through the
relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
of Saint Martin and that Theodemir was converted later through the preaching of Martin of Dumio.Thompson, 86. Felix Dahn equated Chararic with Theodemir, even saying that the latter was the name he took upon baptism. It has also been suggested that Theodemir and Ariamir were the same person and the son of Chararic. Ferreiro believes the conversion of the Suevi was progressive and stepwise and that Thoedemir was responsible for beginning a persecution of the Arians in his kingdom to root out their heresy. In 569 Theodemir called the First Council of Lugo,Ferreiro, 199 n11. which increased the number of dioceses within the kingdom. In 570 he was attacked by the Arian king of the Visigoths, Leovigild.


Notes


Sources

*Ferreiro, Alberto
"Braga and Tours: Some Observations on Gregory's ''De virtutibus sancti Martini''."
'' Journal of Early Christian Studies''. 3 (1995), p. 195–210. *Thompson, E. A. "The Conversion of the Spanish Suevi to Catholicism." ''Visigothic Spain: New Approaches''. ed. Edward James. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980. . {{Authority control 570 deaths 6th-century Suebian kings Christian monarchs Year of birth unknown