Agila, sometimes Agila I or Achila I (died March 554), was

Visigothic 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 ...

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hi ...

and

Septimania Septimania (french: Septimanie ; oc, Septimània ) 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 Septim ...

(549 – March 554). Peter Heather notes that Agila's reign was during a period of civil war following the death of

Amalaric Amalaric ( got, *Amalareiks; Spanish and Portuguese: ''Amalarico''; 502–531) was king of the Visigoths from 522 until his death in battle in 531. He was a son of king Alaric II and his first wife Theodegotha, daughter of Theoderic the Great. ...

, the last member of the old Visigothic dynasty, when ambitious Gothic nobles competed openly for the throne. Agila came to power after the assassination of

Theudigisel Theudigisel (or Theudegisel) (in Latin ''Theudigisclus'' and in Spanish, Galician and Portuguese ''Teudiselo'', ''Teudigiselo'', or ''Teudisclo''), ( 500 – December 549) was king of the Visigoths in Hispania and Septimania (548–549). Some Visi ...

, who had ruled for less than two years. However, opposition to his rule soon emerged. First was the revolt of the city of Córdoba, which

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 ...

suggests was due to local

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

s objecting to his

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 ...

: in his account, Isidore mentions that Agila defiled the church of a local saint,

Acisclus Saint Acisclus (also Ascylus, Ocysellus; es, Acisclo; french: Aciscle) (died 304) was a martyr of Córdoba, in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, i.e., modern Portugal and Spain). His life is mentioned by Eulogius of Cordoba. He suffered marty ...

, by drenching the sepulcher "with the blood of the enemy and of their pack-animals", and attributes the death of Agila's son in the conflict — along with the majority of his army, and the royal treasury — to "the agency of the saints". Peter Heather lists several groups who revolted against Agila: a local dynast, Aspidius, established a

hegemony Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states. In Ancient Greece (8th BC – AD 6th ), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of the ''hegemon'' city-state over oth ...

in one mountainous region; the landowners of

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the east ...

established a "senate" to govern their affairs; and then there are the Sappi and Suani mentioned by John of Biclar.Heather, ''The Goths'', p. 278 The most important rebel opposed to Agila was

Athanagild Athanagild ( 517 – December 567) was 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 death of ...

, whose open revolt began in 551, following Agila's defeat at Cordoba. The armies of Agila and Athanagild met at

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...

, where Agila met a second defeat. At this point, a third party entered the war between these two: the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. As Peter Heather writes, "One of the two — which is the subject of varying report — summoned a Byzantine army, which duly arrived in southern Spain in 552." Heather understands Isidore's chronicle states that Athanagild summoned the Byzantines, while

Jordanes Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') an ...

implies in his ''Getica'' that Agila had asked them for help. During this three-sided conflict King Agila was killed — according to Isidore by his own people, who realized the destruction Agila's wars to retain power had caused, but "fearing even more that Roman soldiers might invade

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

on the pretext of giving help".Isidore of Seville, chapter 47; translation by Donini and Ford, p. 22 Athanagild was then accepted as king.

Notes

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Agila Assassinated Gothic people Year of birth unknown 554 deaths 6th-century murdered monarchs Arian Christians 6th-century Visigothic monarchs