Gibuld (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

470) the last known

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 ...

of the

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pre ...

before the defeat of the Alamanni at the

battle of Tolbiac The Battle of Tolbiac was fought between the Franks, who were fighting under Clovis I, and the Alamanni, whose leader is not known. The date of the battle has traditionally been given as 496, though other accounts suggest it may either have been ...

in 496. Gibuld is known from two hagiographic sources, the contemporary (470s) ''Vita Severini'' by

Eugippus Eugippius (circa 460 – circa 535, Castellum Lucullanum) was a disciple and the biographer of Saint Severinus of Noricum. After the latter's death in 482, he took the remains to Naples and founded a monastery on the site of a 1st-century Roman ...

, where his name is Latinized as ''Gibuldus'', and the later '' Vita Lupi'' where it is rendered ''Gebavultus''. The independence of the two accounts has been debated in scholarship. It is clear that the ''Vita Lupi'' preserves the older form of the name (which is interpreted as it were from

Common Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bra ...

' "gift-splendour"), which would mean that if the passage in the ''Vita Lupi'' depends on the ''Vita Severini'', it would have to be based on an early version of that text, now lost. Another suggestion was that ''Gibuldus'' and ''Gebavultus'' may in fact have been two princes from the same noble family, but not necessarily the same individual. But the predominant opinion appears to be that the two accounts are independent, and that the recurrence of the name supports the thesis that the Alamanni, formerly divided among numerous petty tribal kingships, by the late 5th century had become united under a single king. According to Eugippus, Gibuld used to harry

Passau Passau (; bar, label= Central Bavarian, Båssa) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany, also known as the Dreiflüssestadt ("City of Three Rivers") as the river Danube is joined by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's po ...

, until he was asked by Saint Severinus of Noricum to free his Roman hostages. Gibuld was so impressed by the Christian abbot that he agreed to free seventy of his prisoners. The ''Vita Lupi'' tells a similar story about with Lupus in the role of Severinus. If the two accounts are considered independent, this would suggest that the hostages episode reflects a historical event, although it remains open whether it took place at Passau,

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near ...

, or yet elsewhere. In either case, Gibuld's ''floruit'' would have been close to AD 470. Alemannia in the mid 5th century was situated to the east to two

Arian 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 ...

kingdoms in

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

, that of the

Burgundians The Burgundians ( la, Burgundes, Burgundiōnes, Burgundī; on, Burgundar; ang, Burgendas; grc-gre, Βούργουνδοι) were an early Germanic tribe or group of tribes. They appeared in the middle Rhine region, near the Roman Empire, and ...

and that 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 ...

. Some scholars (Schubert 1909) have speculated that due to Visigothic influence Gibuld may also have adopted the Arian confession, while it is clear that the greater part of the Alamannic population remained

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

well into the 6th century.Schubert (1909:32). Cf. also Bossert (1951:114): " he Alamannicprince, Gibuld, was an Arian, probably converted by Goths".

Notes

References

* Bossert, G. (1951) "Alemanni" in: Jackson, S.M. (Ed.). ''New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge'', Vol. 1. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House. * Ewig, E. (1978). "Bemerkungen zur Vita des Bischofs Lupus von Troyes" in: Hauck, Karl; Mordek, Hubert (Ed.) ''Geschichtsschreibung und geistiges Leben im Mittelalter: Festschrift für Heinz Löwe zum 65. Geburtstag''. Köln. * Geuenich, D. (1998) "Gibuld (Gebavult)" in: Hoops, J. ''Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde'', Vol. 12. Berlin: de Gruyter. {{ISBN, 3-11-016227-X. * Lotter, F. (1985). "Die germanischen Stammesverbände im Umkreis des Ostalpen-Mitteldonau-Raumes nach der literarischen Überlieferung zum Zeitalter Severins" in: Wolfram, H.; Schwarz, A; Friesinger, H.; Daim, F. ''Die Bayern und ihre Nachbarn: Berichte des Symposions der Kommission für Frühmittelalterforschung, 25. bis 28. Oktober 1982, Stift Zwettl, Niederösterreich''. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. * Schubert, H. (1909). ''Das älteste germanische Christentum oder der Sogenannte "Arianismus" der Germanen''. Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr. Alemannic rulers Alemannic warriors 5th-century monarchs in Europe