Sigeric (? – 22 August 415) was a
Visigoth
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 kn ...
king for seven days in 415 AD.
Biography
His predecessor,
Ataulf, had been mortally wounded in his stables at the palace of
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
by an assassin. The assassin was probably a loyal servant of
Sarus, a
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
noble and personal enemy whom Ataulf had earlier slain. At Ataulf's death, Sarus' faction, the
Amali, violated the Gothic tradition of succession by immediately making Sigeric, the brother of Sarus, king.
After becoming the king, Sigeric murdered Ataulf's children by his first wife. He also forced
Galla Placidia, widow to Ataulf and daughter of Roman Emperor
Theodosius I
Theodosius I ( grc-gre, Θεοδόσιος ; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also called Theodosius the Great, was Roman emperor from 379 to 395. During his reign, he succeeded in a crucial war against the Goths, as well as in two ...
and sister to Emperor
Honorius to walk more than twelve miles on foot among the crowd of captives driven ahead of the mounted Sigeric. On the seventh day after his accession, Sigeric was assassinated and replaced him with Ataulf's relative,
Wallia
Wallia or Walha ( Spanish: ''Walia'', Portuguese ''Vália''), ( 385 – 418) was king of the Visigoths from 415 to 418, earning a reputation as a great warrior and prudent ruler. He was elected to the throne after Athaulf and then Sigeric were ...
.
[Olympiodorus Fragment 26]
Because Sigeric was an Amali, a member of a rival clan-based subgroup among the Visigoths to the Balti (of which Ataulf and Wallia were part), Sigeric is the only one who does not belong in the succession of kings usually labeled the
Balti dynasty Balti may refer to:
Places
* Bălți, a city in Moldova
* Bălți County (Moldova), a former county of Moldova
* Bălți County (Romania), a former county of Romania
* Balti Power Plant, one of two Narva Power Plants in Estonia
* Bălți Steppe, ...
, if the kingship is defined by Balti dynastic connections. Due to this, as well as to the fact that his reign was a usurpation, and brief, Sigeric does not appear on some Visigothic king lists.
References and external links
* Henry Bradley, ''The Goths: from the Earliest Times to the End of the Gothic Dominion in Spain.'' Second edition, 1883, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, chapter 11.
Edward Gibbon, ''History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,'' chapter 31
Specific
{{Authority control
Amali dynasty
Assassinated Gothic people
415 deaths
5th-century Visigothic monarchs
Year of birth unknown
5th-century murdered monarchs