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

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 ...

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Hispania Hispania was the Ancient Rome, Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two Roman province, provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divide ...

and

Septimania Septimania 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 Septimania was ceded to their king, Theod ...

(549 – March 554). Peter Heather notes that Agila's reign was during a period of civil war following the death of Amalaric, 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 language, Latin ''Theudigisclus'' and in Spanish language, Spanish, Galician language, Galician and Portuguese language, Portuguese ''Teudiselo'', ''Teudigiselo'', or ''Teudisclo''), ( 500 – December 549) w ...

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

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 ...

suggests was due to local

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

s objecting to his

Arianism Arianism (, ) is a Christology, 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 co ...

: in his account, Isidore mentions that Agila defiled the church of a local saint, Acisclus, 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, either regional or global. In Ancient Greece (ca. 8th BC – AD 6th c.), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of ...

in one mountainous region; the landowners of

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

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 the 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 dea ...

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

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, 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 known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

. 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 (; 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 ...

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 Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

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

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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