Burdunellus (meaning "little mule", possibly a nickname) was a
Roman usurper
Roman usurpers were individuals or groups of individuals who obtained or tried to obtain power by force and without legitimate legal authority. Usurpation was endemic during the Roman imperial era, especially from the crisis of the third centu ...
of the late fifth century AD, recorded only briefly in the ''
Consularia Caesaraugustana
The Consularia Caesaraugustana is a chronicle from late antiquity covering the period 450-568. It is fragmentary handed down as an addition in the margins of a manuscript by Victor of Tunnuna and John of Biclar.Madriad, Escorial, & IV.23; this is ...
''. Under 496 it is recorded that "he became a tyrant in
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 ...
", a phrase which, in the political language of the time and considering the nature of the source, must mean he tried to claim the imperial dignity and authority.
[Collins, 35.][Thompson, 193.] He was eventually abandoned by his own supporters, who turned him over to
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 ...
authorities and sent him to
Tolosa, where he was
burned to death inside a bronze bull, an unusual fate for a usurper but designed to humiliate.
The location of Burdunellus' petty government is unknown, but was probably the
valley of the Ebro centred on
Caesaraugusta.
See also
*
Peter (usurper)
Peter () was a Roman usurper of the early sixth century AD, recorded in two minor sources: the '' Consularia Caesaraugustana'' and the '' Victoris Tunnunnensis Chronicon''. He was a "tyrant" (meaning usurper) against the Visigothic rulers of Spain. ...
Notes
Sources
*
Collins, Roger. ''Visigothic Spain, 409–711''. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. .
*
Thompson, E. A.br>
"The End of Roman Spain: Part III."''Nottingham Mediaeval Studies'', xxii (1978), pp. 3–22. Reprinted as "The Gothic Kingdom and the Dark Age of Spain" in ''Romans and Barbarians: The Decline of the Western Empire''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982. pp. 161–187. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burdunellus
5th-century Roman usurpers
5th century in Hispania
496 deaths
People executed by boiling
Year of birth unknown