Gesalic ( Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌺𐍃, romanized: ''Gaisalaiks'', "dancing with spears"), ''Gesaleico'' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and Portuguese, ''Gesaleic'' in Catalan, ( – 513), was a king of the

Visigoth 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 ...

s from 507 to 511, and died in 513.

Biography

Although the illegitimate son of

Alaric II Alaric II (, , 'ruler of all'; ; – August 507) was the King of the Visigoths from 484 until 507. He succeeded his father Euric as King of the Visigoths in Toulouse on 28 December 484; he was the great-grandson of the more famous Alaric I, who ...

, he had been elected king by the Visigoths after Alaric had been killed in battle by the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

. Alaric's only legitimate son,

Amalaric Amalaric (; Spanish and Portuguese: ''Amalarico''; 502–531) was king of the Visigoths from 522 until his assassination. He was a son of king Alaric II and his first wife Theodegotha, daughter of Theodoric the Great. Biography When Alaric II ...

, was a child and too young to rule. Initially Gesalec was supported by the powerful

Ostrogothic The Ostrogoths () were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire, drawing upon the large Gothic populatio ...

king

Theodoric the Great Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal, was king of the Ostrogoths (475–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526, regent of the Visigoths (511–526 ...

, but this support eventually faded. Between 508 and 511, he had one important Visigothic noble executed - Goiaric.Peter Heather, ''The Goths'' (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), p. 232 Gesalec's rule was dealt a decisive blow when the

Burgundians The Burgundians were an early Germanic peoples, Germanic tribe or group of tribes. They appeared east in the middle Rhine region in the third century AD, and were later moved west into the Roman Empire, in Roman Gaul, Gaul. In the first and seco ...

, led by their king

Gundobad Gundobad (; ; 452 – 516) was King of the Burgundians (473–516), succeeding his father Gundioc of Burgundy. Previous to this, he had been a patrician of the moribund Western Roman Empire in 472–473, three years before its collapse, suc ...

, captured and plundered

Narbonne Narbonne ( , , ; ; ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and was ...

, his capital. Gesalec fled to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

, where he remained until Theodoric deposed him. Theodoric took over the rule of the Visigothic kingdom for the next 15 years, collecting its taxes and appointing its officials, ostensibly in the name of Gesalic's half-brother, Amalaric, until he was old enough to rule. Driven from the throne, Gesalec found a refuge in

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

from the

Vandal The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vandal ...

king

Thrasamund Thrasamund (450 – 523), became King of the Vandals and Alans in 496, the fourth king in a line of rulers over the North African Kingdom of the Vandals. He was the son of Gento and the grandson of the Vandal Kingdom's founder, Gaiseric. Thrasam ...

. The Vandal king supported his cause, providing him money but no men, and in 510 and 511 the Vandal navy supported Gesalec's invasion of Spain. However, after receiving some stern letters from Theodoric, Thrasamund recognized he was no match for the Ostrogoths and withdrew his support for Gesalec, offering an apology and gold to Theodoric. Abandoned by Thrasamund, Gesalec fled to

Aquitania Gallia Aquitania (, ), also known as Aquitaine or Aquitaine Gaul, was a province of the Roman Empire. It lies in present-day southwest France and the comarca of Val d'Aran in northeast Spain, where it gives its name to the modern region of Aquit ...

, where he remained for a year. Herwig Wolfram notes that although Aquitania had been conquered by the Franks following the Battle of Vouille, it was still thickly populated by Visigoths and pro-Gothic Romans. Gesalec returned once again to Spain, and was defeated by Theodoric's general Ibbas outside of Barcelona, according to

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 ...

at the twelfth milestone. Although he escaped from the battlefield, Gesalec was captured after crossing the river

Durance The Durance (; ''Durença'' in the Occitan classical norm or ''Durènço'' in the Mistralian norm) is a major river in Southeastern France. A left tributary of the Rhône, it is long. Its drainage basin is .Wolfram, ''History of the Goths'', p. 245, p. 481 n. 615 Peter Heather speculates his execution was "probably in 513."

References

Sources

*Peter J. Heather, ''The Goths'', Oxford 1996. *Robert Kasperski,''The Visigothic King Gesalic, Isidore’s Historia Gothorum and the Goths’ Wars against the Franks and the Burgundians in the Years 507–514'', „Kwartalnik Historyczny” Vol. CXXIV, 2017 Eng.-Language Edition no. 1, pp. 7–37. *Herwig Wolfram, ''History of the Goths'', Berkeley 1988. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gesalic 513 deaths Balt dynasty 6th-century Visigothic monarchs 6th-century murdered monarchs Year of birth unknown