Gibuld (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for '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 indic ...

470) was the last known

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, ...

of the

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni c ...

before the defeat of the Alamanni at the battle of Tolbiac in 496. Gibuld is known from two hagiographic sources, the contemporary (470s) ''Vita Severini'' by Eugippius, 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 Eugippius, Gibuld used to harry

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

, 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 Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, 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 ...

, 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 (, ) is a 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 considered he ...

kingdoms in

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

, that of 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 ...

and that of the

Visigoths 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 kingdoms, barbarian military group unite ...

. 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 (, 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 Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

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 monarchs Alemannic warriors 5th-century monarchs in Europe 5th-century Germanic people