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 modern historiography, the Western Roman Empire was the western provinces of the Roman Empire, collectively, during any period in which they were administered separately from the eastern provinces by a separate, independent imperial court. ...
in 472–473, three years before its collapse, succeeding his uncle
Ricimer. He is perhaps best known today as the probable issuer of the ''
Lex Burgundionum'' legal codes, which synthesized
Roman law
Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I.
Roman law also den ...
with ancient Germanic customs. He was the husband of
Caretene.
Early life
Gundobad seized the title of Patrician when his uncle
Ricimer, who had been the power behind the throne for the
Western Empire, died on 18 August 472. According to
John of Antioch, Gundobad had previously executed the deposed emperor
Anthemius
Procopius Anthemius (; died 11 July 472) was the Western Roman Empire, Western Roman emperor from 467 to 472. Born in the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, Anthemius quickly worked his way up the ranks. He married into the Theodosian dyna ...
on his uncle's orders.
Once in power, Gundobad elevated the current ,
Glycerius, to the position of
Roman emperor in the West. However, not long after this, Gundobad left for
Burgundy where his father, Gundioc, had died; the exact date is unclear, with authorities stating it was in either 473 or 474. Once in Burgundy, his three brothers presumably challenged his rule:
Godegisel
Godegisel (? – 501) was a Burgundian sub-king and son of the Burgundian king Gondioc.
Godegisel was the educator and uncle of Clotilde, wife of the Frankish king Clovis I. Beginning in 463 he was a sub-king of Kingdom of the Burgundians. ...
,
Chilperic II
Chilperic II ( 672 – 13 February 721) was King of the Franks from 715 until his death.
He was a son of Childeric II and his half-cousin wife, Bilichild, both of whom were assassinated, along with their eldest son Dagobert, in 675. Still a ...
and
Godomar I. Ian Wood speculates that Gundobad's departure may have been connected with the arrival of a new emperor,
Julius Nepos, who had the support of
the Roman emperor in the East. Once Julius Nepos landed in
Portus (June 474), he deposed Glycerius, whom he made
Bishop of Salona.
Reign
The events of the first decades of Gundobad's reign are not well known. The only available source that covers this part of his reign is
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...
, who wrote almost a century later. According to Gregory, Gundobad set about ridding himself of his brothers. First slain was Gundomar, though little is known of this encounter.
[Gregory of Tours, ''History of the Franks in Ten Books'', 2.28]
Next killed was Chilperic. According to Gregory, Gundobad had
his wife drowned by tying a stone around her neck and Chilperic's two daughters driven into exile. The older daughter, Chroma, became a nun. The other,
Clotilde, had been seen by envoys of
Clovis I
Clovis (; reconstructed Old Frankish, Frankish: ; – 27 November 511) was the first List of Frankish kings, king of the Franks to unite all of the Franks under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a ...
,
King of the Franks
The Franks, Germanic peoples that invaded the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, were first led by individuals called dux, dukes and monarch, reguli. The earliest group of Franks that rose to prominence was the Salian Franks, Salian Mero ...
, who told their master of her beauty and intelligence. Clovis then asked Gundobad for Clotilde's hand in marriage. Gundobad was said to have been afraid to deny him.
[
However, a letter written by Avitus, bishop of Vienne, consoling Gundobad on the death of a daughter whose name is not mentioned, gives details that suggest there was more to the story. According to the explication of Danuta Shanzer and Ian Wood of Avitus' notoriously difficult Latin, the bishop writes, "In the past, with ineffable tender-heartedness, you mourned the deaths of your brothers." Further, Avitus alludes to Gundobad's intent to marry his deceased daughter to a foreign ruler, who, they suggest, was Clovis: "Indeed," they write, "Clovis is really the only likely candidate as a prospective son-in-law for Gundobad shortly after 501." If their reading is correct, then it is likely that Clotilde was offered to Clovis as an act of diplomacy, not subservience.
At this point occurs the earliest firm date in Gundobad's reign: in the early months of 490, while Odoacer and Theodoric the Great were locked in battle over control of ]Pavia
Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086.
The city was a major polit ...
, 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 ...
seized the opportunity to invade northwestern Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. They devastated Liguria, and carried away an unknown number of victims into captivity, if not slavery. Once Theodoric had killed Odoacer and was securely in control of Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, he sent bishop Epiphanius of Pavia on a mission to ransom as many of these captives as possible. Accompanied by Bishop Victor of Turin, they crossed the Alps in March. Shanzer and Wood believe Epiphanius was possibly also entrusted with a mission in connection with the marriage of Gundobad's son Sigismund to Theodoric's daughter Ostrogotho. In his account of this visit, Magnus Felix Ennodius, who accompanied Epiphanius on this journey, describes Godegisel as ''germanus regis'', the "king's brother", and not king—again contradicting Gregory of Tours' later account. Ennodius notes that "more than six thousand souls" were so ransomed; from Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
s alone 400 men were thus freed.
Gregory of Tours states the battle with Gundobad's third brother, Godegisel, raged long. Unaware of the other's actions, each called upon Clovis trying to persuade him to join forces against the other. Clovis sided with Godegisel, who had offered him his pleasure of tribute; Wood observes that Clovis' wife, Clotilde, whose father had been killed by Gundobad, "was not likely to encourage good relations between 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 ...
and the Burgundians." Together they crushed Gundobad's force. Gundobad fled but King Clovis pursued him to Avignon
Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...
. Gundobad feared the worst with Clovis's army at the gates. But Aridius went from Gundobad to Clovis and convinced him to spare Gundobad in return for a yearly tribute. The chronicler Marius of Avenches dates this conflict to 500.
Gundobad later broke his promise of tribute as he regained his power and besieged Godegisel, trapped in the city of Vienne. As famine devoured Vienne, Godegisel expelled the common people from the city for fear of his own survival. An outraged expelled artisan seeking vengeance on Godegisel went to Gundobad, and with his help he navigated the aqueduct and broke into the city. Gundobad murdered Godegisel in 501 in an Arian church along with the bishop.
The next event about which information has survived is Gundobad's role concerning the Battle of Vouillé. He was one of several rulers to whom king Theoderic sent letters urging peace, and asking for mediation between 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 ...
and Clovis. Despite Theoderic's best efforts, the two kings met at Vouillé, and Alaric was slain; 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 ...
, Gundobad supported Clovis in this battle. Isidore also provides a hint that Gundobad exploited the Visigothic defeat by plundering Narbonne. Delayed by the threat of the Byzantine navy
The Byzantine navy was the Navy, naval force of the Byzantine Empire. Like the state it served, it was a direct continuation from its Roman navy, Roman predecessor, but played a far greater role in the defence and survival of the state than its ...
, which had been hovering off the Italian shore around the time of the battle, the Ostrogothic army arrived to relieve the Burgundian siege of Arles
Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...
. According to Herwig Wolfram, the Burgundians were "the real victims of the Ostrogothic counteroffensive" following the defeat of their cousins at Vouillé. "Not only had they lost all their conquered territories and hope of acquiring Arles and Avignon but all their territory as far as Orange had been devastated."
Following the death of King Clovis of the Franks in 511, the Burgundians became the most prestigious people 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 ...
. Gundobad was favored by the court of Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
, which awarded him the title of ''magister militum
(Latin for "master of soldiers"; : ) was a top-level military command used in the late Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the e ...
''.
Gundobad died peacefully, succeeded by his son Sigismund in 516. He also had another son, Godomar II, who would succeed his brother after his execution in 524.
Learning
In some of the manuscripts of the '' Lex Burgundionum'', Gundobad is stated to have published this code of law on 29 March of the second year of his reign (474 or 475). However, there are a number of inconsistencies in this ascription, and L. R. deSalis proposed a restored version of this passage which does not include a date—which would better fit the reign of his son, Sigismund. Although she accepts the strong likelihood that the ''Lex Burgundionum'' as we have it was the product of Sigismund's reign, Katherine Fisher Drew still argues that a core of this law code is the product of Gundobad or his chancellery.
The letters of bishop
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
Avitus and Cassiodorus
Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Christian Roman statesman, a renowned scholar and writer who served in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senato ...
provide glimpses of Gundobad's intellectual side. Avitus, a Nicene bishop, answers questions posed by an Arian Christian about religion in several letters, showing a great religious tolerance
Religious tolerance or religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, ...
, and this may be the reason Gregory of Tours later thought he had secretly converted to Nicene Christianity
Nicene Christianity includes those Christian denominations that adhere to the teaching of the Nicene Creed, which was formulated at the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325 and amended at the First Council of Constantinople in AD 381. It encompas ...
. Cassiodorus' ''Variae'' includes a group of letters which discuss obtaining and sending a time piece to Gundobad as a diplomatic present.[''Variae'', I.45, 46]
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gundobad
450s births
516 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
Kings of the Burgundians
Ancient Roman generals
Burgundian warriors
Magistri militum
5th-century Romans
5th-century monarchs in Europe
6th-century monarchs in Europe
Patricii
Regicides
Ancient Romans from unknown gentes
Correspondents of Avitus of Vienne