Rechila (died 448) was the

Suevi file:1st century Germani.png, 300px, The approximate positions of some Germanic peoples reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 1st century. Suebian peoples in red, and other Irminones in purple. The Suebi (also spelled Suavi, Suevi or Suebians ...

king of Galicia Galicia (Spain), Galicia is an autonomous community and historical nationality in modern-day northwestern Spain on the Iberian Peninsula, which was a major part of the Roman province known as Gallaecia prior to 409. It consists of the province ...

from 438 until his death. There are few primary sources for his life, but Hydatius was a contemporary Christian (non-

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 ...

) chronicler in Galicia. When his father, Hermeric, turned ill in 438, he retired from active political life (dying in 441) and handed the reins of government and the royal title over to his son. He endeavoured to expand the Suevic kingdom to fill the vacuum left by the retiring

Vandals 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 Vand ...

and

Alans The Alans () were an ancient and medieval Iranian peoples, Iranic Eurasian nomads, nomadic pastoral people who migrated to what is today North Caucasus – while some continued on to Europe and later North Africa. They are generally regarded ...

. In 438 he defeated Andevotus, the '' comes Hispaniarum'', on the river

Genil The Genil River is the main (left) tributary of the river Guadalquivir in Andalusia, Spain. Known as ''Singilis'' in Latin, it bears a modern name derives from the Moorish rendering of the Roman name: ''Sinyil, Sannil'', and ''Sinnil''. Route The ...

(Singillio). The Roman position in Iberia became so tenuous that three ''magistri utriusque militiae'' (masters of both services) were sent to the peninsula between 441 and 446. Invading southern Iberia, Rechila took the provincial capitals of Mérida in 439 and

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, ...

in 441. These conquests were extremely significant, but nothing of the sequence of events leading to them is known. The provinces of

Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province encompassing most of modern-day Portugal (south of the Douro River) and a large portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and Province of Salamanca). Romans named the region after th ...

Baetica Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces created in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) in 27 BC. Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of ...

, and Carthaginiensis were subjected to the Suevi with the exception of the Levante and the Mediterranean seaboard. Rechila was involved in near constant war with the Romans. While returning in 440 from his third embassy to the Suevi, the Roman legate Censorius was captured by Rechila near

Mértola Mértola (), officially the Town of Mértola (), is a town and municipality in southeastern Portuguese Alentejo near the Spanish border. In 2011, the population was 7,274, in an area of approximately : it is the sixth-largest municipality in Portu ...

(''Myrtilis''). The king had him imprisoned for the remainder of his reign. Rechila died a

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 ...

in Mérida: ''gentilis moritur'' ("died a gentile") according to Hydatius, but

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 ...

, writing well over a century and a half later, and whose source was Hydatius, says ''ut ferunt, gentilitatis vitam finivit'' ("finished his life a gentile, so they say"). There is no reason, however, for accepting Isidore's doubts, which were probably precipitated by the fact that Rechila's son and successor was the Catholic Rechiar. Some scholars have raised the contention that his father raised him that way in order to foster good relations with the Church and bring about the easy conversion of the Suevi.Thompson, "The Conversion of the Spanish Suevi", 79, who denies this. Rechila may have been the father or perhaps uncle of the ''

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 ...

Ricimer Ricimer ( , ; – 19 August 472) was a Romanized Germanic general, who ruled the remaining territory of the Western Roman Empire from 456 after defeating Avitus, until his death in 472, with a brief interlude in which he contested power wit ...

.Gillett, "The Birth of Ricimer".

Notes

Sources

* Gillett, Andrew. "The Birth of Ricimer." ''Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte'' 44, 3 (1995): 380–84. * Thompson, E. A. "The Conversion of the Spanish Suevi to Catholicism." Edward James, ed., ''Visigothic Spain: New Approaches''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980. . * Thompson, E. A. ''Romans and Barbarians: The Decline of the Western Empire''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982. . {{Galician monarchs 5th-century Suebian kings Early Germanic warriors Medieval history of Portugal 448 deaths Year of birth unknown