Sisenand (

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 Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

, Galician, and Portuguese: ''Sisenando''; la, Sisenandus) ( 605 – 12 March 636) was a

Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is k ...

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ...

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: His ...

, Septimania and

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

from 631 to 636.

Reign

Sisenand was the governor of Septimania, when the nobles revolted against the Visigothic king,

Suintila Suintila, or ''Suinthila'', ''Swinthila'', ''Svinthila''; (ca. 588 – 633/635) was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia from 621 to 631. He was a son of Reccared I and his wife Bado, and a brother of the general Geila. Under Suinti ...

, over the latter's confiscations of lands and distribution of privileges between the nobility and clergy. Sisenand joined the rebellion and overthrew

with the aid of

Dagobert I Dagobert I ( la, Dagobertus; 605/603 – 19 January 639 AD) was the king of Austrasia (623–634), king of all the Franks (629–634), and king of Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dy ...

, King of the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

, to whom Gothic nobles offered a plate of pure gold in return, weighing 500 pounds. The plate was allegedly a gift that Aetius, a Roman general, gave to Thorismund, then king of the Visigoths, in 451. After successfully overthrowing Suintila and capturing

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tribut ...

on 26 March 631, Sisenand proclaimed himself king. The victory of Sisenand also represented the triumph of the nobility over the common people, although the greatest beneficiary was the clergy, who took advantage of the weariness of the other contenders to enhance their own influence. Upon assuming the throne, he had

, the previous king, declared a tyrant for his many crimes, iniquity, and accumulation of wealth at the expense of the poor; he also removed all taxes on the clergy. Between 632 and 633, there was apparently an attempted uprising within the kingdom, led by Iudila, only attested to by two coins from Mérida and

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

bearing the inscription IUDILA REX. The revolution failed, and Iudila was later killed. In order to obtain ecclesiastical conformity, on 8 December 633, Sisenand convoked the

IV Council of Toledo IV may refer to: Businesses and organizations *Immigration Voice, an activist organization *Industrievereinigung, Federation of Austrian Industry *Intellectual Ventures, a privately held intellectual property company *InterVarsity Christian Fellow ...

, which drew up civil and ecclesiastical laws within the Visigothic kingdom, including the death penalty, excommunication, and condemnation to perpetual perdition for those rebelling against the king. Similar penalties were approved for those who wished to dispense with such law of choice. However, the council did not concede any hereditary right to the king; the next king would be elected by the bishops and magnates from one of their own. Sisenand died a natural death in the city of

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

on 12 March 636. Chintila was chosen by the bishops to succeed him.

References

{{Authority control 7th-century Visigothic monarchs 636 deaths Year of birth unknown fr:Sisenand#Souverains