Sisenand ( Spanish, Galician, and Portuguese: ''Sisenando''; ) ( 605 – 12 March 636) was the

Visigothic 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 ...

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, ...

Hispania Hispania was the Ancient Rome, Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two Roman province, provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divide ...

Septimania Septimania is a historical region in modern-day southern France. It referred to the western part of the Roman province of '' Gallia Narbonensis'' that passed to the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theod ...

and Galicia from 631 to 636.

Reign

Sisenand was the governor of

, when the nobles revolted against the Visigothic king, Suintila, over the latter's confiscations of lands and distribution of privileges between the nobility and clergy. Sisenand joined the rebellion and overthrew Suintila with the aid of

Dagobert I Dagobert I (; 603/605 – 19 January 639) was King of the Franks. He ruled Austrasia (623–634) and Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dynasty to wield real royal power, after which the ...

, King of 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 ...

, 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 (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

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 Suintila, 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 ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

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