Heremigarius (or Hermigarius) (fl. 427–429) was a Suevic military leader operative in Lusitania in the early fifth century. He may have been a joint monarch with Hermeric, but there is no primary source to prove it.[1] According to Hydatius, he had attacked the Vandal cities of Seville and Mérida and was thus "cast down in the river Ana by the arm of God," where he drowned.[2] He was in fact defeated by the Vandal king Geiseric near Mérida and drowned on the retreat.[3]
Recently, Casimiro Torres, in Galicia Sueva, argued that Heremigarius was the father of the magister militum Ricimer. He has also been connected with Ermengon who is interred in an Arian tomb in the basilica of Hippo Regius, the Vandal capital. She was apparently a wealthy Suevic member of the Vandal aristocracy, perhaps a relative of Heremigarius.[4]
Notes[]
- ↑ Thompson, 166. German historian Felix Dahn, in his monumental Die Könige der Germanen, entertained the possibility that he was a relative of and successor to Hermeric.
- ↑ Muhlberger, chapter 3, §5. Hydatius, 90: V. Gaisericus rex, de Baeticae prouinciae litore, cum Vandalis omnibus eorumque familiis, mense Maio ad Mauretaniam et Africam relictis transit Hispaniis. Qui, priusquam pertransiret admonitus Heremigarium Sueuum uicinas in transitu suo prouincias depraedari, recursu cum aliquantis suis facto praedantem in Lusitania consequitur. Qui haud procul de Emerita, quam cum sanctae martyris Eulaliae iniuria spreuerat, maledictis per Gaisericum caesis ex his quos secum habebat, arrepto, ut putauit, euro uelocius fugae subsidio, in flumine Ana diuino brachio praecipitatus interiit. Quo ita extincto mox quo coeperat Gaisericus enauigauit.
- ↑ Schwarz, 50.
- ↑ J. Pampliega (1998), Los germanos en España (Pamplona).
Sources[]
- Muhlberger, Steve. Overview of Late Antiquity. 1996.
- Shwarz, Andreas. "The Settlement of the Vandals in North Africa." Andrew H. Merrills, ed., Vandals, Romans and Berbers: New Perspectives on Late Antique North Africa (pp. 49–58). Ashgate Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-7546-4145-7.
- Thompson, E. A. Romans and Barbarians: The Decline of the Western Empire. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982. ISBN 0-299-08700-X.
The original article can be found at Heremigarius and the edit history here.