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'{{for|the given name|Roderick}} [[File:Amra5.jpg|thumb|Roderic depicted as one of the "[[The Painting of the Six Kings|six kings]]" in an [[Umayyad]] fresco in [[Qasr Amra]], modern-day Jordan, from between 710 and 750.<ref name=metmuseum>{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2012/byzantium-and-islam/blog/where-in-the-world/posts/qusayr-amra|title=Qusayr 'Amra|last=Williams|first=Betsy|work=[[The Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|date=2012-04-12}}</ref><br>Roderic is the second figure, his face completely lost, with only the tip of his helmet and his robes being visible.<ref>Drayson, "Ways of Seeing".</ref>]] '''Ruderic''' (also spelled '''Roderic''', '''Roderik''', '''Roderich''', or '''Roderick''';<ref>His name is of [[Gothic language|Gothic]] origin. Its [[Germanic language|Germanic root]] is [[Roderick (name)|Hrōþirīk(i)az]].</ref> [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and {{lang-pt|Rodrigo}}, {{lang-ar|translit=Ludharīq|لذريق}}; died 711 ) was the [[Visigoths|Visigothic]] king in [[Hispania]] between 710 and 711. He is well-known as "the last king of the Goths". He is actually an extremely obscure figure about whom little can be said with certainty. He was the last Goth to rule from [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], but not the last Gothic king, a distinction which belongs to [[Ardo]]. Roderic's election as king was disputed and he ruled only a part of Hispania with an opponent, [[Achila II|Achila]], ruling the rest . He faced a rebellion of the [[Basques]] and the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|Umayyad invasion]]. He was defeated and killed at the [[Battle of Guadalete]]. His widow [[Egilona]] is believed to have married [[Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa]], the first Muslim governor of Hispania. ==Early life== According to the late ''[[Chronicle of Alfonso III]]'', Roderic was a son of Theodefred, himself a son of king [[Chindaswinth]], and of a woman named Riccilo. Roderic's exact date of birth is unknown but probably was after 687, estimated from his father's marriage having taken place after his exile to [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] following the succession of King [[Egica]] in that year.<ref>Collins, ''Visigothic'', 136.</ref> ==Succession== ===Usurpation=== According to the ''[[Chronicle of 754]]'', Roderic "tumultuously [''tumultuose''] invaded the kingdom [''regnum''] with the encouragement of [or at the exhortation of] the senate [''senatus'']."<ref name=thompson249>Thompson, 249.</ref><ref name=collins113>Collins, ''Visigothic'', 113.</ref> Historians have long debated the exact meaning of these words. What is generally recognised is that it was not a typical palace coup as had occurred on previous occasions, but rather a violent invasion of the palace which sharply divided the kingdom. It is probably that the "invasion" was not from outside the kingdom; because the word ''regnum'' can refer to the office of the king, it is likely that Roderic merely usurped the throne.<ref name=collins113/> Nonetheless, it is possible that Roderic was a regional commander (''[[dux]]'' of [[Baetica]] in later, legendary sources) or even an exile when he staged his coup.<ref name=collins132/><ref name=collins133/> The "tumult" which surrounded this usurpation was probably violent, though whether or not it involved the deposition or assassination of the legitimate king, [[Wittiza]], or was a consequence of his recent natural death has divided scholars.<ref>Collins, ''Visigothic'', believes that Wittiza was the target of the coup.</ref> Some scholars believe that the king [[Agila II|Achila]], who ruled in opposition to Roderic, was in fact Wittiza's son and successor and that Roderic had tried to usurp the throne from him.<ref>[[Bernard Bachrach|Bachrach]], 32.</ref> The senate with which Roderic accomplished his coup was probably composed of the "leading aristocrats and perhaps also some of the bishops."<ref name=collins113/> The participation of churchmen in the revolt is disputed, some arguing that the support of the bishops would not have led to the act being labelled a usurpation.<ref>Thompson, 249, who considers the senate comprise merely the palatine officials.</ref> The body of leading temporal and ecclesiastical lords had been the dominant body in determining the Visigothic succession since the reign of [[Reccared I]].<ref name=collins132>Collins, ''Visigothic'', 132.</ref> The palatine officials, however, had not been much affected by royal measures to decrease their influence in the final decades of the kingdom, as their effecting of a coup in 711 indicates.<ref name=thompson249/> [[File:Roderic coin Egitania 1.PNG|thumb|A coin minted in Roderic's name at [[Egitania]]]] ===Division of the kingdom=== After the coup, the division of the kingdom into two factions, with the southwest (the provinces of [[Lusitania]] and western [[Carthaginiensis]] around the capital [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]]) in Roderic's hands and the northeast ([[Tarraconensis]] and [[Narbonensis]]) in the hands of Achila is confirmed by [[archaeological]] and [[numismatic]] evidence. Roderic's twelve surviving coins, all bearing the name Rvdericvs, were minted at Toledo, probably his capital, and "Egitania", probably [[Idanha-a-Velha]].<ref name=collins131>Collins, ''Visigothic'', 131.</ref> The regions in which the coins have been discovered do not overlap and it seems highly probable that the two rulers ruled in opposition from different regions. It is unknown to whom the provinces of [[Gallaecia]] and Baetica fell.<ref name=collins131/> That Roderic and Achila never appear to have come into military conflict is probably best explained by the preoccupation of Roderic with Arab raids and not to a formal division of the kingdom.<ref name=collins139>Collins, ''Visigothic'', 139.</ref> A Visigothic regnal list mentions "Ruderigus" as having reigned seven years and six months, while two other continuations of the ''Chronicon Regum Visigothorum'' record Achila's reign of three years.<ref name=collins132/> In contrast to the regnal lists, which cannot be dated, the ''Chronicle of 754'', written at Toledo, says that "Rudericus" reigned for a year.<ref name=collins132/> ==War with the Muslims== According to the ''Chronicle of 754'', Roderic immediately upon securing his throne gathered a force to oppose the [[Arabs]] and [[Berber people|Berbers]] (''Mauri'', whence the word "Moors"), who were raiding in the south of the Iberian peninsula and had destroyed many towns under [[Tariq ibn Ziyad]] and other Muslim generals.<ref name=collins133/> While later Arabic sources make the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|conquest of Hispania]] a singular event undertaken at the orders of the governor [[Musa ibn Nusair|Musa ibn Nosseyr]] of [[Ifriqiya]], according to the ''Chronicle'', which was written much nearer in date to the actual events, the Arabs began disorganised raids and undertook to conquer the peninsula only with the fortuitous death of Roderic and the collapse of the Visigothic nobility. [[Paul the Deacon]]'s ''Historia Langobardorum'' records that the [[Saracens]] invaded "all Hispania" from Septem ([[Ceuta]]).<ref>''HL'', VI, 46</ref><ref name=thompson250>Thompson, 250.</ref> Roderic made several expeditions against the invaders before he was deserted by his troops and killed in battle in 711 or 712.<ref name=collins133>Collins, ''Visigothic'', 133.</ref> The ''Chronicle of 754'' claims that some of the nobles who had accompanied Roderic on his last expedition did so out of "ambition for the kingdom", perhaps intending to allow him to die in battle so that they could secure the throne for one of themselves.<ref name=collins133/> Whatever their intentions, most of them seem to have died in the battle as well.<ref name=collins133/> Other historians have suggested that low morale amongst the soldiery because of Roderic's disputed succession was the cause of defeat.<ref name=thompson250/> The majority of Roderic's soldiers may have been poorly trained and unwilling slave conscripts; there were probably few freemen left fighting for the Goths.<ref>Thompson, 319.</ref> The location of the battle is debatable. It probably occurred near the mouth of the [[Guadalete]] river, hence its name, the [[Battle of Guadalete]]. According to Paul the Deacon, the site was the otherwise unidentifiable "Transductine promontories".<ref name=thompson250/> According to the ''Chronicle of 754'', the Arabs took Toledo in 711 and executed many nobles still in the city on the pretense that they had assisted in the flight of [[Oppa]], a son of [[Egica]].<ref name=collins133/> Since it took place, according to the same chronicle, after Roderic's defeat, either the defeat must be moved back to 711 or the conquest of Toledo pushed back to 712; the latter is preferred by Collins.<ref name=collins134>Collins, ''Visigothic'', 134.</ref> It is possible that the Oppa who fled Toledo and was a son of a previous king was the cause of the "internal fury" which wracked Hispania at the time recorded in the ''Chronicle''. Perhaps Oppa had been declared king at Toledo by Roderic and Achila's rivals, either before Roderic's final defeat or between his death and the Arab capture of Toledo.<ref name=collins139/> If so, the death of the nobles who had "ambition for the kingdom" may have been Oppa's supporters who were killed in Toledo by the Arabs shortly after the battle in the south.<ref name=collins134/> According to a 9th-century chronicle, a tombstone with the inscription ''Hic requiescit Rodericus, rex Gothorum'' (here rests Roderic, king of the Goths) was found at [[Egitania]] (modern Idanha-a-Velha, Portugal). According to [[the legend of Nazaré]] the king fled the battlefield alone. Roderic left a widow, [[Egilona|Egilo]], who later married one of the Arabic governors of Hispania, [[Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa]].<ref name=thompson250/> ==In legend and literature== [[File:Cronica rey rodrigo.jpg|thumb|upright|Titlepage of ''La Crónica del rey don Rodrigo'' (''The Chronicle of the Lord King Roderic'') published by Juan Ferrer (1549), recounting the legendary deeds of Roderic]] {{See also|Legend of Nazaré}} According to a legend that was for centuries treated as historical fact, Roderic seduced or raped the daughter of [[Count Julian]], known in late accounts as [[Florinda la Cava]]. This tale of romance and treachery has inspired many works. Roderic appears in Nights 272 and 273 of the [[1001 Nights]]. In the story, he opens a mysterious door in his castle that was locked and sealed shut by the previous kings. He discovers paintings of Muslim soldiers in the room and a note saying that the city of Toledo will fall to the soldiers in the paintings if the room is ever opened. This coincides with the fall of Toledo. Roderic is a central figure in the English playwright [[William Rowley]]'s tragedy ''[[All's Lost by Lust]]'', which portrays him as a rapist usurped by Count Julian and the Moors. The Scottish writer [[Walter Scott]], and the English writers [[Walter Savage Landor]] and [[Robert Southey]], handled the legends associated with these events poetically: Scott in "[[The Vision of Don Roderick]]" in 1811; Landor in his tragedy ''Count Julian'' in 1812; and Southey in "[[Roderick the Last of the Goths]]", in 1814. The American writer [[Washington Irving]] retold the legends in his ''Legends of the Conquest of Spain'' (1835), mostly written while living in that country. These consist of "Legend of Don Roderick", "Legend of the Subjugation of Spain", and "Legend of Count Julian and His Family". Roderic has been the subject of two [[opera]]s: ''[[Rodrigo (opera)|Rodrigo]]'' by [[George Frideric Handel]] and ''[[Don Rodrigo]]'' by [[Alberto Ginastera]]. Roderic appears as a minor character in the first half of Portuguese early [[Romanticism (literature)|Romantic]] writer [[Alexandre Herculano]]'s novel ''[[Eurico, o Presbítero]]'' ("Euric, the Presbyter", 1844). Roderic's story is told in the British [[West End musical]] ''[[La Cava]]'' (2000). ==Sources== *[[Bernard Bachrach|Bachrach, Bernard S.]] [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1853939 "A Reassessment of Visigothic Jewish Policy, 589–711."] ''[[The American Historical Review]]'', Vol. 78, No. 1 (1973), pp 11–34. *Collins, Roger. ''The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–97''. Blackwell Publishing, 1989. *Collins, Roger. ''Visigothic Spain, 409–711''. Blackwell Publishing, 2004 *Drayson, Elizabeth. "Ways of Seeing: The First Medieval Islamic and Christian Depictions of Roderick, Last Visigothic King of Spain". ''Al-Masāq'', Vol. 18, No. 2 (2006), pp 115–28. *[[Thomas Hodgkin|Hodgkin, Thomas]]. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/546476 "Visigothic Spain."] ''[[The English Historical Review]]'', Vol. 2, No. 6 (1887), pp 209–234. *[[Ibn Abd-el-Hakem]]. [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/conqspain.html "The Islamic Conquest of Spain."] *Shaw, R. Dykes. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/549701 "The Fall of the Visigothic Power in Spain."] ''The English Historical Review'', Vol. 21, No. 82 (1906), pp 209–228. *[[Edward Arthur Thompson|Thompson, E. A.]]. ''The Goths in Spain''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969. ==Notes== {{reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-reg|}} {{s-bef|before=[[Wittiza]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Visigoths|King of the Visigoths]]|years=710–712}} {{s-aft|after=[[Agila II|Achila II]]}} {{s-end}} {{Visigothic kings}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Visigothic kings]] [[Category:Monarchs killed in action]] [[Category:Gothic warriors]] [[Category:680s births]] [[Category:711 deaths]] [[Category:8th-century monarchs in Europe]] [[Category:Umayyad conquest of Hispania]] [[Category:7th-century people of the Visigothic Kingdom]] [[Category:8th-century Visigothic people]]'