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Categories: Ancient Germanic peoples | Ancient Roman enemies and allies | History of the Germanic peoples
Suebi
The Suebi or Suevi were a Germanic people whose origin was near the Baltic Sea .
History
2000 years ago the Baltic Sea was known to the Romans as the Mare Suebicum. Partially because of his unfamiliarity with the various Germanic peoples interacting with Rome at the time, the historian Tacitus referred to all eastern Germanic people as Suebi. More recent scholarship has shown that view to be an oversimplification. The Suebi eventually migrated south and west to reside for a while in the area of modern Germany, where their name survives in the historic region known as Swabia. The Suebi under Ariovistus were invited into Gallia by the Aedui but soon came to dominate them and were finally defeated by Caesar in 58 BC.
Closely related to the Alamanni and often working in concert with them, the Suebi for the most part stayed on the "German" side of the Rhine until December 31, 406, when much of the tribe joined the Vandals and Alans in breaching the Roman frontier at Mainz, thus launching an invasion of the province of Gaul.
While the Vandals and Alans clashed with the Roman-allied Franks for supremacy in Gaul, the Suebi worked their way to the south, eventually crossing the Pyrenees Mountains and entering the Iberian Peninsula.
Suebic kingdom of Gallaecia
The kingdom lasted for 175 years after that, and seems to have enjoyed relatively stable government for most of that time.
History In 409 AD, their king Hermerico established his people in territories making up the NW part of the Iberian peninsula, the Roman Gallaecia . The number of the Suebic invaders is estimated in less than 30,000 people. These had been settled mainly in the zones of Braga (Bracara Augusta), Porto, Lugo (Lucus Augusta) and Astorga (Asturica Augusta). Bracara Augusta, the modern city of Braga, became the Capital of the Suebi, has it was previously the capital of the Gallaecia Roman province.
The Suebic Kingdom eventually received official recognition (foedus) from the Romans for their settlement there in Gallaecia. It was the first kingdom separated from Roman Empire that minted coins. In 438 Suebi king Hermerico ratified the peace with the Galaicos people and, tired of fighting, abdicated in favor of his son Requila .
In 448 Requila died leaving a state in expansion to his son Requiario who imposed his Catholic faith on the Suebi population. In 456 Requiario died and some candidates for the throne appeared, grouped in two factions. A division marked for the river Minius (Minho/Miño) is noticed, probably a consequence of the two tribes, Quados and Marcomanos, who constituted the Suebi nation in the Iberian Peninsula.
There were occasional clashes with the Visigoths, who arrived in Iberian Peninsula in 416 and came to dominate most of the peninsula, but the Suebi maintained their independence until 584, when the Visigothic King Leovigild invaded the Suebic kingdom and finally defeated it. Andeca , the last king of the Suebi, held out for a year before surrendering in 585. With his surrender, this branch of the Suebi vanished into the Visigothic kingdom.
Suebi Kings of Gallaecia
- Reunification (463) under Remismundo
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