Amalric

[Antonio Queiroz Menezes]

On my database I have Amalric, King of the Visigoths, married to a
daugher of Clovis, and both given as parents of Leovegild, also King
of the Visigoths. From Chico Doria and a belgian friend I know that
Amalric had no sons from the daughter of Clovis (this branch was
researched by a cousin of my mother who used Felgueiras Gayo
and I was told this reference was not reliable when going back to
the Visigigoths).

So who where the parents of Leovegild?

TIA

Antonio

---------------------------------------------------------
Antonio Queiroz Menezes M.Sc. (Econo)
Porto - Portugal
abme...@mail.telepac.pt
Antonio...@compuserve.com
menezes...@netscape.net

[John Carmi Parsons]

Leovigild does not appear to have been the son of a king. He was the
brother of King Liuva, who is described as a Gothic noble elected king
at Narbonne upon the death of Athanagild, without male heirs, in 568.
According to Roger Collins, _Early Medieval Spain: Unity in Diversity,
400-1000_ (St Martin's Press, 1995 2nd ed), p. 40, "Claims that the
subsequent king Leovigild was related to [Athanagild] are based upon
spurious later medieval genealogies."

Such later genealogies attempted to establish blood links among all the
Visigothic kings, though few of them were closely related to each other.
The Visigothic kingship was elective, primarily to ensure that a child
would never succeed to the throne. This system also meant that one ruling
family was never able to build up the power of the royal office to the
detriment of the great families.

One example of the blood links cooked up in these unreliable late-medieval and
Renaissance genealogies centers on the son of Leovigild's son Hermengild (d.
586) by Chilperic II's dau. Ingunda. We know that this son, Athanagild,
existed, but what became of him is unknown; we don't in fact know if he even
survived to adulthood. The later genealogies, however, have him wandering as
far afield as Constantinople, where he supposedly married an imperial lady
named Flavia Juliana, by whom he had a son, Artabasto. This last fellow
returned to Spain, married a distant cousin Glaswinda (an otherwise-unknown
dau. of King Chindaswinth) and became the father of King Ervigio r. 680-87.
Ervigio becomes father-in-law of King Egica r. 687-701, and father of Duke
Pedro of Cantabria, supposedly father of Alfonso I of the Asturias r. 739-56.

At least the dates fit, but there's not a shred of evidence to support it.

John Parsons

[Todd A. Farmerie]

John Carmi Parsons wrote:
>
> Ervigio becomes father-in-law of King Egica r. 687-701, and father of Duke
> Pedro of Cantabria, supposedly father of Alfonso I of the Asturias r. 739-56.

I think this places the doubt in the wrong place. There seems
reasonable agreement that Pedro was father of Alfonso I, and
collaborator with Pelayo in founding the Asturian state (or, as some
have argued, in the reestablishment of the Visigoth state in a
significantly reduced territory). The earliest documents just mumble
something ambiguous about Pedro being related to earlier Visigoth
Kings. The names and specific relationships were invented later. It
has more recently been suggested, that an undated early donation to
Liebana contains within it documentation of the immediate ancestry of
Pedro, Pelayo, and Silo, all as great-grandchildren of the benefactor,
Benedict.

taf

[Francisco Antonio Doria]

Todd:

Tell us more about that. I only know the traditional genealogy - which I
for sure don't believe.

Chico Doria

[Todd A. Farmerie]

Francisco Antonio Doria wrote:
>
> >It has more recently been suggested, that an undated early donation to
> >Liebana contains within it documentation of the immediate ancestry of
> >Pedro, Pelayo, and Silo, all as great-grandchildren of the benefactor,
> >Benedict.
>

> Tell us more about that. I only know the traditional genealogy - which I
> for sure don't believe.

The source for this document is:

Cotarelo Valledor, Armando. Historia Critica y Documentada de la Vida y
Acciones de Alfonso III el Magno, Untimo Rey de Asturias. (1933).

It contains exerpts from the document, and also a summary pedigree.
This shows Benedicto and wife Ellesinda with three children, including
Divigria, spouse of Aquilo, and Osicia. Aquilo and Divigria were
parents of (among others) Fafila and Didaco. Didaco married cousin
Gulvira, daughter of Osicia, and had (with others) Pedro. Also among
the family members are individuals named Silo and Gutina, which later
appear among the royals.

Regarding Pelayo's parentage, in addition to the vague statements that
he descended from the earlier kings, one source calls him son of
majordomo Fafila. This could result from confusion over his son having
that name, but it was not uncommon to name the oldest son after the
paternal grandfather. There is also a tradition of relationship with
Pedro of Cantabria. This document is dated by script analysis to the
6th or 7th century, and Liebana was later patronized by the royal
family.

Based the appearance of Fafila and Pedro in successive generations of
this family, the possibility that this represents the parentage of the
Asturian dynasty is evident. It is no more than speculation, and
perhaps unprovable, but at least one modern genealogist (Moriarty) has
accepted it.

taf