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| Wamba | |
|---|---|
 Coin of Wamba bearing his effigy | |
| King of the Visigoths | |
| Reign | 1 September 672 – 14 October 680 |
| Predecessor | Recceswinth |
| Successor | Erwig |
| Born | c. 630 Visigothic Kingdom |
| Died | 687/688 Visigothic Kingdom |
Wamba (Medieval Latin:VVamba, Vamba, Wamba;c. 630 – 687/688) was the king of theVisigoths from 672 to 680. During his reign, theVisigothic kingdom encompassed all ofHispania and part of southernGaul known asSeptimania.
According toHerwig Wolfram,Wamba means "big paunch" inGothic (likeGerman: "Wampe", cognate to English "womb") and may have been a nickname.[1] BothJulian of Toledo in hisHistoria Wambae (History of Wamba) and the decisions of theeleventh Council of Toledo, held under Wamba's auspices, refer to the king only as Wamba.
After ascending the throne on 1 September 672, Wamba faced a revolt fromHilderic, governor ofNîmes, who had himself aspired to the kingship. Hilderic was supported byGunhild,Bishop of Maguelonne. Wamba sent thedux (general) Paul to put down the rebels, but upon his arrival atNarbonne, he induced his officers to renounce their loyalty to Wamba and elect him king asFlavius Paulus. He was joined by Hilderic and his followers, as well as Duke Ranosind ofTarraconensis and thegardingatus (a palace official) Hildigis. Paul recruited "multitudes" ofFranks andBasques to bolster his forces.[2] Following this the Visigothic cities inGaul and a large part of northeastern Hispania came over to Paul's side.[3]
During these events, Wamba was inCantabria campaigning against the Basques.[4] In response, Wamba marched into the Tarraconensis region, and in a few days turned most of the cities back to his side. He then divided his forces into three groups, attacking over thePyrenees by way ofLlívia (then the capital ofCerdanya),Auch, and the coastal road, taking the fortresses ofCollioure, Vulturaria, and Llívia, finding "much" gold and silver there.[5]
As Wamba moved on Narbonne, Paul placed General Wittimer in charge of the city and retired toNîmes. Wamba's forces quickly subdued Narbonne and then, after some difficulty, secured the surrender of Nîmes on September 3, 673. Paul and the other rebel leaders surrendered and, three days later, were brought to trial,scalped, and imprisoned for life.
A period of peace followed and, in 674, Wamba rebuilt theRoman walls aroundToledo. He also fortified other sites about this time, possiblyHondarribia (Fuenterrabia),[6] a small village in Spain facing the French border over the Txingurri bay, as a military thrust along theBay of Biscay up to the Pyrenees is attested to in contemporary sources. Wamba brought theAstures andRuccones (Luggones) under his control and incorporated them into a new province. They had been fighting for their independence since the Visigothic invasions of the 5th century but now finally relented.
After the rebellion, the kingdom faced a new threat in the form ofSaracen raiders. In theChronicle of Alfonso III (written 200 years later) it stated, "In Wamba's time, 270 Saracen ships attacked the coast of Hispania and there all of them were burned." A single attack of this size is doubtful, however, because no other source mentions it. TheChronicle of 754 declaredMoors "had long been raiding"Andalusia, "and simultaneously devastating many cities"; however, theChronicle of 754's most recent English translator,Kenneth Baxter Wolf, holds that this refers to the year before the defeat of King Roderic by the Moors, over three decades after the removal of Wamba.[7]
The law books and decrees of the time reveal a substantial erosion of domestic tranquility and order within the kingdom. In the Visigothic law books, Wamba decrees that all the people, regardless of their religion, and even if they are clergy, are required to defend the kingdom if it is attacked by a foreign foe. This law was created to solve a problem of desertion: "For, whenever an enemy invades the provinces of our kingdom … [many of] those who inhabit the border … disappear so that, by this means, there is no mutual support in battle." This rationale may imply a frequency of raids. That the people were often unwilling to defend the kingdom is further shown by another of Wamba's edicts, in which slaves were freed in order to the fill the ranks of the army. This suggests not only a shortage of volunteers from among the Hispano-Romans who made up the bulk of the population ruled by the Visigothic lords, but also an army heavy in conscripts and the coerced.
In 675, the Third Council of Braga was held inBraga (Bracara), Gallaecia. ThisCatholic conclave promulgated eight decrees affecting ritual, the handling of sacred vessels, who may or may not live with a priest, unacceptable forms of punishment ofclergy, and unacceptable forms of payment of clergy andrectors. In the same year, theEleventh Council of Toledo was convened in November.
Wamba was a reformist king who, according to Charles Julian Bishko, "tried to set up at Aquis (Chaves) inGallaecia a monastic see of the same type as Dume–Braga, i. e., involving the sort ofepiscopus sub regula associated with early pactualism. This manoeuvre was successfully blocked by the metropolitan church of Emérita with the full support of the fathers of the XIIth Council of Toledo (681)."[8]
In 680, Wamba fell ill or (according to theChronicle of Alfonso III two hundred years later) was poisoned inPampliega, nearBurgos. He received the order of penance in anticipation of his death, and as a result was forced to step down as king upon his recovery. TheChronicle of Alfonso III blames Wamba's successorErwig for this; some modern commentators have blamedJulian of Toledo, who was made primate of the Visigothic church by Erwig (in reward for his services?).[9] But Julian perpetuated the memory of Wamba in his account of the revolt of Paul,Historia Wambae Regís.
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According to one tradition, Wamba was born inEgitânia,[10] a settlement surrounded by Roman walls that is today calledIdanha-a-Velha in theIdanha-a-Nova municipality, and located to the northeast ofCastelo Branco in Portugal. A Spanish tradition has him born inGalicia in the parish ofSanta María de Dozón[11] in an old house with a shield. Manuel de Sousa da Silva, a seventeenth-century Portuguese genealogist, in his workNobiliário das Gerações de Entre-Douro-e-Minho, refers to this possibility, adding that he was of the lineage of the Gothic kings, but so poor that he was a farmer. Modern genealogists make him a son ofTulga, a possibility sustained by the fact of his being a humble man of royal descent, since his father was deposed at a young age, and when his own sons were still infants.
However, the most famous tradition says he held land and possessions inPujerra[12] (or Buxarra as it was once called) inMálaga Province, anAndalusian mountain village, nestled amid forests ofchestnut trees near theGenil river in southern Spain. The ruins of Molino de Capilla (Mill of the Chapel) are nearby, and close to which lay the village of Cenay, which some consider to be Wamba's actual birthplace.
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There are at least two legends associated with how Wamba became king.
One legend[13][failed verification] begins with Wamba's father, king of the Visigoths, who in this story was also named Wamba. Two women of his court, a servant girl and a noble lady, became pregnant at the same time. To avoid a scandal that might implicate the king, both women fled the capital. They found their way to an Andalusian village that, because it was so well hidden in the forest, provided an ideal place for secret births. Both women brought forth boys, and they were placed in the care of a servant girl to be raised in the area.
When the time came to groom a successor for the king, there seemed to be no suitable heir. Soldiers were dispatched to the village to find the illegitimate children. After their arrival, they overheard a peasant woman call to her son named Wamba, who was tending cattle with a stick. The soldiers knew they had come upon the youth they sought and declared: "You are the rightful king and we must ask you to come with us to the palace." Wamba was unwilling, or at least pretended to be. He took his stick and thrust it into the ground, saying, "I will only accept the throne if this stick takes root." The stick he carried was of chopo orblack poplar, which easily takes root in fertile soil. When it began to grow, Wamba agreed to go with the soldiers to become the new king of the Visigoths, being elected and crowned in what is today the tiny village of Wamba in the region aroundMadrid.
A second legend is related by Charles Morris inHistorical Tales: Spanish ("The Good King Wamba"). In this version, instead of being a boy, Wamba was an old man in the village, and owned land and possessions there. According to Morris:
In those days, when a king died and left no son, the Goths elected a new one, seeking their best and worthiest, and holding the election in the place where the old king had died. It was in the little village of Gerticos, some eight miles from the city ofValladolid, that KingRecesuinto had sought health and found death. Hither came the electors—the great nobles, the bishops, and the generals—and here they debated who should be king, finally settling on a venerable Goth named Wamba, the one man of note in all the kingdom who throughout his life had declined to accept rank and station.[14]
Saint Leo, declaring he had been given divine guidance, instructed the electors to seek out a husbandman named Wamba. So scouts were dispersed until Wamba was found tilling one of his fields. "Leave your plough in the furrow", they said to him; "nobler work awaits you. You have been elected king of Hispania." "There is no nobler work", answered Wamba. "Seek elsewhere your monarch. I prefer to rule over my fields."[14]
The heralds did not know what to make of this. To them, the man who would not be king must be a saint—or an idiot. They reasoned, begged and implored until Wamba, who wanted to get rid of them, said: "I will accept the crown when the dry rod in my hand grows green again—and not till then."[14]
After he thrust it into the ground, all were astonished to see it suddenly become a green plant with leaves growing out of the top. Everyone believed heaven had decided the matter. So Wamba "went with the heralds to the electoral congress". Once there, however, he again tried to refuse the throne. At this, one of the Visigothic chieftains drew his sword and threatened to behead Wamba if he did not accept the crown. Wamba relented and consented.[14]
The legend of the stick thrust into the ground is also associated with the town ofGuimarães, southwest of Braga in the Costa Verde of Portugal (the northwest corner of the country). There, because Wamba never withdrew the stick afterwards, it is said it grew into an olive tree. Though the tree is now gone, the site is marked either by the monastery of Nossa Senhora da Oliveira (Our Lady of the Olive) or the Largo da Oliveira town square, each named for the legendary tree.
In a 10th-centuryLife ofSaint Giles, written for the benefit of pilgrims, a legend is recorded about how, one day, when King Wamba (also known as Flavius) was out hunting in the forest betweenArles andNîmes inProvence, he began to pursue a hind (deer). The animal fled, seeking refuge in the cave where Giles the hermit was quietly praying. (In some versions of the story, the hind, provided by God, was Giles' sole companion and sustained him on its milk.) Wamba shot his arrow into the opening. But he missed the hind, striking Giles instead, wounding him in the leg and causing a permanent disability. The king's hunting dogs then rushed in for the kill. But when Wamba arrived he found his dogs miraculously rooted to the spot. Discovering what he had done, he begged forgiveness and tried to make amends. But Giles continued his prayers, refusing all help or recompense. The king nonetheless had doctors care for the wound. He also offered Giles the land upon which to build amonastery. But Giles refused.
Over time, however, because of the saint's fame as a sage and miracle worker, multitudes gathered at his cave. Around 674, Wamba built them a monastery. Giles became its first abbot. Soon a little town grew up there, known asSaint-Gilles-du-Gard.
Because of this tradition, Giles became the patron saint of cripples, lepers, and nursing mothers. His emblem is an arrow. TheCatholic Encyclopedia noted that the king in this story must have originally been a Frank, "since the Franks had expelled the Visigoths from the neighbourhood of Nîmes almost a century and a half earlier".[15]
Charles Morris writes that, during Wamba's reign:
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One ambitious noble named Paul, who thought it would be an easy thing to take the throne from an old man who had shown so plainly that he did not want it, rose in rebellion. He soon learned his mistake. Wamba met him in battle, routed his army, and took him prisoner. Paul expected nothing less than to have his head stricken off, but Wamba simply ordered that it should be shaved.[14]
A shaved ortonsured head meant that Paul had assumed monastic orders, so he could not serve as king or chieftain.[14]
Later an ambitious youth named Erwig, pursuing the overthrow of the king, administered asleeping potion. While Wamba was under, Erwig shaved the crown of his head. Erwig said he did it at Wamba's request. As before, Gothic law was clear. Wamba could no longer be king. Erwig became king in his place. Wamba accepted this change and happily assumed monastic orders, abdicating the throne to live out the last seven years of his life as a monk.[14]
According to Morris, Wamba acquitted himself well in all his stations—farmer, king, and monk—and his name has come down to us from the mists of time as one of those rare men of whom we know little, but all that we know is good.[14]
Ironically, it was Wamba's nephew, son of his sister Ariberga,Egica, who married Erwig's daughter and became the new king at his father in law's death.
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| Preceded by | King of the Visigoths 1 September 672 – 14 October 680 | Succeeded by |
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