Page:Bury J B The Cambridge Medieval History Vol 2 1913.djvu/196

168 of the patrician Anagartus, on part of Lusitania, in the direction of Coimbra and the valley of the Munda (i.e. the Mondego), which at that time was governed by a Suevic duke, who bore the title of king. Romanus seized this individual, his family and his treasure, and annexed the district to the Empire. Leovigild took advantage of this reverse to attack the Suevic frontier in the direction of Galicia, and the Suevic king Mir or Miron was obliged to sue for peace. The Visigothic monarch granted him a truce for a short time and meanwhile, in the district afterwards called Alcarria, he built a fortified city to which he gave the name of Recopolis in honour of Recared. There are still a few traces of it to be seen.

From 578 to 580, there was a period of external peace, but on the other hand, these years marked the beginning of a civil war of graver import than any former one; for, in the first place, this war was concerned with religion; and in the second, with the rash ambition of one of Leovigild's own sons. This was Prince Hermenegild; the struggle originated in the same way as the former contests between the Visigoths and the Franks. Once more, the cause of it was a Frankish princess, Ingundis, daughter of Sigebert, king of Austrasia, and of Brunhild, and therefore niece of Leovigild. In 579 Hermenegild married her, he being an Arian and she a Catholic. Immediately there was quarrelling at Court, not between husband and wife, but between Ingundis and her grandmother, Goisvintha, the widow of Athanagild, who had married Leovigild. Goisvintha was a zealous Arian and tried to convert her grand-daughter, first by flattery and afterwards by threats, ending, according to the chroniclers of the period, in violence. Nothing could shake the faith of Ingundis, but she made bitter complaints to the Spanish Catholics and the Franks. To prevent matters from going further, Leovigild sent his son to govern Seville, one of the frontier provinces. There Hermenegild found himself in an atmosphere essentially Catholic, and, at the instigation of his wife Ingundis and Archbishop Leander, he finally abjured Arianism. The news of his conversion gave fresh courage to the malcontent Spanish-Romans in Baetica, and the consequence was that Seville and other cities rebelled against Leovigild and proclaimed Hermenegild as king. The latter was rash enough to make the venture and fortified himself in Seville, with the help of the greater part of the Spanish, and of a few Visigothic nobles. It had been said that, on this occasion, Hermenegild did not receive the support of the Catholic clergy. This statement is possibly exaggerated. It is true that Gregory of Tours, John of Biclar, and Isidore condemn the revolt and call Hermenegild a usurper; but this does not mean that, at the time of the rebellion, none of the clergy took his side. It is only reasonable to infer that he did receive some support from them. Though uniformity of religion on the Arian basis may have played an important part in Leovigild's scheme of