'Hermeric' (in
Spanish and
Portuguese, ''Hermerico'') (d.
441), king of the eastern Germanic
Suebi (
409–
438), who had migrated to the eastern shore of the
Rhine, led his people across the frozen river in the famous influx of loosely allied peoples—including the
Vandals and
Alans—in December 409. They passed quickly across
Gaul, crossed the
Pyrenees, and, passing through the
Basque Country, established themselves in the Roman province of
Gallaecia (modern
Galicia and northern
Portugal), where they were considered ''
foederati''. There Hermeric swore
fealty to the emperor in
410. Bracara Augusta, the modern city of
Braga in
Portugal, previously the capital of Roman Gallaecia, now became the capital of the Suebic kingdom. In
438, Hermerico associated
Rechila with the kingship.