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'Wittiza' (''Witiza'', ''Witica'', ''Witicha'', ''Vitiza'', or ''Witiges''; c. 687 – probably 710) was the Visigothic King of Spain from 694 until his death, co-ruling with his father, Ergica, until 702 or 703.
Early in his reign, Ergica made it clear that his intention was to secure his family in a position of power from which they could not be removed. Based on a charter dated to Ergica's seventh year (November 693 to November 694) which mentions Wittiza as co-king, it is probable that Wittiza was made co-ruler in 694, even though the ''Chronicle of 754'' places the event in 698.[1] Numismatic analysis of coinage types also supports the thesis that Wittiza ruled from 694.[2] The raising of Wittiza to the kingship coincided with the revolt of Sunifred and may have been either its cause or effect.
On 15[3] or 24 November[4] 700, Wittiza was anointed king; this forms the last entry in the ''Chronica Regum Visigothorum'', a Visigothic regnal list. The delay between his appointment as co-regent and his unction, to which much importance was ascribed, is most probably explained by his coming of age, likely fourteen, in that year.[5] Wittiza was Ergica's son by Cixilo (or Cixila), daughter of the previous king Erwig, who was dismissed by her husband in late 687 after a short marriage and thus puts a limit on the possible date of birth of Wittiza.[5]
Sometime during the joint reign of Ergica and Wittiza, a Byzantine fleet raided the coasts of southern Spain and was driven off by Theudimer. The dating of this event is disputed: it may have occurred as part of Leontios' expedition to relieve Carthage in 697;[5] perhaps later, around 702;[3] or perhaps late in Wittiza's reign.[9] A plague broke out at Constantinople in 698 and it spread westward across the Mediterranean reaching Spain in 701.[10] It was severe enough to force the two kings from their capital of Toledo and it might be that this was the period when Wittiza was sent by his father to rule in Tuy in Gallaecia over the ''regnum Suevorum'', an event recorded by the ''Chronicle of Alfonso III'' and often dismissed by scholars as nonsense.[5]
The death of Ergica can be dated to 702 (traditionally) or 703 (based on the fact that Ergica promulgated a law in his sixteenth year, which began on 24 November 702).[12]
Soon after his death, the Eighteenth Council of Toledo was held under the supervision of Wittiza and the Metropolitan of Toledo, either Gunderic or Sindered. The acts of the council are lost to us, but may have been highly controversial, leading to their suppression.[5] Wittiza may have forced the council to force marriage upon the Catholic clergy.[14] There is a reference in the ''Chronicle of 754'' to Wittiza commanding Sindered to exert pressure on the established clergy, but what exactly this means is unknown.[15]
Of Wittiza's early acts after his father's demise was the rescindment of the exile of several noblemen and the confiscation of their property. He returned their slaves and reinstated them in their palatine offices. Wittiza also had the ''cautiones'' written against them burned publically.[16] The ''cautiones'' were probably pledges, cessions, or confessions the exiles had been forced to sign;[5] or statements of debt to the treasury.[3] Wittiza also returned land which his family was holding to the royal fisc in accordance with the law. All this activity was probably a response to complaints made about his father's rule and which he considered politically wise to correct.[19] The ''Chronicle of 754'' calls Wittiza "merciful", and only criticises the method of his succession, probably in reference to these events and to the hated Ergica.[20]
During his years of sole government, Wittiza promulgated two new laws and issued a revised version of the ''Liber Iudiciorum''.[21] This reissue, too, may be related to the political situation following Ergica's death and Wittiza's need to consolidate his authority and the support of the nobility and the clergy.[19]
Though he himself passed no legislation further oppressing the Jews, Wittiza also probably did not repeal the legislation of his father in that regard.[3] A thirteenth-century chronicle by Lucas of Tuy accuses Wittiza of relieving the oppression of the Jews and being eager for their support in an attempt to smear him as a "Jew-lover."[24] The accuracy of Lucas' statement, despite the lateness of it, has been bolstered by the fact that Lucas was from Tuy, the Galician city whereat Wittiza probably ruled as sub-king under his father at one point. Perhaps the people of Tuy preserved an oral tradition or perhaps the canons of XVIII Toledo were available to Lucas.[25]
A law sometimes attributed to Ergica which prescribes the ''caldaria'' (ordeal of boiling water) for those accused of theft no matter how small the sum has been attributed to Wittiza by some.[26]
The date of Wittiza's death and the end of his reign are unknown. The several surviving regnal lists imply a death date of 710, while the ''Chronicle of 754'' implies one of 711. Whatever the case, the ''Chronicle'' strongly implies that he was assassinated in political coup led by Roderic with the support of a faction of nobles.[27] Other believe he died a natural death.[28] At the time, the king was still only in his twenties. After his death, natural or forced, or deposition, Spain was divided between rival claimaints: Roderic in the south and Agila II in the north.[29] Agila may have been a son of Wittiza's and a co-monarch (from about 708),[30] but this would require that he be either a child king or that Wittiza not be the son of Cixilo. At the time of his death, "he was beloved in the highest degree by the people and equally hated by the priesthood."[31]
Whatever the actual circumstances surrounding the end of Wittiza's reign, memory of him was not positive a century and a half later. The ''Chronicle of Moissac'', circa 818, wrote that ''Witicha deditus in feminis exemplo suo sacerdote ac populum luxuriose vivere docuit, irritans furorem Domini'': "Wittiza left a poor example to his clergy and his people by his unchaste life, thus provoking the fury of the Lord."[32] The ''Chronicle of Alfonso III'' mentions his many wives and mistresses and how he brought "ruin to Spain",[33] while the ''Chronicle of 754'', written less than a half century after his death, records that he brougth "joy and prosperity" to Spain.[3] The "sons of Wittiza", who are otherwise unknown, are made out by the ''Chronicle of Alfonso III'' to be traitors who helped deliver Spain to the Moors. Oppa, a shadowy but historical figure, is reputed to have been either a brother or a son of Wittiza, though the latter is impossible based simply on Wittiza's youthfulness.
According to Washington Irving, in the first part of his 1835 ''Legends of the Conquest of Spain'', Wittiza's reign initially showed great promise. "He redressed grievances, moderated the tributes of his subjects, and conducted himself with mingled mildness and energy in the administration of the laws." However, the honeymoon lasted only a short while. Soon Wittiza "showed himself in his true nature, cruel and luxurious."
As the story goes, Wittiza sought to better secure his throne by ending the careers of two of his relatives: Favila, duke of Cantabria, and Theodofred, duke of Córdoba, who lived in retirement at court. Wittiza had Favila killed and had Theodofred blinded and imprisoned. The son of Favila, Pelayo, was elsewhere at the time and thus was spared for the major role he would later play in history. The son of Theodofred was Roderic, duke of Baetica, who escaped to Italy.
But according to the story, he was taken captive and Roderic secured revenge by having the king blinded and imprisoned just as the king had done to Roderic's father. Wittiza died a year or so later.
★ Bachrach, Bernard S. "A Reassessment of Visigothic Jewish Policy, 589-711." ''The American Historical Review'', Vol. 78, No. 1. (Feb., 1973), pp 11–34.
★ Collins, Roger. "'Sicut lex Gothorum continet': Law and Charters in Ninth- and Tenth-Century León and Catalonia." ''The English Historical Review'', Vol. 100, No. 396. (Jul., 1985), pp 489–512.
★ Collins, Roger. ''The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–97''. Oxford University Press, 1989.
★ Collins, Roger. ''Visigothic Spain, 409–711''. Blackwell Publishing, 2004.
★ Hodgkin, Thomas. "Visigothic Spain." ''The English Historical Review'', Vol. 2, No. 6. (Apr., 1887), pp 209–234.
★ King, P. D. "King Chindasvind and the First Territorial Law-code of the Visiogothic Kingdom." ''Visigothic Spain: New Approaches''. ed. Edward James. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980. pp 131–157.
★ Thompson, E. A. ''The Goths in Spain''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.
1. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 108.
2. Ibid. Numismatic evidence of Wittiza's coinage also indicates that the city of Reccopolis founded by Reccared I was still in use as a mint in the early eight century (Thompson, 64).
3. Thompson, 249.
4. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 109.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Thompson, 249.
9. Bachrach, 31.
10. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 110.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid, 111.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid, ''Arab'', 15–19. The ''Chronicle of Alfonso III'' reports that he tried to make the bishops of the realm marry.
15. Ibid, ''Visigothic'', 111.
16. Ibid, 112.
17. Ibid.
18. Thompson, 249.
19. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 112.
20. Thompson, 249. Wittiza's reputation for mercy and mildness is accepted by historians today. Bachrach, 31, quotes Ziegler saying "in general 'he [Wittiza] ruled more mildly than his father.'"
21. King, 131.
22. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 112.
23. Thompson, 249.
24. Bachrach, 31. Among the German historians who reject Lucas' account are Graetz, Katz, and Dahn, while Scherer and Ziegler affirm it. The Spanish historian Altamira also believes Lucas' story.
25. Ibid, 31–32.
26. Thompson, 249, according to whom it represents the "nadir of Visigothic legislation." Collins, "Sicut", 504, explains that manuscripts differ in attribution to Ergica or Wittiza.
27. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 113.
28. Hodgkin, 234.
29. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 132.
30. Bachrach, 31–32.
31. Hodgkin, 233, quoting Dahn.
32. Ibid and n34.
33. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 136.
34. Thompson, 249.
| Contents |
| Joint rule |
| Sole rule |
| Concessions upon succession |
| Legislation |
| Death, succession crisis, and legacy |
| Legend |
| Sources |
| Notes |
Joint rule
Early in his reign, Ergica made it clear that his intention was to secure his family in a position of power from which they could not be removed. Based on a charter dated to Ergica's seventh year (November 693 to November 694) which mentions Wittiza as co-king, it is probable that Wittiza was made co-ruler in 694, even though the ''Chronicle of 754'' places the event in 698.[1] Numismatic analysis of coinage types also supports the thesis that Wittiza ruled from 694.[2] The raising of Wittiza to the kingship coincided with the revolt of Sunifred and may have been either its cause or effect.
On 15[3] or 24 November[4] 700, Wittiza was anointed king; this forms the last entry in the ''Chronica Regum Visigothorum'', a Visigothic regnal list. The delay between his appointment as co-regent and his unction, to which much importance was ascribed, is most probably explained by his coming of age, likely fourteen, in that year.[5] Wittiza was Ergica's son by Cixilo (or Cixila), daughter of the previous king Erwig, who was dismissed by her husband in late 687 after a short marriage and thus puts a limit on the possible date of birth of Wittiza.[5]
Sometime during the joint reign of Ergica and Wittiza, a Byzantine fleet raided the coasts of southern Spain and was driven off by Theudimer. The dating of this event is disputed: it may have occurred as part of Leontios' expedition to relieve Carthage in 697;[5] perhaps later, around 702;[3] or perhaps late in Wittiza's reign.[9] A plague broke out at Constantinople in 698 and it spread westward across the Mediterranean reaching Spain in 701.[10] It was severe enough to force the two kings from their capital of Toledo and it might be that this was the period when Wittiza was sent by his father to rule in Tuy in Gallaecia over the ''regnum Suevorum'', an event recorded by the ''Chronicle of Alfonso III'' and often dismissed by scholars as nonsense.[5]
Sole rule
The death of Ergica can be dated to 702 (traditionally) or 703 (based on the fact that Ergica promulgated a law in his sixteenth year, which began on 24 November 702).[12]
Concessions upon succession
Soon after his death, the Eighteenth Council of Toledo was held under the supervision of Wittiza and the Metropolitan of Toledo, either Gunderic or Sindered. The acts of the council are lost to us, but may have been highly controversial, leading to their suppression.[5] Wittiza may have forced the council to force marriage upon the Catholic clergy.[14] There is a reference in the ''Chronicle of 754'' to Wittiza commanding Sindered to exert pressure on the established clergy, but what exactly this means is unknown.[15]
Of Wittiza's early acts after his father's demise was the rescindment of the exile of several noblemen and the confiscation of their property. He returned their slaves and reinstated them in their palatine offices. Wittiza also had the ''cautiones'' written against them burned publically.[16] The ''cautiones'' were probably pledges, cessions, or confessions the exiles had been forced to sign;[5] or statements of debt to the treasury.[3] Wittiza also returned land which his family was holding to the royal fisc in accordance with the law. All this activity was probably a response to complaints made about his father's rule and which he considered politically wise to correct.[19] The ''Chronicle of 754'' calls Wittiza "merciful", and only criticises the method of his succession, probably in reference to these events and to the hated Ergica.[20]
Legislation
During his years of sole government, Wittiza promulgated two new laws and issued a revised version of the ''Liber Iudiciorum''.[21] This reissue, too, may be related to the political situation following Ergica's death and Wittiza's need to consolidate his authority and the support of the nobility and the clergy.[19]
Though he himself passed no legislation further oppressing the Jews, Wittiza also probably did not repeal the legislation of his father in that regard.[3] A thirteenth-century chronicle by Lucas of Tuy accuses Wittiza of relieving the oppression of the Jews and being eager for their support in an attempt to smear him as a "Jew-lover."[24] The accuracy of Lucas' statement, despite the lateness of it, has been bolstered by the fact that Lucas was from Tuy, the Galician city whereat Wittiza probably ruled as sub-king under his father at one point. Perhaps the people of Tuy preserved an oral tradition or perhaps the canons of XVIII Toledo were available to Lucas.[25]
A law sometimes attributed to Ergica which prescribes the ''caldaria'' (ordeal of boiling water) for those accused of theft no matter how small the sum has been attributed to Wittiza by some.[26]
Death, succession crisis, and legacy
The date of Wittiza's death and the end of his reign are unknown. The several surviving regnal lists imply a death date of 710, while the ''Chronicle of 754'' implies one of 711. Whatever the case, the ''Chronicle'' strongly implies that he was assassinated in political coup led by Roderic with the support of a faction of nobles.[27] Other believe he died a natural death.[28] At the time, the king was still only in his twenties. After his death, natural or forced, or deposition, Spain was divided between rival claimaints: Roderic in the south and Agila II in the north.[29] Agila may have been a son of Wittiza's and a co-monarch (from about 708),[30] but this would require that he be either a child king or that Wittiza not be the son of Cixilo. At the time of his death, "he was beloved in the highest degree by the people and equally hated by the priesthood."[31]
Whatever the actual circumstances surrounding the end of Wittiza's reign, memory of him was not positive a century and a half later. The ''Chronicle of Moissac'', circa 818, wrote that ''Witicha deditus in feminis exemplo suo sacerdote ac populum luxuriose vivere docuit, irritans furorem Domini'': "Wittiza left a poor example to his clergy and his people by his unchaste life, thus provoking the fury of the Lord."[32] The ''Chronicle of Alfonso III'' mentions his many wives and mistresses and how he brought "ruin to Spain",[33] while the ''Chronicle of 754'', written less than a half century after his death, records that he brougth "joy and prosperity" to Spain.[3] The "sons of Wittiza", who are otherwise unknown, are made out by the ''Chronicle of Alfonso III'' to be traitors who helped deliver Spain to the Moors. Oppa, a shadowy but historical figure, is reputed to have been either a brother or a son of Wittiza, though the latter is impossible based simply on Wittiza's youthfulness.
Legend
According to Washington Irving, in the first part of his 1835 ''Legends of the Conquest of Spain'', Wittiza's reign initially showed great promise. "He redressed grievances, moderated the tributes of his subjects, and conducted himself with mingled mildness and energy in the administration of the laws." However, the honeymoon lasted only a short while. Soon Wittiza "showed himself in his true nature, cruel and luxurious."
As the story goes, Wittiza sought to better secure his throne by ending the careers of two of his relatives: Favila, duke of Cantabria, and Theodofred, duke of Córdoba, who lived in retirement at court. Wittiza had Favila killed and had Theodofred blinded and imprisoned. The son of Favila, Pelayo, was elsewhere at the time and thus was spared for the major role he would later play in history. The son of Theodofred was Roderic, duke of Baetica, who escaped to Italy.
But according to the story, he was taken captive and Roderic secured revenge by having the king blinded and imprisoned just as the king had done to Roderic's father. Wittiza died a year or so later.
Sources
★ Bachrach, Bernard S. "A Reassessment of Visigothic Jewish Policy, 589-711." ''The American Historical Review'', Vol. 78, No. 1. (Feb., 1973), pp 11–34.
★ Collins, Roger. "'Sicut lex Gothorum continet': Law and Charters in Ninth- and Tenth-Century León and Catalonia." ''The English Historical Review'', Vol. 100, No. 396. (Jul., 1985), pp 489–512.
★ Collins, Roger. ''The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–97''. Oxford University Press, 1989.
★ Collins, Roger. ''Visigothic Spain, 409–711''. Blackwell Publishing, 2004.
★ Hodgkin, Thomas. "Visigothic Spain." ''The English Historical Review'', Vol. 2, No. 6. (Apr., 1887), pp 209–234.
★ King, P. D. "King Chindasvind and the First Territorial Law-code of the Visiogothic Kingdom." ''Visigothic Spain: New Approaches''. ed. Edward James. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980. pp 131–157.
★ Thompson, E. A. ''The Goths in Spain''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.
Notes
1. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 108.
2. Ibid. Numismatic evidence of Wittiza's coinage also indicates that the city of Reccopolis founded by Reccared I was still in use as a mint in the early eight century (Thompson, 64).
3. Thompson, 249.
4. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 109.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Thompson, 249.
9. Bachrach, 31.
10. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 110.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid, 111.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid, ''Arab'', 15–19. The ''Chronicle of Alfonso III'' reports that he tried to make the bishops of the realm marry.
15. Ibid, ''Visigothic'', 111.
16. Ibid, 112.
17. Ibid.
18. Thompson, 249.
19. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 112.
20. Thompson, 249. Wittiza's reputation for mercy and mildness is accepted by historians today. Bachrach, 31, quotes Ziegler saying "in general 'he [Wittiza] ruled more mildly than his father.'"
21. King, 131.
22. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 112.
23. Thompson, 249.
24. Bachrach, 31. Among the German historians who reject Lucas' account are Graetz, Katz, and Dahn, while Scherer and Ziegler affirm it. The Spanish historian Altamira also believes Lucas' story.
25. Ibid, 31–32.
26. Thompson, 249, according to whom it represents the "nadir of Visigothic legislation." Collins, "Sicut", 504, explains that manuscripts differ in attribution to Ergica or Wittiza.
27. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 113.
28. Hodgkin, 234.
29. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 132.
30. Bachrach, 31–32.
31. Hodgkin, 233, quoting Dahn.
32. Ibid and n34.
33. Collins, ''Visigothic'', 136.
34. Thompson, 249.
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