#leovigild

Ingund

She was a Frankish princess of Austrasia, the daughter of Sigebert I and Brunhilda, and, as part of a policy of political alliances agreed upon between her mother Brunhilda and her grandmother, the Visigothic queen Goswintha, she married Hermenegild, the son of the Visigothic king Leovigild. Young in years but firm in conviction, Ingund carried with her a resolute Catholic faith into the Visigothic kingdom in Hispania, ruled by an Arian monarchy—a confessional divide that would decisively shape her fate.

Upon her arrival at the court of Toledo, Ingund was initially well received by her future husband and by her parents-in-law, Leovigild and Goswintha. This favourable reception, however, quickly deteriorated as a result of Ingund’s steadfast refusal to submit to Arian baptism. Her resistance provoked a violent response from her grandmother Goswintha, who sought to compel her conversion by force. According to Gregory of Tours, “the queen completely lost her temper,” seized the young princess by the hair, threw her to the ground, and kicked her until she was covered in blood, before ordering that she be stripped naked and cast into the baptismal pool.

This situation seemed to improve when Leovigild associated Hermenegild with the throne and sent him to Baetica. There, Ingund met Saint Leander of Seville, who became her supporter, and she succeeded in converting her husband to Catholicism. In this context, Hermenegild rebelled against his father in the year 580.

Leovigild advanced south with the clear intention of crushing the rebellion. Meanwhile, Ingund appealed urgently to her mother and her brother for assistance, but no Frankish aid materialized. The Byzantines initially provided troops and supplies in support of the newly married rebels. After Seville fell, Hermenegild and Ingund escaped the besieged city and made their way toward Córdoba, which lay within the Byzantine sphere of influence. Before early March of 584, however, Leovigild succeeded in neutralizing this support by offering the Byzantine commanders at Córdoba a bribe of thirty thousand solidi. They accepted the payment and remained inactive in their camp while the king assaulted the city, disregarding Hermenegild’s desperate appeals for help.

Leovigild ultimately suppressed the rebellion of his son Hermenegild and ordered his execution in 585. After Hermenegild’s defeat, Ingund was separated from her husband and came under Byzantine control. Owing to her Frankish origin and dynastic significance, Ingund and her infant son were transferred through Byzantine territories in North Africa, where they became objects of diplomatic interest in the broader context of relations between the Visigothic kingdom, the Frankish realms, and the Byzantine Empire.

Goswintha

Goswintha (also spelled Goiswintha) was a powerful Visigothic queen who lived during the 6th century. She was queen consort twice and played a major political and religious role in the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania and Septimania. Known for her intelligence, determination, and fierce defense of Arian Christianity, she influenced dynastic politics across Iberia and Gaul.

The exact date and place of Goswintha’s birth are unknown, as is common for early medieval figures. She was likely born into a high-ranking Gothic noble family, which made her a valuable political match. Her education and status suggest she was well prepared for court life and governance.

Goswintha became queen consort upon her marriage to King Athanagild, who ruled during a period of internal instability and Byzantine intervention in the Iberian Peninsula. The union produced two daughters, Brunhilda and Galswintha, both of whom were married into the Merovingian royal family. Through these marriages, Goswintha was closely connected to the political affairs of both the Visigothic and Frankish realms.

Following Athanagild’s death in 567, the Visigothic kingdom experienced a brief period of political uncertainty. Although the sources provide limited detail regarding Goswintha’s activities during this interregnum, her eventual remarriage to Leovigild suggests that she remained a significant figure within the royal milieu and a valuable source of dynastic legitimacy. This marriage strengthened Leovigild’s political position by linking his reign to the previous royal house. As queen consort, Goswintha appears to have exercised influence particularly in matters of religion and court politics.

Goswintha was a committed adherent of Arian Christianity, the traditional confession of the Visigothic elite. Her religious convictions brought her into conflict with Catholic members of the royal family, most notably her granddaughter Ingund, the Frankish Catholic wife of Leovigild’s son Hermenegild. Gregory of Tours in his Historia Francorum claims that Goswintha attempted to force Ingund to accept Arian baptism and that this effort included physical violence—Ingund was allegedly beaten and humiliated for refusing conversion.

The rebellion of Hermenegild, following his conversion to Catholicism, constituted a major crisis for Leovigild’s reign. Although some modern scholars have speculated about Goswintha’s possible involvement on dynastic grounds, no contemporary source directly implicates her in the revolt. Hermenegild was eventually captured, imprisoned, and executed by order of his father.

After the death of Leovigild in 586, the succession of his son Reccared I appears initially to have been supported by the queen dowager Goswintha, likely in the expectation that the kingdom’s Arian religious policy would be maintained. This expectation was soon disappointed. Reccared’s conversion to Catholicism and the convocation of the Third Council of Toledo in 589 marked a decisive transformation in the religious identity of the Visigothic kingdom.

Visigoths are amazing, and so is this guy:

Liuvigild, also known as Leovigild, was King of Septimania and Hispania from 568 to 586, and also King of Galicia for the latter part of his reign.

So why is this guy important?

For a number of reasons. This man took a dispirate, fractured land of people fighting for their borders and indeed against themselves and united them. He established whole cities at a time when almost no new urban centers were being founded. But I should start at the beginning. First, a little history.