Andeca

Andeca or Audeca was the last "de facto" Suevic King of Galicia (now western Portugal and Spain) from 584 until his deposition the next year (585). He deposed Eboric and usurped the throne by marrying the young king's mother, Siseguntia (or Sisegutia), the widow of Eboric's father and predecessor, Miro. He consigned Eboric to a monastery.

This action gave the Visigothic king Leovigild an excuse to invade the Suevic kingdom, which he did in 585. According to John of Biclar, "Leovigild devastated Galicia, deprived the captured King Audeca of his rule, and brought the people, treasure, and territory of the Suevi under his own power. He made Galicia a province of the Goths." [John of Biclar, "Chronicon", 73, in Arias, p. 32.] John goes on to say that he "tonsured [Audeca] and dignified [him] with the honour of the priesthood, after having held that of the kingship." [Ibid, 76, in Arias, p. 32.] The deposed usurper was relegated to the city of Beja. To Isidore of Seville, his deposition meant the end of the Suevic kingdom, which had lasted 177 years from Isidore's starting point of 408: "the kingdom which they [the Sueves] held in idle lethargy, they have now lost at an even more shameful cost, although it may seem quite amazing that they had managed to retain up to the present day that which they have now given up without any show of resistance." [Isidore, "Historia Suevorum", 68, in Arias, pp. 32–33.]

After Audeca, the Suevic kingdom ceased to exist, but one pretender, Malaric, arose to oppose the Visigoths briefly.

Notes

ources

*Arias, Jorge C. [http://people.virginia.edu/~jca4w/Jorge%20Arias%20-%20Identity%20and%20Interaction%20The%20Suevi%20and%20the%20Hispano-Romans.pdf "Identity and Interactions: The Suevi and the Hispano-Romans."] University of Virginia: Spring 2007.