Von Sisebut zu Sisenand

Abstract The article attempts to shed more light on the accession of Suinthila to the Visigothic throne after the mysterious deaths of king Sisebut and his son and short-time successor Recared II, and that one of Sisenand who succeeded in overthrowing Suinthila with the help of a Frankish army. The fight for the throne obviously seems to have been the result of the ambitions of two families of the high nobility called primates or optimates in the sources. Besides identifying individual members of these two families, a special focus lies on explaining the causes that enabled Suinthila – presumably a son of Chindasuinth – to win the throne and the reasons for the loss of it to Sisenand – presumably a brother of Sisebut. Finally, the reactions of the Fourth Council of Toledo ( 633 ) to the alarming political events are dealt with. Under the leadership of Isidore of Seville its canon 75 for the first time laid down several basic rules of a constitution for the Visigothic kingdom. Special attention is paid to the oath of fidelity ( sacramentum fidei ) which – as a summary of recent investigations shows – can no longer be regarded as rooted in Germanic traditions, and to the meaning of gens Gothorum which, besides rex and patria , was one of the three constituents the Visigothic Kingdom consisted of.