Profiles in History: King Wamba

At last, I, Gillian, have returned to the blog. I couldn't let Brenna have all the fun, after all. It seems fitting that our first profile in history should be the biography of the one and only King Wamba. You may be asking, who is King Wamba and why should I care? I had never heard of King Wamba either until I wrote my research paper for Dr. Sorrentino's Medieval Europe course last fall, but he has since become one of my absolute favorite historical figures. His unfortunate life has brought me great pleasure, and you would be surprised at the effects of his story on those who hear it.

Wamba was a Visigoth living in Iberia during the 7th century. The Visigoths were one branch of Goths who migrated from central Asia during the migrations of the 4th century and were instrumental in the fall of Rome, having sacked the city in 410 and then 476. The group of Goths that became known as the Visigoths settled in what we now know as Spain and much of France (which was later conquered by the Franks under Clovis), while the branch remaining in Italy became known as the Ostrogoths. The Visigoths, as I wrote in my paper, had a pretty unstable kingdom and never managed to create a stable, strong monarchy for various reasons, and Wamba was one of the last kings. He was a noble who was elected king around 680 (for the most part, the kingdom had an elected monarchy, but that was part of its problem), but Wamba did not want to be king. He was forced to take the throne and immediately had to put down a couple of rebellions (other parts of the Visigoths' problem) and he ruled for about 10 years. During his reign, he provided for poor relief, the restoration of property, the return of exiles, and the extension of amnesty for political prisoners, but he also alienated the clergy, interfered in the creation of dioceses and in consecrating bishops “without proper ecclesiastical authorization” and issued legislation that ended the practice of bishops taking offerings from the churches of the diocese.

Wamba's involvement in Church affairs as well as his other policies made him unpopular with the archbishop of Toledo, Julian, and with the other nobles, who conspired against him (also a common occurrence in Visigothic politics). Another noble named Erwig attempted to poison Wamba and then tricked Wamba into naming him his heir. Wamba was then tonsured in anticipation of death, but he recovered. Since he had already been tonsured, he had to abdicate the throne, and Erwig became king; his authority was soon confirmed by the Council of Toledo. Poor Wamba was forced to live out the rest of his days in a monastery. He was not the best king, but I love his story because his life was so unfortunate. There must be something about a failed king, because others have become enamored with the story of Wamba. It's rather amusing for me. The Visigoths in general are just some really interesting people because there were so many problems in their kingdom and there were so many different players. I'd like to do more reading and writing about the Jewish population in Visigothic Spain, since the Jews were both persecuted by the kings and actors in conspiracies against the kings and the kingdom.

That concludes this week's edition of Profiles in History. Next week, we will profile Huey P. Long, a rather interesting individual in his own right, but for very different reasons. He had his own theme song, which is about his only redeeming characteristic. But more about that later.