Theudigisel
king of the Visigoths
510 CE to 549 CE
Theudigisel (or Theudegisel) (in Latin Theudigisclus and in Spanish, Galician and Portuguese Teudiselo, Teudigiselo, or Teudisclo) is king of the Visigoths in Hispania and Septimania (548–549).
Some Visigothic king lists skip Theudigisel, as well as Agila, going directly from Theudis to Athanagild.
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The Middle of The Earth
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Theudigisel, a leading general of King Theudis when the latter is murdered, manages to have himself proclaimed ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
He had repelled the Franks from Spain after their invasion of 541, cutting them off in the pass of Valcarlos, but accepted a bribe to allow them to return to home.
Theudigisel is assassinated by a group of conspirators during a banquet in Seville, according to Isidore of Seville, because he "defiled the marriages of very many powerful men by public prostitution".
Gregory of Tours, although he agrees that Theudigisel died during a banquet, records a different tale of his end: in the middle of the feast, the lights were blown out and an unidentified person killed Theudigisel in the dark.
"The Goths had adopted the reprehensible habit of killing out of hand any king who displeased them and replacing him on the throne by someone they preferred," Gregory concludes.
Some Visigothic king lists skip Theudigisel, as well as Agila I, going directly from Theudis to Athanagild.