Page 109 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

The provincial view of Hydatius

Notes to Table 1 (cont.)
3. It is possible that the embassy sent by Nepotian and Suneric recorded by Hydatius
(16) is the same as the joint imperial/Gothic embassy to the Sueves mentioned by
Fredegar (17, 19). Both Nepotian and Suneric, however, appear to have operated under
Theodoric II, notMajorian. In Hyd., c. 193 (459), Theodoric sends Suneric with an
army to Baetica; in c. 201 (460), Nepotian and Suneric jointly command a Gothic army
operating against the Sueves in Gallaecia; and in c. 213 (462) Theodoric II appoints a
successor to Nepotian as magister utriusque militiae [188, 196, 208]. Itseems unlikely that
Nepotian and Suneric would be described as the representatives of the emperor and
the Gothic king (cf. Tranoy ii, 112). At the time of embassy (16), the Sueves and the
provincials of Gallaecia were again in conflict; Hyd., c. 196 [191]. Itis quite possible
that the provincials had communicated with Theodoric II or his generals for assistance,
as they did later; cf. (24) and (40). The generals may have notified the provincials of
Majorian and Theodoric’s reconciliation independently of the rulers’ formal notification
to the royal courts of Braga and Carthage. Cf. PLRE ii, 778; Burgess, ‘From Gallia
Romana to Gallia Gothica’, in Drinkwater and Elton (eds.), Fifth-Century Gaul, 23–25.
Fredegar’s account(17–20) appears to refer to a separate set of missions. It describes two
joint embassies: an imperial/Gothic embassy to the Sueves, and another imperial/Gothic
embassy to the Vandals. Possibly the same envoys who travelled to Gallaecia continued
on to North Africa.
4. Richymund may be the same person as Rechimund, one of the contestants for
leadership of the Sueves after the Gothic incursion of 456; Hyd., cc. 193, 202, 203, 219
[188, 197, 198, 215]; (26) (notin PLRE ii). Possibly Lusidius and Richymund were sent
together to the emperor; if so, Fredegar preserves the name of a different envoy from the
one (uniquely) recorded in the Berlin MS of Hydatius. It is also possible, however, that
Fredegar’s verb transeo here means that Richymund entered the service of Anthemius.
In this case, Fredegar reports a completely unrelated incident.

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