Page 76 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

part highlights Hydatius’ developed awareness of the importance of em-
bassies as political events, perhaps directly as a result of composing the
firstversion of the Chronicle.
How did Hydatius know of each embassy? As a bishop of the province,
important enough to be chosen as an envoy on one occasion and exiled on
another, Hydatius was probably involved in negotiations other than those
of 431. Imperial and Gothic embassies to the Suevic kings concerning
their treatment of the Gallaecians came in response to provincial appeals
(not all of them noted in the Chronicle). Hydatius knew of such missions
through his episcopal office and these contacts.
It is less clear how Hydatius knew of other embassies to and from the
Suevic court. There is no reason to think that leaders of provincial com-
munities would have been consulted by the Sueves on the permutations
of political and military alliance between the barbarian kingdoms and the
empire, nor would one assume that Hydatius had frequent access to the
Suevic courtatBraga. In a few cases, the Suevic rulers employed provin-
cials, including bishops, to act as their legates, but this seems to have
been rare. 50 Hydatius’ main source of knowledge may have been pub-
lic: the display of court ceremonial. Several entries explicitly record the
public ritual surrounding the reception of embassies. The imperial envoy
Hesychius, sent by the emperor Avitus to the Gothic king Theoderic II
after his defeat of the Sueves in 456, conveyed ‘sacred rewards’ to the king
while he was still in the field. At the same time, Hesychius proclaimed
a recent defeat of the Vandals, a traditional bulletin of an imperial vic-
tory delivered to provincials and allied kings. 51 Hydatius’ knowledge of
imperial, Gothic, and Vandal embassies to the Suevic kings probably
came from similar ceremonial occasions. Attestation of such ceremonial
in fifth-century sources is clear though rare: the formal announcement of
the arrival of an Italian envoy to Toulouse, not to the court but to ‘public
notice’; public receptions in provincial centres and imperial residences for
the adventus of bishops undertaking embassies, recorded in hagiographi-
cal sources; in Hydatius, the display of a Gothic army parade before the
Suevic envoys to Euric in 467, and a similar display seen by envoys vis-
iting the western imperial court at the same time. 52 Itis likely thatthe

50
Table 1 nos. 4 (Hermeric sends bishop Symphosius to the imperial consistory, 433), 41
(Remismund sends Lusidius, a praesens civis of Lisbon, to the emperor Anthemius, 468). Cf.
Jordanes, Get., 234: the Sueves send ‘bishops of their regions’ to Theoderic II after the death of
the Gothic puppet Aioulf, 457.
51
Table 1 no. 13. On victory bulletins: McCormick, Eternal Victory, 39–41 and 41 n. 22, 192–3,
234; to foreign powers: 3 n. 9.
52
Announcement: Ennodius, Vita Epiphani, 85: cum summo gaudio adventum pontificis indicavit notitiae
publicae.On adventus ceremonies for embassies: below, chapter 6 atnn. 138–43. Displays to Suevic
envoys: Hyd., cc. 243, 247 [238, 241].
50