Jump to content

Genial

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Genial (Latin Genialis or Genealis) was the Duke of Gascony (Vasconia) in the early seventh century. He is mentioned in the Chronicle of Fredegar.

Genial was probably a Frank or a Gallo-Roman when Theuderic II and Theudebert II appointed him dux over the Basques (Vascones) of southwestern Aquitaine:

Theudebert and Theuderic sent an army against the Wascones and with God's help defeated them, subjected them to their overlordship, and made them pay tribute. They appointed a duke named Genialis, who ruled them well.[1]

Some scholars believe Genial was more of a tribal leader over whom the Frankish sovereigns exercised a vague suzerainty than a Frankish court official sent to the outskirts of the realm to lord it over a subject people.[2] Sometime around 612, Sisebut, king of the Visigoths, reconquered the trans-Pyrenean portion of his realm, diminishing Frankish suzerainty in Vasconia.[3] Genial was succeeded by Aeghyna.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Fredegar, 4.21, p 14.
  2. ^ Lewis, p 396.
  3. ^ Collins, p 91. This included Biscay and Guipúzcoa.

Sources

[edit]