von Bayern

This genealogical chart of the von Bayern family begins with Willigard von Bayern, a direct-line grandmother in our family ancestry. From her, the lineage progresses backward in time, tracing her heritage through her father and beyond. This family tree not only illuminates the distinguished roots of the von Bayern lineage but also provides valuable historical context, linking our modern family directly to significant figures and moments from Bavarian and European history.

Theodo I, Duke of Bavaria 615 – 682 AD

Theodo I, a prominent member of the Agilolfing dynasty, ruled as Duke of Bavaria from around 640 to 682 AD. Although historical records are sparse, several genealogical sources identify him as the father of Princess Willigard.

Establishing his ducal capital at Ratisbona (modern-day Regensburg), Theodo married Folchaid, a noblewoman from the influential Frankish aristocracy in Austrasia, possibly connected to the early Robertians, strategically reinforcing diplomatic alliances with the Frankish kingdom. Theodo notably intervened in Lombard politics by sheltering the exiled Lombard royals Ansprand and Liutprand, ultimately supporting them militarily to regain the Lombard throne. His daughter Guntrude later married Liutprand, further solidifying political ties.

During his rule, Theodo actively defended Bavaria against incursions by the Avars, although some eastern regions experienced significant setbacks. His legacy includes significant ecclesiastical reforms and patronage; notably, he supported the missionary efforts of Saint Rupert, Saint Erhard, Saint Emmeram, and possibly Saint Corbinian. He laid foundational plans for structuring the Bavarian church, establishing diocesan centers in major urban hubs such as Regensburg, Salzburg, Freising, and Passau, aimed at enhancing agricultural development and achieving greater ecclesiastical autonomy from the Frankish influence through closer alignment with Rome. Indeed, Theodo is recognized as the first Bavarian duke to visit Rome, engaging in direct discussions with Pope Gregory II.

A tragic episode in his family involved two of his children, Uta and Lantpert, in the death of Saint Emmeram. Uta, having become pregnant by her lover, feared her father's severe punishment. Saint Emmeram compassionately offered to bear responsibility, believing his imminent departure to Rome would shield her from harm. After Emmeram left Bavaria, Uta's situation became publicly known, and she maintained her agreement by naming Emmeram as the child's father. Infuriated, her brother Lantpert pursued and confronted Emmeram, mockingly addressing him as "bishop and brother-in-law" ("episcope et gener noster") before brutally torturing and killing him. Theodo later had Emmeram's remains respectfully brought to Regensburg. Following this tragedy, historical records reveal no further details about Lantpert or Uta's fate.

Garibald II, Duke of Bavaria
c. 585 – 625 AD

Garibald II was Duke of Bavaria from around 610 until his death in 625, a period marked by the consolidation of Agilolfing power in the region. He was the son and likely successor of Duke Tassilo I, continuing the dynastic line that played a formative role in early Bavarian identity and governance.

Garibald II married Geila, the daughter of Gisulf II, Duke of Friuli, and Romilda. This union further entwined the Bavarian and Lombard noble houses, reinforcing cross-Alpine alliances crucial to the geopolitics of early medieval Europe.

The historical record following Garibald II becomes uncertain. While later Bavarian tradition cites Theodo I, II, and III as his successors, these figures occupy a semi-legendary status, with little verifiable evidence tying them directly to Garibald. This has left a notable gap in the documented lineage of the Agilolfings—Bavaria's ruling dynasty—until the emergence of Duke Theodo (c. 675–716), who is the first clearly attested ruler after Garibald with documented acts and ecclesiastical engagement.

Though fragmentary, Garibald II's reign represents an important transitional era in the early medieval duchy—situated between the fading post-Roman world and the rising Carolingian order that would soon reshape Central Europe.

Tassilo I, Duke of Bavaria
c. 555 – 610 AD

Tassilo I (also known as Tassilon), who ruled Bavaria from 591 until his death in 610, was a pivotal figure in the early history of the Agilolfing dynasty. His ascent to power marked the formalization of Bavarian subordination to Frankish authority following a period of strained autonomy under his predecessor, Garibald I.

According to the chronicler Paul the Deacon, Tassilo was appointed rex (king or duke) of the Bavarians by Childebert II, the Frankish King of Austrasia, in 591. This royal endorsement effectively ended hostilities between the Franks and Bavaria—conflict that had been provoked when Garibald I entered into a politically sensitive marriage alliance with the Lombards, thereby defying Frankish interests. The circumstances of Garibald's fall—whether by death or deposition—remain uncertain, as does the precise nature of Tassilo's kinship to him. However, the Agilolfing continuity and Frankish sanction suggest a close familial connection, most plausibly as Garibald's son or nephew.

Tassilo's reign was marked by both military ambition and catastrophic loss. Paul the Deacon recounts how Tassilo led a successful campaign into Slavic territories, likely eastern Tyrol and Carinthia, returning with considerable spoils. Yet this triumph was swiftly reversed: in 595, a Bavarian force of 2,000 men was annihilated while aiding the Kagan of the Avars against the Slavs—a devastating blow to Bavarian martial standing.

Tassilo I died in 610. His son, Garibald II, succeeded him, continuing the Agilolfing lineage during a turbulent and poorly documented era of Bavarian history. Tassilo's reign thus serves as a vital bridge between semi-independent tribal rule and deeper integration into the Merovingian Frankish sphere, setting the stage for the dynastic consolidation that would follow under later dukes like Theodo.

Garibald I, Duke of Bavaria
c. 540 – 591 AD

Garibald I (also spelled Garivald) was the first known Duke—or possibly King—of Bavaria, ruling from approximately 555 until 591. He is widely considered the founding figure of the Agilolfing dynasty, which would dominate Bavarian and later Lombard political life for over two centuries.

Following the death of the Merovingian king Theudebald of Austrasia in 555, his successor, Chlothar I, briefly entered into a controversial union with Theudebald's widow, Waldrada, the daughter of the Lombard king Wacho. Under pressure from Frankish bishops, Chlothar dissolved the relationship and gave Waldrada in marriage to Garibald in 556. This alliance elevated Garibald's status and established a powerful dynastic connection between the Bavarians and the Lombards of Pannonia and Bohemia—a connection that would later shape the geopolitics of the region after the Lombard migration into Italy in 568.

Garibald's growing prestige did not go unnoticed by the Frankish court. Prior to 585, Merovingian efforts to secure Bavarian loyalty culminated in a proposed marriage between Garibald's daughter, Theodelinda, and King Childebert II of Austrasia. Simultaneously, the Franks were negotiating an alliance with King Authari of the Lombards through the marriage of Childebert's sister. However, both alliances unraveled. In a diplomatic coup, Authari betrothed himself to Theodelinda in 588. The Frankish court, alarmed by this emerging Lombard-Bavarian axis, retaliated by invading Bavaria. Theodelinda and her brother Gundoald fled to Lombardy, where Theodelinda married Authari in 589 and Gundoald was granted the Duchy of Asti.

In 590, a joint Frankish-Byzantine military campaign against Lombardy ended in failure. The following year, King Childebert II sought reconciliation with both the Lombards and the Bavarians. After Authari's death in 590, Theodelinda played a decisive role in selecting his successor, marrying his cousin Agilulf, who was then confirmed as King of the Lombards. Together, they brokered a lasting peace with the Franks.

The fate of Garibald I remains uncertain. He disappears from the historical record around 591, coinciding with Childebert's appointment of Tassilo I as rex (king or duke) of Bavaria. It is unclear whether Garibald died or was deposed. Nor is the exact familial relationship between Garibald and Tassilo definitively known, though most scholars presume Tassilo to have been Garibald's son or close kinsman, ensuring dynastic continuity.

Garibald I's reign marks the emergence of Bavaria as a politically cohesive duchy under Agilolfing leadership, positioned between the Merovingian and Lombard spheres of influence. Through both his Lombard marriage and his children's roles in Italian and Bavarian politics, Garibald laid the foundation for a dynasty that would shape early medieval Europe.

Aioulf (Agiluf/Agiwulf), King of Galicia (d. 457 AD)
Semi-legendary link in the early Agilolfing tradition

Aioulf—also known as Agiluf, Agiwulf, or Agiulf—was a short-lived and somewhat enigmatic figure who emerged during a period of violent upheaval in post-Roman Hispania. He is occasionally described in semi-legendary genealogies as the son of the Suevic king Rechiar and is sometimes invoked as an ancestral link to the later Agilolfing dynasty of Bavaria, particularly as a possible progenitor of Garibald I. However, the historical record supporting this lineage is tenuous and speculative.

According to the Chronicle of Hydatius, a contemporary Galician bishop and eyewitness to many of the events, Aioulf served initially as a military commander under Theodoric II, the Visigothic king who invaded the Suevic Kingdom of Galicia in 456. Following the sacking of the Suevic capital of Braga and the execution of King Rechiar, Theodoric proceeded south into Lusitania. At this point, Aioulf defected from the Gothic army, remained behind in Galicia, and attempted to seize power for himself—possibly with ambitions to restore or reinvent a Suevic kingship under his own authority.

The later historian Jordanes, writing in the mid-6th century from Pannonia and loyal to the Gothic tradition, offers a different narrative. He describes Aioulf as a Warni retainer (cliens) of Theodoric, entrusted with governing the conquered Suevi. According to Jordanes, Aioulf turned traitor, allegedly provoked by the Sueves to declare himself king. He was swiftly defeated, captured, and executed in the first engagement with Gothic forces.

Modern historians, notably E. A. Thompson, generally regard Hydatius as the more reliable source. Thompson criticizes Jordanes for his geographical and temporal distance from the events, his pro-Gothic bias, and for inserting anachronisms—such as Theodoric II honoring Suevic bishops with pontifical reverence at a time when the Sueves were still largely pagan.

After Aioulf's failed usurpation and execution, the Sueves chose Remismund as their new king, a move that Theodoric II ultimately recognized—restoring a measure of political stability to the region.

Though Aioulf's reign was brief and ended in failure, his attempt to carve out kingship amidst the ruins of Roman Hispania reflects the volatile dynamics of power in the 5th-century barbarian successor states. Whether or not he was truly the son of Rechiar or a direct ancestor of the Agilolfings, Aioulf remains a figure of considerable intrigue at the intersection of legend and late antique history.

Rechiar (Rechiarius), King of Galicia
c. 415 – December 456 AD

Rechiar, or Rechiarius, ruled the Suevic Kingdom of Galicia from 448 until his death in 456. A figure of great paradox and historical significance, Rechiar was the first Germanic king in Europe to embrace Nicene (Athanasian) Christianity, converting to Catholicism decades before the more famous baptism of Clovis, king of the Franks. Yet despite this theological alignment with the Roman Church, Rechiar remained, in the eyes of his contemporaries, a barbarian sovereign—ambitious, disruptive, and often at odds with Roman law, custom, and diplomacy.

Origins and Conversion

Rechiar was the son of Rechila, a pagan king of the Suevi, and a Visigothic princess, likely a daughter of King Wallia. Though Rechiar's exact date of birth is unknown, he had converted to Catholicism before ascending to the throne in 448—an event noted by Isidore of Seville in his Historia Suevorum and confirmed by the contemporary chronicler Hydatius, bishop of Aquae Flaviae. Whether this conversion stemmed from personal conviction or political calculation remains unclear, but it was certainly unusual: his Suevic subjects remained staunchly pagan, and Rechiar made little lasting effort to convert them. His marriage to an Arian Visigothic princess, daughter of Theodoric I of Toulouse, further complicated his religious stance and may have later paved the way for the Suevi's shift toward Arianism in the decades following his death.

Kingship and Administration

Rechiar was among the most powerful and independent of the early post-Roman Germanic rulers. He was the first Germanic king to mint coins bearing his name, issuing silver siliquae stamped with the legend IVSSV RECHIARI REGES ("by the order of King Rechiar")—a bold assertion of royal sovereignty that signified a break from Roman oversight. These rare coins are concrete testimony to his autonomy and the emerging identity of the Suevic kingdom.

Despite such innovations, Rechiar's government was rudimentary by Roman standards. He is not known to have employed Roman administrators, jurists, or a formal bureaucratic apparatus. His court remained mobile and tribal in nature, and he reportedly traveled with his royal treasury in tow during military expeditions. His capital was the city of Braga, the ecclesiastical center of Galicia.

Military Campaigns and Foreign Policy

Rechiar's reign was marked by relentless warfare. In the early years of his rule, he may have sanctioned the execution of the Roman ambassador Censorius in Seville, possibly carried out by a Suevic noble named Agiulf (sometimes identified with Aioulf), signaling open hostility toward Roman authority. In 449, Rechiar launched military campaigns against the Basques—the first known Suevic contact with the Vascones—and raided deep into the Ebro Valley, briefly occupying cities such as Zaragoza and Lérida through subterfuge. These raids were conducted in alliance with the Bagaudae, peasant rebel groups with whom Rechiar forged a rare and ideologically ambiguous partnership.

Despite these conquests, he failed to secure long-term territorial gains in eastern Hispania. After visiting his Visigothic in-laws in Gaul in late 449, Rechiar returned to Galicia and resumed hostilities. In 455, he launched an ambitious assault on the Roman province of Tarraconensis, taking advantage of the chaos following the assassinations of Roman leaders Aëtius and Valentinian III. This incursion proved overreaching.

Downfall and Death

Rechiar's downfall came swiftly in 456, when Theodoric II, King of the Visigoths—and Rechiar's own brother-in-law—invaded Hispania at the behest of the new Western Roman Emperor Avitus, who sought to restore Roman authority. Theodoric's forces, reinforced by Franks, Burgundians, and possibly Romans, met the Suevic army near Astorga at the Campus Paramus on 5 October 456. The Suevi were decisively defeated. Rechiar fled, wounded, possibly reaching Porto, where he was captured. Despite a confused report by Jordanes suggesting a failed sea escape, most sources confirm he was executed in December 456.

His death marked the collapse of centralized Suevic authority. Braga fell soon after, and the Visigoths pillaged the city and its churches, initiating a century-long period of Arian dominance and political fragmentation in Galicia. The Suevi did not regain stable monarchy until the accession of Remismund years later.

Legacy

Rechiar's reign represents a bold and complex chapter in the twilight of Roman Hispania. As the first Catholic Germanic king, his conversion challenges common narratives of Christianization in Europe. His issuance of coinage and assertion of sovereignty signal a new era of post-Roman kingship. Yet his failure to bridge tribal rule with Roman norms—and to consolidate his religious policies—ensured that both his theological legacy and political innovations were ephemeral.

Despite this, Rechiar remains a figure of significant historical interest, embodying the contradictions of a barbarian monarch who both imitated and defied Rome, who wielded imperial symbols while laying siege to imperial provinces.

Rechila, King of Galicia
Reign: 438 – 448 AD
Died: 448 AD

Rechila, son of Hermeric, was King of the Suevi in Galicia from 438 until his death in 448. His decade-long reign marked a period of vigorous military expansion and administrative consolidation as the Suevic kingdom moved beyond its initial foothold in northwestern Iberia to dominate large swathes of the peninsula. Despite the scarcity of sources, the Chronicle of Hydatius, written by a contemporary Galician bishop, provides a vivid—if partial—account of Rechila's reign.

Succession and Consolidation

Rechila came to power when his father Hermeric, afflicted by illness, abdicated in 438. Although Hermeric lived until 441, it was Rechila who assumed royal authority and military command. His succession marked a generational shift in Suevic leadership, as the kingdom transitioned from a migratory tribal confederation into a more aggressive territorial monarchy.

Military Expansion and Roman Conflict

Rechila capitalized on the vacuum left by the departing Vandals and Alans, who had crossed into North Africa under Genseric. Seeking to fill this power void, Rechila began an assertive campaign into southern Hispania. In 438, he defeated the Roman commander Andevotus, comes Hispaniarum, at the River Genil (Singillio)—a watershed moment in Suevic expansion.

By 439, Rechila had captured Mérida, one of the most important provincial capitals in Roman Lusitania. Two years later, he seized Seville, capital of Baetica, further destabilizing Roman control in Hispania. These conquests brought much of western and southern Iberia—including Lusitania, Baetica, and parts of Carthaginiensis—under Suevic domination, leaving only the Levante and the Mediterranean coast under imperial control. The urgency of the Roman response is evident in the fact that three magistri utriusque militiae (masters of both military services) were dispatched to the peninsula between 441 and 446.

Rechila maintained continuous hostilities with Rome, refusing diplomatic reconciliation. In 440, Censorius, a Roman legate returning from his third embassy to the Suevi, was intercepted near Mértola (ancient Myrtilis) and imprisoned by Rechila. He would remain in captivity for the duration of Rechila's life—possibly symbolizing Suevic defiance of imperial authority.

Religion and Death

Rechila died a pagan in Mérida in 448. Hydatius records this unambiguously: gentilis moritur ("he died a gentile"). Later, Isidore of Seville, writing in the 7th century and relying on Hydatius, offers a more uncertain phrasing—ut ferunt, gentilitatis vitam finivit ("he is said to have ended his life a gentile")—perhaps reflecting theological discomfort with the fact that Rechila's son and successor, Rechiar, would later become the first Catholic Germanic king in Europe.

Some scholars have speculated that Rechila raised Rechiar as a Catholic in anticipation of a more harmonious relationship with the Gallaecian Church and Hispano-Roman elites. However, Rechila himself remained outside the Christian fold, ruling as one of the last major pagan monarchs in Western Europe.

Legacy

Rechila's reign was pivotal in transforming the Suevic presence in Hispania from a loosely settled confederation into a structured kingdom capable of challenging Roman authority. His military conquests and bold assertion of power—particularly in major urban centers like Mérida and Seville—prefigured the territorial fragmentation of the Western Roman Empire and helped define the contours of post-Roman rule in Iberia.

Though overshadowed in later historiography by his Catholic son Rechiar and his Arian successors, Rechila remains one of the most consequential and underappreciated rulers of the early Germanic kingdoms.

Hermeric – King of Galicia

441 AD

Hermeric (died 441) was the Suevic King of Galicia from perhaps as early as 406 and certainly no later than 419 until his retirement in 438. He was a paganand an enemy of the Roman Empire throughout his life. He is given a reign of thirty two years in most manuscripts of Isidore of Seville's Historia Suevorum, but fourteen years in one manuscript.

Hermeric led the Suevi across the frozen Rhine along with the Vandals and Alans in December 406. They crossed Gaul and the Pyrenees and settled in theHispania. While Theodore Mommsen believed the Suevi were foederati and Ernst Stein seconded the notion by believing they had made an agreement with the Roman usurper Magnus Maximus whereby they received the western half of Iberia, there is no primary evidence for any alliance between the Suevi and Rome. In 411 (according to Ludwig Schmidt) or 417 (according to Felix Dahn), Hermeric made a treaty with the Roman emperor Honorius, but in fact the only event of note in 411 was the division of Iberia sorte (by lot) between the barbarian peoples. The east of the province of Gallaecia with its capital of Braga(Bracara Augusta) fell to the Suevi, while the west of the province went to the populous Hasdingi.

Between 416 and 418, the Visigoths under Wallia made war on Hermeric on behalf of Rome. In 419, after a personal dispute between Hermeric and the Vandal king Gunderic, the Vandals attacked the Suevi and trapped Hermeric in the Nervasian (Erbasian) Mountains before the Roman general Asteriusintervened and the Vandals retreated. Thereafter, until the Vandals left Iberia for Africa in 429, Hermeric remained peaceful, but in 430 he began to raid Gallaecia. In 431 a Gallaecian named Hydatius went to Flavius Aëtius to plead for help against the Suevi, but Aëtius delayed until 432 the sending of the legate Censorius. According to Hydatius' Chronicle of contemporary events, the Gallaecian plebs in the better-fortified strongpoints defeated Hermeric and his men, inflicting heavy casualties and taking many prisoners, which forced the Sueves to release the Gallaecian families they had taken captive (430).

In 435, "on episcopal intervention", possibly Hydatius', Hermeric made peace with the Gallaecians. In that same year, Hermeric negotiated through the Catholic bishop Symphosius directly with the Western Roman Emperor. In 437, Censorius made a second expedition accompanied by Fretimund.

After seven years of illness, Hermeric was forced to retire from the kingship in 438 and pass it on to his son Rechila. The story, recorded in Isidore, that Hermeric sent Rechila to Baetica to defeat Andevotus, Romanae militiae dux, is false, as there is no contemporary evidence that Hermeric retained any authority after his abdication. There appears to have been no principle of elective monarchy among the Suevi and the successes of their raids may have accounted for the contentment of their people. Hermeric's royal line lasted until 456.

In 429, there appeared briefly a Suevic military leader named Heremigarius operating in Lusitania who may have been a joint monarch with Hermeric, but there is no primary source to prove it.