Hunimund

Hunimund (395 – after 469) was a leader – variously described by Jordanes as dux and as rex – of a group of Suebi.^[1]

The Suevi fought on the side of Ardaric, king of the Gepids, against the Huns and Ostrogoths at the Battle of Nedao in 454. Afterwards Hunimund ruled their small and short-lived kingdom in the old settlement area of the Marcomanni and the Quadi.^[2]

Jordanes reported that Hunimund led a Suebi raiding party that stole herds of Goth-owned cattle from Dalmatia; on their way home, near Lake Balaton, they were attacked while they slept by Theodemir's men. Hunimund and others surrendered and were taken prisoner. However, Theodemir adopted Hunimund as his son and released him and his men. Forgetting his duty to his "father", Hunimund and his Sciri again waged war against the Goths; Valamir attacked them, and was killed when he fell off his horse. With another Scirian rex, an otherwise-unknown Alaric,^[3] he then united with Sarmatians and other tribes to invade Pannonia, where they were defeated by Theodemir in a bloody battle.^[4]

In 469, Hunimund and allied Sciri fought the Ostrogoths of Valamir and Theodemir at the Battle of Bolia. The Ostrogoths won, and gained control of territory of the Sciri and Quadi.

"Hunimund,^[5]^[6] accompanied by a few barbarians, attacked the town of Batavis, as the saint had foretold, and, while almost all the inhabitants were occupied in the harvest, put to death forty men of the town who had remained for a guard."^[7]

References

^ Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. JR Martindale. Volume II, A.D. 395-527, p 574, "Hunimundus 2 leader of the Suavi c. 465". Cambridge University Press, 1980.
^ Reimitz, Helmut (2000), "Hunimund", Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 15 (2 ed.), Gruyter, pp. 245–246, ISBN 978-3-11-016649-1
^ Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. JR Martindale. Volume II, A.D. 395-527, p 49, "Alaricus 2 king of the Suavi". Cambridge University Press, 1980.
^ Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. JR Martindale. Volume II, A.D. 395-527, p 574, "Hunimundus 2 leader of the Suavi c. 465". Cambridge University Press, 1980.
^ Reimitz: Hunimund. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2. Auflage. Band 15, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2000, ISBN 3-11-016649-6, S. 245–246.
^ Probably Hunimund, king of the Suevi, whose raid into Dalmatia and hostilities with the Ostrogoths are described by Jordanes, De Rebus Geticis, 53-55. Eduard von Wietersheim, indeed, in his Geschichte der Völkerwanderung (2d ed., Leipsic, 1880-81), ii, p. 324, expresses the belief that the coincidence in name is purely accidental. But if the Hunimund of Eugippius was not Hunimund the Suevian king, who was he? Eugippius through his whole work is perfectly definite in his identification of persons. He names in all some fifty characters, aside from those mentioned in the Bible or in the church fathers. Each is carefully labelled with the appropriate word or phrase, except two, Stilicho (Chapter XXXVI) and Hunimund. It is a fair inference that Eugippius left these names unqualified ----just as, for example, one would now in similar references that of Napoleon or of Blücher ---- because no label seemed needed, either for Stilicho, the great general of the Western Empire, or for Hunimund, king of the Suevi, a principal leader in a war, not yet remote in time, that had devastated Central Europe for years. The life of Saint Severinus. Eugippius. Translated by George W. Robinson, Secretary of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. 1914. Harvard University Press. http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/severinus_02_text.htm#72 accessed 11 April 2020
^ The life of Saint Severinus. Eugippius. Translated by George W. Robinson, Secretary of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. 1914. Harvard University Press. Chapter XXII. http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/severinus_02_text.htm accessed 11 April 2020