Genial

Genial, Genialis, or Genealis was the Duke of Gascony (Vasconia) in the early seventh century. He is attested 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

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

Sources

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