Miro, King of the Suevi (d. 583), and ecclesiastical identities in northwestern Hispania (eleventh-twelfth centuries)

Abstract

This paper seeks to reveal aspects of the process of the writing of history and the reinvention of the religious past which became crucial strategic elements in the legitimisation of some of the most important ecclesiastical institutions of medieval Iberia. Focusing on two texts, the Historia Compostellana and the Chronicon Iriense, both produced in the diocese of Santiago de Compostela, and each fundamental in defending the rights and authority of this powerful Galician see, we analyse their portrayal of Miro, king of the Suevi (r. 570-583), to whom is attributed the ecclesiastical organisation of northwestern Hispania. Both texts present this king as a central figure of Galician political and religious identity. The rewriting in medieval Compostela of Miro's history is shown to be a key element in the disputes between that diocese and other Iberian episcopates, namely Braga, Toledo, Mondoñedo and Lugo.