| ||
Home | Site Index | Heithinn Idea Contest | | ||
The Guthones (32) ARVICIUS (Ervicius) became king in the year 680, right after the scandal of king Vamba. name of Arvicius is Gothic, and is composed of two words: The Balthagothic word "Ara" or "Era" (= Aras in Lithuanian) means "Eagle", and the word "vicius" (= vytis in Lithuanian) means "knight". Some such names are found in Lithuania, as: Arvicius, Arvitis, Arvydas etc. Arvicius did not become king according to the Balthagothic
customs, hence he was considered illegal. And the Balthagothic nation murmured.
The old ex-king Vamba besought the people not to embarass king Arvicius. Anyhow,
Arvicius didn't accomplish anything worth while for Spain, and was only the
most cruel persecutor of the Jews. In the year 687, Spain suffered a great famine.
Arvicius, considering that this was God's punishment for his criminal deeds,
became very restless. A guilty conscience laid him on his bed, and he died in
November, A.D. 687. The name "Vitika" is composed of two
words: Vit (= vit or vyt in Lithuanian) means "to chase" and tika
(= tikas in Lithuan.) means "looking for". We have very little information concerning Vitika's
life, because contemporary writers preferred to keep silent about his good deeds.
He was a "reformer" of the Church, therefore clergymen feared and
hated him, and in their chronicles they represented him as a monster of wickedness
---- "monstrum corruptionis". Vitika died in the month of February, A.D. 710,
leaving his two youthful sons. Although Vitika wished that one of his sons would
be chosen king, the angry prelates set aside his wishes, and elected to the
throne a Goth of entirely different family by the name of Rodrikis. There are many inhabitants in Lithuania having
such names as: Rode-lis, Rod-eika, Rod-tautas, Rodi-vila, Kunt-roda etc. Hence
the name of king Rodrikis is of Lithuanian origin. Rodrikis reigned for two years only. Although many
romantic stories were invented about Rodrikis, of the true historic facts concerning
him we know very little. In those days the Balthagothic nation was already demoralized.
The religious hatred, the Jews, and the lack of patriotism degraded the Balthagoths.
The Balthagothic noblemen worried only about their personal affairs, and for
the sake of money they would rather betray their country. Rodrikis lacked tact
and had no discernment in keeping the Balthagoths united. We may guess what
was the state of affairs when Rodrikis appointed chief general for his army
a foreigner by the name of Julianus. In the interior of Spain, thousands of
the Jews were busy spying, disclosing all sorts of information to the foreign
enemies, and digging a grave for Spain. In the year 711, the Moors invaded Spain. Rodrikis
probably could have repulsed the Mahomedan attack, but when general Julianus
heard that the king had dishonored his daughter, the beautiful Florinda, he
resolved to have revenge upon Rodrikis. He went to the Mahomedan chief, Musa,
and counselled him to undertake the conquest of Spain, guaranteeing him that
he would aid him with his army. Shortly a body of 12,000 Moors led by a Berber
chief named Tarik, landed at Gibraltar. The Balthagothic governor Tautameris
was taken by surprise, and he appealed to king Rodrikis for help. Soon Rodrikis
came with his 100,000 undisciplined and faithless men. A terrible battle took
place near Cadiz, beside the river Chrysus. The bitter combat was boiling for
several days. Considerable bands of Balthagothic and Spanish warriors surrendered
to the Moors. On the 26th day of July, in 711, the remnants of the army of Rodrikis
were utterly routed, and Rodrikis himself met his end there. Unresisted Moors
took possession of almost all of Spain. The Balthagothic dominion ended in the year 711.
While ages were passing by, the Balthagothic language was also dying away. And
today only the Spanish kings and noble families of Spain boast that "pure
Gothic blood is still flowing in their veins"...... While the Lithuanian
peasants are even unaware of the fact that in them not only the Gothic blood
is flowing, but also that they use about fifty percent of the Gothic vocabulary
in their language, that to this day they bear the ancient Gothic surnames, and
that for unknown reasons to them, they call "Balthaguddae" all the
Russianized Lithuanians that live in the provinces of Grodno and Minsk.
© 2004-2007 Northvegr. Most of the material on this site is in the public domain. However, many people have worked very hard to bring these texts to you so if you do use the work, we would appreciate it if you could give credit to both the Northvegr site and to the individuals who worked to bring you these texts. A small number of texts are copyrighted and cannot be used without the author's permission. Any text that is copyrighted will have a clear notation of such on the main index page for that text. Inquiries can be sent to info@northvegr.org. Northvegr™ and the Northvegr symbol are trademarks and service marks of the Northvegr Foundation. |
|