Achila II

Achila II (also spelled Agila, Aquila, or Akhila; died c. 714) was the Visigothic king of Hispania and Septimania from 710 or 711 until his death. The kingdom he ruled was restricted to the northeast of the old Hispanic kingdom on account of the Arabo-Berber invasions. Achila's reign is known solely from coins and regnal lists and is not mentioned by reliable narrative histories. Gold coins of Achila's have been found bearing the inscriptions of the mints of Girona, Zaragoza, Tarragona, and Narbonne. Because the narrative sources, the numismatics, and the regnal lists all confirm the reign of Roderic during the same years as Achila, it is almost doubtless that the two were kings in opposition to each other following Roderic's coup, which may have resulted either in or from the death of the previous king, Wittiza. There are more coins surviving from Achila's kingdom than Roderic's, but the findings do not overlap in territory and it is suspected that the kingdom had been divided between two factions, with the southwest (the provinces of Lusitania and western Carthaginiensis around the capital Toledo) following (or being subjected to) Roderic and the northeast (Tarraconensis and Narbonensis) falling under the rule of Achila. It is unknown to whom the provinces of Gallaecia and Baetica fell. Roderic and Achila never appear to have come into military conflict; this is probably best explained by the preoccupation of Roderic with Arab raids and not to a formal division of the kingdom. Two continuations of the Chronicon Regum Visigothorum record Achila's reign of three years following immediately upon Wittiza's. It has even been suggested by some scholars that Achila was in fact Wittiza's son and successor and that Roderic had tried to usurp the throne from him, even that he had been a co-ruler with Wittiza since...