Reiks

Reiks (pronunciation /ri:ks/; Latinized as rix) is a Gothic title for a tribal ruler, often translated as "king".

In the Gothic Bible, it translates to the Greek árchōn (ἄρχων).[1] It is presumably translated as basiliskos (βασιλίσκος "petty king") in the Passio of Sabbas the Goth.[2]

The Gothic Thervingi were divided into subdivisions of territory and people called *kunja (singular kuni, cognate with English kin), led by a reiks.[3] In times of a common threat, one of the reiks would be selected as a kindins, or head of the Empire (translated as "judge", Latin iudex, Greek δικαστής).[4]

Herwig Wolfram suggested the position was different from the Roman definition of a rex ("king"), and is better described as that of a tribal chief (see Germanic king).[5]

A reiks had a lower order of optimates or megistanes (μεγιστάνες, presumably translating mahteigs[6]) beneath him, on whom he could call on for support.[7]

It also figures prominently as second element in Gothic names, Latinized and often anglicized as -ric, e.g. in Theoderic (Þiuda-reiks).

The use of the suffix extended into the Merovingian dynasty, with kings given names such as Childeric,[8] and it survives in modern German and Scandinavian names such as Ulrich, Erik , Dietrich, Heinrich, Richard, Friedrich.

See also

References
  1. A. W. Van Der Hoek; Dirk H. A. Kolff; M. S. Oort (1992). Ritual, State, and History in South Asia: Essays in Honour of J.C. Heesterman. BRILL. pp. 310–. ISBN 978-90-04-09467-3. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  2. Herwig Wolfram (2005). Gotische Studien: Volk und Herrschaft im frühen Mittelalter. C. H. Beck. pp. 90–. ISBN 978-3-406-52957-3. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  3. Herwig Wolfram, Die Goten: Von den Anfängen bis zur Mitte des 6. Jahrhunderts, p. 105.
  4. Ammianus Marcellinus (27,5,9) mentions one Athanaric iudex gentis, "judge of the people."
  5. P. J. Heather (1999). The Visigoths from the Migration Period to the Seventh Century: An Ethnographic Perspective. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. pp. 358–. ISBN 978-1-84383-033-7. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  6. Béla Köpeczi, History of Transylvania: From the beginnings to 1606, Social Science Monographs, 2001, p. 163.
  7. Béla Köpeczi, History of Transylvania: From the beginnings to 1606, Social Science Monographs, 2001, p. 163.
  8. Herwig Wolfram (1997). The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples. University of California Press. pp. 17–. ISBN 978-0-520-08511-4. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
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