Liuva II

Liuva II
King of Hispania, Septimania and Gallaecia
Tremissis from Mérida, minted during his reign
King of Visigoths
Reign	21 December 601 – c. June 603
Predecessor	Reccared I
Successor	Witteric
Born	c. 584
Died	c. July 603 (aged 19)
Father	Reccared I
Mother	Baddo
Religion	Chalcedonian Christianity

Tremissis from Mérida, minted during his reign.

A fanciful image of Liuva II on the facade of the Royal Palace of Madrid expresses the claim of the Spanish monarchy to represent Visigoth antecedents

Liuva II (c. 584 – June/July 603), son of Reccared I and possibly Baddo, was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Gallaecia from 601 to 603. He succeeded Reccared I at only eighteen years of age.

Reign

In the spring of 602, the Goth Witteric, one of the conspirators with Sunna de Mérida to reestablish Arianism in 589, was given command of the army to repulse the Byzantines. From his position of power at the head of the army, he surrounded himself with people in his confidence. When it came time to expel the Byzantines, Witteric instead used his troops to strike at the king in the spring of 603. Invading the royal palace, and deposing the young king, he counted on the support of a faction of nobles in opposition to the dynasty of Leovigild. Witteric cut off the king's right hand, punishment that prevented him from being king, and later had him condemned to death and executed in the summer of 603.