Editing Suebi (section)

====Conversion to Orthodox Trinitarianism====
Mutually incompatible accounts of the conversion of the Suebi to Orthodox Catholic Trinitarian Christianity of the First and Second Ecumenical Councils are presented in the primary records:

* The minutes of the [[First Council of Braga]]—which met on 1 May 561—state explicitly that the synod was held at the orders of a king named [[Ariamir]]. Of the eight assistant bishops, just one bears a Suebic name: Hildemir. While the Catholicism of Ariamir is not in doubt, that he was the first Chalcedonian monarch of the Suebi since Rechiar has been contested on the grounds that his Catholicism is not explicitly stated.{{Clarify|date=March 2011}}<!--His Catholicism is not in doubt, but is contested (because it isn't stated)? This is a contradiction if there ever was one.--><ref name = "Thompson86"/> He was, however, the first Suebic monarch to hold a Catholic synod, and when the [[Second Council of Braga]] was held at the request of king [[Miro (Suevic king)|Miro]], a Catholic himself,<ref>St. Martin on Braga wrote in his [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/martinbraga/formula.shtml Formula Vitae Honestae] ''Gloriosissimo ac tranquillissimo et insigni catholicae fidei praedito pietate Mironi regi''</ref> in 572, of the twelve assistant bishops five bears Suebic names: Remisol of [[Viseu]], Adoric of [[Idanha-a-Velha|Idanha]], Wittimer of [[Ourense]], Nitigis of [[Lugo]] and Anila of [[Tui, Galicia|Tui]].
* The ''[[Historia Suevorum]]'' of [[Isidore of Seville]] states that a king named [[Theodemir (Suebian king)|Theodemar]] brought about the conversion of his people from [[Arianism]] with the help of the missionary [[Martin of Dumio]].<ref>Ferreiro, 198 n8.</ref>
* According to the [[Franks|Frankish]] historian [[Gregory of Tours]], on the other hand, an otherwise unknown sovereign named [[Chararic (Suevic king)|Chararic]], having heard of [[Martin of Tours]], promised to accept the beliefs of the saint if only his son would be cured of [[leprosy]]. Through the relics and intercession of Saint Martin the son was healed; Chararic and the entire royal household converted to the [[Nicene Creed|Nicene faith]].<ref name="Thompson83">Thompson, 83.</ref>
* By 589, when the [[Third Council of Toledo]] was held, and the Visigoth Kingdom of Toledo converted officially from Arianism to Catholicism, king [[Reccared I]] stated in its minutes that also "an infinite number of Suebi have converted", together with the Goths, which implies that the earlier conversion was either superficial or partial. In the same council, four bishops from Gallaecia abjured of their Arianism. And so, the Suebic conversion is ascribed, not to a Suebe, but to a Visigoth by [[John of Biclarum]], who puts their conversion alongside that of the Goths, occurring under Reccared I in 587–589.<!--an essential summary here would report Knut Schäferdiek, ''Die Kirche in den Reichen der Westgoten und Suewen bis zur Errichtung der westgotischen katholischen Staatskirche.'' 1967:214-28.-->

Most scholars have attempted to meld these stories. It has been alleged that Chararic and Theodemir must have been successors of Ariamir, since Ariamir was the first Suebic monarch to lift the ban on Catholic synods; Isidore therefore gets the chronology wrong.<ref>Thompson, 87.</ref><ref>Ferreiro, 199.</ref> Reinhart suggested that Chararic was converted first through the [[relics]] of Saint Martin and that Theodemir was converted later through the preaching of Martin of Dumio.<ref name="Thompson86">Thompson, 86.</ref> Dahn equated Chararic with Theodemir, even saying that the latter was the name he took upon baptism.<ref name="Thompson86"/> It has also been suggested that Theodemir and Ariamir were the same person and the son of Chararic.<ref name="Thompson86"/> In the opinion of some historians, Chararic is nothing more than an error on the part of Gregory of Tours and never existed.<ref>Thompson, 88.</ref> If, as Gregory relates, Martin of Dumio died about the year 580 and had been bishop for about thirty years, then the conversion of Chararic must have occurred around 550 at the latest.<ref name="Thompson83"/> Finally, Ferreiro believes the conversion of the Suebi was progressive and stepwise and that Chararic's public conversion was only followed by the lifting of a ban on Catholic synods in the reign of his successor, which would have been Ariamir; Thoedemir was responsible for beginning a persecution of the Arians in his kingdom to root out their heresy.<ref>Ferreiro, 207.</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Galicia - Quiroga Chi Rho.jpg|Christian [[Chi Rho]] on a 5th-century marble table, [[Quiroga, Galicia|Quiroga]], [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]].
File:Fíbulas suevas.jpg|Suebic and Roman fibullae from [[Conimbriga]], Portugal
</gallery>