Thursday, February the 5th, 2009

back to: title, date or indexes

King Wamba

A letter arrives from OutaSpaceman:

Dear Frank, I have been doing a bit of research into Barbaric tribes* and found this paragraph (relating to the Visigoths) on the hhg2g site:

“There was still time for one last Gothic comedy. The panicking King Wamba called up priests to the army to prepare for a full-scale Moorish invasion, but the newly armed priests threw their lot in with a group of revolutionary nobles. In what must be one of the most bizarre coups of all time, Wamba was drugged and dressed as a monk. The rebels also shaved his head, because to the Visigoths long hair was a symbol of sovereignty. The embarrassed king stood aside for the rebel leader Ervigius. Then, when Ervigius' grandson Witiza died, a brief civil war of succession put King Roderick on the throne in 710 in place of Witiza's son, Achila. It was an inauspicious year for the Visigoths.”

Oh, to be ruled by Panicking King Wamba…

Yours, OutaSpaceman

*This is considered to be the finest opening line of any letter Mr Key has ever received.