Writings that were contemporaneous with events in the Western Roman Empire in the late fourth century CE and the fifth century CE and provide a continuous account of those events are generally few and far between. This is why the chronicle of Hydatius- a fifth century Catholic bishop of the Galicia region in northwest Iberia- is a valuable work, particularly in attesting to the disintegration of Roman power and authority in what is now Spain and Portugal. In Hydatius' own region, the Suevi- generally understood to be a Germanic people- replaced the collapse of Roman authority as they established their own kingdom in the region. For Hydatius, the affairs of Galicia are marked by the calamities of the Suevi's repeated plundering of the region's Hispano-Roman/Galician inhabitants. The Goths, who fought with the Suevi and would eventually put an end to Suevi sovereignty in the sixth century CE, also engaged in such predatory behaviour.
Like any historical source, Hydatius' chronicle is certainly not perfect, nor has manuscript transmission likely preserved in its entirety the autograph text as originally written by Hydatius. Indeed, there appear to be multiple gaps in the manuscripts that transmit the text, and there are some difficulties that arise with reading the text.
[Click here to continue reading, free access]:
https://aymennaltamimi.substack.com/p/the-chronicle-of-hydatius-translation