whereat Wittiza probably ruled as sub-king under his father at one point. Perhaps the people of Tui preserved an oral tradition or perhaps the canons of XVIII Toledo were available to Lucas. A law sometimes attributed to Ergica which prescribes the caldaria (ordeal of boiling water) for those accused of theft no matter how small the sum has been attributed to Wittiza by some. Death, succession crisis and legacy The date of Wittiza's death and the end of his reign are unknown. The several surviving regnal lists imply a death year of 710 (sometimes with a death month of February) while the Chronicle of 754 implies 711. Whatever the case, the Chronicle strongly implies that he was assassinated in a coup led by Roderic with the support of a faction of nobles. Others believe he died a natural death. At the time, the king was still only in his twenties. After his death, natural or forced, or deposition, Hispania was divided between rival claimants: Roderic in the south and Achila II in the north. Agila may have been a son of Wittiza's and a co-monarch (from about 708), but this would require that he be either a child king or that Wittiza not be the son of Cixilo. Others say Wittiza left two sons not yet of age. At the time of his death, "he was beloved in the highest degree by the people and equally hated by the priesthood." Whatever the actual circumstances surrounding the end of Wittiza's reign, memory of him was not positive a century and a half later. The Chronicle of Moissac, circa 818, wrote that Witicha deditus in feminis exemplo suo sacerdote ac populum luxuriose vivere docuit, irritans furorem Domini: "Wittiza left a poor example to his clergy and his people by his unchaste life, thus provoking the fury of the Lord." The Chronicle of Alfonso III mentions his many wives and mistresses and how he brought "ruin to Hispania", while the Chronicle of 754, written less than a half century after his death, records that he brought "joy and prosperity" to the kingdom. The "sons of Wittiza", who are otherwise unknown, are made out by the Chronicle of Alfonso III to be traitors who helped deliver Hispania to the Moors. Oppa, a shadowy but historical figure, is reputed to have been either a brother, half-brother, or a son of Wittiza, though the latter is