De sveber, som 406 jämte vandaler och alaner bröt in i Gallien, tillhörde quadernas stam. De gick sedan till Spanien och grundlade i nordvästra delen av provinsen Galicien ett rike, Svebiska riket, som existerade till 585, då det besegrades av visigoterna.

Hermeric led the Suevi across the frozen Rhine along with the Vandals and Alans in December 406. They crossed Gaul and the Pyrenees and settled in the Hispania.

Between 416 and 418, the Visigoths under Wallia made war on Hermeric on behalf of Rome. In 419, after a personal dispute between Hermeric and the Vandal king Gunderic, the Vandals attacked the Suevi and trapped Hermeric in the Nervasian (Erbasian) Mountains before the Roman general Asterius intervened and the Vandals retreated.

Thereafter, until the Vandals left Iberia for Africa in 429, Hermeric remained peaceful, but in 430 he began to raid Gallaecia. In 431 a Gallaecian named Hydatius went to Flavius Aëtius to plead for help against the Suevi, but Aëtius delayed until 432 the sending of the legate Censorius. According to Hydatius' Chronicle of contemporary events, the Gallaecian plebs in the better-fortified strongpoints defeated Hermeric and his men, inflicting heavy casualties and taking many prisoners, which forced the Sueves to release the Gallaecian families they had taken captive (430).

After seven years of illness, Hermeric was forced to retire from the kingship in 438 and pass it on to his son Rechila.

Barn:
Rechila av Galicia, född 380, död 448