Illness led Hermeric to abdicate in favor of his son, Rechila, who moved his troops to the south and the east, conquering Mérida and Seville, the capitals of the Roman provinces of Lusitania and Betica. In 448 Rechila died, leaving the expanding state to his son Rechiar, who in 449 became one of the first Germanic kings of post-Roman Europe to convert to Catholicism. Rechiar married a Visigothic princess, and was also the first Germanic king to mint coins in ancient Roman territories. Rechiar led further expansions to the east, marauding through the "Provincia Tarraconensis", which was still held by Rome. The Roman emperor Avitus sent a large army of , under the direction of the Visigoth Theoderic II, who defeated the Suebi army by the river Órbigo, near modern-day Astorga. Rechiar fled, but he was pursued and captured, then executed in 457.