Visigothic Kingdom

Kingdom of the Visigoths
*Regnum Gothorum* (
Latin
)
Kingdom of the Visigoths Regnum Gothorum ( Latin)
418–720
	Tremissis depicting Liuvigild (568–586)
	Extent of the Visigothic Kingdom, c. 500 (total extent shown in orange, territory lost after Battle of Vouillé shown in light orange: Kingdom of the Suebi was annexed in 585).
Capital	Toulouse (418–507); Barcelona (507–542) (temporarily); Toledo (542–711);
Common languages	Gothic (spoken among elite); Vulgar Latin; Vasconic languages (spoken by several tribes throughout almost the entire Pyrenean and pre-Pyrenean region); Hebrew and Aramaic (spoken to a certain extent, during this period, among Jews); Alanian (spoken by the Alans of Aurelianum);
Religion	Gothic paganism (initially); Chalcedonian Christianity; Arianism;
Government	Reccared
• 612–621	Sisebut
• 621–631	Swintila
• 649–672	Recceswinth
• 694–710	Wittiza
• 710–711	Roderic
• 714–720	Ardo
History
• Umayyad conquest of Toledo	711
• Umayyad occupation of; Septimania	720
Area
484	500,000 km2 (190,000 sq mi)
580	600,000 km2 (230,000 sq mi)
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Western Roman Empire
	Kingdom of the Suebi
	Hispania
Umayyad Caliphate
Kingdom of Asturias
Today part of	Portugal; Spain; Andorra; France;

The Visigothic Kingdom, Visigothic Spain or Kingdom of the Goths (

Latin: Regnum Gothorum) occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic successor states to the Western Roman Empire, it was originally created by the settlement of the Visigoths under King Wallia in the province of Gallia Aquitania in southwest Gaul by the Roman government and then extended by conquest over all of Hispania. The Kingdom maintained independence from the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire

, whose attempts to re-establish Roman authority in Hispania were only partially successful and short-lived.

The Visigoths were romanized central Europeans who had moved west from the Danube Valley.^[4] They became foederati of Rome, and wanted to restore the Roman order against the hordes of Vandals, Alans and Suebi. The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 AD; therefore, the Visigoths believed they had the right to take the territories that Rome had promised in Hispania in exchange for restoring the Roman order.^[5] Under King Euric—who eliminated the status of foederati—a triumphal advance of the Visigoths began.^[6] Alarmed at Visigoth expansion from Aquitania after victory over the Gallo-Roman and Breton armies^[7] at Déols in 469, Western Emperor Anthemius sent a fresh army across the Alps against Euric, who was besieging Arles. The Roman army was crushed in the Battle of Arles nearby and Euric then captured Arles and secured much of southern Gaul.

Sometimes referred to as the Regnum Tolosae or Kingdom of Toulouse after its capital Toulouse in modern historiography, the kingdom lost much of its territory in Gaul to the Franks in the early 6th century, save the narrow coastal strip of Septimania. The kingdom of the 6th and 7th centuries is sometimes called the Regnum Toletanum or Kingdom of Toledo after the new capital of Toledo in Hispania. A civil war starting in 549 resulted in an invitation from the Visigoth Athanagild, who had usurped the kingship, to the Byzantine emperor Justinian I to send soldiers to his assistance. Athanagild won his war, but the Byzantines took over Cartagena and a good deal of southern Hispania, until 624 when Swinthila expelled the last Byzantine garrisons from the peninsula, occupying Orcelis, which the Visigoths called Aurariola (today Orihuela in the Province of Alicante). Starting in the 570s Athanagild's brother Liuvigild compensated for this loss by conquering the Kingdom of the Suebi in Gallaecia (corresponding roughly to present-day Galicia and the northern part of Portugal) and annexing it, and by repeated campaigns against the Basques.

The ethnic distinction between the Hispano-Roman population and the Visigoths had largely disappeared by this time (the

Umayyad troops from North Africa in 711 AD, with only the northern reaches of Hispania remaining in Christian hands. These gave birth to the medieval Kingdom of Asturias when a Visigothic nobleman called Pelagius was elected princeps by the Astures, of Celtic

origin, who lived in the mountains, and by some Visigoths, who had fled from the Muslims and taken refuge in Asturias, where they joined Pelagius.

The Visigoths and their early kings were

Latin: Liber Iudiciorum), which would become the basis for Spanish law throughout the Middle Ages

.

History

Federate kingdom

From 407 to 409 AD, an alliance of Germanic Vandals, Iranian Alans and Germanic Suebi crossed the frozen Rhine and swept across modern France and into the Iberian peninsula. For their part, the Visigoths under Alaric famously sacked Rome in 410, capturing Galla Placidia, the sister of Western Roman emperor Honorius.

Toulouse (in 413). After he married Placidia, the Emperor Honorius

enlisted him to provide Visigothic assistance in regaining nominal Roman control of Hispania from the Vandals, Alans and Suebi.

In 418, Honorius rewarded his Visigothic federates under King Wallia (reigned 415–418) by giving them land in the Garonne valley of Gallia Aquitania on which to settle. This probably took place under the system of hospitalitas. It seems likely that at first the Visigoths were not given a large amount of land estates in the region (as previously believed), but that they acquired the taxes of the region, with the local Gallic aristocrats now paying their taxes to the Visigoths instead of to the Roman government.^[9]

The Visigoths with their capital at

Attila the Hun in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. Attila was driven back, but Theodoric was killed in the battle.^[12]

The

Carthaginiensis and southern Lusitania. In 461, the Goths received the city of Narbonne from the emperor Libius Severus in exchange for their support. This led to a revolt by the army and by Gallo-Romans under Aegidius; as a result, Romans under Severus and the Visigoths fought other Roman troops, and the revolt ended only in 465.^[14]

Kingdom of Toulouse

In 466,

Marseilles. In his campaigns, Euric had counted on a portion of the Gallo-Roman and Hispano-Roman aristocracy who served under him as generals and governors. The Visigothic Kingdom was formally recognized as an independent kingdom in former Roman territory instead of having the status of foederati when the Western emperor Julius Nepos (474–475) signed in 475 an alliance with Euric, granting him the lands south of the Loire and west of the Rhone in exchange for military service and the lands in Provence (including Arles and Marseilles). The lands in Hispania remained under de facto Visigothic control. After Odoacer deposed the last Roman emperor in the West, Romulus Augustulus, Euric quickly recaptured Provence, a fact which Odoacer formally accepted in a treaty.^[15]

By 500, the Visigothic Kingdom, centered at

Suebic Kingdom of Galicia in the northwest and small areas controlled by independent Iberian peoples, such as the Basques and the Cantabrians. Euric's son Alaric II (484–507) issued a new body of laws, the Breviarium Alarici, and held a church council at Agde

.

The Visigoths now came into conflict with the Franks under their King Clovis I, who had conquered northern Gaul. Following a brief war with the Franks, Alaric was forced to put down a rebellion in Tarraconensis, probably caused by recent Visigoth immigration to Hispania due to pressure from the Franks. In 507, the Franks attacked again, this time allied with the Burgundians. Alaric II was killed at the Battle of Campus Vogladensis (Vouillé) near Poitiers, and Toulouse was sacked. By 508, the Visigoths had lost most of their Gallic holdings save Septimania in the south.^[16]

Arian Kingdom of Hispania

After Alaric II's death, his illegitimate son Gesalec took power until he was deposed by Theodoric the Great, ruler of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, who invaded and defeated him at Barcelona. Gesalec fled and regrouped, but was defeated again at Barcelona, and was captured and killed. Theodoric then installed his grandson Amalaric (511–531), the son of Alaric II, as king. Amalaric, however, was still a child and power in Spain remained under the Ostrogothic general and regent, Theudis. Only after Theodoric's death (526) did Amalaric obtain control of his kingdom. His rule did not last long, as in 531, Amalaric was defeated by the Frankish king Childebert I and then murdered at Barcelona.

Afterwards, Theudis (531–548) became king. He expanded Visigothic control over the southern regions, but he was also murdered after a failed invasion of Africa. Visigothic Spain suffered a civil war under King Agila I (549–554), which prompted the Roman/Byzantine emperor Justinian I to send an army and carve out the small province of Spania for the Byzantine Empire along the coast of southern Spain. Agila was eventually killed, and his enemy Athanagild (552–568) became the new king. He attacked the Byzantines, but he was unable to dislodge them from southern Spain, and was obliged to formally acknowledge the suzerainty of the Empire.

The next Visigothic king was

Vitoria), the first barbarian king to do so.^[18]^[19]

Catholic Kingdom of Toledo

On becoming King, Liuvigild's son Reccared I (586–601) converted from Arian to Chalcedonian Christianity. This led to some unrest in the kingdom, notably a revolt by the Arian bishop of Mérida which was put down; he also beat back another Frankish offensive in the north. Reccared then oversaw the Third Council of Toledo in 589, where he announced his faith in the Nicene creed and denounced Arian. He adopted the name Flavius, the family name of the Constantinian dynasty, and styled himself as the successor to the Roman emperors. Reccared also fought the Byzantines in Hispania Baetica after they had begun a new offensive.^[20]

Reccared's son Liuva II became king in 601, but was deposed by the Visigothic noble

Sisinand.^[21]

Map showing the conquests of Leovigild, c. 586

Visigothic Hispania and its regional divisions from 625 to 711, prior to the Muslim conquest

The instability of this period can be attributed to the power struggle between the kings and the nobility. Religious unification strengthened the political power of the church, which it exercised through church councils at Toledo along with the nobles. The fourth council, held during the brief reign of

Sisinand in 633,^[22] excommunicated and exiled the king, replacing him with Chintila (636–639). The church councils were now the most powerful institution in the Visigothic state; they took the role of regulating the process of succession to the kingship by election of the king by Gothic noble 'senators' and the church officials. They also decided to meet on a regular basis to discuss ecclesiastical and political matters affecting the Church. Finally, they decided the kings should die in peace, and declared their persons sacred, seeking to end the violence and regicides of the past. Despite all this, another coup took place and Chintila was deposed in 639, and King Tulga took his place; he was also deposed in the third year of his reign and the council elected the noble Chindaswinth

as king.

King Chindaswinth from the Códex Albedense.

The reigns of

Liber Iudiciorum (Spanish: Fuero Juzgo, English: Book of Judgements), also called Lex Visigothorum or the Visigothic Code promulgated by king Chindaswinth (642–653 AD), and completed in 654 by his son, king Recceswinth (649–672), abolished the old tradition of having different laws for Hispano-Romans and Visigoths. The new laws applied to both Gothic and Hispano-Roman populations who had been under different laws in the past, and it replaced all older codes of law.^[23] The code included old laws by past kings, such as Alaric II in his Breviarium Alarici, and Leovigild, but many were also new laws. The code was based almost wholly on Roman law, with some influence of Germanic law in rare cases. Among the eliminated old laws were the harsh laws against Jews. The Liber showed the old system of military and civil divisions in administration was changing, and dukes (duces provinciae) and counts (comites civitatis) had begun taking more responsibilities outside their original military and civil duties. The servants or slaves of the king became very prominent in the bureaucracy and exercised wide administrative powers. With the Visigoth law codes, women could inherit land and title and manage it independently from their husbands or male relations, dispose of their property in legal wills if they had no heirs, and could represent themselves and bear witness in court by age 14 and arrange for their own marriages by age 20. Chindaswinth (642–653) strengthened the monarchy at the expense of the nobility; he executed some 700 nobles, forced dignitaries to swear oaths, and in the seventh council of Toledo laid down his right to excommunicate clergy who acted against the government. He was also able to maneuver his son Recceswinth on the throne, sparking a rebellion by a Gothic noble who allied with the Basques, but was put down. Recceswinth (653–672) held another council of Toledo, which reduced sentences for treason and affirmed the power of the councils to elect kings.^[24]

Following Recceswinth, King

Hilderic of Nimes, and because of this, he felt a need to reform the army. He passed a law declaring all dukes, counts and other military leaders, as well as bishops, had to come to the aid of the kingdom once danger became known or risk harsh punishment. Wamba was eventually deposed in a bloodless coup. King Ervig (680–687) held further church councils and repealed the previous harsh laws of Wamba, though he still made provisions for the army. Ervig had his son-in-law Egica made king. Despite a rebellion by the bishop of Toledo, the 16th council, held in 693, denounced the bishop's revolt. The 17th council in 694 passed harsh laws against the Jews, citing a conspiracy, and many were enslaved, especially those who had converted from Christianity. Egica also raised his son Wittiza as coruler in 698. Not much is known about his reign, but a period of civil war quickly ensued between his sons (Achila and Ardo) and King Roderic, who had seized Toledo.^[25]

Muslim conquest

Qusayr Amra

, depicting king Roderic

In 711, Tariq ibn Ziyad, a Muslim

Caliph, Musa left his son Abd al-‘Aziz in command. By 716, most of the Iberian Peninsula was under Islamic rule, with Septimania taken between 721 and 725. The only effective resistance was in Asturias, where a Visigothic nobleman named Pelagius revolted in 718, and defeated the Muslims at the battle of Covadonga; this was the beginning of the Reconquista.^{[citation needed}

]

According to Joseph F. O'Callaghan, the remnants of the Hispano-Gothic aristocracy still played an important role in the society of Hispania. At the end of Visigothic rule, the assimilation of Hispano-Romans and Visigoths was occurring at a fast pace. Their nobility had begun to think of themselves as constituting one people, the gens Gothorum or the Hispani. An unknown number of them fled and took refuge in Asturias or Septimania. In Asturias they supported Pelagius's uprising, and joining with the indigenous leaders, formed a new aristocracy. The population of the mountain region consisted of native Astures, Galicians, Cantabri, Basques and other groups unassimilated into Hispano-Gothic society.^[26]

Resistance also continued in the regions around the

Berbers settled in the south and the Meseta Central in Castile. Initially, the Muslims generally left the Christians alone to practise their religion, although non-Muslims were subject to Islamic law and treated as second-class citizens.^[27]^[28]

Settlements

Visigothic settlements were concentrated along the Garonne River between Bordeaux and Toulouse in Aquitaine during the 5th century, according to contemporary sources under the terms of the late Roman Empire as foederatii, or allies, and assigned billeting obligations to provide lodging for Roman soldiers, more or less as the imperial military had done in other provinces.

Later in the century, following annexations made by King

Oporto and Astorga former strongholds of the Suebi. Little Visigothic settlement occurred elsewhere in the kingdom.^[29]

Founding of cities

The Visigoths founded the only new cities in Western Europe between the fifth and eighth centuries. It is certain (through contemporary Spanish accounts) that they founded four, and a possible fifth city is ascribed to them by a later Arabic source. All of these cities were founded for military purposes and three of them in celebration of victory.

Reccared to Chalcedonian Christianity, painted by Muñoz Degrain

. Senate Palace Spain.

The first,

Arab

conquest).

At a slightly later date, Liuvigild founded a city he named Victoriacum after his victory over the Basques.

Vitoria, contemporary 12th-century sources refer to the latter city's foundation by Sancho VI of Navarre

.

Liuvigild's son and namesake of the first Visigothic city founded his own sometime around 600. It is referred to by Isidore of Seville as Lugo id est Luceo in the Asturias, built after a victory over the Asturians or Cantabri.^[30]

The fourth and possibly final city of the Goths was Ologicus (perhaps Ologitis), founded using Basque labour in 621 by Swinthila as a fortification against the recently subjected Basques. It is to be identified with modern Olite.^[30]

The possible fifth Visigothic foundation is Baiyara (perhaps modern Montoro), mentioned as founded by Reccared in the Geography of Kitab al-Rawd al-Mitar.^[31]

Culture and classical heritage

The Visigothic rule has often been attributed to be a part of the so-called Dark Ages, a time of cultural and scientific decay reversed only by Muslim Andalusia. Through the course of their existence the Visigoths supposedly remained "men of the woods never strayed too far from there," as Thomas F. Glick puts it.^[32]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Visigothic_Kingdom&oldid=1217856335"

[1] Following the death of Amalaric (531). See: Barnish, S. J. B.; Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Stress (2007). The Ostrogoths from the migration period to the sixth century: an ethnographic perspective. Boydell & Brewer. p. 369.

[2] Capital of the Visigothic kingdom by the end of the reign of Athanagild (died 567). Collins, Roger (2004). Visigothic Spain, 409–711. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 44.

[Taagepera126-3] 
JSTOR 1170959
.

[4] ISBN 9781448113224
.

[5] ISBN 8432134694
.

[6] ISBN 9780631165361
.

[7] ISBN 9780198217312
.

[8] ISBN 90-04-10846-7
: dress and funerary customs cease to be distinguishing features in AD 570/580

[Cambridge_Ancient_v._14-9] Cameron, Ward; Perkins and Whitby. The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. XIV. Late Antiquity: Empire and Successors, A.D. 425–600. p. 48.

[FOOTNOTETucker2010365-10] Tucker 2010, p. 365.

[FOOTNOTEBarrett20181475-11] Barrett 2018, p. 1475.

[12] Cambridge Ancient vol. 14, p. 113.

[FOOTNOTEFouracre2005165-13] Fouracre 2005, p. 165.

[14] Cambridge Ancient vol. 14, p. 24.

[FOOTNOTEFouracre2005167–171-15] Fouracre 2005, pp. 167–171.

[16] Cambridge Ancient vol. 14, pp. 113–114.

[17] Previté-Orton, Charles William (1979). The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History. Cambridge University Press. p. 145.

[FOOTNOTEFouracre2005183–209-18] Fouracre 2005, pp. 183–209.

[19] Cambridge Ancient vol. 14, pp. 122–124.

[FOOTNOTEFouracre2005346–350-20] Fouracre 2005, pp. 346–350.

[FOOTNOTEFouracre2005350–353-21] Fouracre 2005, pp. 350–353.

[22] JSTOR 41166876
.

[23] ISBN 9780801492648
.

[FOOTNOTEFouracre2005356–360-24] Fouracre 2005, pp. 356–360.

[FOOTNOTEFouracre2005360–369-25] Fouracre 2005, pp. 360–369.

[O'Callaghan2013-26] ISBN 978-0-8014-6872-8
.

[FOOTNOTEFouracre2005369–370-27] Fouracre 2005, pp. 369–370.

[28] The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. II: c. 700 – c. 900. pp. 256–258, 275–276.

[29] ISBN 978-0-7614-7883-6
.

[Thompson-30] Thompson, "The Barbarian Kingdoms in Gaul and Spain".

[31] Lacarra, "Panorama de la historia urbana en la Península Ibérica desde el siglo V al X", La città nell'alto medioevo, 6 (1958:319–358), in Estudios de alta edad media española, p. 48.

[FOOTNOTEFernández-Morera201657–59-32] Fernández-Morera 2016, pp. 57–59.

[FOOTNOTEFernández-Morera2016238-33] Fernández-Morera 2016, p. 238.

[FOOTNOTEFernández-Morera201668–70-34] Fernández-Morera 2016, pp. 68–70.

[FOOTNOTEFernández-Morera201660–64-35] Fernández-Morera 2016, pp. 60–64.

[FOOTNOTEFernández-Morera201641,_note_94-36] Fernández-Morera 2016, p. 41, note 94.

[FOOTNOTEKampers2008321-37] Kampers 2008, p. 321.

[FOOTNOTEFernández-Morera201668–69-38] Fernández-Morera 2016, pp. 68–69.

[FOOTNOTEFernández-Morera201670-39] Fernández-Morera 2016, p. 70.

[FOOTNOTEKampers2008322-40] Kampers 2008, p. 322.

[FOOTNOTEFear1997XXII-XXIII-41] Fear 1997, XXII-XXIII.

[ECDS-42] OCLC 435767433
. EDCS-28300234. Retrieved September 26, 2020. (Click on search link and enter above EDCS-ID.)

[JE1906-43] OCLC 61956716
.

[noms-44] OCLC 1193020908. Archived from the original on May 29, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2020. Mais la date du décès est calculée en fonction du calendrier local, ici celui du règne du roi Egica
, et non en fonction du calendrier juif comme au bas Moyen Âge.

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Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	France BnF data Germany

Visigothic Kingdom

History

Federate kingdom

Kingdom of Toulouse

Arian Kingdom of Hispania

Catholic Kingdom of Toledo

Muslim conquest

Settlements

Founding of cities

Culture and classical heritage

List of kings

Terving kings

Balti dynasty

Post-Balti kings

Family tree

See also

Notes

Sources

Part of a series on the
History of Spain

Prehistory Prehistoric Iberia
Early history Pre-Roman peoples Carthaginian Spain (575–206 BCE)
Roman Hispania Roman Conquest (206–27 BCE) Hispania (218 BCE–472 CE) Romanization Diocese of Hispania
Early Middle Ages Kingdom of the Suebi (409–585) Kingdom of the Visigoths (418–721) Byzantine Spania (552–624)
Middle Ages Muslim conquest (711–716) Al-Andalus (711–1492) Reconquista (711–1492) Christian kingdoms (718–1479)
Early modern period Catholic Monarchs (1479–1516) Granada War (1482–1492) Colonisation of the Americas (1492–1898) Habsburgs (1516–1700) Golden Age (1556–1659) Iberian Union (1580–1640) Bourbons (1700–1808) War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) Nueva Planta Decrees (1707–1716)
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