The
Visigoths were one of two main branches of the
GothsThe Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
during the
Migration PeriodThe Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...
. Initially emerging as a distinct people in the 4th century in the
BalkansThe Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, the Visigoths defeated the Romans at the
Battle of AdrianopleThe Battle of Adrianople , sometimes known as the Battle of Hadrianopolis, was fought between a Roman army led by the Roman Emperor Valens and Gothic rebels led by Fritigern...
in 388, and under
Alaric IAlaric I was the King of the Visigoths from 395–410. Alaric is most famous for his sack of Rome in 410, which marked a decisive event in the decline of the Roman Empire....
eventually moved into Italy and famously
sacked Rome in 410The Sack of Rome occurred on August 24, 410. The city was attacked by the Visigoths, led by Alaric I. At that time, Rome was no longer the capital of the Western Roman Empire, replaced in this position initially by Mediolanum and then later Ravenna. Nevertheless, the city of Rome retained a...
.
Settling in southern
GaulGaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
as
foederatiFoederatus is a Latin term whose definition and usage drifted in the time between the early Roman Republic and the end of the Western Roman Empire...
of the Romans, the Visigoths, for unkown reasons, soon fell out with their hosts and established their
own kingdomThe Visigothic Kingdom was a kingdom which occupied southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to 8th century AD. 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...
with its
capitalCapital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
at
ToulouseToulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
. Extending their authority into
HispaniaAnother theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
at the expense of the
VandalsThe Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
, their rule in Gaul was ended by the
FranksThe Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
under
Clovis IClovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...
at the
Battle of VouilléThe Battle of Vouillé or Vouglé was fought in the northern marches of Visigothic territory, at Vouillé, Vienne near Poitiers , in the spring of 507 between the Franks commanded by Clovis and the Visigoths of Alaric II, the conqueror of Spain.Clovis and Anastasius I of the Byzantine Empire agreed...
in 507. Thereafter the only territory north of the
PyreneesThe Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
that the Visigoths held was
SeptimaniaSeptimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed under the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theodoric II. Under the Visigoths it was known as simply Gallia or Narbonensis. It corresponded roughly with the modern...
, such that their kingdom became limited to
HispaniaAnother theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
. The province came to be dominated by the Visigothic small governing elite at the expense of the
ByzantineThe Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
province of
SpaniaSpania was a province of the Roman Empire from 552 until 624 in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. It was a part of the conquests of Roman Emperor Justinian I in an effort to restore the western half of the Empire....
and the
Suebic Kingdom of GaliciaThe Suebic Kingdom of Galicia was the first independent barbarian Christian kingdom of Western Europe and the first to separate from the Roman Empire, as well as the first one to mint coins. Based in Gallaecia, it was established in 410 and lasted as independent state until 584, after a century of...
.
In or around 589, the Visigoths, under Reccared I, converted from
ArianismArianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
to the
Nicene faithThe Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325.The Nicene Creed has been normative to the...
, gradually adapteding the culture of their Hispano-Roman subjects.
Liber Iudiciorum (completed in 654) abolished the old tradition of having different laws for Romans and for Visigoths, so that legal distinctions were no longer made between
Romani and
Gothi, coalescing them into
Hispani. The century that followed was dominated by the
Councils of ToledoCouncils of Toledo . From the 5th century to the 7th century, about thirty synods, variously counted, were held at Toledo in what would come to be part of Spain. The earliest, directed against Priscillianism, assembled in 400. The "third" synod of 589 marked the epoch-making conversion of King...
and the episcopacy. Historical sources for the 7th century are relatively sparse. In 711 or 712 the Visigoths, including
their kingRuderic was the Visigothic King of Hispania for a brief period between 710 and 712. He is famous in legend as "the last king of the Goths"...
and many of their leading men, were killed in the
Battle of GuadaleteThe Battle of Guadalete was fought in 711 or 712 at an unidentified location between the Christian Visigoths of Hispania under their king, Roderic, and an invading force of Muslim Arabs and Berbers under Ṭāriq ibn Ziyad. The battle was significant as the culmination of a series of Arab-Berber...
by a force of
invading Arabs and BerbersThe Umayyad conquest of Hispania is the initial Islamic Ummayad Caliphate's conquest, between 711 and 718, of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, centered in the Iberian Peninsula, which was known to them under the Arabic name al-Andalus....
. The kingdom quickly collapsed in the aftermath. Gothic identity survived the fall of the kingdom, however, especially in
Marca HispanicaThe Marca Hispanica , also known as Spanish March or March of Barcelona was a buffer zone beyond the province of Septimania, created by Charlemagne in 795 as a defensive barrier between the Umayyad Moors of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Kingdom....
and the
Kingdom of AsturiasThe Kingdom of Asturias was a Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula founded in 718 by Visigothic nobles under the leadership of Pelagius of Asturias. It was the first Christian political entity established following the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom after Islamic conquest of Hispania...
, which was founded by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius after his victory over the
MoorsThe description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
at the
Battle of CovadongaThe Battle of Covadonga was the first major victory by a Christian military force in Iberia following the Muslim Moors' conquest of that region in 711...
.
In
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, the Visigoths built several churches and left an increasing number of archaeological finds, but most notably a large number of
SpanishSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
,
PortuguesePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
given names and surnames. The Visigoths were the only people to found new cities in western Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire and before the rise of the Carolingians. Until the
Late Middle AgesThe Late Middle Ages was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th to the 16th century . The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern era ....
, the greatest Visigothic legacy, which is no longer in use, was their law code, the
Liber iudiciorum, which formed most notably the basis for court procedure in most of Christian
IberiaThe Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
for centuries after their kingdom's demise.
Division of the Goths: Tervingi and Vesi
The division of the Goths is first attested in 291. The first record of the Tervingi is from around that same date; the
GreuthungiThe Greuthungs, Greuthungi, or Greutungi were a Gothic people of the Black Sea steppes in the third and fourth centuries. They had close contacts with the Thervingi, another Gothic people from west of the river Dnestr. They may be the same people as the later Ostrogoths.-Etymology:"Greuthungi" may...
, Ostrogothi, and Vesi are all noted no earlier than 388. The first mention of the Tervingi occurs in a
eulogyA eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
of the emperor
MaximianMaximian was Roman Emperor from 286 to 305. He was Caesar from 285 to 286, then Augustus from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his co-emperor and superior, Diocletian, whose political brain complemented Maximian's military brawn. Maximian established his residence at Trier but spent...
(285–305), delivered in or shortly after 291 (perhaps at
TrierTrier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
on 20 April 292) and traditionally ascribed to
Claudius MamertinusClaudius Mamertinus was an official in the Roman Empire. In late 361 he took part in the Chalcedon tribunal to condemn the ministers of Constantius II, and in 362, he was made consul as a reward by the new Emperor Julian; on January 1 of that year he delivered a panegyric in Constantinople by way...
, which says that the "Tervingi, another division of the Goths" (
Tervingi pars alia Gothorum) joined with the Taifali to attack the
VandalsThe Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
and Gepidae. The term "Vandals" may have been erroneous for "
VictohaliThe Victohali, Victovali, Victufali, Victuali, or Victabali were a people group of Late Antiquity. In Greek their name is Biktoa or Biktoloi. They crossed the Danube with the Marcomanni and Quadi during the reign of Marcus Aurelius . According to Julius Capitolinus in his chapters of the Historia...
", for around 360 the historian Eutropius reports that
DaciaIn ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range...
was currently (
nunc) inhabited by Taifali, Victohali, and Tervingi.
According to the interpretation of
Herwig WolframHerwig Wolfram is an Austrian historian. Professor emeritus at the University of Vienna, from 1983 until 2002 he was Director of the Austrian Institute for Historical Research ....
, the
Notitia Dignitatum equates the Vesi with the Tervingi in a reference to the years 388–391. The Greuthungi are first named by
Ammianus MarcellinusAmmianus Marcellinus was a fourth-century Roman historian. He wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Antiquity...
, writing no earlier than 392 and perhaps later than 395, and basing his account of the words of a Tervingian chieftain who is attested as early as 376. The Ostrogoths are first named in a document dated September 392 from
MilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
.
ClaudianClaudian was a Roman poet, who worked for Emperor Honorius and the latter's general Stilicho.A Greek-speaking citizen of Alexandria and probably not a Christian convert, Claudian arrived in Rome before 395. He made his mark with a eulogy of his two young patrons, Probinus and Olybrius, thereby...
mentions that they, together with the
Gruthungi, inhabit
PhrygiaIn antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
. According to Wolfram, the primary sources either use the terminology of Tervingi/Greuthungi or Vesi/Ostrogothi and never mix the pairs. All four names were used together on occasion, but the pairing was always preserved, as in
Gruthungi, Austrogothi, Tervingi, Visi. That the Tervingi were the same people as the Vesi/Visigothi and the Greuthungi as the Ostrogothi is also supported by
JordanesJordanes, also written Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life....
. He identified the Visigothic kings from
Alaric IAlaric I was the King of the Visigoths from 395–410. Alaric is most famous for his sack of Rome in 410, which marked a decisive event in the decline of the Roman Empire....
to
Alaric IIAlaric II, also known as Alarik, Alarich, and Alarico in Spanish and Portuguese or Alaricus in Latin succeeded his father Euric on December 28, 484, in Toulouse. He established his capital at Aire-sur-l'Adour in Aquitaine...
as the heirs of the 4th-century Tervingian king
AthanaricAthanaric was king of several branches of the Thervingian Goths for at least two decades in the fourth century. His name, Athanareiks, means "Year King" or "King for the Year" comes from the Gothic word Athni meaning "year" and the Gothic Reiks meaning "king."A probable rival of Fritigern, another...
and the Ostrogothic kings from
Theodoric the GreatTheodoric the Great was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , regent of the Visigoths , and a viceroy of the Eastern Roman Empire...
to
TheodahadTheodahad was the King of the Ostrogoths from 534 to 536 and a nephew of Theodoric the Great through his sister Amalafrida. He might have arrived in Italy with Theodoric and was an elderly man at the time of his succession...
as the heirs of the Greuthungian king
ErmanaricErmanaric was a Greuthungian Gothic King who before the Hunnic invasion evidently ruled an enormous area north of the Black Sea. Contemporary historian Ammianus Marcellinus recounts him as a "most warlike man" who "ruled over extensively wide and fertile regions"...
. This interpretation, the most common among scholars today, is not universal.
Herwig Wolfram concludes that the terms Tervingi and Greuthungi were geographical identifiers used by each tribe to describe the other. This terminology therefore dropped out of use after the Goths were displaced by the
Hunnic invasionsThe Hunnic Empire was an empire established by the Huns. The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes from the steppes of Central Asia. Appearing from beyond the Volga River some years after the middle of the 4th century, they first overran the Alani, who occupied the plains between the Volga...
. In support of this, Wolfram cites
ZosimusZosimus was a Byzantine historian, who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I . According to Photius, he was a comes, and held the office of "advocate" of the imperial treasury.- Historia Nova :...
as referring to a group of "Scythians" north of the
DanubeThe Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
who were called "Greutungi" by the barbarians north of the Ister. Wolfram concludes that this people were those Tervingi who had remained behind after the Hunnic conquest. On the other hand, he argues, the terms "Vesi" and "Ostrogothi" were used by the peoples to boastfully describe themselves.
The nomenclature of Greuthungi/Tervingi fell out of use shortly after 400. In general, the terminology of a divided Gothic people disappeared gradually after they entered the Roman Empire. The last indication that the Goths whose king reigned at Toulouse considered themselves Vesi is found in a
panegyricA panegyric is a formal public speech, or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical. It is derived from the Greek πανηγυρικός meaning "a speech fit for a general assembly"...
on
AvitusEparchius Avitus was Western Roman Emperor from July 8 or July 9, 455 to October 17, 456. A Gallic-Roman aristocrat, he was a senator and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza.A representative of the Gallic-Roman aristocracy, he...
by
Sidonius ApollinarisGaius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius or Saint Sidonius Apollinaris was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius is "the single most important surviving author from fifth-century Gaul" according to Eric Goldberg...
dated 1 January 456. The term "Visigoth", however, was an invention of the 6th century. Most recent scholars (notably
Peter HeatherPeter Heather is a historian of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, currently Professor of Medieval History at King's College London. He has held appointments at University College London and Yale University and was Fellow and Tutor in Medieval History at Worcester College, Oxford until...
) argue that Visigothic group identity emerged only within the Roman Empire.
Roger CollinsRoger J. H. Collins is an English medievalist, currently an honorary fellow in history at the University of Edinburgh.Collins studied at the University of Oxford under Peter Brown and John Michael Wallace-Hadrill. He then taught ancient and medieval history at the universities of Liverpool and...
believes the Visigoths were a creation of the Gothic War of 376–382 and began as a collection of
foederatiFoederatus is a Latin term whose definition and usage drifted in the time between the early Roman Republic and the end of the Western Roman Empire...
(Wolfram's "federate armies") under Alaric I in the eastern
BalkansThe Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, composed of largely Tervingi with Greuthungian and other barbarian contingents. They were thus multiethnic and cannot lay claim to an exclusively Tervingian heritage. Collins points out that no contemporaries directly link the Tervingi and Vesi.
CassiodorusFlavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator , commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman statesman and writer, serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Senator was part of his surname, not his rank.- Life :Cassiodorus was born at Scylletium, near Catanzaro in...
, a Roman in the service of Theodoric the Great, invented the term "Visigothi" to match that of "Ostrogothi", which terms he thought of as signifying "western Goths" and "eastern Goths" respectively. The western–eastern division was a simplification (and a literary device) of 6th-century historians. Political realities were more complex. Further, Cassiodorus used the term "Goths" to refer only to the Ostrogoths, whom he served, and reserved the geographical term "Visigoths" for the Gallo-Spanish Goths. This usage, however, was adopted by the Visigoths themselves in their communications with the
Byzantine EmpireThe Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
and was in use in the 7th century.
Other names for other Gothic divisions abounded. A "Germanic" Byzantine or Italian author referred to one of the two peoples as the
Valagothi, meaning "Roman Goths", and in 469 the Visigoths were called the "Alaric Goths".
Etymology of Tervingi and Vesi/Visigothi
The name
Tervingi may mean "forest people". This is supported by evidence that geographic descriptors were commonly used to distinguish people living north of the
Black SeaThe Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
both before and after Gothic settlement there, by evidence of forest-related names among the Tervingi, and by the lack of evidence for an earlier date for the name pair Tervingi–Greuthungi than the late 3rd century. That the name
Tervingi has pre-Pontic, possibly Scandinavian, origins still has support today.
The Visigoths are called
Wesi or
Wisi by Trebellius Pollio, Claudian, and Sidonius Apollinaris. The word is
GothicGothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable Text corpus...
for "good", implying the "good or worthy people", related to Gothic
iusiza "better" and a reflex of Indo-European *
wesu "good", akin to
WelshWelsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
gwiw "excellent", Greek
eus "good",
SanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
vásu-ş "id.". Jordanes relates the tribe's name to a river, though this is most likely a folk etymology or legend like his similar story about the Greuthung name. The name
Visigothi is an invention of
CassiodorusFlavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator , commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman statesman and writer, serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Senator was part of his surname, not his rank.- Life :Cassiodorus was born at Scylletium, near Catanzaro in...
, who combined
Visi and
Gothi under the misapprehension that it meant "west Goths".
History
War with Rome (376–382)
The Goths remained in Dacia until 376, when one of their leaders,
FritigernFritigern or Fritigernus was a Tervingian Gothic chieftain whose decisive victory at Adrinaople the Gothic War extracted favourable terms for the Goths when peace was made with Gratian in 382.-War against Athanaric:...
, appealed to the Roman emperor
ValensValens was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 364 to 378. He was given the eastern half of the empire by his brother Valentinian I after the latter's accession to the throne...
to be allowed to settle with his people on the south bank of the Danube. Here, they hoped to find refuge from the
HunsThe Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
. Valens permitted this, as he saw in them "a splendid recruiting ground for his army." However, a
famineA famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
broke out and Rome was unwilling to supply them with either the food they were promised or the land; open revolt ensued leading to 6 years of plundering and destruction throughout the Balkans, the death of a Roman Emperor and the destruction of an entire Roman army.
The Battle of Adrianople in 378 was the decisive moment of the war. The Roman forces were slaughtered and the Emperor
ValensValens was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 364 to 378. He was given the eastern half of the empire by his brother Valentinian I after the latter's accession to the throne...
was killed during the fighting. Adrianople shocked the Roman world and eventually forced the Romans to negotiate with and settle the barbarians within the empire's boundaries, a development with far reaching consequences for the eventual fall of Rome.
Reign of Alaric I
The new emperor,
Theodosius ITheodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...
, made peace with the rebels, and this peace held essentially unbroken until Theodosius died in 395. In that year, the Visigoths' most famous king,
Alaric IAlaric I was the King of the Visigoths from 395–410. Alaric is most famous for his sack of Rome in 410, which marked a decisive event in the decline of the Roman Empire....
, took the throne, while Theodosius was succeeded by his incapable sons:
ArcadiusArcadius was the Byzantine Emperor from 395 to his death. He was the eldest son of Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of the Western Emperor Honorius...
in the east and Honorius in the west.
Over the next 15 years, an uneasy peace was broken by occasional conflicts between Alaric and the powerful Germanic generals who commanded the Roman armies in the east and west, wielding the real power of the empire. Finally, after the western general
StilichoFlavius Stilicho was a high-ranking general , Patrician and Consul of the Western Roman Empire, notably of Vandal birth. Despised by the Roman population for his Germanic ancestry and Arian beliefs, Stilicho was in 408 executed along with his wife and son...
was executed by Honorius in 408 and the Roman legions massacred the families of 30,000 barbarian soldiers serving in the Roman army, Alaric declared war. After two defeats in Northern Italy and a siege of Rome ended by a negotiated pay-off, Alaric was cheated by another Roman faction. He resolved to cut the city off by capturing its port. On August 24, 410, however, Alaric's troops entered Rome through the Salarian Gate, to plunder its riches in the
sack of RomeThe Sack of Rome occurred on August 24, 410. The city was attacked by the Visigoths, led by Alaric I. At that time, Rome was no longer the capital of the Western Roman Empire, replaced in this position initially by Mediolanum and then later Ravenna. Nevertheless, the city of Rome retained a...
. While Rome was no longer the official capital of the Western Roman Empire (it had been moved to
RavennaRavenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
for strategic reasons), its fall severely shook the empire's foundations.
Visigothic kingdom
The Visigothic Kingdom was a Western European power in the 5th to 7th centuries, created in Gaul when the Romans lost their control of their empire. In response to the invasion of
Roman HispaniaAnother theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
of 409 by the
VandalsThe Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
,
AlansThe Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
and Suevi,
HonoriusHonorius , was Western Roman Emperor from 395 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of the eastern emperor Arcadius....
, the emperor in the West, enlisted the aid of the Visigoths to regain control of the territory. In 418, Honorius rewarded his Visigothic
federatesFoederatus is a Latin term whose definition and usage drifted in the time between the early Roman Republic and the end of the Western Roman Empire...
by giving them land in
Gallia AquitaniaGallia Aquitania was a province of the Roman Empire, bordered by the provinces of Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallia Narbonensis, and Hispania Tarraconensis...
on which to settle. This was probably done under
hospitalitas, the rules for billeting army soldiers. The settlement formed the nucleus of the future Visigothic kingdom that would eventually expand across the
PyreneesThe Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
and onto the Iberian peninsula.
The Visigoths' second great king,
EuricEuric, also known as Evaric, Erwig, or Eurico in Spanish and Portuguese , Son of Theodoric I and the younger brother of Theodoric II and ruled as king of the Visigoths, with his capital at Toulouse, from 466 until his death in 484.He inherited a large portion of the Visigothic possessions in the...
, unified the various quarreling factions among the Visigoths and, in 475, forced the Roman government to grant them full independence. At his death, the Visigoths were the most powerful of the successor states to the Western Roman Empire.
The Visigoths also became the dominant power in the
Iberian PeninsulaThe Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, quickly crushing the
AlansThe Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
and forcing the
VandalsThe Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
into
north AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
. By 500, the Visigothic Kingdom, centred at
ToulouseToulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, controlled Aquitania and
Gallia NarbonensisGallia Narbonensis was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in southern France. It was also known as Gallia Transalpina , which was originally a designation for that part of Gaul lying across the Alps from Italia and it contained a western region known as Septimania...
and most of Hispania with the exception of the
Suevic kingdomThe Suebic Kingdom of Galicia was the first independent barbarian Christian kingdom of Western Europe and the first to separate from the Roman Empire, as well as the first one to mint coins. Based in Gallaecia, it was established in 410 and lasted as independent state until 584, after a century of...
in the northwest and small areas controlled by the
BasquesThe Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...
and
CantabriThe Cantabri were a pre-Roman Celtic people which lived in the northern Atlantic coastal region of ancient Hispania, from the 4th to late 1st centuries BC.-Origins:...
ans. However, in 507, the Franks under Clovis I defeated the Visigoths in the
VouilléThe Battle of Vouillé or Vouglé was fought in the northern marches of Visigothic territory, at Vouillé, Vienne near Poitiers , in the spring of 507 between the Franks commanded by Clovis and the Visigoths of Alaric II, the conqueror of Spain.Clovis and Anastasius I of the Byzantine Empire agreed...
and wrested control of Aquitaine. King
Alaric IIAlaric II, also known as Alarik, Alarich, and Alarico in Spanish and Portuguese or Alaricus in Latin succeeded his father Euric on December 28, 484, in Toulouse. He established his capital at Aire-sur-l'Adour in Aquitaine...
was killed in battle.
After Alaric's death, Visigothic nobles spirited his heir, the child-king
AmalaricAmalaric, or in Spanish and Portuguese, Amalarico, was king of the Visigoths from 526 until his assassination in 531. He was a son of king Alaric II and his first wife Theodegotho, daughter of Theodoric the Great....
, first to
NarbonneNarbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
, which was the last Gothic outpost in Gaul, and further across the Pyrenees into Hispania. The center of Visigothic rule shifted first to
BarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, then inland and south to
ToledoToledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
. From 511 to 526, the Visigoths were ruled by
Theodoric the GreatTheodoric the Great was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , regent of the Visigoths , and a viceroy of the Eastern Roman Empire...
of the Ostrogoths as
de jure regent for the young Amalaric.
In 554, Granada and southernmost
Hispania BaeticaHispania Baetica was one of three Imperial Roman provinces in Hispania, . Hispania Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis. Baetica was part of Al-Andalus under the Moors in the 8th century and approximately corresponds to modern Andalucia...
were lost to representatives of the
Byzantine EmpireThe Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
(to form the province of
SpaniaSpania was a province of the Roman Empire from 552 until 624 in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. It was a part of the conquests of Roman Emperor Justinian I in an effort to restore the western half of the Empire....
) who had been invited in to help settle a Visigothic dynastic struggle, but who stayed on, as a hoped-for spearhead to a "Reconquest" of the far west envisaged by emperor
Justinian IJustinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
.
The last Arian Visigothic king,
LiuvigildLiuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or Leogild was a Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania from 569 to April 21, 586. From 585 he was also king of Galicia. Known for his Codex Revisus or Code of Leovigild, a unifying law allowing equal rights between the Visigothic and Hispano-Roman population,...
, conquered the Suevic kingdom in 585 and most of the northern regions (Cantabria) in 574 and regained part of the southern areas lost to the
ByzantinesThe Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
, which King
SuintilaSuintila was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia from 621 to 631. There was a new peace in the Kingdom of the Visigoths. As a direct result, by 624 the king was able to retake those lands that had been under the control of Byzantium...
reconquered completely in 624. The kingdom survived until 711, when King
RodericRuderic was the Visigothic King of Hispania for a brief period between 710 and 712. He is famous in legend as "the last king of the Goths"...
(Rodrigo) was killed while opposing an invasion from the south by the
UmayyadThe Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
Muslims in the
Battle of GuadaleteThe Battle of Guadalete was fought in 711 or 712 at an unidentified location between the Christian Visigoths of Hispania under their king, Roderic, and an invading force of Muslim Arabs and Berbers under Ṭāriq ibn Ziyad. The battle was significant as the culmination of a series of Arab-Berber...
on July 19. This marked the beginning of the
Muslim conquest of HispaniaThe Umayyad conquest of Hispania is the initial Islamic Ummayad Caliphate's conquest, between 711 and 718, of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, centered in the Iberian Peninsula, which was known to them under the Arabic name al-Andalus....
in which most of the peninsula came under
IslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic rule by 718.
A Visigothic nobleman, Pelayo, is credited with beginning the Christian
ReconquistaThe Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
of Iberia in 718, when he defeated the
UmayyadThe Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
s in
battleThe Battle of Covadonga was the first major victory by a Christian military force in Iberia following the Muslim Moors' conquest of that region in 711...
and established the
Kingdom of AsturiasThe Kingdom of Asturias was a Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula founded in 718 by Visigothic nobles under the leadership of Pelagius of Asturias. It was the first Christian political entity established following the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom after Islamic conquest of Hispania...
in the northern part of the peninsula. Other Visigoths, refusing to adopt the Muslim faith or live under their rule, fled north to the kingdom of the
FranksThe Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
, and Visigoths played key roles in the empire of
CharlemagneCharlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
a few generations later.
During their long reign in Spain, the Visigoths were responsible for the only new cities founded in Western Europe between the 5th and 8th centuries. It is certain (through contemporary Spanish accounts) that they founded four:
ReccopolisReccopolis near the tiny modern village of Zorita de los Canes in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain, is one of at least four cities founded in Hispania by the Visigoths, the only new cities in Western Europe known to be founded between the fifth and eighth centuries...
, Victoriacum, Luceo, and Olite. There is also a possible fifth city ascribed to them by a later Arabic source:
Baiyara (perhaps modern
MontoroMontoro is a city and municipality in the Córdoba Province of southern Spain, in the north-central part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located about east-northeast of the capital of the province, Córdoba...
). All of these cities were founded for military purposes and three of them in celebration of victory.
Culture
Law
The
Visigothic Code of LawThe Visigothic Code comprises a set of laws promulgated by the Visigothic king of Hispania, Chindasuinth in his second year...
(
forum judicum), which had been part of
aristocraticAristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
oral tradition, was set in writing in the early 7th century— and survives in two separate
codicesA codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
preserved at the Escorial. It goes into more detail than a modern constitution commonly does and reveals a great deal about Visigothic social structure.
One of the greatest contributions of the Visigoths to
family lawFamily law is an area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including:*the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships;...
was their protection of the property rights of married women, which was continued by
Spanish lawThe Law of Spain is the term used to describe the legislation which is in force in the Kingdom of Spain, which is understood to mean Spanish territory, Spanish waters, consulates and embassies, and ships flying the Spanish flag in international waters. It is also applicable to the Spanish armed...
and ultimately evolved into the
community propertyCommunity property is a marital property regime that originated in civil law jurisdictions and is now also found in some common law jurisdictions...
system now in force in part of the United States.
Religion
There was a religious gulf between the Visigoths, who had for a long time adhered to
ArianismArianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
, and their Catholic subjects in Hispania. The Iberian Visigoths continued to be Arians until 589. For the role of Arianism in Visigothic kingship, see the entry for
LiuvigildLiuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or Leogild was a Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania from 569 to April 21, 586. From 585 he was also king of Galicia. Known for his Codex Revisus or Code of Leovigild, a unifying law allowing equal rights between the Visigothic and Hispano-Roman population,...
.
There were also deep sectarian splits among the Catholic population of the peninsula. The
asceticAsceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals...
Priscillian of Avila was martyred by orthodox Catholic forces in 385, before the Visigothic period, and the persecution continued in subsequent generations as "Priscillianist"
hereticsChristian heresy refers to non-orthodox practices and beliefs that were deemed to be heretical by one or more of the Christian churches. In Western Christianity, the term "heresy" most commonly refers to those beliefs which were declared to be anathema by the Catholic Church prior to the schism of...
were rooted out. At the very beginning of
Leo IPope Leo I was pope from September 29, 440 to his death.He was an Italian aristocrat, and is the first pope of the Catholic Church to have been called "the Great". He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452, persuading him to turn back from his invasion of Italy...
's pontificate, in the years 444–447, Turribius, bishop of Astorga in
LeónLeón is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.About one quarter of its population of 500,200 lives in the capital, León. The weather is cold and dry during the winter....
, sent to Rome a memorandum warning that Priscillianism was by no means dead, reporting that it numbered even bishops among its supporters, and asking the aid of the
Roman SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
. The distance was insurmountable in the 5th century. Nevertheless Leo intervened, by forwarding a set of propositions that each bishop was required to sign: all did. But if Priscillianist bishops hesitated to be barred from their sees, a passionately concerned segment of Christian communities in Iberia were disaffected from the more orthodox hierarchy and welcomed the tolerant Arian Visigoths. The Visigoths scorned to interfere among Catholics but were interested in decorum and public order.
The Arian Visigoths were generally intolerant of
JudaismJudaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
and its adherents, a tradition that lingered in post-Visigothic
SeptimaniaSeptimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed under the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theodoric II. Under the Visigoths it was known as simply Gallia or Narbonensis. It corresponded roughly with the modern...
, exemplified by the career of Ferreol, Bishop of Uzès (died 581). Jewish communities had prospered here under the Roman empire and to some extent under the later Christian Orthodox (
ByzantineThe Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
) rule, but under the Visigoth kings a Roman Catholic church-state policy of systematic anti-Semitism was pursued. A succession of royal ecclesiastical councils at Toledo, brushing aside Orthodox Christian policy, either decreed the forcible baptism of the Jews or forbade circumcision, Jewish rites and observance of the Sabbath and festivals. Throughout the seventh century, Jews were flogged, executed, had their property confiscated, were subjected to ruinous taxes, forbidden to trade and, at times, dragged to the baptismal font. Many were obliged to accept Christianity but continued privately to observe the Jewish laws.
In 589, King
ReccaredReccared I was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia. His reign marked a climactic shift in history, with the king's renunciation of traditional Arianism in favour of Catholic Christianity in 587.Reccared was the younger son of King Liuvigild by his first wife Theodosia...
converted his people to Catholicism. With the Catholicization of the Visigothic kings, the Catholic bishops increased in power, until, at the
Fourth Council of ToledoThe Fourth Council of Toledo occurred in 633. It was held at the church of Saint Leocadia in Toledo.Probably under the presidency of the noted Isidore of Seville, the council regulated many matters of discipline, decreed uniformity of liturgy throughout the Visigothic kingdom and took stringent...
in 633, they took upon themselves the nobles' right to select a king from among the royal family. Visigothic persecution of Jews began after the conversion to Catholicism of the Visigothic king
ReccaredReccared I was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia. His reign marked a climactic shift in history, with the king's renunciation of traditional Arianism in favour of Catholic Christianity in 587.Reccared was the younger son of King Liuvigild by his first wife Theodosia...
. In 633 the same
synodA synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
of Catholic bishops that usurped the Visigothic nobles' right to confirm the election of a king declared that all Jews must be
baptisedIn Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
.
In the eighth through 11th centuries the
muwallad clan of the
Banū QāsīThe Banu Qasi, Banu Kasi, Beni Casi or Banu Musa were a Basque Muladi dynasty that ruled the upper Ebro valley in the 9th century, before being displaced in the first quarter of the 10th century.-Dynastic beginnings:...
claimed descent from the Visigothic
Count CassiusCount Cassius , also Count Casius, kumis Kasi or kumis Qasi, was a Hispano-Roman or Visigothic nobleman that originated the Banu Qasi dynasty....
.
Terving kings
These kings and leaders, with the exception of Fritigern, and the possible exception of Alavivus, were pagans.
- Athanaric
Athanaric was king of several branches of the Thervingian Goths for at least two decades in the fourth century. His name, Athanareiks, means "Year King" or "King for the Year" comes from the Gothic word Athni meaning "year" and the Gothic Reiks meaning "king."A probable rival of Fritigern, another...
(369–381)
- Rothesteus, sub-king
- Winguric, sub-king
- Alavivus (c. 376), rebel against Valens
- Fritigern
Fritigern or Fritigernus was a Tervingian Gothic chieftain whose decisive victory at Adrinaople the Gothic War extracted favourable terms for the Goths when peace was made with Gratian in 382.-War against Athanaric:...
(c. 376–c. 380), rebel against Athanaric and Valens
Balti dynasty
These kings were Arianist (followers of the theological teaching of
AriusArius was a Christian presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt of Libyan origins. His teachings about the nature of the Godhead, which emphasized the Father's divinity over the Son , and his opposition to the Athanasian or Trinitarian Christology, made him a controversial figure in the First Council of...
). They tended to succeed their fathers or close relatives on the throne and thus constitute a dynasty.
- Alaric I
Alaric I was the King of the Visigoths from 395–410. Alaric is most famous for his sack of Rome in 410, which marked a decisive event in the decline of the Roman Empire....
(395–410)
- Athaulf (410–415)
- Sigeric
Sigeric was a Visigoth king for seven days in 415 CE. His predecessor, Ataulf, had been mortally wounded in his stables at the palace of Barcelona by an assassin. The assassin was probably a loyal servant of Sarus, a Gothic noble and personal enemy whom Ataulf had earlier slain...
(415)
- Wallia
Wallia was king of the Visigoths from 415 to 419, earning a reputation as a great warrior and prudent ruler. He was elected to the throne after Athaulf and then Sigeric were assassinated in 415....
(415–419)
- Theodoric I
Theodoric I sometimes called Theodorid and in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian Teodorico, was the King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. An illegitimate son of Alaric, Theodoric is famous for defeating Attila at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, where he was mortally wounded.-Early...
(419–451)
- Thorismund
Thorismund became king of the Visigoths after his father Theodoric was killed in the Battle of Châlons in 451 CE...
(451–453)
- Theodoric II
Theodoric II was King of Visigoths from 453 to 466.Theoderic II, son of Theodoric I, obtained the throne by killing his elder brother Thorismund...
(453–466)
- Euric
Euric, also known as Evaric, Erwig, or Eurico in Spanish and Portuguese , Son of Theodoric I and the younger brother of Theodoric II and ruled as king of the Visigoths, with his capital at Toulouse, from 466 until his death in 484.He inherited a large portion of the Visigothic possessions in the...
(466–484)
- Alaric II
Alaric II, also known as Alarik, Alarich, and Alarico in Spanish and Portuguese or Alaricus in Latin succeeded his father Euric on December 28, 484, in Toulouse. He established his capital at Aire-sur-l'Adour in Aquitaine...
(484–507)
- Gesalec
Gesalic was a king of the Visigoths from 507 to 511, and died in 513. Although the illegitimate son of Alaric II. He had been elected king by the Visigoths after Alaric had been killed in battle by the Franks...
(507–511)
- Theodoric the Great
Theodoric the Great was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , regent of the Visigoths , and a viceroy of the Eastern Roman Empire...
(511–526), regent
- Amalaric
Amalaric, or in Spanish and Portuguese, Amalarico, was king of the Visigoths from 526 until his assassination in 531. He was a son of king Alaric II and his first wife Theodegotho, daughter of Theodoric the Great....
(526–531)
Non-Balti kings
The Visigothic monarchy took on a completely elective character with the fall of the Balti, but the monarchy remained Arian until Reccared converted in 587. Only a few sons succeeded their fathers to the throne in this period.
- Theudis
Theudis was king of the Visigoths in Hispania from 531 to 548. He was the sword-bearer of Theodoric the Great, who sent him to govern the Visigothic kingdom during the minority of Amalaric, the son of king Alaric II and Theodegotho, the daughter of king Theodoric.According to Procopius, during his...
(531–548)
- Theudigisel
Theudigisel was king of the Visigoths in Hispania and Septimania...
(548–549)
- Agila I (549–554)
- Athanagild
Athanagild was Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania. He had rebelled against his predecessor, Agila, in 551. The armies of Agila and Athanagild met at Seville, where Agila met a second defeat...
(554–568)
- Liuva I
Liuva I was a Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania.He was made king at Narbonne following the death of Athanagild in 568. Roger Collins notes this was the first time a Visigothic king is mentioned in the north-eastern region of the realm since 531, when Amalric was murdered...
(568–572), only ruled in Narbonensis from 569
- Liuvigild
Liuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or Leogild was a Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania from 569 to April 21, 586. From 585 he was also king of Galicia. Known for his Codex Revisus or Code of Leovigild, a unifying law allowing equal rights between the Visigothic and Hispano-Roman population,...
(569–586), ruled only south of the Pyrenees until 572
- Hermenegild
Saint Hermenegild or Ermengild , was the son of king Leovigild of Visigothic Spain. He fell out with his father in 579, then revolted the following year. During his rebellion, he converted from Arian Christianity to Roman Catholicism. Hermenegild was defeated in 584, and exiled...
(580–585), sub-king in Baetica
- Reccared I (580–601), son, sub-king in Narbonensis until 586, first Catholic king
- Segga
Segga was a Visigothic usurper who briefly claimed the kingship in 587 before being put down by the legitimate sovereign, Reccared I.Following Reccared's conversion from Arianism to Catholicism, a conspiracy, led by Sunna, the Arian bishop of Mérida, arose to place the Arian Segga on the throne and...
(586–587), rebel
- Argimund (589–590), rebel
- Liuva II
Liuva II, youthful son of Reccared, was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia from 601 to 603. He succeeded Reccared at only eighteen years of age....
(601–603), son
- Witteric
Witteric was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia from 603 to 610....
(603–610)
- Gundemar
Gundemar was a Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia .Gundemar continued a policy of amity with Clotaire II of Neustria and Theodobert II of Austrasia. To this end, he sent grand sums of money to support their cause against their relative Theuderic II of Burgundy...
(610–612)
- Sisebut (612–621)
- Reccared II
Reccared II was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia briefly in 621. His father and predecessor was Sisebut and his mother was his second wife, the bastard daughter of Reccared I by Floresinda...
(621), son
- Suintila
Suintila was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia from 621 to 631. There was a new peace in the Kingdom of the Visigoths. As a direct result, by 624 the king was able to retake those lands that had been under the control of Byzantium...
(621–631)
- Reccimer (626–631), son and associate
- Sisenand
Sisenand, or Sisinand in Spanish, Galician and Portuguese Sisenando , was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia...
(631–636)
- Chintila
Chintila was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia from 636. He succeeded Sisenand in a time of weakness and reigned until his death....
(636–640)
- Tulga
Tulga was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia from 640 to 642, if his father died in December 640, as some sources state. Although some sources have his rule beginning as early as 639 or ending as early as 641...
(640–641)
- Chindasuinth
Chindasuinth was Visigothic King of Spain, from 642 until his death. He succeeded Tulga, from whom he usurped the throne in a coup; he was "officially" elected by the nobles and anointed by the bishops 30 April 642....
(641–653)
- Recceswinth (649–672), son, initially co-king
- Froia
Froia was a Visigothic nobleman, probably a count, who rebelled and tried to seize the kingship in 653, either in the final weeks of the reign of Chindasuinth or in the opening weeks of that of his son, Reccesuinth....
(653), rebel
- Wamba (672–680)
- Hilderic
Hilderic or Hilderuc was count of Nîmes during the reigns of Recceswinth and Wamba. Immediately upon the latter's accession in 672, Hilderic rebelled. Many oppressed Jews joined this rebellion. When Wamba sent the Duke Paul to end the hostilities, the latter became a rebel himself in Septimania...
(672), rebel
- Paul
Paul was a Hispano-Roman duke of Wamba, king of the Visigoths in Hispania .In 672, when sent to crush the rebellion of Hilderic of Nîmes and the Jews in Septimania and Catalonia, he converted to Judaism and proclaimed himself king in Narbonne as Flavius Paulus.Some weeks after ascending the throne...
(672–673), rebel
- Erwig
Erwig was a king of the Visigoths in Hispania . He was the only Visigothic king to be a complete puppet of the bishops and palatine nobility....
(680–687)
- Egica (687–702)
- Wittiza
Wittiza was the Visigothic King of Hispania from 694 until his death, co-ruling with his father, Ergica, until 702 or 703.-Joint rule:...
(694–710), son, initially co-king or sub-king in Gallaecia
- Roderic
Ruderic was the Visigothic King of Hispania for a brief period between 710 and 712. He is famous in legend as "the last king of the Goths"...
(710–711), only in Lusitania and Carthaginiensis
- Agila II
Achila II was the king of Visigothic Hispania from 710 or 711 until his death....
(711–714), only in Tarraconensis and Narbonensis
- Oppas
Oppas or Oppa was a member of the Visigothic elite in the city of Toledo on the eve of the Muslim conquest of Hispania. He was a son of Egica and therefore a brother or half-brother of Wittiza....
(712), perhaps in opposition to Roderic and Agila II
- Ardo
Ardo was "the last of all the Visigothic kings" of Hispania, reigning from 713 or, more probably 714, until his death...
(714–721), only in Narbonensis
Sources
- J. N. Hillgarth, The Visigoths in History and Legend. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2010, ISBN 978-0-88844-166-9
- Amory, Patrick. People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489–554. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0 52152 635 3.
- Bachrach, Bernard S.
Bernard S. Bachrach is an American historian and a professor of history at the University of Minnesota. He specialises in the Early Middle Ages, mainly on the topics of Medieval warfare, Medieval Jewry, and early Angevin history...
"A Reassessment of Visigothic Jewish Policy, 589-711." American Historical Review 78, no. 1 (1973): 11-34.
- Collins, Roger. The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710-797. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1989. Reprinted 1998.
- Collins, Roger. Law, Culture, and Regionalism in Early Medieval Spain. Great Yarmouth: Variorum, 1992. ISBN 0 86078 308 1.
- Collins, Roger. Visigothic Spain, 409–711. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0 631 18185 7.
- Constable, Olivia Remie. "A Muslim-Christian Treaty: The Treaty of Tudmir (713)." In Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, ed. Olivia Remie Constable, 37-38. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.
- Constable, Olivia Remie, and Jeremy duQ. Adams. "Visigothic Legislation Concerning the Jews." In Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, ed. Olivia Remie Constable, 21-23. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.
- Garcia Moreno, Luis A. "Spanish Gothic consciousness among the Mozarabs in al-Andalus (VIII-Xth centuries." In The Visigoths. Studies in Culture and Society, ed. Alberto Ferreiro, 303-323. Leiden-Boston-Köln: Brill, 1999.
- Glick, Thomas F. Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages: Comparative Perspectives on Social and Cultural Formation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979.
- Guizot, François
François Pierre Guillaume Guizot was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848, a conservative liberal who opposed the attempt by King Charles X to usurp legislative power, and worked to sustain a constitutional...
. The History of Civilization: From the Fall of the Roman Empire to the French Revolution. trans. William Hazlitt. 1856.
- Heather, Peter
Peter Heather is a historian of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, currently Professor of Medieval History at King's College London. He has held appointments at University College London and Yale University and was Fellow and Tutor in Medieval History at Worcester College, Oxford until...
. The Goths. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1996.
- Helal Ouriachen, El Housin, 2009, La ciudad bética durante la Antigüedad Tardía. Persistencias y mutaciones locales en relación con la realidad urbana del Mediterraneo y del Atlántico, Tesis doctoral, Universidad de Granada, Granada.
- James, Edward
Edward James is Professor of Medieval History at University College, Dublin. He received a BA 1968; DPhil in 1975. He was a Lecturer, then College Lecturer, at the Department of Medieval History, University College Dublin from 1970-1978...
, ed. Visigothic Spain: New Approaches. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980. ISBN 0 19 822543 1.
- Kennedy, Hugh. Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus. Harlow, Essex: Longman, 1996.
- Lacarra, José María. Estudios de alta edad media española. Valencia: 1975.
- Mathisen, Ralph W. "Barbarian Bishops and the Churches in Barbaricis Gentibus During Late Antiquity." Speculum
Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies is a quarterly academic journal published by the Medieval Academy of America. It was established in 1926. The journal's primary focus is on the time period from 500-1500 in Western Europe, but also on related subjects such as Byzantine, Hebrew, Arabic, and...
, 72, no. 3 (1997): 664-697.
- Mierow, Charles Christopher
Charles Christopher Mierow was an American academic.He had a Princeton Ph.D. in classical languages and literature, and was known as a translator. In years the 1923-1924 and 1925-1934 he was president of Colorado College...
(translator). The Gothic History of Jordanes. In English Version with an Introduction and a Commentary. 1915. Reprinted by Evolution Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1 889758 77 9.
- Nirenberg, David. "The Visigothic Conversion to Catholicism." In Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, ed. Olivia Remie Constable, 12-20. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.
- Rosales, Jūratė. Los Godos. Barcelona, Ed. Ariel S.A., 2nd edition, 2004. (edition in Spanish)
- Sivan, Hagith. "On Foederati, Hospitalitas, and the Settlement of the Goths in A.D. 418." American Journal of Philology 108, no. 4 (1987): 759-772.
- Stevenson, W. H. "The Beginnings of Wessex." The English Historical Review
The English Historical Review is an academic journal founded in 1886 and published by the Oxford University Press. It publishes articles on British, European, and World history since the classical era....
, 14:53 (January 1899, pp. 32–46).
- Velázquez, Isabel. "Jural Relations as an Indicator of Syncretism: From the Law of Inheritance to the Dum Inlicita of Chindaswinth." In The Visigoths from the Migration Period to the Seventh Century: An Ethnographic Perspective, ed. Peter Heather, 225-259. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 1999.
- Thompson, E. A.
Edward Arthur Thompson was a British classicist, medievalist and professor at the University of Nottingham from 1948 to 1979. He wrote from a Marxist perspective, and argued that the Visigoths were settled in Aquitaine to counter the internal threat of the peasant bagaudae...
. "The Barbarian Kingdoms in Gaul and Spain", Nottingham Mediaeval Studies, 7 (1963:4n11).
- Thompson, E. A.
Edward Arthur Thompson was a British classicist, medievalist and professor at the University of Nottingham from 1948 to 1979. He wrote from a Marxist perspective, and argued that the Visigoths were settled in Aquitaine to counter the internal threat of the peasant bagaudae...
. The Visigoths in the Time of Ulfila. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1966.
- Thompson, E. A.
Edward Arthur Thompson was a British classicist, medievalist and professor at the University of Nottingham from 1948 to 1979. He wrote from a Marxist perspective, and argued that the Visigoths were settled in Aquitaine to counter the internal threat of the peasant bagaudae...
. The Goths in Spain. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.
- Vékony, Gábor. Dacians-Romans-Romanians. Toronto: Matthias Corvinus Publishing, 2000. ISBN 1 882785 13 4.
- Wallace-Hadrill, John Michael
John Michael Wallace-Hadrill CBE was Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of Manchester , a Senior Research Fellow of Merton College in the University of Oxford , Chichele Professor of Modern History, University of Oxford and a Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford...
. The Barbarian West, 400–1000. 3rd ed. London: Hutchison, 1967.
- Wolf, Kenneth Baxter, ed. and trans. Conquerors and Chroniclers of Early Medieval Spain. Vol. 9, Translated Texts for Historians. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999.
- Wolfram, Herwig. History of the Goths. Thomas J. Dunlap, trans. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
External links