Visigoth

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Visigoth

The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths

Goths

The Goths were East Germanic tribes who, in the 3rd and 4th centuries, invasion the Roman Empire and later adopted Arian Christianity. In the 5th and 6th centuries, divided as the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, they established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in the Iberian peninsula and Italy....
, an East Germanic tribe, the Ostrogoths being the other. Together these tribes were among the barbarians who disturbed the late Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
during the Migration Period

Migration Period

The Migration Period, also called Barbarian Invasions or V?lkerwanderung , was a period of human migration which occurred within the period of roughly 300?700 Common Era in Europe, marking the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages....
. The Visigoths first emerge as a distinct people during the fourth century, initially in the Balkans

Balkans

Alaric I

Alaric I , was likely born about 370 on an Peuce Island at the mouth of the Danube. He was king of the Visigoths from 395–410 and the first Germanic peoples leader to take the city of Rome....
eventually moved into Italy and famously sacked Rome in 410

Sack of Rome (410)

The Sack of Rome occurred on August 24, 410. The city was attacked by the Visigoths, led by Alaric I. The Roman capital had been moved to the Italian city of Ravenna by the young emperor Honorius , after the Visigoths entered Italy....
.

Eventually the Visigoths were settled in southern Gaul

Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
as foederati
Foederati

Foederatus 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 reasons for which are still subjects for debate among scholars.

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Timeline

379 Theodosius I makes peace with king Fritigern of the Visigoths.

380 Athanaric becomes king of the Visigoths upon Fritigern's death.

395 Alaric the Visigoth, general of the ''foederati'', renounces Roman fealty and is declared King, waging war against both parts of the Empire, and ending a sixteen year period of peace between Romans and Visigoths.

396 End of the Visigoth invasion in Greece.

402 June: Battle of Verona between Alaric the Visigoth and Stilicho

409 Visigothic King Alaric I lays siege to Rome a second time; with agreement of the Senate he sets up Priscus Attalus as western emperor

410 Visigoths' sack of Rome ends. They depart with countless valuables, including spoils of the Temple in Jerusalem brought to Rome by Titus. This marks the first time since 390 BC that Rome had been sacked.

416 The Visigoths continue their invasion of Hispania.

419 Theodorid succeeds Wallia as king of the Visigoths.

419 Died

Encyclopedia

The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths

Goths

Roman Empire

Migration Period

Balkans

Alaric I

Sack of Rome (410)

Gaul

Toulouse

Toulouse is a commune of France in southwest France on the banks of the Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea....
. They slowly extended their authority into Hispania

Hispania

Hispania was the name given by the Ancient Rome to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into Roman provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior....
, displacing the Vandals

Vandals

The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Goths Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths and regent of the Visigoths, was allied by marriage with the Vandals as well as with the Burgundians and the Franks under Clovis I....
and Alans

Alans

The Alans or Alani were a group among the Sarmatians people, Eurasian nomads of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian language and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian language....
. Their rule in Gaul was cut short in 507 at the Battle of Vouillé

Battle of Vouillé

The Battle of Vouill? or Campus Vogladensis was fought in the northern marches of Visigothic territory, at a small place near Poitiers , in the spring of 507 between the Franks commanded by Clovis I and the Visigoths of Alaric II, the conqueror of Spain....
, when they were defeated by the Franks

Franks

The Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic ethnic group first identified in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River....
under Clovis I

Clovis I

Clovis was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Franks under one king. He succeeded his father Childeric I in 481 as King of the Salian Franks, one of the Frankish tribes who were then occupying the area west of the lower Rhine, with their centre around Tournai and Cambrai along the modern frontier between France and Belgium, in an...
. Thereafter the only territory north of the Pyrenees

Pyrenees

The Pyrenees are a mountain range in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain. They separate the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe, and extend for about from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean Sea ....
that the Visigoths held was Septimania

Septimania

Septimania 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....
and their kingdom was limited to Hispania, which came completely under the control of their small governing elite, at the expense of the Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
province of Spania

Spania

Suebic Kingdom of Galicia

The Suebic Kingdom of Galicia was the first barbarian kingdom to separate from the Roman Empire and mint coins. Located in Gallaecia and northern Lusitania, it was established at 410 and lasted until 584 after a century of slow decline....
.

In or around 589, the Visigoths, under Reccared I, formerly Arians

Arianism

Arianism is the theological teaching of Arius , a Christian priest, who was first ruled a heresy at the First Council of Nicea, later exonerated and then pronounced a heretic again after his death....
, converted to the Nicene faith

Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christianity liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Iznik by the first ecumenical council, which met there in 325....
. In their kingdom, the century that followed was dominated by the Councils of Toledo

Councils of Toledo

Councils of Toledo . From the fifth century to the seventh century, about thirty synods, variously counted, were held at Toledo, Spain in what would come to be part of Spain....
and the episcopacy. Historical sources for the seventh century are relatively sparse. In 711 or 712 the Visigoths, including their king and many of their leading men, were killed in the Battle of Guadalete

Battle of Guadalete

The 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 ?ariq ibn Ziyad....
by a force of invading Arabs and Berbers. The kingdom quickly collapsed thereafter, a phenomenon which has led to much debate among scholars concerning its causes. Gothic identity survived the fall of the kingdom, however, especially in the Kingdom of Asturias

Kingdom of Asturias

The Kingdom of Asturias was the first Christianity political entity to be established in the Iberian peninsula after the collapse of the Visigoths Kingdom....
and the Marca Hispanica

Marca Hispanica

The Marca Hispanica 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 Franks....
, but the "Visigoths" as a people disappeared.

Of what remains of the Visigoths in Spain

Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
and Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
there are several churches and an increasing number of archaeological finds, but most notably a large number of Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
, Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and Portugal. It is derived from the Latin language spoken by the Romanization Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago....
, and other Romance

Romance languages

The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages comprising all the languages that descend from Latin language, the language of ancient Rome....
language 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 Ages

Late Middle Ages

The Late Middle Ages is a term used by historians to describe history of Europe in the periodization of the 14th and 15th centuries . The Late Middle Ages were preceded by the High Middle Ages, and followed by the Early modern Europe ....
, the greatest Visigothic legacy, which is no longer in use, was their law code, the Liber iudiciorum, which formed the basis for legal procedure in most of Christian Iberia

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France....
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 Tervingi are first attested around that date, the Greuthungi

Greuthungi

The Greuthungs, Greuthungi, or Greutungi were a Goths people of the Black Sea steppes in the third and fourth centuries. They had close contacts with the Thervings, another Gothic people from west of the river Dnestr....
, Ostrogothi, and Vesi are all attested no earlier than 388. The first mention of the Tervingi occurs in a eulogy

Eulogy

A eulogy is a Speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. The word is derived from the Greek word e?????a , meaning praise ....
of the emperor Maximian

Maximian

Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius , commonly referred to as Maximian, was Caesar from July 285 and Augustus from April 1, 286 to May 1, 305....
(285–305), delivered in or shortly after 291 (or perhaps delivered at Trier

Trier

Trier is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle River. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC. Trier is not the only city claiming to be Germany's oldest, but it is the only one that bases this assertion on having the longest history as a city, as opposed to a mere settlement or army camp....
on 20 April 292

292

Events...
) and traditionally ascribed to Claudius Mamertinus

Claudius Mamertinus

Claudius 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 the Apostate; on January 1 of that year he delivered a panegyric in Constantinople by way of thanks to the Emperor....
, which says that the "Tervingi, another division of the Goths" (Tervingi pars alia Gothorum) joined with the Taifali to attack the Vandals

Vandals

Victohali

The Victohali, Victovali, Victufali, Victuali, or Victabali were a people group of Late Antiquity. In Greek their name is Biktoa or Biktoloi....
" because around 360 the historian Eutropius

Eutropius

IntroductionNot much is known about the early life of Eutropius because there are no written texts that document his life. Eutropius should not be confused with Eutropius of Valencia or Saint Eutropius....
reports that Dacia

Dacia

In ancient geography, Dacia was the land of the Dacians. It was named by the ancient Greeks "Getae". Dacia was a large district of East-Central Europe, bounded on the north by the Carpathian Mountains, on the south by the Danube, on the west by the Tisia or Tisza, on the east by the Tyras or Dniester, now in eastern Moldova....
was currently (nunc) inhabited by Taifali, Victohali, and Tervingi.

According to Herwig Wolfram, in the Notitia Dignitatum the Vesi are equated with the Tervingi in a reference to the years 388–391; this is not clear from the Notitia itself. The Greuthungi are first named by Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus was a fourth-century Ancient Rome historian. His is the last major historical account of the late Roman empire which survives today....
, 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 Milan

Milan

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
. Claudian

Claudian

Claudian was a Roman poet, who worked for Emperor Flavius Augustus Honorius and the latter's general Stilicho.A Greek language citizen of Alexandria, Claudian arrived in Rome before 395, and made his mark with a eulogy of his two young patrons, Probinus and Olybrius, thereby becoming court poet....
mentions that they together with the Gruthungi inhabit Phrygia

Phrygia

In 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 Hellespont....
. 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, but the pairing was always preserved, as in Gruthungi, Austrogothi, Tervingi, Visi. That the Tervingi were the Vesi/Visigothi and the Greuthungi the Ostrogothi is also supported by Jordanes

Jordanes

Jordanes , was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat , who turned his hand to history later in life.Though he also wrote Romana , a book about the history of Rome, his most known work is his Getica, written in Constantinople about AD 551 ....
. He identified the Visigothic kings from Alaric I

Alaric I

Alaric II

File:Alaric II 484 507 gold 1470mg reverse.jpgAlaric II, also known as Alarik, Alarich, and Alarico in Spanish language and Portuguese language or Alaricus in Latin succeeded his father Euric in 485 and became eighth king of the Visigoths....
as the heirs of the fourth-century Tervingian king Athanaric

Athanaric

Athanaricus was king of several branches of the Thervings for at least two decades in the fourth century. His Gothic name, Athanareiks, means "king and athans "edel" s....
and the Ostrogothic kings from Theodoric the Great

Theodoric the Great

File:Theodoric bronze weight inlaid with silver issued by prefect Catulinus Rome 493 526.jpg'Theodoric the Great' , known in Latin as 'Flavius Theodericus' and in Greek sources, was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , and regent of the Visigoths ....
to Theodahad

Theodahad

File:Theodahad.jpgFile:Theodahad_534_536_Ostrogoth_minted_in_Rome.jpgTheodahad was the King of the Ostrogoths from 534 to 536 and a nephew of Theodoric the Great through his sister....
as the heirs of the Greuthungian king Ermanaric

Ermanaric

Ermanaric , was a king of the Goths Greuthungi at the eve of the Migration Period....
. This interpretation, however, though very 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 invasions

Hunnic Empire

Hunnic Empire, the empire of the Huns.The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes, probably especially Turkic ones, from the Steppes of Central Asia....
. In support of this, Wolfram cites Zosimus

Zosimus

Zosimus was a Byzantine Empire historian, who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I . According to Photios I of Constantinople, he was a comes, and held the office of "advocate" of the imperial treasury....
as referring to a group of "Scythians" north of the Danube

Danube

The Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg River rivers which join at the eponymously named German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows eastwards for a distance...
who were called "Greutungi" by the barbarians north of the Ister. Wolfram concludes that this people was the Tervingi who had remained behind after the Hunnic conquest. He further believes that the terms "Vesi" and "Ostrogothi" were used by the peoples to boastfully describe themselves.

The nomenclature of Greuthungi and 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 panegyric

Panegyric

A panegyric is a formal public speech , or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or object , a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical....
on Avitus

Avitus

Eparchius Avitus was Western Roman Emperor with the designation and name Dominus Noster Eparchius Avitus Augustus .Made magister militum by Emperor Petronius Maximus, Avitus was sent on a diplomatic mission to his old student, Theodoric II King of the Visigoths, and was at Theodoric's court in Toulouse when Gaiseric invaded Rom...
by Sidonius Apollinaris

Sidonius Apollinaris

Gaius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius or Saint Sidonius Apollinaris , a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius was "the single most important surviving author from fifth-century Gaul" according to Eric Goldberg....
dated 1 January 456

456

EventsBy PlaceWestern Roman Empire* Capua is destroyed by the Vandals.* Ricimer beats the Vandals in a sea battle near Corsica....
. The term "Visigoth", however, was an invention of the sixth century. Most recent scholars (notably Peter Heather

Peter Heather

Peter Heather is an historian of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, currently Professor of Medieval History at King's College London.Heather was born in Northern Ireland in 1960....
) argue that Visigothic group identity emerged only within the Roman Empire. Roger Collins

Roger Collins

Roger Collins was a minor character in the Sweet Valley High book series....
believes the Visigoths were a creation of the Gothic War of 376-382 and began as a collection of foederati
Foederati

Foederatus 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 Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is the historical name of a geographic subregion of southeastern Europe. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains, which run through the centre of Bulgaria into eastern Serbia....
, 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.

Cassiodorus

Cassiodorus

Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator , commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman Empire statesman and writer, serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths....
, a Roman in the service of Theodoric the Great, invented the term "Visigothi" to match that of "Ostrogothi", which terms he thought of as "western Goths" and "eastern Goths" respectively. The western-eastern division was a simplification and a literary device of sixth-century historians where political realities were more complex. Furthermore, 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 Empire

Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
and was in use in the seventh century.

Other names for the Goths 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 Sea 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 third 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 words are Gothic

Gothic language

Gothic is an extinct language Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from Codex Argenteus, a 6th century copy of a 4th century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic languages with a sizable corpus....
ones meaning "the good or noble people", similar to Gothic iusiza, "better". W. H. Stevenson remarks that the term seems to be the Germanic representative of Indo-European

Indo-European

Indo-European may refer to:* Indo-European languages* Indo-European people, peoples speaking an Indo-European language** Aryan race, a 19th-century term for Indo-European speakers...
*wesu-s ("good"), comparing Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
vásu-s and Gaulish

Celtic languages

The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic", a branch of the greater Indo-European languages language family. The term "Celtic" was used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, having much earlier been used by Greek and Roman writers to describe tribes in central Gaul....
vesu-. While Jordanes refers to a river which gave its name to the Vesi, this is probably just legend, like his similar story about the Greuthung name. The name "Visigothi" is an invention of Cassiodorus, who combined "Visi" and "Gothi" and intended to mean "west Goths".

History

War with Rome (376–382)

The Goths remained in Dacia until 376

376

Events...
, when one of their leaders, Fritigern

Fritigern

Fritigern, or Fritigernus , was a Goths war-leader whose military victories in the Gothic War extracted favourable terms for the Goths when peace was made with Gratian in 382....
, appealed to the Roman emperor Valens

Valens

Flamin Julius Valens was Roman Emperor , after he was given the Eastern part of the empire by his brother Valentinian I. Valens, sometimes known as the Last of the Romans, was defeated and killed in the Battle of Adrianople, which marked the beginning of the fall of the Western Roman Empire....
to be allowed to settle with his people on the south bank of the Danube. Here, they hoped to find refuge from the Huns

Huns

The Huns were a confederation of Central Asian Eurasian nomads or semi-nomads, who had established an empire in Eurasia. The Huns may have stimulated the Migration Period, a contributing factor in the collapse of the Roman Empire....
. Valens permitted this, as he saw in them "a splendid recruiting ground for his army." However, a famine

Famine

A famine is a widespread shortage of food that may apply to any faunal species, which phenomenon is usually accompanied by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased death....
broke out and Rome was unwilling to supply them with the food they were promised nor 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 Valens

Valens

Flamin Julius Valens was Roman Emperor , after he was given the Eastern part of the empire by his brother Valentinian I. Valens, sometimes known as the Last of the Romans, was defeated and killed in the Battle of Adrianople, which marked the beginning of the fall of the Western Roman Empire....
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 I

Theodosius I

Flavius Theodosius , also called Theodosius I and Theodosius the Great , was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Reuniting the eastern and western portions of the empire, Theodosius was the last emperor of both the Eastern Roman Empire and Western Roman Empire....
, made peace with the rebels, and this peace held essentially unbroken until Theodosius died in 395

395

Sorry, no overview for this topic
. In that year, the Visigoths' most famous king, Alaric I

Alaric I

Alaric I , was likely born about 370 on an Peuce Island at the mouth of the Danube. He was king of the Visigoths from 395–410 and the first Germanic peoples leader to take the city of Rome....
, took the throne, while Theodosius was succeeded by his incapable sons: Arcadius

Arcadius

Flavius Arcadius was Roman Emperors in the Eastern half of the Roman Empire from 395 until his death.Arcadius was born in Spain, the elder son of Theodosius I and Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of Flavius Augustus Honorius, who would become a Western Roman Emperor....
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 German generals who commanded the Roman armies in the east and west, wielding the real power of the empire. Finally, after the western general Stilicho

Stilicho

Flavius Stilicho was a high-ranking general , Patrician and Consul of the Western Roman Empire, notably of barbarian birth....
was executed by Honorius in 408

408

For the area code, see Area code 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

410

Sorry, no overview for this topic
, however, Alaric's troops entered Rome through the Salarian Gate, to plunder its riches in the sack of Rome

Sack of Rome (410)

The Sack of Rome occurred on August 24, 410. The city was attacked by the Visigoths, led by Alaric I. The Roman capital had been moved to the Italian city of Ravenna by the young emperor Honorius , after the Visigoths entered Italy....
. While Rome was no longer the official capital of the Western Roman Empire (it had been moved to Ravenna

Ravenna

Ravenna is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The city is inland, but is connected to the Adriatic Sea by a canal. Ravenna once served as the seat of the Western Roman Empire and later the Ostrogoths and the Exarchate of Ravenna....
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 by the German people of the Visigoths when the Romans lost their control of their empire. In 409

409

Sorry, no overview for this topic
the Vandals

Vandals

Alans

The Alans or Alani were a group among the Sarmatians people, Eurasian nomads of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian language and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian language....
and Germanic tribes like the Suevi, swept into the Iberian peninsula

Iberian Peninsula

Hispania

Honorius (emperor)

Flavius Honorius was Roman Emperor and then Western Roman Empire from 395 until his death. He was the younger son of 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

418

Sorry, no overview for this topic
, Honorius rewarded his Visigothic federates

Foederati

Foederatus 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 Aquitania

Gallia Aquitania

Gallia 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 Pyrenees

Pyrenees

Euric

Euric, also known as Evaric, Erwig, or Eurico in Spanish language and Portuguese language , was 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....
, unified the various quarreling factions among the Visigoths and, in 475

475

Sorry, no overview for this topic
, 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 Peninsula

Iberian Peninsula

Alans

Vandals

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories:...
. By 500

500

Events...
, the Visigothic Kingdom, centred at Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse is a commune of France in southwest France on the banks of the Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea....
, controlled Aquitania and Gallia Narbonensis

Gallia Narbonensis

Gallia Narbonensis was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in southern France. Narbonese Gaul "lay between the Alps, the Mediterranean Sea, and the C?vennes Mountains....
and most of Hispania with the exception of the Suevic kingdom

Suebic Kingdom of Galicia

The Suebic Kingdom of Galicia was the first barbarian kingdom to separate from the Roman Empire and mint coins. Located in Gallaecia and northern Lusitania, it was established at 410 and lasted until 584 after a century of slow decline....
in the northwest and small areas controlled by the Basques

Basque people

The Basques are a people who inhabit a region spanning over parts of north-central Spain and southwestern France.The name Basque derives from the ancient tribe of the Vascones, described by Ancient Greece historian Strabo as living south of the western Pyrenees and north of the Ebro River, in modern day Navarre and northern Aragon....
and Cantabrians

Cantabri

The Cantabri were an ancient confederacy of eleven tribes, perhaps Celtic or Vasconic Neolithic Europe, that inhabited the north coast of Hispania in the whole modern province of Cantabria, the eastern third of Asturias and the nearby mountainous regions of modern Castile-Leon....
. However, in 507, the Franks under Clovis I defeated the Visigoths in the Vouillé

Battle of Vouillé

Alaric II

File:Alaric II 484 507 gold 1470mg reverse.jpgAlaric II, also known as Alarik, Alarich, and Alarico in Spanish language and Portuguese language or Alaricus in Latin succeeded his father Euric in 485 and became eighth king of the Visigoths....
was killed in battle.

After Alaric's death, Visigothic nobles spirited his heir, the child-king Amalaric

Amalaric

Amalaric, or in Spanish language and Portuguese language, Amalarico, was a son of king Alaric II and of Theodegotho, daughter of Theodoric the Great and his first wife....
, first to Narbonne

Narbonne

Narbonne is a commune in France in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon r?gion in France. It lies from Paris in the Aude d?partement in France, of which it is a sous-pr?fecture....
, which was the last Gothic outpost in Gaul, and further across the Pyrenees into Hispania. The center of Visigothic rule shifted first to Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the capital and most populous city of the Autonomous communities of Spain of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008, while the population of the Metropolitan Area was 3,161,081....
, then inland and south to Toledo

Toledo, Spain

Toledo is a city and municipality located in central Spain, 70 km south of Madrid. It is the capital city of the province of Toledo and of the autonomous communities of Spain of Castile-La Mancha....
. From 511

511

Events...
to 526

526

Events...
, the Visigoths were ruled by Theodoric the Great

Theodoric the Great

554

Events...
, Granada and southernmost Hispania Baetica

Hispania Baetica

Hispania Baetica was one of three Imperial Roman provincesin Hispania, . Hispania Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania , and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis....
were lost to representatives of the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

Spania

Spania was a Roman province of the Byzantine Empire from 552 until 624 in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. It was a part of the conquests of Justinian I in an effort to restore the Western Roman 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 I

Justinian I

Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus , AD 482 or 483 ? 13 or 14 November 565, was the second member of the Justinian Dynasty and List of Roman Emperors from 527 until his death....
. The last Arian Visigothic king, Liuvigild

Liuvigild

Liuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or Leogild was Visigoths Visigothic Kingdom of the Visigothic Kingdom located in most of modern Spain down to Toledo from 569 to April 21, 586....
, conquered the Suevic kingdom in 585

585

Events...
and most of the northern regions (Cantabria) in 574

574

Events...
and regained part of the southern areas lost to the Byzantines

Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
, which King Suintila

Suintila

Suintila was Visigoths Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania 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

624

Events...
. The kingdom survived until 711

711

Events...
, when King Roderic

Roderic

Ruderic, Roderic, Roderik, Roderich, or Roderick was the Visigoths King of Hispania for a brief period between 710 and 712....
(Rodrigo) was killed while opposing an invasion from the south by the Umayyad Muslims in the Battle of Guadalete

Battle of Guadalete

The 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 ?ariq ibn Ziyad....
on July 19. This marked the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Hispania in which most of the peninsula came under Islam

Islam

Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
ic rule by 718

718

Events...
.

A Visigothic nobleman, Pelayo, is credited with beginning the Christian Reconquista
Reconquista

The Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims....
of Iberia in 718

718

Events...
, when he defeated the Umayyads in battle

Battle of Covadonga

The Battle of Covadonga was the first major victory by a Christianity military force in Iberian peninsula following the Muslim Moors' conquest of that region in 711....
and established the Kingdom of Asturias

Kingdom of Asturias

The Kingdom of Asturias was the first Christianity political entity to be established in the Iberian peninsula after the collapse of the Visigoths Kingdom....
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 Franks

Franks

The Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic ethnic group first identified in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River....
, and Visigoths played key roles in the empire of Charlemagne

Charlemagne

Charlemagne was List of Frankish kings from 768 to his death. He expanded the Franks kingdoms into a Carolingian Empire that incorporated much of Western Europe and Central Europe....
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 fifth and eighth centuries

Visigothic Kingdom

The Visigothic kingdom was a Western European power from the fifth to eighth century, one of the successor states to the Western Roman Empire, originally created by the settlement of the Visigoths under their own king in Aquitaine by the Roman government and then extended by conquest over all of the Iberian peninsula....
. It is certain (through contemporary Spanish accounts) that they founded four: Reccopolis

Reccopolis

Reccopolis near the tiny modern village of Zorita de los Canes in the 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 Montoro

Montoro

Montoro is a city and municipality in the C?rdoba Province, Spain of southern Spain, in the north-central part of the Autonomous communities of Spain of Andalusia....
). All of these cities were founded for military purposes and three of them in celebration of victory.

Visigothic religion

There was a religious gulf between the Visigoths, who had for a long time adhered to Arianism

Arianism

589

Events...
. For the role of Arianism in Visigothic kingship, see the entry for Liuvigild

Liuvigild

Asceticism

Asceticism describes a life-style characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spirituality goals....
Priscillian of Avila was martyred by orthodox Catholic forces in 385

385

Events...
, before the Visigothic period, and the persecution continued in subsequent generations as "Priscillianist" heretics

Christian heresy

Heresy is the rejection of one or more established beliefs of a religious body, or adherence to "other beliefs." Christian heresy refers to unorthodox practices and beliefs that were deemed to be heretical by one or more of the Christian churches....
were rooted out. At the very beginning of Leo I

Pope Leo I

Pope Leo I, or Pope Saint Leo the Great, was pope from 29 September, 440 to 10 November, 461.He was an Italian aristocrat, and is the earliest pope of the Roman Catholic Church to have received the title "the Great"....
's pontificate, in the years 444-447, Turribius, bishop of Astorga in León

León (province)

Le?n is a Provinces of Spain of northwestern Spain, in the northwestern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain of Castile and Leon.About one quarter of its population of 500,200 lives in the capital, Le?n, Le?n....
, 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 See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church....
. 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 also tolerant of Jews

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
, a tradition that lingered in post-Visigothic Septimania

Septimania

Septimania 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....
, exemplified by the career of Ferreol, Bishop of Uzès (died 581).

In 589, King Reccared

Reccared

Reccared I was Visigoths Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania . His reign marked a climactic shift in history, with the king's renunciation of traditional Arianism in favour of Catholic Christianity in 587....
converted his people to Catholicism. With the Catholicization of the Visigothic kings, the Catholic bishops increased in power, until, at the Fourth Council of Toledo

Fourth Council of Toledo

The Fourth Council of Toledo occurred in 633. It was held at the church of Saint Leocadia in Toledo, Spain.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 measures against baptized Jews who had...
in 633

633

Events...
, 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 Reccared

Reccared

633

Events...
the same synod

Synod

A synod is a council of a Ecclesia , usually a Christianity church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. An ecumenical council is so named because it is a synod of the whole church ...
of Catholic bishops that usurped the Visigothic nobles' right to confirm the election of a king declared that all Jews must be baptised

Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted as a full member of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered....
.

In the eighth through eleventh centuries the muwallad clan of the Banu Qasi

Banu Qasi

The Banu Qasi, Banu Kasi, Beni Casi or Banu Musa were a Basque people Muladi dynasty that ruled the upper Ebro valley in the 9th, before being displaced in the first quarter of the 10th century....
claimed descent from the Visigothic Count Cassius

Count Cassius

Count Cassius , also Count Casius, kumis Kasi or kumis Qasi, was a Hispania or Visigoth nobleman that originated the Banu Qasi dynasty....
.

Visigothic culture

Law

The Visigothic Code of Law

Visigothic Code

The Visigothic Code comprises a set of laws promulgated by the Visigoths king of Hispania, Chindasuinth in his second year . They were enlarged by the novel legislation of Recceswinth , Wamba, Erwig, Egica, and perhaps Wittiza....
(forum judicum), which had been part of aristocratic

Aristocracy

Aristocracy is a form of government, in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. This may be a hereditary elite, or it may be by a system of cooption where a council of prominent citizens add leading soldiers, merchants, land owners, priests, and lawyers to their number....
oral tradition, was set in writing in the early 7th century— and survives in two separate codices

Codex

A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with separate pages normally bound together and given a cover. It was a Roman invention that replaced the scroll, which was the first form of book in all Eurasian cultures....
preserved at the Escorial. It goes into more detail than a modern constitution commonly does and reveals a great deal about Visigothic social structure.

Art and architecture

Kings of the Visigoths

Terving kings

These kings and leaders, with the exception of Fritigern, and the possible exception of Alavivus, were pagans.

Athanaric
Athanaric

Athanaricus was king of several branches of the Thervings for at least two decades in the fourth century. His Gothic name, Athanareiks, means "king and athans "edel" s....
(369
369

Events...
–381
381

Events...
)

Rothesteus, sub-king
Winguric, sub-king

Alavivus (c. 376
376

Events...
), rebel against Valens
Fritigern
Fritigern

Fritigern, or Fritigernus , was a Goths war-leader whose military victories in the Gothic War extracted favourable terms for the Goths when peace was made with Gratian in 382....
(c. 376
376

Events...
–c. 380
380

Events...
), rebel against Athanaric and Valens

Balti dynasty
Balti dynasty

The Balti dynasty, Baltungs, Balthings, or Balths, existed among the Visigoths, a Germanic tribe who confronted the Western Roman Empire in its declining years....

These kings were Arians. They tended to succeed their fathers or close relatives on the throne and thus constitute a dynasty.

Alaric I
Alaric I

Alaric I , was likely born about 370 on an Peuce Island at the mouth of the Danube. He was king of the Visigoths from 395–410 and the first Germanic peoples leader to take the city of Rome....
(395
395

Sorry, no overview for this topic
–410
410

Sorry, no overview for this topic
)
Athaulf (410
410

Sorry, no overview for this topic
–415
415

Sorry, no overview for this topic
)
Sigeric
Sigeric

Sigeric was a Visigoth king for seven days in 415 CE. His predecessor, Ataulf, had been mortally wounded in his bath at the palace of Barcelona by an assassin....
(415
415

Sorry, no overview for this topic
)
Wallia
Wallia

Wallia or Valia 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
415

Sorry, no overview for this topic
–419
419

Sorry, no overview for this topic
)
Theodoric I
Theodoric I

Theodoric I, sometimes called Theodorid and in Spanish language, Portuguese language and Italian language Teodorico, was the King of the Visigoths from 418–451....
(419
419

Sorry, no overview for this topic
–451
451

Events...
)
Thorismund
Thorismund

Thorismund became king of the Visigoths after his father Theodoric I was killed in the Battle of Chalons in 451 CE. He was murdered in 453 and was succeeded by his brother Theodoric II....
(451
451

Events...
–453
453

Events...
)
Theodoric II
Theodoric II

Theodoric II murdered his elder brother Thorismund to become king of the Visigoths in 453. Edward Gibbon writes that "he justified this atrocious deed by the design which his predecessor had formed of violating his alliance with the empire." During Theodoric's reign the Kingdom of the Visigoths, centered in what is now Aquitaine, continued t...
(453
453

Events...
–466
466

Events...
)
Euric
Euric

Euric, also known as Evaric, Erwig, or Eurico in Spanish language and Portuguese language , was 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....
(466
466

Events...
–484
484

EventsBy PlaceEurope* December 28 ? Alaric II succeeds Euric as king of the Visigoths.* Gunthamund becomes king of the Vandals....
)
Alaric II
Alaric II

File:Alaric II 484 507 gold 1470mg reverse.jpgAlaric II, also known as Alarik, Alarich, and Alarico in Spanish language and Portuguese language or Alaricus in Latin succeeded his father Euric in 485 and became eighth king of the Visigoths....
(484
484

EventsBy PlaceEurope* December 28 ? Alaric II succeeds Euric as king of the Visigoths.* Gunthamund becomes king of the Vandals....
–507
507

Events...
)
Gesalec
Gesalec

Gesalic was king of the Visigoths from 507 through 511. He was the illegitimate son of Alaric II. When Alaric was killed in battle by the Franks, his only legitimate son, Amalaric, was a child....
(507
507

Events...
–511
511

Events...
)

Theodoric the Great
Theodoric the Great

File:Theodoric bronze weight inlaid with silver issued by prefect Catulinus Rome 493 526.jpg'Theodoric the Great' , known in Latin as 'Flavius Theodericus' and in Greek sources, was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , and regent of the Visigoths ....
(511
511

Events...
–526
526

Events...
), regent

Amalaric
Amalaric

Amalaric, or in Spanish language and Portuguese language, Amalarico, was a son of king Alaric II and of Theodegotho, daughter of Theodoric the Great and his first wife....
(526
526

Events...
–531
531

Events...
)

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

Theudis was king of the Visigoths in Hispania from 531-548.After the death of Amalaric, last of the Balti dynasty, the strongman Theudis, a former commander of Theodoric the Great, was elected king....
(531
531

Events...
–548
548

Events...
)
Theudigisel
Theudigisel

Theudigisel or Theudegisel was king of the Visigoths in Hispania for one year . Some Visigothic king lists skip Theudigisel, as well as Agila, going directly from Theudis to Athanagild....
(548
548

Events...
–549
549

Events...
)
Agila I (549
549

Events...
–554
554

Events...
)
Athanagild
Athanagild

Athanagild was Visigoths Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania .With the help of a Byzantine Empire force, including a fleet to watch the coasts, sent from Gaul in 551 by the emperor of the eastern Roman empire, Emperor Justinian, Athanagild defeated and killed his predecessor, King Agila, near Seville in 554....
(554
554

Events...
–568
568

Events...
)
Liuva I
Liuva I

Liuva I , jointly with his brother Liuvigild, succeeded Athanagild in 568 on the throne of the Visigoths. Both were Arianism Christians. Liuva, who was favored by the Visigoth nobles, ruled the Visigothic lands north of the Pyrenees, until his death....
(568
568

Events...
–572
572

Events...
), only ruled in Narbonensis from 569
Liuvigild
Liuvigild

Liuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or Leogild was Visigoths Visigothic Kingdom of the Visigothic Kingdom located in most of modern Spain down to Toledo from 569 to April 21, 586....
(569
569

EventsBy PlaceByzantine Empire* The King of the Garamantes signs a peace treaty with Byzantium.By TopicReligion...
–586
586

Events...
), ruled only south of the Pyrenees until 572

Hermenegild
Hermenegild

Saint Hermenegild , or Saint Ermengild , was a member of the Visigothic Royal Family in Hispania . His ultimate martyrdom was the catalyst in the Visigoths conversion from Arianism to Roman Catholic Church....
(580
580

Events...
–585
585

Events...
), sub-king in Baetica

Reccared I (580
580

Events...
–601
601

Events...
), son, sub-king in Narbonensis until 586, first Catholic king

Segga
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 Roman Catholicism, a conspiracy, led by Sunna, Bishop of M?rida, the Arian bishop of M?rida, Spain, arose to place the Arian Segga on the throne and probably al...
(586
586

Events...
–587
587

For the processor, see NexGen Nx587....
), rebel

Liuva II
Liuva II

Liuva II, youthful son of Reccared, was Visigoths Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania from 601 to 603. He succeeded Reccared at only eighteen years of age....
(601
601

Events...
–603
603

Events...
), son
Witteric
Witteric

Witteric was Visigoths Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania from 603 to 610.In the spring of 602, the Goths Witteric, one of the conspirators with Sunna de M?rida to reestablish Arianism in 589, was given command of the army with the job of repulsing the Byzantine Empire....
(603
603

Events...
–610
610

This article is about the year 610....
)
Gundemar
Gundemar

Gundemar was Visigoths Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania .Gundemar continued a policy of amity with Clotaire II of Neustria and Theodobert II of Austrasia....
(610
610

This article is about the year 610....
–612
612

Events...
)
Sisebut (612
612

Events...
–621
621

Events...
)
Reccared II
Reccared II

Reccared II was Visigoths Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania 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
621

Events...
), son
Suintila
Suintila

Suintila was Visigoths Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania 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
621

Events...
–631
631

Events...
)

Reccimer (626
626

Events...
–631
631

Events...
), son and associate

Sisenand
Sisenand

Sisenand, or Sisinand, in Spanish language and Portuguese language Sisenando , was Visigoths Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania . He was a son of Suintila and wife Theodora....
(631
631

Events...
–636
636

Events...
)

Iudila (632
632

Events...
–633
633

Events...
), rebel

Chintila
Chintila

Chintila was Visigoths Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania from 636. He succeeded Sisenand in a time of weakness and reigned until his death. He was a son of Suintila and wife Theodora....
(636
636

Events...
–640
640

Events...
)
Tulga
Tulga

Tulga was Visigoths Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania 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
640

Events...
–641
641

Events...
)
Chindasuinth
Chindasuinth

Chindasuinth was Visigoths Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania 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 the 30 April 642....
(641
641

Events...
–653
653

Events* Sigeberht II of Essex succeeds Sigeberht I of Essex as king of Kingdom of Essex.* Aripert, nephew of Theodelinda, succeeds Rodoald as king of the Lombards....
)
Recceswinth (649
649

Events...
–672
672

Events...
), son, initially co-king

Froia
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
653

Events* Sigeberht II of Essex succeeds Sigeberht I of Essex as king of Kingdom of Essex.* Aripert, nephew of Theodelinda, succeeds Rodoald as king of the Lombards....
), rebel

Wamba
Wamba

Wamba was the king of the Visigoths in Hispania from 672 to 680....
(672
672

Events...
–680
680

Events...
)

Hilderic
Hilderic of Nîmes

Hilderic or Hilderuc was count of N?mes during the reigns of Recceswinth and Wamba. Immediately upon the latter's accession in 672, Hilderic rebelled....
(672
672

Events...
), rebel
Paul
Flavius Paulus

Paul was a Hispania-Ancient Rome duke of Wamba, king of the Visigoth in Hispania .In 672, when sent to crush the rebellion of Hilderic of N?mes and the Jews in Septimania and Catalonia, he converted to Judaism and proclaimed himself king in Narbonne as Flavius Paulus....
(672
672

Events...
–673
673

Events...
), rebel

Erwig
Erwig

Erwig or Ervig 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
680

Events...
–687
687

Events...
)
Ergica
Ergica

Egica, Ergica, or Egicca was the Visigoths Visigothic kingdom of Hispania from 687 until his death. He was the son of Ariberga, sister of Wamba and daughter of Tulga....
(687
687

Events...
–702
702

Events...
)

Suniefred (693
693

Events...
), rebel

Wittiza
Wittiza

Wittiza was the Visigothic Visigothic Kingdom Hispania from 694 until his death, co-ruling with his father, Ergica, until 702 or 703....
(694
694

Events...
–710
710

Events...
), son, initially co-king or sub-king in Gallaecia
Roderic
Roderic

Ruderic, Roderic, Roderik, Roderich, or Roderick was the Visigoths King of Hispania for a brief period between 710 and 712....
(710
710

Events...
–711
711

Events...
), only in Lusitania and Carthaginiensis
Agila II
Agila II

Achila II was the king of Visigothic Hispania from 710 or 711 until his death.Achila's reign is known solely from coins and regnal lists and is unmentioned by reliable narrative histories....
(711
711

Events...
–714
714

Events...
), only in Tarraconensis and Narbonensis

Oppas
Oppas

Oppas or Oppa was a member of the Visigoths elite in the city of Toledo, Spain on the eve of the Umayyad conquest of Hispania. He was a son of Egica and therefore a brother or half-brother of Wittiza....
(712
712

Events...
), perhaps in opposition to Roderic and Agila II

Ardo
Ardo

Ardo was "the last of all the Visigoths kings" of Hispania, reigning from 713 or, more probably 714, until his death. The Visigoth kingdom was already severely reduced in area and power due to the Umayyad conquest of Hispania when Ardo succeeded Achila II on the throne....
(714
714

Events...
–721
721

Events...
), only in Narbonensis

A list of Visigothic kings was quoted in Spain as an egregious example of rote memorization in school during the time of Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco

Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Te?dulo Franco y Bahamonde, Salgado y Pardo de Andrade , commonly known as Francisco Franco or Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was the dictator and Head of State of Spain from October 1936, and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in 1975....
's dictatorship

Dictatorship

A dictatorship is usually defined as an Autocracy form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator, without hereditary ascension....
.

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Maps to be combined and compared
. The preface was written in 1908 and should be read with reservations.

Visigoth

Division of the Goths: Tervingi and Vesi

Etymology of Tervingi and Vesi/Visigothi

History

War with Rome (376–382)

Reign of Alaric I

Visigothic kingdom

Visigothic religion

Visigothic culture

Law

Art and architecture

Kings of the Visigoths

Terving kings

Balti dynastyBalti dynastyThe Balti dynasty, Baltungs, Balthings, or Balths, existed among the Visigoths, a Germanic tribe who confronted the Western Roman Empire in its declining years....

Non-Balti kings

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External links

Balti dynasty
Balti dynasty

The Balti dynasty, Baltungs, Balthings, or Balths, existed among the Visigoths, a Germanic tribe who confronted the Western Roman Empire in its declining years....