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Visigoth
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Who were the Visigoths?
The Visigoths were an East Germanic people who split from the Ostrogoths in the 4th century CE. They were settled agriculturists in Dacia (modern Romania) when the Huns forced them into the Roman Empire in 376.
After entering the Empire, the Visigoths revolted against Roman officials and plundered the Balkan provinces. Under Alaric, they invaded Italy, culminating in the sack of Rome in 410. Ataulphus then led them to settle in southern Gaul and later Spain in 415.
In 418, the Visigoths were settled as federates in Aquitania Secunda (between the Garonne and Loire rivers). They expanded their territory, and in 475, Euric declared independence, codifying Visigothic law. The Visigothic kingdom, with its capital in Toledo, lasted until the Muslim conquest in 711. Visigothic art combined Roman traditions with Byzantine influences. The Visigothic language, a form of Gothic, may have persisted in Crimea until the 16th century.
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Where did the Visigoths originally come from?
The Visigoths were a branch of the Goths, a Germanic people. According to their own legends, they originated in southern Scandinavia and migrated in three ships to the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, settling after defeating the Vandals and other Germanic peoples.
In the second half of the 2nd century CE, they moved southward from the Vistula region and eventually arrived at the Black Sea. By the 4th century AD, the Visigoths split from the Ostrogoths. They were settled agriculturists in Dacia (modern Romania) when the Huns attacked in 376, driving them across the Danube River into the Roman Empire.
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How did the Visigoths interact with the Roman Empire?
The Visigoths, a Germanic people, frequently interacted with the Roman Empire through both conflict and alliance. In 376 CE, they entered the Empire seeking refuge from the Huns but soon revolted due to mistreatment, leading to the Battle of Adrianople in 378 where they defeated Emperor Valens.
Under Alaric, they invaded Italy, culminating in the sack of Rome in 410. Later, as allies (foederati) of Rome, they aided in defense against the Huns. By 475, under Euric, they declared independence, establishing a kingdom in Gaul. Despite the collapse of imperial rule, Roman influence remained strong, with Hispano-Romans retaining administrative positions and Roman law.
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What was the significance of the Visigoths' sack of Rome in 410 AD?
The Visigoths' sack of Rome in 410 AD was a significant event that shook the Roman Empire. Under the leadership of Alaric, the Visigoths, a Germanic people, entered Rome on August 24, 410 AD, and pillaged the city for three days. This event had a profound symbolic impact, demonstrating the empire's vulnerability and the shift in military power.
The Visigoths, initially seeking recognition and concessions from the empire, were driven to attack Rome after Emperor Honorius refused their demands. Although the Visigoths looted the city's treasures and imperial palaces, they respected Roman citizens and largely spared public buildings. The sack of Rome sent shock waves throughout the empire, signifying the moral decay of earthly power.
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How did the Visigoths contribute to the history of Spain?
The Visigoths, a branch of the Goths, significantly shaped Spain's history by establishing a kingdom that unified much of the Iberian Peninsula.
Initially, the Visigoths struggled to integrate with the Hispano-Roman population, and they didn't control the entire peninsula due to resistance from groups like the Suebi and Basques. King Leovigild (568–586) began unifying the peninsula, but his son Reccared (586–601) achieved a breakthrough by converting to Catholicism, which fostered allegiance between Visigoths and Hispano-Romans.
The Visigoths adopted Roman governing symbols and practices, including law. The Liber Judiciorum, a code of law, integrated Roman legal principles and applied territorially rather than personally. The kingdom ultimately fell to the Muslims in 711, but their legacy inspired the subsequent reconquest of Spain.
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What happened to the Visigothic kingdom and their culture after the Muslim conquest?
After the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in the early 8th century, the Visigothic kingdom collapsed. The Visigoths' defeat in 711 at the Guadalete River led to the rapid overrunning of Spain by Muslim forces.
Despite the Visigothic kingdom's end, its cultural influence endured in Spain. The Liber Judiciorum, a legal code, remained a key part of the Visigothic legacy in medieval Spain. The Visigoths' conversion to Catholicism before the invasion also fostered allegiance among Hispano-Romans to the Visigothic monarchy. The memory of the Visigothic kingdom inspired the kings of Asturias-León-Castile to begin the reconquest of Spain.
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Visigoth, member of a division of the Goths (see Goth). One of the most important of the Germanic peoples, the Visigoths separated from the Ostrogoths in the 4th century ad, raided Roman territories repeatedly, and established great kingdoms in Gaul and Spain.
The Visigoths were settled agriculturists in Dacia (now in Romania) when they were attacked by the Huns in 376 and driven southward across the Danube River into the Roman Empire. They were allowed to enter the empire but the exactions of Roman officials soon drove them to revolt and plunder the Balkan provinces, assisted by some Ostrogoths. On Aug. 9, 378, they utterly defeated the army of the Roman emperor Valens on the plains outside Adrianople, killing the emperor himself. For four more years they continued to wander in search of somewhere to settle. In October 382 Valens’ successor, Theodosius I, settled them in Moesia (in the Balkans) as federates, giving them land there and imposing on them the duty of defending the frontier. It was apparently during this period that the Visigoths were converted to Arian Christianity. They remained in Moesia until 395, when, under the leadership of Alaric, they left Moesia and moved first southward into Greece and then to Italy, which they invaded repeatedly from 401 onward. Their depredations culminated in the sack of Rome in 410. In the same year Alaric died and was succeeded by Ataulphus, who led the Visigoths to settle first in southern Gaul, then in Spain (415).
In 418 they were recalled from Spain by the patrician Constantius, who later became emperor as Constantius III, and were settled by him as federates in the province of Aquitania Secunda between the lower reaches of the Garonne and Loire rivers. Their chieftain Wallia died soon after the settlement in Aquitaine was carried out, and he was succeeded by Theodoric I, who ruled them until he was killed in 451 fighting against Attila in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. Theodoric I is the first Visigothic leader who can properly be described as a monarch.
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While persistently trying to extend their territory, often at the empire’s expense, the Visigoths continued to be federates until 475, when Theodoric’s son Euric declared himself an independent king. Euric also codified the laws issued by himself and his predecessors and fragments of his code, written in Latin, have survived. It was under him, too, that the Gallic kingdom, of which the capital was at Toulouse, reached its widest extent. It stretched from the Loire to the Pyrenees and to the lower reaches of the Rhône River and included the greater portion of Spain. Euric, a fervent Arian, was succeeded by his tolerant son Alaric II, who in 507 was defeated and killed by Clovis and the Franks at the decisive battle of Vouillé near Poitiers.
As a result of Vouillé the Visigoths lost all their possessions in Gaul apart from Septimania, a strip of land stretching along the coast from the Pyrenees to the Rhône with Narbonne as its capital, which the Franks were never able to wrest from them. Henceforth, until they were finally destroyed by the Muslims in 711, the Visigoths ruled Septimania and much of Spain, with Toledo as their capital.