Editing Visigoths (section)

==History==
[[File:Visigoth migrations.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.35|Migrations of the main column of the Visigoths]]

===Early origins===
The Visigoths emerged from the Gothic tribes, probably a derivative name for the [[Gutones]], a people believed to have their origins in [[Scandinavia]] and who migrated southeastwards into eastern Europe.{{sfn|Wolfram|1997|pp=39–40}} Such understanding of their origins is largely the result of Gothic traditions and their true genesis as a people is as obscure as that of the [[Franks]] and [[Alamanni]].{{sfn|Todd|2000|p=149}} The Visigoths spoke an eastern Germanic language that was distinct by the 4th century. Eventually the Gothic language died as a result of contact with other European people during the [[Middle Ages]].{{sfn|Waldman|Mason|2006|p=844}}

Long struggles between the neighboring [[Vandals|Vandili]] and [[Lugii]] people with the Goths may have contributed to their earlier exodus into mainland Europe. The vast majority of them settled between the [[Oder]] and [[Vistula]] rivers until overpopulation (according to Gothic legends or tribal sagas) forced them to move south and east, where they settled just north of the [[Black Sea]].{{sfn|Wolfram|1997|p=42–43}} However, this legend is not supported by archaeological evidence so its validity is disputable. Historian Malcolm Todd contends that while this large ''en masse'' migration is possible, the movement of Gothic peoples south-east was probably the result of warrior bands moving closer to the wealth of Ukraine and the cities of the Black Sea coast. Perhaps what is most notable about the Gothic people in this regard was that by the middle of the third century AD, they were "the most formidable military power beyond the lower Danube frontier".{{sfn|Todd|2000|pp=149–150}}{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=42–55}}

====Contact with Rome====
Throughout the 3rd and 4th centuries there were numerous conflicts and exchanges of varying types between the Goths and their neighbors. After the Romans withdrew from the territory of Dacia, the local population was subjected to constant invasions by the migratory tribes, among the first being the Goths.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=11}} In 238, the Goths invaded across the Danube into the Roman province of [[Moesia]], pillaging and exacting payment through hostage taking. During the war with the Persians that year, Goths also appeared in the Roman armies of [[Gordian III]].{{sfn|Todd|2000|p=150}} When subsidies to the Goths were stopped, the Goths organized and in 250 joined a major barbarian invasion led by the Germanic king, [[Cniva|Kniva]].{{sfn|Todd|2000|p=150}} Success on the battlefield against the Romans inspired additional invasions into the northern [[Balkans]] and deeper into [[Anatolia]].{{sfn|Todd|2000|pp=150–151}} Starting in approximately 255, the Goths added a new dimension to their attacks by taking to the sea and invading harbors which brought them into conflict with the Greeks as well. When the city of [[Pityus]] fell to the Goths in 256, the Goths were further emboldened. Sometime between 266 and 267, the Goths raided Greece but when they attempted to move into the Bosporus straits to attack Byzantium, they were repulsed. Along with other Germanic tribes, they attacked further into Anatolia, assaulting Crete and Cyprus on the way; shortly thereafter, they pillaged Troy and the temple of Artemis at Ephesus.{{sfn|Todd|2000|p=151}} Throughout the reign of emperor [[Constantine the Great]], the Visigoths continued to conduct raids on Roman territory south of the Danube River.{{sfn|Waldman|Mason|2006|p=844}} By 332, relations between the Goths and Romans were stabilized by a treaty but this was not to last.{{sfn|Todd|2000|p=152}}

===War with Rome (376–382)===
{{Main|Gothic War (376–382)}}
The Goths remained in [[Dacia]] until 376, when one of their leaders, [[Fritigern]], appealed to the Eastern Roman Emperor [[Valens]] to be allowed to settle with his people on the south bank of the [[Danube]]. Here, they hoped to find refuge from the [[Huns]].{{sfn|Waldman|Mason|2006|pp=844–845}} Valens permitted this, as he saw in them "a splendid recruiting ground for his army".{{sfn|Fuller|1998|p=55}} However, a [[famine]] broke out and Rome was unwilling to supply them with either the food they were promised or the land. Generally, the Goths were abused by the Romans,{{sfn|Waldman|Mason|2006|p=845}} who began forcing the now starving Goths to trade away their children so as to stave off starvation.{{sfn|Durant|1950|p=24}} Open revolt ensued, leading to 6 years of plundering throughout the Balkans, the death of a Roman Emperor and a disastrous defeat of the Roman army.{{sfn|Durant|1950|pp=24–25}}

The [[Battle of Adrianople (378)|Battle of Adrianople]] in 378 was the decisive moment of the war. The Roman forces were slaughtered and the Emperor [[Valens]] was killed during the fighting.{{sfn|Sarris|2002|p=36}} Precisely how Valens fell remains uncertain but Gothic legend tells of how the emperor was taken to a farmhouse, which was set on fire above his head, a tale made more popular by its symbolic representation of a heretical emperor receiving hell's torment.{{sfn|Halsall|2007|pp=178–179}} Many of Rome's leading officers and some of their most elite fighting men died during the battle which struck a major blow to Roman prestige and the Empire's military capabilities.{{sfn|Halsall|2007|p=179}} Adrianople shocked the Roman world and eventually forced the Romans to negotiate with and settle the tribe within the empire's boundaries, a development with far-reaching consequences for the eventual [[fall of the Western Roman Empire|fall of Rome]]. Fourth-century Roman soldier and historian [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] ended his chronology of Roman history with this battle.{{sfn|Katz|1955|pp=88–89}}

Despite the severe consequences for Rome, Adrianople was not nearly as productive overall for the Visigoths and their gains were short-lived. Still confined to a small and relatively impoverished province of the Empire, another Roman army was being gathered against them, an army which also had amid its ranks other disaffected Goths.{{sfn|Todd|2000|p=154}} Intense campaigns against the Visigoths followed their victory at Adrianople for upwards of three years. Approach routes across the Danube provinces were effectively sealed off by concerted Roman efforts, and while there was no decisive victory to claim, it was essentially a Roman triumph ending in a treaty in 382. The treaty struck with the Goths was to be the first ''foedus'' on imperial Roman soil. It required these semi-autonomous Germanic tribes to raise troops for the Roman army in exchange for arable land and freedom from Roman legal structures within the Empire.{{sfn|Halsall|2007|pp=179–180}}{{Efn|Other sources dispute the contents of the supposed "treaty" and claim it was a Gothic surrender.{{sfn|Halsall|2007|pp= 180–81}} }}

===Reign of Alaric I===
[[File:Alaric entering Athens.jpg|upright|thumb|right|An illustration of [[Alaric I|Alaric]] entering [[Athens]] in 395]]
{{Main|Alaric I}}
The new emperor, [[Theodosius I]], made peace with the rebels, and this peace held essentially unbroken until Theodosius died in 395.{{sfn|Burns|2003|pp=322, 374}} In that year, the Visigoths' most famous king, [[Alaric I]], made a bid for the throne, but controversy and intrigue erupted between the East and West, as General [[Stilicho]] tried to maintain his position in the empire.{{sfn|Heather|2013|pp=153–160}} Theodosius was succeeded by his incompetent sons: [[Arcadius]] in the east and [[Honorius (emperor)|Honorius]] in the west. In 397, Alaric was named military commander of the eastern Illyrian prefecture by Arcadius.{{sfn|Waldman|Mason|2006|p=845}}

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.{{sfn|Heather|2013|pp=183–223}} Finally, after the western general Stilicho was executed by Honorius in 408 and the Roman legions massacred the families of thousands of barbarian soldiers who were trying to assimilate into the Roman empire, Alaric decided to march on Rome.{{sfn|Frassetto|2003|pp=204–205}} 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]], and [[sack of Rome (410)|sacked the city]].{{sfn|Halsall|2007|pp=214–217}} However, Rome, while still the official capital, was no longer the ''de facto'' seat of the government of the Western Roman Empire. From the late 370s up to 402, [[Milan]] was the seat of government, but after the siege of Milan the Imperial Court moved to [[Ravenna]] in 402. Honorius visited Rome often, and after his death in 423 the emperors resided mostly there. Rome's fall severely shook the Empire's confidence, especially in the West. Loaded with booty, Alaric and the Visigoths extracted as much as they could with the intention of leaving Italy from Basilicata to [[northern Africa]]. Alaric died before the disembarkation and was buried supposedly near the ruins of Croton. He was succeeded by his wife's brother.{{sfn|Collins|1999|pp=63–65}}

=== Visigothic Kingdom ===

{{Main|Visigothic Kingdom}}

[[File:Europe and the Near East at 476 AD.png|thumb|upright=1.6|Europe at the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD]]

The Visigothic Kingdom was a Western European power in the 5th to 8th centuries, created first in Gaul, when the Romans lost their control of the western half of their empire and then in Hispania until 711. For a brief period, the Visigoths controlled the strongest kingdom in Western Europe.{{sfn|Williams|2004|p=51}} In response to the invasion of [[Hispania|Roman Hispania]] of 409 by the [[Vandals]], [[Alans]], and [[Suebi]], [[Honorius (emperor)|Honorius]], the emperor in the West, enlisted the aid of the Visigoths to regain control of the territory. From 408 to 410 the Visigoths caused so much damage to Rome and the immediate periphery that nearly a decade later, the provinces in and around the city were only able to contribute one-seventh of their previous tax shares.{{sfn|Heather|2005|p=434}}

In 418, Honorius rewarded his Visigothic [[foederati|federates]] by giving them land in [[Gallia Aquitania]] on which to settle after they had attacked the four tribes—[[Suebi]], Asding and Siling [[Vandals]], as well as [[Alans]]—who [[Crossing of the Rhine|had crossed the Rhine]] near [[Roman Mogontiacum|Mogontiacum]] (modern [[Mainz]]) the last day of 406 and eventually were invited into Spain by a Roman usurper in the autumn of 409 (the latter two tribes were devastated). This was probably done under ''hospitalitas'', the rules for billeting army soldiers.{{sfn|Sivan|1987|pp=759–772}} The settlement formed the nucleus of the future Visigothic kingdom that would eventually expand across the [[Pyrenees]] and onto the Iberian peninsula. That Visigothic settlement proved paramount to Europe's future as had it not been for the Visigothic warriors who fought side by side with the Roman troops under general [[Flavius Aetius]], it is perhaps possible that [[Attila]] would have seized control of Gaul, rather than the Romans being able to retain dominance.{{sfn|Burns|2003|p=382}}

The Visigoths' second great king, [[Euric]], unified the various quarreling factions among the Visigoths and, in 475, concluded the peace treaty with the emperor [[Julius Nepos]]. In the treaty the emperor was called a friend (''amicus'') to the Visigoths, while requiring them to address him as lord (''dominus'').{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=186–187}} Though the emperor did not legally recognize Gothic sovereignty, according to some views{{sfn|Barbero|Loring|2005|p=170}} under this treaty the Visigothic kingdom became an independent kingdom. Between 471 and 476, Euric captured most of southern Gaul.{{sfn|Frassetto|2003|p=358}} According to historian J. B. Bury, Euric was probably the "greatest of the Visigothic kings" for he managed to secure territorial gains denied to his predecessors and even acquired access to the [[Mediterranean Sea]].{{sfn|Bury|2000|pp=211–212}} At his death, the Visigoths were the most powerful of the successor states to the Western Roman Empire and were at the very height of their power.{{sfn|Waldman|Mason|2006|p=846}} Not only had Euric secured significant territory, he and his son, [[Alaric II]], who succeeded him, adopted Roman administrative and bureaucratic governance, including Rome's tax gathering policies and legal codes.{{sfn|Frassetto|2003|pp=358–359}}

[[File:Visigothic Kingdom.png|thumb|left|Greatest extent of the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse in light and dark orange, {{circa}} 500. From 585 to 711 Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo in dark orange, green and white (Hispania)]]

At this point, the Visigoths were also the dominant power in the [[Iberian Peninsula]], quickly crushing the [[Alans]] and forcing the [[Vandals]] into [[north Africa]].{{sfn|Carr|2004|p=421}} By 500, the Visigothic Kingdom, centred at [[Toulouse]], controlled Aquitania and [[Gallia Narbonensis]] and most of Hispania with the exception of the [[Kingdom of the Suebi]] in the northwest and small areas controlled by the [[Basques]] and [[Cantabri]]ans.{{sfn|Todd|2000|p=165}} Any survey of western Europe taken during this moment would have led one to conclude that the very future of Europe itself "depended on the Visigoths".{{sfn|Bury|2000|p=213}} However, in 507, the Franks under Clovis I defeated the Visigoths in the [[Battle of Vouillé]] and wrested control of Aquitaine.{{sfn|Frassetto|2003|p=359}} King Alaric II was killed in battle.{{sfn|Waldman|Mason|2006|p=846}} French national myths romanticize this moment as the time when a previously divided Gaul morphed into the united kingdom of [[Francia]] under Clovis.{{sfn|Heather|2013|p=70}}

Visigothic power throughout Gaul was not lost in its entirety due to the support from the powerful Ostrogothic king in Italy, [[Theodoric the Great]], whose forces pushed Clovis I and his armies out of Visigothic territories.{{sfn|Frassetto|2003|p=359}} Theodoric the Great's assistance was not some expression of ethnic altruism, but formed part of his plan to extend his power across Spain and its associated lands.{{sfn|Frassetto|2003|p=359}}

After Alaric II's death, Visigothic nobles spirited his heir, the child-king [[Amalaric]], first to [[Narbonne]], which was the last Gothic outpost in Gaul, and further across the Pyrenees into Hispania. The center of Visigothic rule shifted first to [[Barcelona]], then inland and south to [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]].{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp= 243–45}} From 511 to 526, the Visigoths were ruled by Theoderic the Great of the Ostrogoths as ''de jure'' regent for the young Amalaric. Theodoric's death in 526, however, enabled the Visigoths to restore their royal line and re-partition the Visigothic kingdom through Amalaric, who incidentally, was more than just Alaric II's son; he was also the grandson of Theodoric the Great through his daughter Theodegotho.{{sfn|Heather|2013|p=93}} Amalaric reigned independently for five years.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=245}} Following Amalaric's assassination in 531, another Ostrogothic ruler, Theudis took his place.{{sfn|Carr|2004|p=421}} For the next seventeen years, Theudis held the Visigothic throne.{{sfn|Heather|2013|p=94}}

Sometime in 549, the Visigoth [[Athanagild]] sought military assistance from Justinian I and while this aide helped Athanagild win his wars, the Romans had much more in mind.{{sfn|Carr|2004|p=421}} Granada and southernmost [[Baetica]] were lost to representatives of the [[Byzantine Empire]] (to form the province of [[Spania]]) who had been invited in to help settle this Visigothic dynastic struggle, but who stayed on, as a hoped-for spearhead to a "Reconquest" of the far west envisaged by emperor [[Justinian I]].{{sfn|Roberts|1997|pp=82–85}} Imperial Roman armies took advantage of Visigothic rivalries and established a government at Córdoba.{{sfn|Roberts|1997|p=82}}
[[File:HISPANIA 711.png|thumb|right|Visigothic Hispania and its regional divisions circa 711, before the Muslim conquest]]

The last Arian Visigothic king, [[Liuvigild]], conquered most of the northern regions (Cantabria) in 574, the Suevic kingdom in 584, and regained part of the southern areas lost to the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]],{{sfn|Collins|2000|pp=51–53}} which King [[Suintila]] recovered in 624.{{sfn|Arce|1999|p=4}} Suintila reigned until 631.{{sfn|Collins|2004|p=69}} Generally speaking, the Visigothic monarchy in Hispania developed a sophisticated legal tradition that was fundamentally Roman in orientation. Rather than implementing a "Germanic" legal system, Visigothic kings built upon the legacy of imperial jurisprudence. Alaric II’s promulgation of the ''Breviarium Alaricianum'' was based heavily on the ''Codex Theodosianus'', and his successors—including Liuvigild, Chindaswinth, and Recceswinth—continued to issue legal codifications that fused Roman civil law with Christian moral precepts. Far from representing a break with Roman law, these legal texts exemplify the adaptation and continuation of late Roman legal culture in a Gothic context, challenging older historiographical models that sought to sharply distinguish post-Roman "barbarian" governance from its imperial predecessor.{{sfn|Wood|2025|pp=232–233}} 

Only one historical source was written between the years 625 through 711, which comes from Julian of Toledo and only deals with the years 672 and 673.{{sfn|Collins|2004|p=70}} [[Wamba (king)|Wamba]] was the king of the Visigoths from 672 to 680.{{sfn|Collins|2004|p=70}} During his reign, the Visigothic kingdom encompassed all of Hispania and part of southern Gaul known as [[Septimania]]. Wamba was succeeded by King Ervig, whose rule lasted until 687.{{sfn|Collins|2004|pp=102–104}} Collins observes that "Ervig proclaimed Egica as his chosen successor" on 14 November 687.{{sfn|Collins|2004|p=105}} In 700, Egica's son Wittiza followed him on the throne according to the ''Chronica Regum Visigothorum''.{{sfn|Collins|2004|p=109}}

The kingdom survived until 711, when King [[Roderic]] (Rodrigo) was killed while opposing an invasion from the south by the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] in the [[Battle of Guadalete]]. This marked the beginning of the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania]], when most of the Iberian Peninsula came under [[Islam]]ic rule in the early 8th century.{{sfn|Roberts|1997|pp=96–100}}

A Visigothic nobleman, [[Pelagius of Asturias|Pelayo]], defeated the Umayyad forces in the [[Battle of Covadonga]] in 718 and established the [[Kingdom of Asturias]] in the northern part of the peninsula.{{sfn|Williams|2004|p=60}} According to Joseph F. O'Callaghan, the remnants of the Hispano-Gothic aristocracy still played an important role in the society of Hispania. At the end of Visigothic rule, the assimilation of Hispano-Romans and Visigoths was occurring at a fast pace.{{sfn|O'Callaghan|1975|p=176}} Their nobility had begun to think of themselves as constituting one people, the ''gens Gothorum'' or the ''Hispani''. An unknown number of them fled and took refuge in Asturias or Septimania. In Asturias they supported Pelagius's uprising, and joining with the indigenous leaders, formed a new aristocracy. The population of the mountain region consisted of native [[Astures]], [[Galicians]], [[Cantabri]], [[Basques]] and other groups unassimilated into Hispano-Gothic society.{{sfn|O'Callaghan|1975|p=286}} Other Visigoths who refused to adopt the Muslim faith or live under their rule fled north to the kingdom of the [[Franks]], and Visigoths played key roles in the empire of [[Charlemagne]] a few generations later. In the early years of the [[Emirate of Córdoba]], a group of Visigoths who remained under Muslim dominance constituted the personal bodyguard of the [[Emir]], [[al-Haras]].{{sfn|Wolf|2014|pp=14–15}}

During their long reign in Spain, the Visigoths were responsible for the [[Visigothic Kingdom#Founding of cities|only new cities founded in Western Europe between the 5th and 8th centuries]]. It is certain (through contemporary Spanish accounts) that they founded four: [[Reccopolis]], Victoriacum (modern [[Vitoria-Gasteiz]], though perhaps [[Iruña-Veleia]]), Luceo and [[Olite]]. There is also a possible 5th city ascribed to them by a later Arabic source: ''Baiyara'' (perhaps modern [[Montoro]]). All of these cities were founded for military purposes and three of them in celebration of victory. Despite the fact that the Visigoths reigned in Spain for upwards of 250 years, there are few remnants of the Gothic language borrowed into Spanish.{{sfn |Ostler|2006|p=307}}{{Efn|The Words such as: ''werra'' > ''guerra'' (war), falda > falda (skirt) and skankjan > escanciar (to pour out); See [http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/la-poca-visigoda-0/html/00f49212-82b2-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html La época visigoda Susana Rodríguez Rosique] (Spanish) in Cervantes Virtual. Accessed 15 October 2017.}}{{Efn|The linguistic remnants of the Gothic people in Spain are sparse. A few place names and a mere handful of well-known "Spanish" first names, such as Alfonso, Fernando, Gonzalo, Elvira, and Rodrigo are of Germanic (Visigothic) origin.{{sfn|Todd|2000|p=175}} }}
The Visigoths as heirs of the Roman empire lost their language and intermarried with the Hispano-Roman population of Spain.{{sfn|Nadeau|Barlow|2013|pp=28–35}}

The medieval Spanish nobility has its most remote origin in the Visigothic Monarchy. After the Arab invasion of the peninsula in the eighth century, Christians were forced to retreat to the north of the peninsula where that primitive Visigoth nobility settled. Among these Christians who took refuge in the north were a large part of the nobles linked to the disappeared Visigoth monarchy of Don Rodrigo (King Roderic), and who were welcomed by the local population and later became part of the local nobility.{{sfn|Calderón Ortega|2009|pp=35–52}}