Editing History of Spain (section)

=== Visigothic rule ===
{{main|Visigothic Kingdom}}
[[File:El rey Don Rodrigo arengando a sus tropas en la batalla de Guadalete (Museo del Prado).jpg|thumb|Visigothic King [[Roderic]] haranguing his troops before the [[Battle of Guadalete]]]]
The [[Visigothic Kingdom]] conquered all of Hispania and ruled it until the early 8th century, when the peninsula fell to the [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquests]]. Hispania never saw a decline in interest in classical culture to the degree observable in Britain, Gaul, and Germany. The Visigoths, having assimilated Roman culture and language during their tenure as ''foederati'', maintained more of the old Roman institutions. They had a unique respect for legal codes that resulted in continuous frameworks and historical records for most of the period between 415, when Visigothic rule in Hispania began, and 711 when it is traditionally said to end.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Las fuentes del Derecho Visigodo (I)|department=Derecho UNED|url=https://derecho.isipedia.com/primero/historia-del-derecho-espanol/parte-4-la-espana-visigoda/10-las-fuentes-del-derecho-visigodo-i|access-date=2022-08-17|website=isipedia.com|archive-date=2021-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924145828/http://derecho.isipedia.com/primero/historia-del-derecho-espanol/parte-4-la-espana-visigoda/10-las-fuentes-del-derecho-visigodo-i|url-status=usurped}}</ref> The [[Visigothic Code|''Liber Iudiciorum'']] or Lex Visigothorum (654), also known as the Book of Judges, which [[Recceswinth]] promulgated, based on Roman law and Germanic customary laws, brought about legal unification. According to the historian Joseph O'Callaghan, at that time they already considered themselves one people and together with the Hispano-Gothic nobility they called themselves the ''gens Gothorum''.<ref name="O'Callaghan2013">{{cite book|first=Joseph F.|last=O'Callaghan|title=A History of Medieval Spain|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=cq2dDgAAQBAJ|page=176}}|date=2013|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-6872-8|page=176}}</ref> In the early Middle Ages, the ''Liber Iudiciorum'' was known as the Visigothic Code and also as the ''[[Fuero Juzgo]]''. Its influence on law extends to the present.

The proximity of the Visigothic kingdoms to the Mediterranean and the continuity (though reduced) of western Mediterranean trade supported Visigothic culture. The Visigothic ruling class looked to [[Constantinople]] for style and technology.

Spanish Catholicism also coalesced during this time. The period of rule by the [[Visigothic Kingdom]] saw the spread of [[Arianism]] briefly in Hispania.{{sfn|Smith|1965|pp=16–17}} The [[Councils of Toledo]] debated creed and liturgy in orthodox [[Catholicism]], and the Council of Lerida in 546 constrained the clergy and extended the power of law over them with the approval of the Pope. In 587, the Visigothic king at Toledo, [[Reccared]], converted to Catholicism and launched a movement to unify the various religious doctrines in Hispania.

The Visigoths inherited from Late Antiquity a [[feudal|prefeudal]] system in Hispania,<ref name="O'Callaghan201356">{{cite book|first=Joseph F.|last=O'Callaghan|title=A History of Medieval Spain|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=cq2dDgAAQBAJ|page=56}}|date=2013|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-6872-8|page=56}}</ref> based in the south on the Roman [[villa]] system and in the north drawing on their vassals to supply troops in exchange for protection. The bulk of the Visigothic army was composed of slaves. The loose council of nobles that advised Hispania's Visigothic kings and legitimized their rule was responsible for raising the army, and only upon its consent was the king able to summon soldiers.

The economy of the Visigothic kingdom depended primarily on agriculture and animal husbandry; there is little evidence of Visigothic commerce and industry.<ref name="Brittannica2020">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Spain – The Visigothic kingdom|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Spain/The-Visigothic-kingdom|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=28 August 2020}}</ref>
The native Hispani maintained the cultural and economic life of Hispania and were responsible for the relative prosperity of the 6th and 7th centuries. Administration was still based on Roman law, and only gradually did Visigothic customs and Roman common law merge.{{sfn|Payne|1973a|p=[https://web.archive.org/web/20190224055703/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/53ae/6f5f58813a4490805f333b99e24c20e329e5.pdf Ancient Hispania, p. 7]}}

The Visigoths did not, until the period of Muslim rule, intermarry with the Spanish population, and the Visigothic language had a limited impact on the modern languages of Iberia.{{sfn|Collins|2004|p={{page needed|date=July 2021}}}} The historian Joseph F. O'Callaghan says that at the end of the Visigothic era the assimilation of Hispano-Romans and Visigoths was occurring rapidly, and the leaders of society were beginning to see themselves as one people.<ref name="O'Callaghan2013"/> Little literature in the Gothic language remains from the period of Visigothic rule—only translations of parts of the Greek Bible and a few fragments of other documents have survived.<ref name="Murdoch2004">{{cite book|first=Brian|last=Murdoch|title=[[Early Germanic Literature and Culture]]|chapter-url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=YWFIw6LZhq0C|page=149}}|editor1=William Whobrey|editor2=Brian Murdoch|editor3=James N. Hardin|editor4=Malcolm Kevin Read|year=2004|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=978-1-57113-199-7|page=149|chapter=Gothic}}</ref>

The Hispano-Romans found Visigothic rule and its early embrace of the Arian heresy more of a threat than Islam, and shed their thralldom to the Visigoths only in the 8th century, with the aid of the Muslims themselves.<ref name="Pannenberg1991">{{cite book|first=Wolfhart|last=Pannenberg|title=Systematic Theology|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=eFTqvoic7gsC|page=512}}|year=1991|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-3708-0|page=512}}</ref> The most visible effect of Visigothic rule was the depopulation of the cities as their inhabitants moved to the countryside. Even while the country enjoyed a degree of prosperity when compared to France and Germany, the Visigoths felt little reason to contribute to the welfare, permanency, and infrastructure of their people and state. This contributed to their downfall, as they could not count on the loyalty of their subjects when the [[Moors]] arrived in the 8th century.{{sfn|Collins|2004|p={{page needed|date=July 2021}}}}