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Richard Kettlewell ([personal profile] ewx) wrote2012-02-18 03:58 pm
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Visigothic Spain

Visigothic Spain, Roger Collins, ISBN 0-631-18185-7

This relatively recent book covers what is known and speculated about the period of Spain’s history in which it was ruled by the Visigoths, from the 5th century CE up to the Arab conquest in the early 8th. The first section provides a narrative of the history of the era, so far as it can be determined; the second section discusses various aspects of the society of Gothic Spain.

It is not a well-documented period and there is not a great supply of archeological information to go on either. Moreover matters are sometimes obscured by later inventions and interpretations; Collins debunks the story of Julian of Ceuta as a ninth century fiction, for instance, and is profoundly suspicious of the basis of which certain types of graves are assigned to the Visigoths.

The evidence suggests that the Visigothic kingdom was well connected to the Mediterranean world: there are bishops with Greek and African names to be found, one of the chroniclers of the era visited Constantinople in his youth and for a time there was a Byzantine exarchate on the Spanish mainland. Collins also finds close parallels between Gothic and Roman law codes. On the whole the impression is that, while the transition from Roman to Gothic rule was undeniably disruptive, there is continuity to be found too.

In contrast to the contemporary Frankish kingdoms, the Visigoths appear to have been suspicious of hereditary succession, and instead sought to pick effective kings from among the elite, usually with reasonable success. Collins suggests that an otherwise temporary failure to manage this process in the early C8th explains the success of the Arab invasion, though also points out the (probable) limited numbers and lack of military preparedness of the Visigothic elite as important factors.