Visigoths
Authors: Senra José-Luis 
Published: March 2021

The history of the Visigoths constitutes an important period of transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Through a fractured and troublesome process of settlement, political-religious stabilization, and territorial rule, the Visigoths established one of the most influential and developed European kingdoms toward the latter part of their reign. Like the other so-called Barbarian peoples, they oscillated between perpetuation of the omnipresent Roman culture that they had replaced and their own original contributions (Guzmán Armario 2005, cited under General Overviews). Their legislation, form of government, and institutions reached maturity in the 7th century, a point at which they achieved both religious unity and complete territorial rule of the Iberian Peninsula. Numismatic testimony allows us to verify this gradual process of attaining a unique identity. In some cases, they pursued the Roman legacy to an intense degree. We know, for example, that the land-owning aristocracy maintained the latifundium system with the use of slaves or free farmers. From the point of view of the administration of justice, the essential text was the Visigothic Code, or Liber Iudiciorum, which came into effect in the middle of the 7th century and was an adaption of older materials (Pérez-Prendes y Muñoz-Arraco 2004, cited under Institutions) that evolved throughout the second half of the century and constituted a key component in the transformation of medieval Spanish kingdoms. The numerous models issued by the successive councils produced effective social coordination. Because the monarchy was beset by a lack of continuity and problems of succession, during their final days the Visigoths instituted a new procedure for monarchic legitimation: anointment (beginning in at least 672 with Wamba), which became the highest expression of the monarchy, established by the divine grace that crystallized a theocratic power. Its efficacy as a tool of legitimation is evidenced by the fact that it was adopted a century later by the Carolingian monarchy. The continuation of the Roman substrate is also evident in ecclesiastical organization, in which the shelter of an energetic Christianity allowed for a reorganization of spaces in favor of the figure of the bishop (Ripoll and Gurt 2000, cited under Urbanism). The so-called episcopal groups were promoted as visual platforms of the religious and civil power held by the bishops held, who were also promoted as the defenders of urban spaces. Centers for devotion to martyrs were also built outside the cities; these were true centers of social cohesion that actively revitalized suburban areas. The era also witnessed the foundation of important urban centers, some of which stand out for their palatial character: Reccopolis, an initiative of King Leovigild, as a genuine exercise of power emulating the Roman and Byzantine Empires (e.g., Adrianopole, Constantinople, and Nicaea) (Olmo Enciso 2000, cited under Urbanism). Historians traditionally, although not unanimously, have associated Reccopolis with the site of the Cerro de la Oliva (in Zorita de los Canes, Guadalajara, near Madrid). Outside the cities, several rural monastic settlements stand out for their role as nuclei of interaction and cohesion between the important landowners and the Hispano-Roman farming population (Castellanos García 1999, cited under Monasticism). Beyond the phenomenon of the hermitage, which already existed in the 5th century, the period saw the establishment of various monastic rules, yet given our scarce archaeological knowledge, we are far from understanding the ways in which these religious establishments were planned (Campos Ruiz and Roca Meliá 1971, cited under Monasticism). The Visigoths’ revitalization of Roman culture, which took place gradually until the beginning of the 7th century following the Empire’s collapse in the late 5th century, is often ignored; however, on the basis of early writers such as Isidore of Seville, Eugenius of Toledo, Braulio of Zaragoza, Julian of Toledo, and Ildefonsus of Toledo, some authors have begun to talk about a Roman “renaissance” (Díaz y Díaz 1976, cited under Education and Culture). The 7th century in Spain therefore denotes a period of growth that would come to an end with the fall of the kingdom in the early 8th century. Nonetheless, the study of the ecclesiastical architecture that has survived into the current era does not offer any clear conclusions, in part due to the debate surrounding the chronology of many of these structures. Moreover, it has been even more difficult to trace a comprehensive chronology of typologies and, with it, to detect possible liturgical variations based on changing contexts. The standstill in the scholarly debate between “Visigothists” and “Mozarabists” concerning the interpretation of these architectural structures compels us to trust in the progressive results of urban architecture (Ripoll 2012, cited under Architecture and Archaeology). We can conclude by affirming that the Visigothic period signifies a moment of utmost importance, not only for the transfer of a large part of the rich Roman legacy, but also for the subsequent creation of medieval mentalities based on the historical mythification of the period. These would also progressively be drawn into a debate over the national identity of Spain, starting with the beginning of the modern age (Geary 2002, cited under General Overviews), and often at the expense of our knowledge of the rich Andalusi legacy that followed it.