Gothia (Gothic Survival)

== History of Gothia ==
=== Early Gothic history, division of the Goths: ===
According to Herwig Wolfram, following Jordanes, the Ostrogoths had a huge kingdom north of the Black Sea in the 4th century, which the Huns overwhelmed in the time of the Gothic king Ermanaric (or Hermanric; i.e. "king of noblemen") when the Huns migrated to the Ukrainian steppe. The Ostrogoths became vassals of the Huns until the death of Attila, when they revolted and regained independence. According to Peter Heather and Michael Kulikowski, the Ostrogoths did not even exist until the 5th century, when they emerged from other Gothic and non-Gothic groups. 
Other Gothic groups may have settled in Crimea. It has also been speculated that the Crimean Goths were in fact Saxons escaping Christian persecution from the west, or North Germanic tribes who migrated southwards. Either way, the existence of Goths in Crimea was first attested from around the 3rd century, following which they were well reported. During the late 5th and early 6th century, the Crimean Goths had to fight off hordes of Huns who were migrating back eastward after losing control of their European empire. In the 5th century, Theodoric the Great tried to recruit Crimean Goths for his campaigns in Italy, but few showed interest in joining him.
From here, the Gothic world split in two directions: The remaining independent Gothic and related tribes in the east, led by the Ostrogoths, moved around the Crimean peninsula and parts of southern Ukraine, settling them progressively throughout the 5th and 6th centuries, well the Visigoths, who had a much higher population, were subsequently settled in southern Gaul as foederati to the Romans, a relationship that was established in 418. From this the Visigoths developed as an independent kingdom with their capital at Toulouse, and they extended their authority into Hispania at the expense of the Suebi and Vandals who had taken control of large swathes of Roman territory. In 507, Visigothic rule in Gaul was ended by the Franks under Clovis I, who defeated them in the Battle of Vouillé.
It is within what is now Spain and Portugal that the Visigoths created the polity for which they are best remembered. During their governance of Hispania, the Visigoths built several churches that survived and left many artifacts, items which have been discovered in increasing numbers by Gothic archaeologists in recent years. The Treasure of Guarrazar of votive crowns and crosses are the most spectacular among the finds thus far. In or around 589, the Visigoths under Reccared I converted from Arian Christianity to Nicene Christianity, gradually adopting the culture of their Hispano-Roman subjects. Their legal code, the Visigothic Code (completed in 654), abolished the longstanding practice of applying different laws for Hispano-Roman population and Visigoths. Once legal distinctions were no longer being made between Romani and Goths, they became known collectively as Hispani. In the century that followed, the region was dominated by the Councils of Toledo and the episcopacy. 
=== The Union of Goths: ===
In 711, an invading force of Arabs and Berbers defeated the Visigoths during the Battle of Guadalete. The Visigoth king, Roderic, and many members of the Visigothic governing elite were forced to flee Toledo and their kingdom rapidly collapsed. Roderic, leading as many of his people as he could save, likely a few hundred Visigothic elites, loaded dozens of ships and sailed from Barcelona with the massive Umayyad fleet in hot pursuit, towards Gothia, knowing they'd accept their Visigothic brethren in such a time of crisis. This was followed by the subsequent formation of the Kingdom of Asturias in northern Spain and the beginning of the Reconquista by Christian troops under Pelagius.
Upon arriving at Gothia, the Byzantines helpfully blocking the Umayyad fleet from entering the straights of Constantinople, Roderic was given a condition to his people's acceptance into Gothia. The Union of Goths was the first preserved Gothic text, written in the Old Gothic script, in which Roderic agreed that all Goths were to be unified under one king, and one land.