Query: The Visigoths gradually adopted the culture of their Italian subjects.

Relevant passages:
Visigoths <=SEP=> The Visigoths ( UK : -LSB- ˈvɪzɪˌɡɒθs -RSB- US : -LSB- ˈvɪzɪˌɡɑːθs -RSB- Visigothi , Wisigothi , Vesi , Visi , Wesi , or Wisi Visigoti ) were the western branches of the nomadic tribes of Germanic peoples referred to collectively as the Goths . These tribes flourished and spread throughout the late Roman Empire in Late Antiquity , or what is known as the Migration Period . The Visigoths emerged from earlier Gothic groups ( possibly the Thervingi ) who had invaded the Roman Empire beginning in 376 and had defeated the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople in 378 . Relations between the Romans and the Visigoths were variable , alternately warring with one another and making treaties when convenient . The Visigoths invaded Italy under Alaric I and sacked Rome in 410 . After the Visigoths sacked Rome , they began settling down , first in southern Gaul and eventually in Spain and Portugal , where they founded the Visigothic Kingdom and maintained a presence from the 5th to the 8th centuries AD .   The Visigoths first settled in southern Gaul as foederati of the Romans -- a relationship established in 418 . However , they soon fell out with their Roman hosts ( for reasons that are now obscure ) and established their own kingdom with its capital at Toulouse . They next extended their authority into Hispania at the expense of the Suebi and Vandals . In 507 , however , their rule in Gaul was ended by the Franks under Clovis I , who defeated them in the Battle of Vouillé . After that , the Visigoth kingdom was limited to Hispania , and they never again held territory north of the Pyrenees other than Septimania . A small , elite group of Visigoths came to dominate the governance of that region at the expense of those who had previously ruled there , particularly in the Byzantine province of Spania and the Kingdom of the Suebi .   In or around 589 , the Visigoths under Reccared I converted from Arianism 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 Romans and Visigoths . Once legal distinctions were no longer being made between Romani and Gothi , they became known collectively as Hispani . In the century that followed , the region was dominated by the Councils of Toledo and the episcopacy . ( Little else is known about the Visigoths ' history during the 7th century , since records are relatively sparse . ) In 711 or 712 , a force of invading African Moors defeated the Visigoths in the Battle of Guadalete . Their king and many members of their governing elite were killed , and their kingdom rapidly collapsed . Gothic identity survived , however , especially in Marca Hispanica and the Kingdom of Asturias , which had been founded by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius of Asturias after his victory over the Moors at the Battle of Covadonga .   During their governance of the Kingdom of Hispania , the Visigoths built several churches that survive . They also left many artifacts , which have been discovered in increasing numbers by archaeologists in recent times . The Treasure of Guarrazar of votive crowns and crosses is the most spectacular . They founded the only new cities in western Europe from the fall of the Western half of the Roman Empire until the rise of the Carolingian dynasty . Many Visigothic names are still in use in modern Spanish and Portuguese . Their most notable legacy , however , was the Visigothic Code , which served , among other things , as the basis for court procedure in most of Christian Iberia until the Late Middle Ages , centuries after the demise of the kingdom .