VISIGOTHIC SPAIN, 409-713
[Sidenote: General characteristics of the Visigothic era.]
The Roman influence in Spain did not end, even politically, in the year
409, which marked the first successful invasion of the peninsula by a
Germanic people and the beginning of the Visigothic era. The Visigoths
themselves did not arrive in that year, and did not establish their rule
over the land until long afterward. Even then, one of the principal
characteristics of the entire era was the persistence of Roman
civilization. Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that the Visigoths left
few permanent traces of their civilization, they were influential for so
long a time in the history of Spain that it is appropriate to give their
name to the period elapsing from the first Germanic invasion to the
beginning of the Moslem conquest. The northern peoples, of whom the
Visigoths were by far the principal element, reinvigorated the
peninsula, both by compelling a return to a more primitive mode of life,
and also by some intermixture of blood. They introduced legal,
political, and religious principles which served in the end only to
strengthen the Roman civilization by reason of the very combat necessary
to the ultimate Roman success. The victory of the Roman church came in
this era, but that of the Roman law and government was delayed until the
period from the thirteenth to the close of the fifteenth century.
[Sidenote: Coming of the Vandals, Alans, and Suevians.]
In the opening years of the fifth century the Vandals, who had been in
more or less hostile contact with the Romans during more than two
centuries, left their homes within modern Hungary, and emigrated, men,
women, and children, toward the Rhine. With them went the Alans, and a
little later a group of the Suevians joined them. They invaded the
region of what is now France, and after devastating it for several years
passed into Spain in the year 409. There seems to have been no effective
resistance, whereupon the conquerors divided the land, giving Galicia to
the Suevians and part of the Vandals, and the southern country from
Portugal to Cartagena to the Alans and another group of Vandals. A great
part of Spain still remained subject to the Roman Empire, even in the
regions largely dominated by the Germanic peoples. The bonds between
Spain and the empire were slight, however, for the political strife in
Italy had caused the withdrawal of troops and a general neglect of the
province, wherefore the regions not acknowledging Germanic rule tended
to become semi-independent nuclei.
[Sidenote: Wanderings of the Visigoths.]
The more important Visigothic invasion was not long in coming. The
Visigoths (or the Goths of the west,--to distinguish them from their
kinsmen, the Ostrogoths, or Goths of the east) had migrated in a body
from Scandinavia in the second century to the region of the Black Sea,
and in the year 270 established themselves north of the Danube. Pushed
on by the Huns they crossed that river toward the close of the fourth
century, and entered the empire, contracting with the emperors to defend
it. Their long contact with the Romans had already modified their
customs, and had resulted in their acceptance of Christianity. They had
at first received the orthodox faith, but were later converted to the
Arian form, which was not in accord with the Nicene creed. After taking
up their dwelling within the empire the Visigoths got into a dispute
with the emperors, and under their great leader Alaric waged war on them
in the east. At length they invaded Italy, and in the year 410 captured
and sacked the city of Rome, the first time such an event had occurred
in eight hundred years. Alaric was succeeded by Ataulf, who led the
Visigoths out of Italy into southern France. There he made peace with
the empire, being allowed to remain as a dependent ally of Rome in the
land he had conquered. In all of these wanderings the whole tribe, all
ages and both sexes, went along. From this point as a base the
Visigoths made a beginning of the organization which was to become a
powerful independent state. There, too, in this very Roman part of the
empire, they became more and more Romanized.
[Sidenote: The Visigothic invasion.]
The Visigoths were somewhat troublesome allies, for they proceeded to
conquer southern France for themselves. Thereupon, war broke out with
the emperor, and it was in the course of this conflict that they made
their first entry into Spain. This occurred in the year 414, when Ataulf
crossed the Pyrenees and captured Barcelona. Not long afterward, Wallia,
a successor of Ataulf, made peace with the emperor, gaining title
thereby to the conquests which Ataulf had made in southern France, but
renouncing those in Spain. The Visigoths also agreed to make war on the
Suevians and the other Germanic peoples in Spain, on behalf of the
empire. Thus the Visigoths remained in the peninsula, but down to the
year 456 made no conquests on their own account. Wallia set up his
capital at Toulouse, France, and it was not until the middle of the
sixth century that a Spanish city became the Visigothic seat of
government.
[Sidenote: The Visigothic conquest.]
The Visigoths continued to be rather uncertain allies of the Romans.
They did indeed conquer the Alans, and reduced the power of the Vandals
until in 429 the latter people migrated anew, going to northern Africa.
The Suevians were a more difficult enemy to cope with, however,
consolidating their power in Galicia, and at one time they overran
southern Spain, although they were soon obliged to abandon it. It was
under the Visigothic king Theodoric that the definite break with the
empire, in 456, took place. He not only conquered on his own account in
Spain, but also extended his dominions in France. His successor, Euric
(467-485), did even more. Except for the territory of the Suevians in
the northwest and west centre and for various tiny states under
Hispano-Roman or perhaps indigenous nobles in southern Spain and in the
mountainous regions of the north, Euric conquered the entire peninsula.
He extended his French holdings until they reached the river Loire. No
monarch of western Europe was nearly so powerful. The Visigothic
conquest, as also the conquests by the other Germanic peoples, had been
marked by considerable violence, not only toward the conquered peoples
of a different faith, but also in their dealings with one another. The
greatest of the Visigothic kings often ascended the throne as a result
of the assassination of their predecessors, who were in many cases their
own brothers. Such was the case with Theodoric and with Euric, and the
latter was one of the fortunate few who died a natural death. This
condition of affairs was to continue throughout the Visigothic period,
supplemented by other factors tending to increase the disorder and
violence of the age.
[Sidenote: Visigothic losses to the Franks and the Byzantine Romans.]
The death of Euric was contemporaneous with the rise of a new power in
the north of France. The Franks, under Clovis, were just beginning their
career of conquest, and they coveted the Visigothic lands to the south
of them. In 496 the Franks were converted to Christianity, but unlike
the Visigoths they became Catholic Christians. This fact aided them
against the Visigoths, for the subject population in the lands of the
latter was also Catholic. Clovis was therefore enabled to take the
greater part of Visigothic France, including the capital city, in 508,
restricting the Visigoths to the region about Narbonne, which
thenceforth became their capital. In the middle of the sixth century a
Visigothic noble, Athanagild, in his ambition to become king invited the
great Roman emperor Justinian (for the empire continued to exist in the
east, long after its dissolution in the west in 476) to assist him.
Justinian sent an army, through whose aid Athanagild attained his
ambition, but at the cost of a loss of territory to the Byzantine
Romans. Aided by the Hispano-Romans, who continued to form the bulk of
the population, and who were attracted both by the imperial character
and by the Catholic faith of the newcomers, the latter were able to
occupy the greater part of southern Spain. Nevertheless, Athanagild
showed himself to be an able king, and it was during his reign (554-567)
that a Spanish city first became capital of the kingdom, for Athanagild
fixed his residence in Toledo. The next king returned to France, leaving
his brother, Leovgild, as ruler in Spain. On the death of the former in
573 Leovgild became sole ruler, and the capital returned to Toledo to
remain thereafter in Spain.
[Sidenote: Leovgild.]
Leovgild (573-586) was the greatest ruler of the Visigoths in Spain. He
was surrounded by difficulties which taxed his powers to the utmost. In
Spain he was confronted by the Byzantine provinces of the south, the
Suevian kingdom of the west and northwest, and the Hispano-Roman and
native princelets of the north. All of these elements were Catholic, for
the Suevians had recently been converted to that faith, and therefore
might count in some degree on the sympathy of Leovgild’s Catholic
subjects. Furthermore, like kings before his time and afterward,
Leovgild had to contend with his own Visigothic nobles, who, though
Arian in religion, resented any increase in the royal authority, lest it
in some manner diminish their own. In particular the nobility were
opposed to Leovgild’s project of making the monarchy hereditary instead
of elective; the latter had been the Visigothic practice, and was
favored by the nobles because it gave them an opportunity for personal
aggrandizement. The same difficulties had to be faced in France, where
the Franks were the foreign enemy to be confronted. All of these
problems were attacked by Leovgild with extraordinary military and
diplomatic skill. While he held back the Franks in France he conquered
his enemies in Spain, until nothing was left outside his power except
two small strips of Byzantine territory, one in the southwest and the
other in the southeast. Internal issues were complicated by the
conversion of his son Hermenegild to Catholicism. Hermenegild accepted
the leadership of the party in revolt against his father, and it was six
years before Leovgild prevailed. The rebellious son was subsequently put
to death, but there is no evidence that Leovgild was responsible.
[Sidenote: Reccared.]
Another son, Reccared (586-601), succeeded Leovgild, and to him is due
the conversion of the Visigoths to Catholic Christianity. The mass of
the people and the Hispano-Roman aristocracy were Catholic, and were a
danger to the state, not only because of their numbers, but also because
of their wealth and superior culture. Reccared therefore announced his
conversion (in 587 or 589), and was followed in his change of faith by
not a few of the Visigoths. This did not end internal difficulties of a
religious nature, for the Arian sect, though less powerful than the
Catholic, continued to be a factor to reckon with during the remainder
of Visigothic rule. Reccared also did much of a juridical character to
do away with the differences which separated the Visigoths and
Hispano-Romans, in this respect following the initiative of his father.
After the death of Reccared, followed by three brief reigns of which no
notice need be taken, there came two kings who successfully completed
the Visigothic conquest of the peninsula. Sisebut conquered the
Byzantine province of the southeast, and Swinthila that of the
southwest. Thus in 623 the Visigothic kings became sole rulers in the
peninsula,--when already their career was nearing an end.
[Sidenote: Last century of Visigothic rule.]
The last century of the Visigothic era was one of great internal
turbulence, arising mainly from two problems: the difficulties in the
way of bringing about a fusion of the races; and the conflict between
the king and the nobility, centring about the question of the succession
to the throne. The first of these was complicated by a third element,
the Jews, who had come to Spain in great numbers, and had enjoyed high
consideration down to the time of Reccared, but had been badly treated
thereafter. Neither in the matter of race fusion nor in that of
hereditary succession were the kings successful, despite the support of
the clergy. Two kings, however, took important steps with regard to the
former question. Chindaswinth established a uniform code for both
Visigoths and Hispano-Romans, finding a mean between the laws of both.
This was revised and improved by his son and successor, Recceswinth, and
it was this code, the _Lex Visigothorum_ (Law of the Visigoths), which
was to exercise such an important influence in succeeding centuries
under its more usual title of the _Fuero Juzgo_.[9] Nevertheless, it was
this same Recceswinth who conceded to the nobility the right of
electing the king. Internal disorder did not end, for the nobles
continued to war with one another and with the king. The next king,
Wamba (672-680), lent a dying splendor to the Visigothic rule by the
brilliance of his military victories in the course of various civil
wars. Still, the only real importance of his reign was that it
foreshadowed the peril which was to overwhelm Spain a generation later.
The Moslem Arabs had already extended their domain over northern Africa,
and in Wamba’s time they made an attack in force on the eastern coast of
Spain, but were badly defeated by him. A later invasion in another reign
likewise failed.
[Sidenote: The Moslem conquest.]
The last reigns of the Visigothic kings need not be chronicled, except
as they relate to the entry of the Mohammedans into Spain. King Witiza
endeavored to procure the throne for his son Achila without an election
by the nobility, and Achila in fact succeeded, but in the ensuing civil
war Roderic, the candidate of the nobility, was successful, being
crowned king in the year 710. What followed has never been clearly
ascertained, but it seems likely that the partisans of Achila sought aid
of the Moslem power in northern Africa, and also that the Spanish Jews
plotted for a Moslem invasion of Spain. At any rate the subsequent
invasion found support among both of these elements. Once in 709 and
again in 710 Moslem forces had effected minor landings between Algeciras
and Tarifa, but in 711 the Berber chief Tarik landed with a strong army
of his own people at Gibraltar,[10] and marched in the direction of
Cádiz. Roderic met him at the lake of Janda,[11] and would have defeated
him but for the treacherous desertion of a large body of his troops who
went over to the side of Tarik. Roderic was utterly beaten, and Tarik
pushed on even to the point of capturing Toledo. In the next year the
Arab Musa came from Africa with another army, and took Mérida after an
obstinate siege which lasted a year. Up to this time the invaders had
met with little popular resistance; rather they had been welcomed. With
the fall of Mérida, however, it began to be clear that they had no
intention of leaving the country. At the battle of Segoyuela[12] Musa
and Tarik together won a complete victory, in which it is believed that
Roderic was killed. Musa then proceeded to Toledo, and proclaimed the
Moslem caliph as ruler of the land.
[Sidenote: The family in Visigothic law.]
There were four principal racial elements in the peninsula in the
Visigothic period: the indigenous peoples of varying grades of culture;
the Germanic peoples; the western Roman, which formed a numerous body,
more or less completely Romanized; and the Byzantine Roman, which
influenced even beyond the Byzantine territories in Spain through the
support of the clergy. The two last-named elements were the most
important. The Germanic tribes, especially the Visigoths, had already
become modified by contact with Rome before they reached Spain, and
tended to become yet more so. The Visigoths reverted to the family in
the broad sense of all descended from the same trunk as the unit of
society, instead of following the individualistic basis of Rome,
although individuals had considerable liberty. Members of the family
were supposed to aid and protect one another, and an offence against one
was held to be against all. A woman could not marry without the consent
of her family, which sold her to the favored candidate for her hand. She
must remain faithful to her husband and subject to his will, but _he_
was allowed to have concubines. Nevertheless, she had a right to share
in property earned after marriage, and to have the use of a deceased
husband’s estate, provided she did not marry again. A man might make a
will, but must leave four-fifths of his property to his descendants.
Children were subject to their parents, but the latter did not have the
earlier right of life and death, and the former might acquire some
property of their own.
[Sidenote: Social classes in the Visigothic era.]
The great number of social classes at the close of the Roman period was
increased under the Visigoths, and the former inequalities were
accentuated, for the insecurity of the times tended to increase the
grades of servitude and personal dependence. The nobility was at first a
closed body, but later became open to anybody important enough to enter
it. The kings ennobled whomsoever they chose, and this was one of the
causes of the conflict between them and the older nobility. Freemen
generally sank back into a condition of dependence; in the country they
became serfs, being bound by inheritance both to the land and to a
certain type of labor. Freemen of the city, however, were no longer
required to follow the trade of their fathers. Men of a higher grade
often became the retainers of some noble, pledged to aid him, and he on
his part protected them. Few were completely free. The Suevians took
two-thirds of the lands and half of the buildings in the regions they
conquered, and it is probable that the Visigoths made some such division
after Euric’s conquest, although they seem to have taken less in Spain
than they did in France.
[Sidenote: Social customs.]
The Visigoths were not an urban people like the Romans. The tendency of
this age, therefore, was for a scattering of the city populations to the
country, where the fortified village or the dwelling of a Visigothic
noble with his retinue of armed followers and servants formed the
principal centre. The cities therefore remained Hispano-Roman in
character, and their manner of life was imitated more and more by the
Visigoths. There was a laxity in customs which went so far that priests
openly married and brought up families, despite the prohibitions of the
law.[13] Superstition was prevalent in all classes.[14] One of the
popular diversions of the period seems to have been a form of
bull-fighting.
[Sidenote: Royal power under the Visigoths.]
Before the Visigoths reached Spain the monarchy was elective, but within
a certain family. The king’s authority had already increased from that
of a general and chief justice to something approaching the absolutism
of a Roman emperor. With the extinction of the royal family there was a
long period of strife between rival aspirants for the throne. Leovgild
was the first to take on all the attributes, even the ceremonial, of
absolutism, and was one of many kings who tried to make the throne
hereditary. Despite the support given to the kings by the clergy, who
hoped for peace through enhancing the royal power, the nobles were able
to procure laws for an elective monarch without limitation to a
specified family; an assembly of nobles and churchmen was the electoral
body. These conflicts did not modify the absolute character of the
king’s rule; the king had deliberative councils to assist him, but since
he named the nobles who should attend, both appointed and deposed
bishops, and in any event had an absolute veto, these bodies did no more
than give sanction to his will. Heads of different branches of
administration also assisted the king. The real limitation on absolutism
was the military power of the nobles.
[Sidenote: Visigothic administration.]
For a long time the Visigoths and the Hispano-Romans had different laws
governing their personal relations, although in political matters the
same law applied to both. In the case of litigation between Visigoths
and Hispano-Romans the law of the former applied, with modifications
which approximated it somewhat to the principles of the Roman law. In
the eyes of the law these differences disappeared after the legislation
of Chindaswinth and Recceswinth, but many of them in fact remained as a
result of the force of custom and the weakness of the central authority.
In general administration the Visigoths followed the Roman model from
the first. The land was divided into provinces ruled by officials called
dukes, while the cities were governed by counts.[15] Each had much the
same authority under the king as the kings had over the land. The Roman
provincial and municipal councils were retained, and their position
bettered, since they were not made responsible for the taxes as in the
last days of the empire. Complex as was this system and admirable as it
was in theory there was little real security for justice, for in the
general disorder of the times the will of the more powerful was the
usual law. Taxes were less in amount than in the days of the empire, but
only the Hispano-Romans were subject to them.
[Sidenote: The church in Visigothic times.]
The church became very influential after the time of Reccared, but lost
in independence, since the kings not only appointed the higher church
officers, but also intervened in matters of ecclesiastical
administration, though rarely in those of doctrine. Churchmen had
certain privileges, though fewer than in the last century of Roman rule
and much fewer than they were to acquire at a later time. Their
intervention in political affairs was very great, however, due not only
to their influence with the masses, but even more to their prestige as
the most learned men of the time. Monasteries increased greatly in
number; at this time they were subject to the secular arm of the clergy,
for the bishops gave them their rule and appointed their abbots.
Religious ceremonies were celebrated by what was called the Gothic rite,
and not after the fashion of Rome, although the pope was recognized as
head of the church. As regards heresies the church had to oppose the
powerful Arian sect throughout the period and to uproot the remnants of
indigenous and pagan faiths.
[Sidenote: Economic backwardness.]
An agricultural and military people like the Visigoths, in an age of
war, could not be expected to do much to develop industry and commerce.
Such as there was of both was carried on by some Hispano-Romans and by
Greeks and Jews. Spain dropped far behind in economic wealth in this
era. Roman methods were used, however, even in the agriculture of the
Visigoths.
[Sidenote: Intellectual decline.]
[Sidenote: Saint Isidore.]
Spain also fell back in general culture. Public schools disappeared. The
church became almost the only resort for Christians desirous of an
education, but there were Jewish academies in which the teachers read
from books, and commented on them,--the system adopted by the Christian
universities centuries later. Latin became the dominant tongue, while
Gothic speech and Gothic writing gradually disappeared. The Greek
influence was notable, due to the long presence of Byzantine rule in
southern Spain. The writers of the period were in the main churchmen,
particularly those of Seville. Orosius of the fifth century, author of a
general history of a pronouncedly anti-pagan, pro-Christian character,
was one of the more notable writers of the time. By far more important,
one of the greatest writers in the history of Hispanic literature in
fact, was Saint Isidore, archbishop of Seville in the early part of the
seventh century. Among his numerous works were the following: a brief
universal history; a history of the Visigoths, Vandals, and Suevians;
lives of illustrious men; an encyclopedia of Greco-Roman knowledge; and
books of thoughts, of a philosophical and juridical character. He
represented very largely the ideas of the Spanish clergy, and many of
the principles enunciated by him were later embodied in the _Fuero
Juzgo_. He maintained that political power was of divine origin, but
that the state must protect the church. He supported the ideas of
hereditary succession and the prestige and inviolability of kings as the
best means of securing peace.
[Sidenote: The fine arts.]
In architecture the Visigoths followed the Romans, but on a smaller and
poorer scale. Perhaps the only matter worthy of note as regards the fine
arts was the presence of Byzantine influences, especially marked in the
jewelry of the period.