Definition of Hispania Visigoth

In the lll century the Roman empire It was going through a period of deep crisis: struggles for power, social unrest and a decline in commercial activity. This situation of weakness caused some Germanic peoples to settle within the limits of the Empire Roman. In that same period the Emperor Constantine authorized the Liberty religious and during his mandate promoted Christianity.

The process of Christianization initiated by Emperor Constantine reached Hispania, at that time a province of the Roman Empire

In the Iberian Peninsula the religious authorities began to accumulate power. In this context, the collaboration between the church and the state began to take shape. However, in Hispanic-Roman society the lower classes practiced a heterodox Christianity, as they were followers of Prisciliano.

As a consequence of the tax increase, there was a wave of migration to the countryside. Small farmers lost their land or were forced to give it to a lord so that he could protect them in return. Thus arose the germ of latifundismo.

At the same time, the different barbarian peoples of Germanic origin were entering the territory of the Roman Empire and finally reached the Iberian Peninsula. The Alans and the Vandals settled in the center and the south of the peninsula respectively.

To the northwest came the Suebi. Meanwhile, the Goths who came from the Baltic settled in Italy and were known as Ostrogoths and those who settled in the south of France and the north of the Iberian Peninsula were the Visigoths.

The first Visigoths were mercenaries accompanied by their families and obtained land in exchange for their military protection

In the year 476, the Western Roman Empire finally became extinct after a period of civil wars. At that time the Visigoths began a fight against the rest of the Germanic peoples that occupied the peninsula. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the Hispano-Romans were gradually displaced by the Visigoths.

Eurico was the first king of the Visigoths and founded the Kingdom of Tolosa, which occupied a part of southern France and large territories on the Iberian Peninsula. From the reign of Leovigildo the Visigoths and the Hispano-Romans were authorized to contract marriage.

In the Vl century, the Visigoths finally imposed themselves on other barbarian peoples and began a tradition which ended in the Vlll century with the Muslim invasion. From a religious point of view the Visigoths initially practiced Arian Christianity, but this situation changed when King Recaredo converted to the Catholicism. At that time Catholicism was installed as religion official.

Photo Fotolia: Roi Sande