Visigoths and Byzantines

Fall of the Roman Empire

At the start of the fifth century, the Roman Empire was racked by civil war. “Barbarian” tribes exploited the chaos to encroach on the Empire, including three Germanic tribes called the Suevi, Vandals and Alans. After devastating Gaul, they continued into Hispania, where the Vandals occupied Baetica. In 429 AD the Vandals and Alans moved on to North Africa to carve out a kingdom for themselves with its capital at Carthage. The Suevi took advantage of their departure by taking control of much of Hispania, including Baetica.

Visigoths

Around the same time, the Visigoths had established a kingdom in Gaul, with its capital at Narbonne, nominally as allies of the Romans. In 455 AD, the Roman emperor encouraged them to invade Hispania in order to keep the Suevi in check. Their military campaign was successful, but having completed their task, the Visigoths decided to retain control of Hispania, with the exception of the northwestern corner, where the Suevi still held out. The resulting Visigoth kingdom covering southern Gaul and most of Hispania was short-lived: in 507 AD, another German tribe called the Franks defeated the Visigoths at the Battle of Vouillé, forcing them out of Gaul. The Visigoths moved their capital from Narbonne to Barcelona and then Toletum (Toledo), with a brief interlude in Hispalis (Seville).

For the next two centuries the Visigoths controlled most of modern Spain and Portugal, although initially as subordinates of the Ostrogoths in Italy. While the Visigoths formed the ruling elite, they only constituted a tiny minority of the population, and although they intermarried with powerful local families to consolidate their hold on power, many Hispano-Romans resented their rule. One bone of contention was their religion: whereas the Hispano-Romans were Catholics, the Visigoths were Arians, who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity.

Byzantine expansion

In the mid-6^th century, during the rule of Justinian, the Byzantine Empire started reconquering former Roman provinces around the Mediterranean. In 552 AD, Byzantine troops landed at Carthago Nova, which they renamed Carthago Spartaria and made the capital of a new province called Spania. At its greatest extent, Spania may have been slightly bigger than Andalucía, but the main traces of the Byzantine presence have been found along the coast, and particularly in Cartagena and Málaga.

Visigoth conversion to Catholicism and unification of the Iberian Peninsula

In 589 AD, the Visigoth king Reccared I converted from Arianism to Catholicism, which helped to bring him closer to his subjects. With its new-found religious unity, and having finally conquered the Suevi kingdom in the north, the Visigoth kingdom was able to force the Byzantines back towards the coastal strip. Nevertheless, the Byzantines held onto a small amount of territory right until 624 AD.

After this, the Visigoths controlled the whole Iberian Peninsula. This was important symbolically – later Christian kings saw themselves as the inheritors of the mantle of the Visigoths, who in their eyes had united the Iberian Peninsula under the Catholic faith. The Visigoth kings and their nobles controlled large estates across the country, which provided the base for their wealth and power.

Baetica remained a province, now governed by a duke, with its own archbishop in Hispalis. The most famous archbishop from that period is Isidore, a scholar whose writings represent one of the most important written sources we have for Baetica under the Visigoths.

While the end of the divide between the Arians and Catholics reinforced the political position of the Visigoth elite, one group was excluded: the substantial Jewish community. They became viewed as a threat to the goal of religious unity, and in the 7^th century they faced increasing persecution, including being subjected to special taxes and forced conversions.

Traces of the Visigoths

Elsewhere in Spain, some Visigoth churches from the 7^th century do remain, as well as the Visigoth town of Recópolis east of Madrid. Their churches are based on the Roman basilica, with three naves, but also include new decorative elements, such as the keyhole or horseshoe arch. With their thick walls and small windows, they are also a precursor of the Romanesque style.

Before concluding, it’s worth mentioning the Visigoth Basilica of San Vicente, whose ruins you can supposedly see under the floor of the Mosque-Cathedral in Córdoba. When you visit the Mosque-Cathedral, you get the impression the mosque was undoubtedly built on the site of a Visigoth church or cathedral. However, the cathedral’s own archaeologists only claim to have found part of an episcopal complex, but not the church itself. Other archaeologists, meanwhile, say this is pure speculation. The mosaics may be from the early Visigoth period, but they could also be late Roman.

There are many such “Visigoth” churches in Andalucía, supposedly hidden beneath the church you can see today. When the Christians replaced mosques with churches from the 13^th century onwards, they often claimed they were simply restoring the site to its original use. That may be true – a Roman or Visigoth church gave way to a mosque, which in turn gave way to a church – but the archaeological and written evidence is often scant or non-existent.

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