Visigoths or Visigoths(Visigoth, West Goth, i.e. Western Goths), a powerful people of Germanic origin who lived in the first centuries of our era from the Dnieper to the Tisa, while the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) of the same tribe lived from the Don to the Dnieper. When the Ostrogoths, weakened by the division, fell under the rule of the Huns in the Great Migration of Nations, the Visigoths went to the mountains and received from the Byzantine emperor Valenta permission to settle in the devastated province of Moesia (later Romania). But soon Valens, who repented that he was in a hurry to let the violent Goths into the borders of his state, stopped listening to their complaints about Roman officials, especially during the terrible famine that raged in Moesia. Driven to despair, the Goths rebelled under the command of their leader Friedigern, devastated Moesia and Thrace (Bulgaria), and defeated Valens in a bloody battle of Adrianople(378), in which this emperor himself died.
The fate of the Visigoths was happier. The Franks drove them out of Southwestern Gaul at the beginning of the 6th century, but in Spain they lived quietly. They were never seriously threatened by either the Suebi kingdom in the northwest or the Byzantines in the south; Moreover, in the 7th century. both left Spain.
Like the Ostrogoths in Italy, the Visigoths preserved the Roman administrative system that existed in Spain and adapted it, in a somewhat simplified form, for their needs: at the head of armies, cities
and representatives of the tribal aristocracy stood up in the provinces. The Visigoth kings, previously mere military leaders, now became absolute rulers who, like the Roman emperor, made laws and collected taxes. Even the court ceremony copied the Byzantine model. Of course, individual representatives of the large nobility came into conflict with the king throughout the 6th century. more than once they tried to kill or overthrow the next ruler. However, this could no longer change the nature of royal power, which was basically similar to the power of the Roman emperor.
How barbarian customs were adapted to Roman traditions is best illustrated by the example of law. The systematization and codification of law is one of the most significant and most characteristic achievements of the late Roman Empire. Almost all the German states that became heirs to the empire, even the short-lived kingdom of the Burgundians and the most barbaric - the Lombards, also codified their legislation. The idea of codification belonged to the Romans, and it is significant that they almost always carried out this task, even if the laws concerned Germanic customs. However, the very content of the Visigothic laws was largely borrowed from Roman legal collections of the 5th century. In some respects, the Visigothic legal code was even superior to Roman and Germanic examples. In particular, the laws defining the status and rights of women were a step forward compared to primitive German law and the strict paternalism of Roman law. At the same time, in most cases, the laws of the Visigoths combined these two elements, such as, for example, the law on blood feud. Blood feud implies that his entire family is responsible for the guilt of one person; With the help of such a mechanism, in primitive societies deprived of centralized power, the problem of retribution for murder or damage committed by an individual was solved. All German codes sought to minimize mutual killings by introducing monetary ransoms, the size of which depended both on the nature of the damage caused and on the social status of the victim. Only the Visigoths, in their legislation, went further and introduced the Roman legal principle into the law on blood feud, which stated: only the one who committed it should be held accountable for the crime, but not his family or clan. These were serious attempts to limit the bloody practices of the warrior society. However, they could not completely eliminate the blood feud that would torment European society for many centuries to come.
For more than a century, the Aryan Visigoths lived in isolation from the Roman Catholic population of Spain; According to their laws, mixed marriages were prohibited. However, during the 6th century. these laws were gradually repealed, and many converted to Catholicism. In 587, King Reccared converted to Catholicism and ordered all Arian books to be burned. It is not known whether this conversion was carried out from an internal impulse, but there is no doubt that it greatly strengthened the power of the monarchy. From now on, the king actually began to rule the Spanish Church, appointing its bishops (just as he had previously appointed Arian bishops). The kings regularly convened church councils in Toledo, at which the highest nobility and clergy were present, and the king himself presided; it is clear that here, too, Byzantine practice served as a model. None of the other German kings had such power over their church. It was in this period that the specifically Spanish tradition of the strictest Catholic orthodoxy, combined with the power of the king over the church and real independence from the popes in Rome, began. It was in line with this tradition that the Spanish monarchy issued its first and extremely harsh laws against Jews, whom until then the authorities had been quite tolerant of. Now prejudice and fear have appeared in relation to them - as people of an alien faith who do not want to obey the state.
Despite the absolutist claims of the Visigothic monarchy, it was never able to fully resolve the dispute over power with representatives of the large nobility. At the turn of the 7th-8th centuries. the royal throne again became a “bone of discord” between various factions of the nobility. Therefore, when the Muslim Berbers invaded Spain from North Africa in 711, they were joyfully greeted not only by Jews and commoners, but also by a significant part of the nobility, who foolishly hoped that they could use the conquerors to their advantage.
The Visigoths, like the Ostrogoths, ultimately failed to maintain their state. However, the legacy they left to Spain (in many respects, of course, quite problematic) was in any case much more significant than that which the Ostrogoths left to Italy.
More on the topic of Visigoths:
- I. Migration problems. Ataulf's attitude towards the Roman Empire. Romans and Visigoths. Composition of the tribe. Royal power. Christianization of the Visigoths.
- II. Settlement in Spain. Relations between the Visigoths and the Romans. Royal power. Control system. Church politics.
- Early history of the Visigoths before their invasion of the Roman Empire (376)
- Movements of the Visigoths within the Roman Empire (376-418).
- Penetration into the empire. Battle of Adrianople. Visigoth settlement in the Balkans. Alaric. First attack on Italy. Second attack. Capture of Rome. Ataulf. Peace treaty with Rome. Valia.
The Goths are tribes that emerged from Scandinavia in the 1st century AD. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries they actively advanced across Europe and conquered its eastern part. In the middle of the 3rd century, Gothic tribes reached the Northern Black Sea region. Presumably, it was there that the Goths mixed with other tribes that had a more developed culture, as a result of which the cultivation of the Gothic tribes accelerated. Around the same time, the Goths adopted the Christian faith. It is interesting that before the adoption of Christianity, the Gothic religious world was quite extensive, it included wolf people, nature spirits, and totemism.
By the beginning of the 4th century, Gothic tribes had already made attacks on Asia Minor, the Balkans and conquered Dacia. The ancient Goths made their invasions and continued to develop safely until the middle of the 4th century. The Huns tribe, forced to defend their lands from attacks, dealt a significant blow to the Goths, as a result of which the number of the Gothic tribe was significantly reduced, and the remainder was divided into two tribes. Each tribe had its own king, chose its own path and acquired a new name. These tribes became known as Ostrogoths and Visigoths.
Ostrogoths and Visigoths
The formation of these two communities occurred as a result of the collapse of the single Gothic community. The Visigoths, or as they were also called the Tervingi, occupied vast areas from the Danube to the Dnieper. This was until, in 376 AD, they were attacked by the Huns and, fleeing for their lives, moved to the Roman Empire, where they settled. Then in 507, under the onslaught of Clovis I, the king of the Franks, the Goths fled to Spain, and in the 8th century they were completely exterminated by the Arabs.
The Ostrogoths, or Greuthungi, settled in the lands between the Black and Baltic seas. After a clash with the Huns, the partially defeated Ostrogoth tribe was forced to flee and settle in the vicinity of the Danube. Having settled down a little and gained strength, they conquered Italy and created a kingdom in it. In the 6th century, the Ostrogoths were nevertheless defeated by Justinian I, the Byzantine emperor.
Robes of the Ancient Goths
It is very difficult to judge the attire of the Goths these days, since the last tribes of the Goths were exterminated back in the 15th century. But turning to the writings of ancient historians and excavations of the remains of Gothic burials, one can get a generalized idea. So, Gothic men wore trousers that fitted the body and cloaks with one or two fasteners. Often a spike was used as a fastener.
Women's attire was similar to men's, but they often wore sleeveless cloaks. There were cases when, during excavations, a bone comb was discovered on the heads of women. Also in the writings of historians there are moments describing women's jewelry, or rather, beads made of carnelian and amber. Almost all Goths wore belts, while men hung a knife on it, and some women hung bags and jewelry.
The culture of the ancient Goths
The ancient Goths had among the most developed craft areas such as glass, leather and metallurgy. Due to the warlike nature of the Goths, metal processing and weapon making were especially important to them.
Also, the need to conquer new lands for the possibility of existence determined their spiritual culture. The Goths had widespread war games and competitions. If you believe the writings of ancient authors, then the most common competition among the Goths was a game reminiscent of modern horse riding. The Goth sat on a horse and rode it in a circle while picking up speed, at the same time he threw a spear and caught it himself.
In the culture of the ancient Goths, jewelry craft was of great importance. It was this that was the most developed, along with glass and metallurgy. Using the method of processing metal, stones and glass, they made jewelry for the body and clothing. In addition, an image of the Gothic king Theodoric, made of multi-colored pebbles, was found in the Naples square.
In the 1st-3rd centuries AD, the Goths only accepted intra-tribal marriages. Excavations show that during this period the Goths mastered weaving, leatherworking, glassmaking, blacksmithing and carpentry to varying degrees. At the end of the 3rd century, mixing of Gothic tribes with other, more developed tribes occurred. The result of the mixture was accelerated cultural development and the development of new crafts. This is how the customs and mentality of the Gothic tribe changed.
ENE material
Visigoths
otherwise, the Visigoths and Tervingi are part of the Gothic people, who occupied from the beginning of the 3rd century. until the second half of the 4th century. lands between the Lower Danube and the Dnieper. Their ancient history coincides with the history of the Ostrogoths (see. Goths ). They are a separate nation only in their Pontic dwellings, and for a long time they still formed one political whole with the Ostrogoths, but probably had a certain amount of independence, that is, special local princes who recognized only the supreme power of the Ostrogothic king. They became completely independent even before the Hunnic invasion, probably in the first years of the reign of Ermanarik (about 350). The first was undoubtedly an independent prince. The Visigoths are Athanaric (366-381). His power did not extend, however, to the entire Visigothic people, but only to most of them. The rest recognized the power of another prince, Friedigern. Athanaric wages a three-year struggle with the Roman Empire (366-369), which ended in a peace favorable to the Visigoths. When, around 376, the Huns, having defeated the Ostrogoths, attacked their western neighbors, Athanaric alone made an attempt at resistance, fortifying himself on the right bank of the Dniester. Not being able to resist the enemies, he, nevertheless, did not submit to them, but withdrew with all his people to the mountains of Transylvania and occupied the Sedmigrad region. The rest of the Visigoths, fleeing the Huns, crossed the Danube under the command of Friedigern and Alaviv; Emperor Valens assigned them lands in Thrace. Tormented by hunger and oppressed by Roman governors, the Goths soon rebelled. Emperor Valens, who opposed them, was defeated and killed by them at Adrianople (378). Friedigern died soon after this (c. 380); his place at the head of the Visigoths was taken by Athanaric, who for unknown reasons could not stay in Transylvania. He immediately made peace with Theodosius the Great. Although he soon died, nevertheless, the agreement he concluded with the empire remained in force until the death of Theodosius; many noble Visigoths entered the Roman army and often achieved very prominent positions. The state of affairs changed when Theodosius the Great died in 395. His weak successor, Arcadius, failed to maintain friendship with the Goths; the latter were indignant and in 395 they elected a king in the person of Alaric - the first to unite in his hand power over all the Visigoths. He devastated the entire Balkan Peninsula. The ruler of the Western Empire, Stilicon, hastened to the aid of Byzantium and forced Alaric to conclude a peace treaty (396). By this treaty Epirus was given to the Visigoths. But already in 400, Alaric undertook his first campaign in Italy, which ended in peace in 402, according to which Alaric again retreated to Illyria. When Stilicon fell to an assassin in 408, Alaric again invaded Italy. The weak-willed Emperor Honorius had neither troops nor generals. Alaric penetrated unhindered to the southern extremities of the peninsula. Since negotiations with Honorius did not lead to anything (Alaric demanded food, tribute and lands for his people in the northeastern provinces of the empire), the Visigoth king occupied and plundered Rome in August 410. After a failed attempt to take possession of Africa (a storm destroyed the Gothic fleet), Alaric died in the same year 410. His son-in-law and successor Ataulf (410-415) continued negotiations and struggle with Honorius, but seeing that it was impossible to establish himself in Italy, in 412 with all his people he retired to Southern Gaul, which, perhaps, was formally ceded to him by Honorius. He defeated and killed the usurper Jovinus, occupied the most important cities (Narbonne, Toulouse, Bordeaux), but he failed to establish a solid Visigothic kingdom here, despite the fact that he married Placidia, sister of Honorius, in 414, and sought peace with the empire . Vallia (415-419) successfully fought against the Vandals, Alans and Suevi in Spain for several years in a row. Returning to Southern Gaul, he received from the empire, by virtue of a formal treaty, the entire province of Aquitaine (“second”), where he founded the first Visigothic state, which, based on the main city of Toulouse, received the name “Toulouse” (“Tolosan”). Valli's successor was Theodoric I (419-451), who significantly expanded his state and fell in battle on the Catalaunian fields. In the fight against Attila, the Visigoths were allies of the Roman commander Aetius, while their relatives, the Ostrogoths, subject to Attila, formed part of the Hunnic army. Theodoric was succeeded by his eldest son Thorismund (451-453); but since he wanted to destroy the alliance with Rome, the Roman party, led by the king’s brother, Theodoric, killed him, after which Theodoric II (453-466) ascended the throne, who was also killed by his younger brother, Euric. During the reign of Eurich (466-484), the Visigothic state reached its highest degree of power. He destroyed the last remnants of Roman supremacy, which remained in the form of a union. By the end of his reign, the Visigothic state embraced all of Southern and Central Gaul (as far as the Loire to the north and the Rhone to the east) and almost all of Spain (only the northwestern corner of this peninsula was still independent under the rule of the Sueves). He also took care of the internal improvement of his state and ordered the compilation of a code of Visigothic customary law. He treated Roman culture and his Roman subjects favorably. Some of the most prominent statesmen of his reign were Romans. Only the Catholic Church and its highest representatives, the bishops, were persecuted by him, but not out of fanaticism (he, like the entire Visigothic people, adhered to the Arian heresy), but out of political calculation: he was right in seeing Catholicism as the worst enemy of Visigothic rule. - His son, Alaric II (485-507), had to fight against new enemies, the Franks, who since 486, after the victory of Clodovic over Syagrius, became the closest neighbors of the Goths on the Loire. This neighborhood became especially dangerous for Alaric, because Clodovic, who adopted Christianity in the form of Catholicism, found support in the Roman population of Gaul, who was burdened by the power of the Visigoth heretics. Open struggle began in 506 and ended with the defeat of the Goths at Poitiers in 507; Alaric himself fell in the battle, and the Visigoths forever lost most of their possessions in Gaul. The five-year-old son of the murdered king, Amalaric (507-531), escaped to Spain, while Gesalich (507-511), the illegitimate son of Alaric II, who took possession of the royal treasures, continued to fight for some time in Gaul. A strong Ostrogothic army, sent by his grandfather Theodoric the Great, came to the aid of Amalarich; it kept the Franks from further conquests and saved part of the Visigothic possessions in southern Gaul. The main city of the Visigoths was now Narbonne. Amalaric married the daughter of Clodovic, but fell already in 531 in the fight with his son-in-law Childibert I. The Ostrogoth Theudis (531-548) took the throne. He continued to fight the Franks, fought unsuccessfully against Byzantium and was killed in 548. The same fate befell his successor Theodegisel (548-549), who oppressed Catholics. During the reign of Agila (549-554), a strong Byzantine army appeared in Spain: Emperor Justinian, having destroyed the states of the Vandals and Ostrogoths, thought to conquer Spain. This plan failed. Although Agila was defeated by the Byzantines, the indignant soldiers killed the mediocre king and elevated the brave and energetic Atanagild (554-567) to the throne, who successfully repelled the enemies; some heavily fortified cities remained, however, with the Byzantines. Looking for allies, Atanagild married his two daughters to the Frankish kings Sigibert and Chilperic. His successor Leova (568-572) ceded Spain to his brother Leovigild, who, after the death of Leova, ruled alone the entire state (572-586). It was now a difficult time for the Visigoths. Dangerous enemies threatened from all sides: Franks, Suevi, Byzantines, who, being true believers, found open and secret allies in the Roman population of the country. Leovigild energetically and skillfully took up the defense of his throne. Relying on the lower classes of the people, he was able to significantly reduce the power of the local Gothic magnates, dangerous enemies of royal power. He executed those who resisted; their property became the property of the king, as a result of which the financial situation of the country began to improve. But Leovigild brought a new danger to the state by marrying his son Hermenegild in 580 to the Frankish princess Inguntis, a zealous Catholic. She managed to persuade her husband to accept Catholicism; he began an open struggle against Leovigild, but was defeated and executed. At the same time, Leovigild conquered the Suevian kingdom. After a new victory over the Franks, he died in 586 in Toledo, which he made the main city of the state. - His youngest son and successor Recared I (586-601) immediately upon ascending the throne adopted Catholicism and tried in every possible way to persuade his people to accept this faith. Whether this unexpected step was the result of religious conviction is difficult to say; it is more likely that political considerations were decisive. Recared wanted to destroy once and for all the religious antagonism between the Visigoths and the native Romanesque population, which was draining the people's strength. But in doing so, he destroyed the last obstacle that prevented the Romanization of the Goths. The state quickly fell under the influence of the Catholic clergy, who from that time ruled the country almost in addition to the kings. The Visigoths, long prone to religious fanaticism, soon became zealous Catholics, and the further history of the internal development of their state turns almost exclusively into the history of church councils. After Rekared, kings quickly replaced him - Leova II (601-603), Viterich (603-10), Guntimar (610-612), Sisibut (612-620), during whose reign the persecution of Jews began in the Visigothic state, Rekared II (620- 621), after whose death Svintila, a brave commander and energetic ruler, ascended the throne (621-631). He took away the last of their possessions in Spain from the Byzantines and successfully defended royal power against the claims of the clergy and secular magnates. By this he incurred the vengeance of the latter. One of the aristocrats, Sisinant, supported by the clergy, rebelled against the king; having defeated the latter and tonsured him as a monk, he took the throne (631-636); he and his successors, Kindila (636-640) and Tulga (640-641), were blind tools in the hands of the bishops. The last attempt to restore royal power to its former strength was made by Kindasvint (641-652), who equally energetically and strictly persecuted rebellious bishops and magnates. He ordered the compilation of a set of Visigothic laws, making them binding on all his subjects. Under his son Rekisvint (652-672), everything went as before and the clergy continued to rule the state. Secular power strengthened somewhat under Wamba (672-680), a brave warrior, but not for long: Wamba was overthrown from the throne by the party of the clergy, which chose Ervich (680-687) as king, who surrendered entirely to the hands of the bishops; the same should be said about his successor Egika (687-701), who persecuted the Jews in the most cruel way. We know very little about Viticus (701-710) and even less about the last Visigoth king, Roderic (710-711).
Soon after his accession to the throne, the Arabs came to Spain, called here, according to legend, by a magnate who had been insulted by the king. The Visigothic state no longer had the strength to resist its enemies; the latter's victory at Jerez de la Frontera destroyed the Visigothic kingdom forever. King Roderic disappeared without a trace: he was probably killed in battle. In a few weeks, the Muslims occupied almost the entire peninsula. From that time on, the name of the Visigoths disappeared from history. The last remnants of them, strongly mixed with the native Romanesque element, defended their independence in the mountainous region of Asturias. A new state was born here, but not Gothic, but Spanish. His first hero, Pelayo, the ancestor of the Castilian kings, was, according to legend, the grandson of the Visigoth king Kindasvint. How strong the Gothic element was in this new nation is proven by the mass of Spanish personal names, which to this day retain traces of their Gothic origin ( Rodrigo, Alfonso, Hernando etc.), and numerous words that passed from Gothic into Spanish and Portuguese. These words, together with a fairly extensive onomastic material preserved in Visigothic charters, acts, coins and inscriptions, and with a few remnants of Gothic words in the code of Visigothic laws, constitute all that we know about the language of the Visigoths in Spain. Complete written monuments in their language have not reached us, although they undoubtedly existed. Not a single Visigothic copy of the translation of the Holy Scriptures by Wulfila (Visigoth, see Wulfila) has yet been found. We don’t know how long their language lasted after the fall of the Visigothic kingdom. We find the last trace of the Visigothic language in Gaul at the beginning of the 9th century: this is a collection of Gothic and Frankish personal names compiled by Smaragd, abbot of the monastery of St. Michael, on the river
4 387
Political scene of the late 4th century
The Western Roman Empire was literally torn apart by barbarian tribes. From unreliable Roman allies, the so-called foederati, the Germans turned into real contenders for the Roman inheritance; they wanted to be the rulers of Europe. They respected Rome insofar as it was necessary to obtain a legal basis for their conquests and to fight other tribes.
At the same time, the barbarians quickly and willingly adopted the social, political, legal and cultural foundations of a great power, recognizing the Romans as undoubted authority in all these areas. The era was so eventful that now its history is difficult to perceive even by experts of the past. There are too many names, too complicated relationships, and all this against the backdrop of the great migration of peoples...
The appearance of the Visigoths
New states with their kings arose here and there, and after a while their borders changed their outlines beyond recognition. Among the most powerful players in the geopolitical arena of that time, the Visigoths should be named. In just twenty years (from 395), they covered a huge distance from the Balkan to the Iberian Peninsula, captured and destroyed Rome, settled in Southern France, and took direct part in Spanish affairs. There were several tens of thousands of them, but possessing high mobility and belligerence, even such an insignificant number of people, by modern standards, seriously influenced the history of the entire continent.
So, Alaric's successor Ataulf led his people to Gaul. He, unlike his predecessor, was able to come to an agreement with the Roman Emperor Honorius. The Visigoths were given territories in Western and Southwestern Gaul between the Garonne and the Loire with the cities of Bordeaux, Toulouse and Poitiers. At the same time, access to the Mediterranean Sea remained with Rome. The main task for the Visigoths was the timely receipt of grain.
During long campaigns and wars, the tribe's representatives largely lost their farming skills, so the food issue faced them quite acutely. The Romans promised the barbarians a regular supply of grain. However, after some time they had to break this part of the agreement due to a rebellion in Africa. The Visigoths were forced to move from Gaul to Spain. Two years later (in 415) they returned to the Gallic lands, concluding a new treaty with Rome. The king of the Visigoths at this moment is Valia. Fulfilling their obligations under this treaty, the Visigoths again went to Spain in 416, where they successfully fought against the Vandals and Alans.
Founding of the Visigothic Kingdom
After the end of this war in 418, they returned to Aquitaine II (the same province in Southern Gaul that was intended for them under the terms of the treaty). Valia dies before returning, and Theodoric I becomes the new king. 418 is considered the year of the founding of the Visigothic kingdom. Rich Toulouse becomes the capital of the state.
The Visigoths were settled interspersed with the indigenous Romanized population. At first, the aborigines were only supposed to supply the federals, who were standing as if at a military post. But with the final settlement of the Visigoths here, Rome orders a division of the lands. According to this law, the barbarians took two-thirds of the arable land and half of the forests and meadows from the Romans. The Visigoths gradually overcame the remnants of the tribal system and traditional military democracy, moving to more civilized forms of economic management. However, the demands of modern times and the mixing of their customs with classical Roman ones led to the development of new relations between rich and poor, colonists and landowners, and an early feudal state took shape.
At the same time, over time, the Gothic national cultural element itself was clearly defeated by the Romanesque one, which is not surprising, given that at the time of settlement in Gaul at the beginning of the 5th century. The Visigoths (among whom there were already quite a few not only Goths) numbered only about 60-80 thousand people. The state religion of the kingdom was Arianism, which was replaced by orthodox Catholicism only at the end of the 6th century. At the same time, researchers note the unusually important role of bishops in government for the early barbarian kingdoms.
In general, by the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Visigoths had advanced much further in their political, social and cultural development than most other Germans. Over the next few decades, the Visigothic kingdom tried to expand its territory. First of all, they needed to gain access to the Mediterranean Sea, which was associated with the capture of the cities of Narbonne and Arles. The Romans did not allow this to be done for a long time. The Visigoths also had to fight other alien tribes. For example, with the Huns, who in the middle of the 5th century. made an attempt to subjugate almost all of Western Europe.
In this war, Theodoric, without hesitation, took the side of the Romans and their commander Aetius. In the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields in 451, the Visigoths were probably the most combat-ready part of the anti-Hun coalition army. Attila, the leader of the Huns, was defeated, but the Visigothic king also fell on the battlefield. For some time after this, the Visigothic kings pursued a pro-Roman policy, but with the further weakening of the empire they resumed expansion both to the south and to the north. In the 470s, the troops of King Eurich reached the mouth of the Rhone and successfully operated in the Loire, and a policy of conquest began in Spain.
In 475, the Roman emperor concluded a peace treaty with Eurich, according to which he recognized the last conquests of the Visigothic king and his complete independence. The following year, after the overthrow of the last Western Roman Emperor, Eurich led an army into Arles. The conquest of Provence ended the Visigothic expansion in Gaul. Eurich did not want to continue the movement for the Rhone and Loire, and he could not - here he would have to wage brutal wars with the Franks, Burgundians, and the Roman legions of Syagrius. In addition, the Visigoths already possessed the most fertile and most populated territories of Gaul. Eurich died in 484. By this time, the area of the Visigoth kingdom was 700-750 thousand km2, the population was about 10 million.
New wars
It was the largest state formed on the ruins of Rome. The relative calm of the last decade under Eurich quickly gave way to new wars and problems. The expansion of the Franks began, the powerful king of the Ostrogoths, Theodoric the Great, nurtured the idea of a common Gothic state (the Visigoths helped him conquer Italy, and he actively intervened in internal Visigothic affairs, however, helping in the fight against external enemies).
At the Battle of Poitiers in 507, the Visigoths were completely defeated by the Frankish king Clovis, they had to liberate most of the territories in Gaul along with the capital Toulouse, leaving behind only a narrow strip of the Mediterranean coast. Then the mass migration to Spain began. The center of the state was moved to the Iberian Peninsula, where, in essence, a new kingdom was created, ruled for a long time by the representatives of Theodoric the Great. Soon the new state had to fight the powerful Byzantines, suppress the resistance of large Spanish cities (for example Cordoba) that maintained their independence, solve problems with the Suevi and negotiate with the Franks...
The Visigothic kingdom lasted until it was conquered by the Arabs at the beginning of the 7th century.
