THE VISIGOTHS

Andrea Martín Bravo - 2ºC 1

WHERE ARE
YOU FROM?
To know the origin
of the Visigoths we
must go back to the
year 370 when the
Huns began
advancing from the
steppes of Asia to
Europe, thus
pushing a series of
barbarians who
were between them
and the Roman
Empire.

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 THE BATTLE OF ADRIANOPLE
The Visigoths asked the Roman
emperor Flavius Julio Valente to This granted them the
cross the Roman frontier in order
to protect himself. step and they settled in
Thrace

But there was an uprising and

the emperor died and was the
first Roman emperor killed at
the hands of the barbarians

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THE BATTLE OF ADRIANOPLE

This happened at the Battle of

Adrianople in 378.

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THEODOSIUS
 Theodosius is going
to deal with the
problem with the
Visigoths
 Negotiate with them
and enlist them in
the army
 Theodosius
authorizes the
installation of the
Visigoths in the
south of the Danube
 They preserve their
independent state
structures and their
own laws

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THEODOSIUS

 When Theodosius
dies the Roman
Empire is definitively
divided into two,
with their sons
Arcadio (in the East)
and Honorio (in the
West) as emperors.

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ALARIC: THE SACK OF ROMA
• The Visigoths break
the pact with the
Romans
• Alaric is named king of
the Visigoths
• On 10 August 410 Rome
was sacked and burned
for the third time after
it tried to take a boat
and go to Africa to end
the uprising but became
ill and died.

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THE ARRIVAL OF THE VISOGOTHS
OF THE IBERIAN PENINSULA

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 Why they intervened in the Iberian Peninsula?

 In fact it seems that

the Visigoths
thought not settle
here when they
entered the early V
century, but its
intervention was
intended to "restore
order", that is, to
eliminate the
Swabians invaders,
Vandals and Alans on
behalf of the
Emperor of Rome.

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 The Visigoths signed a pact with the Romans in which they
would settle in the only province that had been free, La
Tarraconense

Indeed, the Visigoths had reached a

pact with the Romans by pledging to
fight against the people who
threatened the Empire, in exchange for
land on which to settle and wheat to
feed
Once fulfilled its function retreated to
Gaul where they were given land and
settled as federated the Roman
Empire, taking as its capital Tolosa.
.

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 Why they intervened in the Iberian Peninsula?

In the year 507 the

troops of the Franks
defeated the
Visigoths in The
Battle of Vouillé
and in this way they
were forced to leave
their kingdom and It was the end of the Visigothic
march to the kingdom of Toulouse
Peninsula.

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 The kingdom Visigoth of Toledo
• But it is during the reign
of Alaric I (484-507),
when the frank pressure
culminates with the
battle of Vouillé (507),
in which it finds the
death and supposes the
disappearance of the
kingdom of Tolosa,
giving step to the
creation of the kingdom
Visigoth of Toledo

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 POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
The political organization of the
Visigoths was based on Germanic law.
The fundamental institution of government
P O The
A F Aula
L F Regia
ASSEMBLY
The king A I
OF KING
ELECT ruled with T C
FREEMEN The
the help I I
of : N U Councils
U M of
M - Toledo

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 POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
Were part of the Officium characters of high rank,
with the title of Comes, they were in charge of
different services:
 Comes Treasury Regio,
 Comes management of Crown lands,
 Comes tax collection,
 Comes expenses monarch and his house.

Also involved large territorial and Military Officials:

 Doges provincial (delegates of the king)
 Committees civitates (judges of cities)
 Gardingos (military commanders).

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SOCIETY AND ECONOMY
Visigoth society was made up of people and
groups of different importance:

THE KING

THE PRIVILEGED FREE:

NOBILITY AND OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH

THE FREE UNPRIVILEGED

SEMI-FREE AND SERVANTS

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SOCIETY AND ECONOMY

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 ECONOMY
SOCIETY AND ECONOMY
The most important economic
activities:
 Agriculture was based on the
cultivation of wheat, barley and
oats, which plateaus reached
high productivity.
 Livestock it consisted of sheep,
pigs and cows.

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MOST ALARIC:
IMPORTANT • Creator of the Visigothic monarchy.
KINGS • - Sack of Rome (410) The Visigoths entered
Rome and destroyed much of the city
WALIA:
• He moved the capital of the kingdom of
Barcelona toTolosa (Toulouse).
EURICO:
• Did writing "Eurico code"
LEOVIGILD:
• Its main goal was the unification of the
peninsula
RECCARED
• He converted to Catholicism at 587. In the
Third Council of Toledo (589) he announced the
conversion of the Visigoths to Catholicism.
RECCESWINTH
• Enacts the liber Iudiciorum or code
Recceswinth

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THE END OF THE VISIGOTH MONARCHY

Don Rodrigo asked for

help the Muslims not to
be deposed

And so, Muslims entered the

peninsula, ending the last king of
the Visigoth monarchy in the
BATTLE OF GUADALETE in
711.

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THE KEY
WORDS

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THE ARIANISM
Arianism is a non-Trinitarian
Christian belief (This belief
affirms that God is a unique being
that exists as three distinct
persons: the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit.)

The Arianism says

that Jesus, as the
Son of God, was
created by God.

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 AULA REGIA

The main assembly of the Visigothic monarchy, composed of the king,

the palace nobles (magnates), some dukes, counts, bishops and
ecclesiastics. In it, important decisions would be made for the
Visigothic people.

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LIBER IUDICIORUM

The Visigothic Code

(Latin, Forum
Iudicum or Liber
Iudiciorum; Book of
the Judges), also
called Lex
Visigothorum
(English: Law of the
Visigoths) is a set of
laws .

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 COUNCILS OF TOLEDO
The components of:
• Toledo Councils were  The Visigoth king
a series of meetings  Nobility
of particular
 The bishops.
importance that took
place in the city of
Toledo throughout That is, they were
the Visigoth period. formed by the political
and religious power

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 THE TREASURE OF
GUADARRAZ

The Treasure of Guarrazar, Guadamur , is an archeological

find composed of twenty-six votive crowns and gold crosses
that had originally been offered to the Roman Catholic
Church by the Kings of the Visigoths in the seventh century
in Hispania, as a gesture of the orthodoxy of their faith and
their submission to the ecclesiastical hierarchy,

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