Skip to content
— CH. 1 · ORIGINS AND MIGRATION PATTERNS —

Visigoths

~5 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
7 sections

  • The Gutones, a people believed to have their origins in Scandinavia, migrated southeastwards into eastern Europe. By the middle of the third century AD, they were the most formidable military power beyond the lower Danube frontier. Long struggles between neighboring tribes like the Vandili and Lugii contributed to their earlier exodus into mainland Europe. The vast majority settled between the Oder and Vistula rivers until overpopulation forced them south and east. They eventually settled just north of the Black Sea, though this legend is not supported by archaeological evidence. Historian Malcolm Todd contends that the movement was probably the result of warrior bands moving closer to the wealth of Ukraine and the cities of the Black Sea coast. The Visigoths spoke an eastern Germanic language that was distinct by the 4th century. Eventually the Gothic language died as a result of contact with other European people during the Middle Ages.

  • In 376, one of their leaders, Fritigern, appealed to the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens to be allowed to settle on the south bank of the Danube. A famine broke out and Rome was unwilling to supply them with either the food they were promised or the land. Open revolt ensued, leading to six years of plundering throughout the Balkans. The Battle of Adrianople in 378 was the decisive moment of the war. The Roman forces were slaughtered and the Emperor Valens was killed during the fighting. Fourth-century Roman soldier and historian Ammianus Marcellinus ended his chronology of Roman history with this battle. In 410, Alaric's troops entered Rome through the Salarian Gate and sacked the city. This event severely shook the Empire's confidence, especially in the West. From the late 370s up to 402, Milan was the seat of government, but after the siege of Milan the Imperial Court moved to Ravenna in 402.

  • In 418, Honorius rewarded his Visigothic federates by giving them land in Gallia Aquitania on which to settle. The settlement formed the nucleus of the future Visigothic kingdom that would eventually expand across the Pyrenees and onto the Iberian peninsula. King Euric unified the various quarreling factions among the Visigoths particularly in Hispania and in 475 concluded a peace treaty with the emperor Julius Nepos. At his death, the Visigoths were the most powerful of the successor states to the Western Roman Empire. However, in 507, the Franks under Clovis I defeated the Visigoths in the Battle of Vouillé and wrested control of Aquitaine. King Alaric II was killed in battle. After Alaric II's death, Visigothic nobles spirited his heir, the child-king Amalaric, first to Narbonne and further across the Pyrenees into Hispania. The center of Visigothic rule shifted first to Barcelona, then inland and south to Toledo.

  • King Reccared convened the Third Council of Toledo to settle religious disputations related to the conversion from Arianism to Catholicism. Before this event, the Visigoths had for a long time adhered to Arianism while their subjects followed Nicene Christianity. When Reccared I converted to Catholicism, he sought to unify the kingdom under a single faith. The political aspects of the imposition of Church power cannot be ignored in these matters. With the conversion of the Visigothic kings to Chalcedonian Christianity, the bishops increased their power until, at the Fourth Council of Toledo in 633, they selected a king from among the royal family. By the end of the 7th century, Catholic conversion made the Visigoths less distinguishable from the indigenous Roman citizens of the Iberian peninsula. Their Gothic identity faded when the last strongholds fell to the Muslim armies.

  • The Visigothic Code of Law was set in writing in the year 654 by King Chindasuinth. This book survives in two separate codices preserved at el Escorial in Spain. It goes into more detail than a modern constitution commonly does and reveals a great deal about Visigothic social structure. The code abolished the old tradition of having different laws for Romans and Visigoths. Under which all the subjects of the Visigothic kingdom ceased being romani and gothi and instead became hispani. All the kingdom's subjects were under the same jurisdiction, which eliminated social and legal differences. One of the greatest contributions of the Visigoths to family law was their protection of the property rights of married women. This continued by Spanish law and ultimately evolved into the community property system now in force throughout the majority of western Europe.

  • In Spain, an important collection of Visigothic metalwork was found in Guadamur known as the Treasure of Guarrazar. This archeological find is composed of twenty-six votive crowns and gold crosses from the royal workshop in Toledo. The two most important votive crowns are those of Recceswinth and of Suintila, displayed in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid. Both are made of gold, encrusted with sapphires, pearls and other precious stones. During their governance of Hispania, the Visigoths built several churches that survive including San Pedro de la Nave in El Campillo. Reccopolis, located near the tiny modern village of Zorita de los Canes, is an archaeological site of one of at least four cities founded in Hispania by the Visigoths. It is the only city in Western Europe to have been founded between the 5th and 8th centuries.

  • The kingdom survived until 711 when King Roderic was killed while opposing an invasion from the south by the Umayyad Caliphate in the Battle of Guadalete. A Visigothic nobleman named Pelayo defeated the Umayyad forces in the Battle of Covadonga in 718 and established the Kingdom of Asturias. According to Joseph F. O'Callaghan, the remnants of the Hispano-Gothic aristocracy still played an important role in the society of Hispania. At the end of Visigothic rule, the assimilation of Hispano-Romans and Visigoths was occurring at a fast pace. Their nobility had begun to think of themselves as constituting one people, the gens Gothorum or the Hispani. An unknown number of them fled and took refuge in Asturias or Septimania. In the early years of the Emirate of Córdoba, a group of Visigoths who remained under Muslim dominance constituted the personal bodyguard of the Emir, al-Haras.

Up Next

SuebiGothsVandals

Continue Browsing

Early Germanic peoples

Common questions

Where did the Visigoths originate and migrate to?

The Gutones, a people believed to have their origins in Scandinavia, migrated southeastwards into eastern Europe. By the middle of the third century AD, they were the most formidable military power beyond the lower Danube frontier.

When did the Visigoths sack Rome for the first time?

In 410, Alaric's troops entered Rome through the Salarian Gate and sacked the city. This event severely shook the Empire's confidence, especially in the West.

What happened to the Visigothic kingdom after the Battle of Vouillé in 507?

In 507, the Franks under Clovis I defeated the Visigoths in the Battle of Vouillé and wrested control of Aquitaine. King Alaric II was killed in battle and the center of Visigothic rule shifted from Barcelona to Toledo.

How did the Visigoths convert from Arianism to Catholicism?

King Reccared convened the Third Council of Toledo to settle religious disputations related to the conversion from Arianism to Catholicism. When Reccared I converted to Catholicism, he sought to unify the kingdom under a single faith.

Who wrote the Visigothic Code of Law and when was it set in writing?

The Visigothic Code of Law was set in writing in the year 654 by King Chindasuinth. This book survives in two separate codices preserved at el Escorial in Spain.

When did the Visigothic kingdom end and who defeated them?

The kingdom survived until 711 when King Roderic was killed while opposing an invasion from the south by the Umayyad Caliphate in the Battle of Guadalete. A Visigothic nobleman named Pelayo defeated the Umayyad forces in the Battle of Covadonga in 718 and established the Kingdom of Asturias.

See all questions about Visigoths →

All sources

64 references cited across the entry

  1. 1bookEast and West: Modes of Communication : Proceedings of the First Plenary Conference at MeridaJavier Arce — Brill — 1999
  2. 2webLes éléments de parure wisigoths en Hispania aux Ve et VIe sièclesPaul Bacoup — 2015
  3. 3journalLas versiones del hallazgo del tesoro de GuarrazarLuis Javier Balmaseda Muncharaz — 1996
  4. 4bookThe New Cambridge Medieval HistoryAlessandro Barbero et al. — Cambridge University Press — 2005
  5. 5bookMusée de Cluny: Le GuideIsabelle Bardiès-Fronty — Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux-Grand Palais — 2015
  6. 6bookRome and the Barbarians, 100 B.C.–A.D. 400Thomas Burns — Johns Hopkins University Press — 2003
  7. 7bookThe Invasion of Europe by the BarbariansJ. B. Bury — W.W. Norton & Company — 2000
  8. 8bookLa nobleza en España. Historia, presente y perspectivas de futuroactas del VI Curso de Verano Ciudad de TarazonaJosé Manuel Calderón Ortega — Dykinson — 2009
  9. 9bookAncient Europe, 8000 B.C.–A.D. 1000: Encyclopedia of the Barbarian World (Vol. 2, Bronze Age to Early Middle Ages)Karen Carr — Thomson Gale — 2004
  10. 10bookCassiodorus, Jordanes and the History of the Goths: Studies in a Migration MythArne Søby Christensen — Museum Tusculanum Press — 2002
  11. 11bookStrategies of Distinction: Construction of Ethnic Communities, 300–800 (The Transformation of the Roman World, vol. 2)Dietrich Claude — Brill Academic Publishers — 1998
  12. 12bookLaw, Culture, and Regionalism in Early Medieval SpainRoger Collins — Variorum — 1992
  13. 13bookThe Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–797Roger Collins — Blackwell Publishers — 1995
  14. 14bookEarly Medieval Europe, 300–1000Roger Collins — Palgrave Macmillan — 1999
  15. 15bookSpain: A HistoryRoger Collins — Oxford University Press — 2000
  16. 16bookVisigothic Spain, 409–711Roger Collins — Blackwell Publishing — 2004
  17. 17bookGuardianship, Gender, and the Nobility in Early Modern SpainGrace Coolidge — Ashgate — 2011
  18. 18bookThe Age of FaithWill Durant — Simon and Schuster — 1950
  19. 19bookMoorish SpainRichard Fletcher — University of California Press — 2006
  20. 20bookEncyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in TransformationMichael Frassetto — ABC-CLIO — 2003
  21. 21journalDie sogenannte fränkische VölkertafelJohann Friedrich — 1910
  22. 22bookArmaments & HistoryJ.F.C. Fuller — Da Capo Press — 1998
  23. 23webHistoria y arquitectura visigodaRafael Galeano — 2016
  24. 24bookThe Romanians. A HistoryVlad Georgescu — Ohio State University Press — 1991
  25. 25bookThe Jews of Spain: A History of the Sephardic ExperienceJane Gerber — Free Press — 1992
  26. 26journalThe Supposedly 'Frankish' Table of Nations: An Edition and StudyWalter Goffart — 1983
  27. 27bookThe Visigoths: Studies in Culture and SocietyRaul Gonzalez-Salinero — Brill — 1999
  28. 28bookHistory of the JewsHeinrich Graetz — The Jewish Publication Society of America — 1894
  29. 29journalThe Treasure of Guarrazar: Tracing the Gold Supplies in the Visigothic Iberian PeninsulaM.F Guerra et al. — 2007
  30. 30bookBarbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376–568Guy Halsall — Cambridge University Press — 2007
  31. 31bookThe GothsPeter Heather — Blackwell Publishers — 1998
  32. 32bookThe Visigoths from the Migration Period to the Seventh Century: An Ethnographic PerspectiveBoydell & Brewer — 1999
  33. 33bookThe Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the BarbariansPeter Heather — Oxford University Press — 2005
  34. 34bookThe Restoration of Rome: Barbarian Popes and Imperial PretendersPeter Heather — Oxford University Press — 2013
  35. 35bookThe Visigoths in History and LegendJ. N. Hillgarth — Brepols Publishers — 2010
  36. 36bookThe Oxford Companion to Classical LiteratureM. C. Howatson — Oxford University Press — 2011
  37. 37bookEurope's Barbarians AD 200–600Edward James — Routledge — 2009
  38. 38bookThe Gothic History of JordanesJordanes — Oxford University Press — 1915
  39. 39bookThe Decline of Rome and the Rise of Mediaeval EuropeSolomon Katz — Cornell University Press — 1955
  40. 40bookLate Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical WorldRichard Lim — The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press — 1999
  41. 41bookThe Visigoths: Studies in Culture and SocietyRalph W. Mathisen et al. — Brill — 1999
  42. 42webBelt Buckle 550–600Metropolitan Museum of Art
  43. 43webTesoro de GuarrazarMuseo Arqueologico Nacional
  44. 44bookThe Story of SpanishSt. Martin's Press — 2013
  45. 45bookA History of Medieval SpainJoseph O'Callaghan — Cornell University Press — 1975
  46. 46bookLe Trésor de Pétrossa. Étude sur l'orfèvrerie antiqueAlexandru Odobescu — Éditions J. Rothschchild — 1889
  47. 47journalThe genomic history of the Iberian Peninsula over the past 8000 yearsIñigo Olalde — American Association for the Advancement of Science — March 15, 2019
  48. 48biorxivSteppe Ancestry in western Eurasia and the spread of the Germanic LanguagesHugh McColl — March 14, 2024
  49. 49bookEmpires of the Word: A Language History of the WorldNicholas Ostler — Harper Perennial — 2006
  50. 50bookReiche und Namen im frühen MittelalterGisela Ripoll — Brill — 2011
  51. 51bookA History of EuropeJ. M. Roberts — Allen Lane — 1997
  52. 52bookJews, Visigoths, and Muslims in Medieval Spain: Cooperation and ConflictNorman Roth — Brill — 1994
  53. 53webCripta visigoda de San AntolínDiego Salvador Conejo
  54. 54bookThe Oxford History of ByzantiumPeter Sarris — Oxford University Press — 2002
  55. 55journalOn Foederati, Hospitalitas, and the Settlement of the Goths in A.D. 418Hagith Sivan — 1987
  56. 56journalThe Beginnings of WessexW. H. Stevenson — Oxford University Press — 1899
  57. 57bookThe Early GermansMalcolm Todd — Blackwell — 2000
  58. 58bookEncyclopedia of European PeoplesFacts on File — 2006
  59. 59bookThe Story of SpainMark Williams — Golden Era Books — 2004
  60. 60bookChristian Martyrs in Muslim SpainKenneth Baxter Wolf — Cambridge University Press — 2014
  61. 61bookHistory of the GothsHerwig Wolfram — University of California Press — 1988
  62. 62bookThe Roman Empire and its Germanic PeoplesHerwig Wolfram — University of California Press — 1997
  63. 63bookEurope in Late AntiquityIan Wood — De Gruyter — 2025
  64. 64bookThe Politics of Identity in Visigothic Spain: Religion and Power in the Histories of Isidore of SevilleJamie Wood — Brill — 2012