Visigothic Spain and Lombard Italy

Spain

• 409: Vandals• 439 Suevi• 456 Visigoths– Question: Who were the Visigoths?– What was their power base during this time?

• 409-569: turnover• Regions of Spain• Unification under Leovigild (d. 586)– How did Catholicism triumph over Arianism in

Spain?

Visigothic Kingdom

• Importance of bishops• How were kings chosen• Chindasuinth (642-53): established

stability• Visigothic Law: late 7th century– Roman influence– Persecution of Jews

• Survival of Roman institutions, education– Isadore of Seville

Fall to Berbers: 711

• Wickham claims that in the late seventh century, "the Visigothic state was the strongest in the west" (139). What is the basis for this claim? How, then does he explain its conquest by the Arab and Berber invaders?

Lombard Italy

• Gothic War 536-54• Lombard invasion: 568-69• 605: Agiluf established peace with

emperor Phocas, paid tribute to Franks

• Continued Byzantine presence: how do you characterize their style of governance, compared to Constantinople itself?

• Lombard dynasties?

Character of Lombard rule

• On p. 144, Wickham alleges that the Lombard state "intervened in local society in capillary ways." What does he mean by this?

• What was the financial basis of the government: tax or land? How would you characterize the aristocracy?

• Religion?• 643: Lombard law code, the Edict of Rothari• Liutprand (712-44): established hegemony

Lombards, Franks, and the Papacy

• Significance of Rome• Eventually: Lombards would

succumb to the Carolingians• Relationship to Roman antecedents:

Romano-Germanic Kingdoms

Questions on Sources

• How does Gregory II advise his missionary Boniface to handle the problem of fellowship with bishops and priests who are "so involved in vices of many sorts that their lives are a blot upon the priesthood"?

• On p. 126, footnote #4, Rosenwein asks you to "compare [the Life of Gregory II]'s account of the Muslim conquest of Spain with the evidence from the Treaty of Tudmir" on p. 92. What does such a comparison suggest?

• To what extent and in what ways did Roman infrastructure survive in England, Spain, Francia, and Italy, respectively?