Visigoth

:This article treats the Visigoths on the Continent. The name can also rarely refer to Västergötland, Sweden.

Visigothic Kingdom in Aquitaine

From 407 to 409 the Vandals, with the allied Alans and Germanic tribes like the Suevi, swept into the Iberian peninsula. In response to this invasion of Roman Hispania, Honorius, the emperor in the West, enlisted the aid of the Visigoths to regain control of the territory. And, in 418, Honorius rewarded his Visigothic federates by giving them land in Aquitania on which to settle. This was done probably under hospitalitas, the rules for billeting army soldiers (Heather 1996, Sivan 1987). The settlement formed the nucleus of the future Visigothic kingdom that would eventually expand across the Pyrenees and onto the peninsula.

Related Topics:
407 - 409 - Vandals - Alans - Suevi - Iberian peninsula - Roman Hispania - Honorius - 418 - Federates - Aquitania - Pyrenees

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Political strength in a charismatic monarchy depends upon the personal character of the king. The Visigoths' second great king, Euric, unified the various quarreling factions among the Visigoths and, in 475, forced the Roman government to grant them full independence. At his death, the Visigoths were the most powerful of the successor states to the Western Roman Empire.

Related Topics:
Monarchy - Euric - 475

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At its greatest extent, before their defeat at the Battle of Vouillé in 507, the Kingdom of the Visigoths included all of Iberia except for small areas in the north (belonging to the Basques) and in the northwest (the Suevi kingdom), plus Aquitania and Gallia Narbonensis in what is today France.

Related Topics:
Battle of Vouillé - 507 - Basques - Suevi - Gallia Narbonensis - France

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