Vandals and Visigoths, history of Andalucia

THE BARBARIANS: VISIGOTHS AND VANDALS 5TH TO 8TH CENTURY AD

By Fiona Flores Watson

These groups from northern Europe ruled Andalucia for over 300 years.   At the beginning of the fourth century AD, the expanding Mongolian population was pressurising the tribes on the Russian Steppes, and over the next century they in turn pushed the Vandals, the Visigoths and the Franks further to the boundary of the Roman Empire on the Rhine.

Vandals: 335-435 AD

In AD 409 the Roman frontier was breached and the Vandals crossed the Pyrenees into the Iberian peninsula.

The Hasdingi Vandals went to the Northwest and received land from the Romans under treaty. The Silingi Vandals went to Hispania Baetica (todays Andalucia) and the Alans took lands in Lusitania which was to the west and also around Carthago Nova (todays Cartagena) to the east.

AD 417 The Visigoths, lead by King Athaulf invaded Iberia on the orders of the Roman Emperor Honorius, almost crushed the Silingi Vandals in Hispania Baetica (todays Andalucia) and then the Alans, killing the Alan King Attaces. The remainder of the Alans and the remnants of the Silingi merged under the Vandal King Gunderic.

AD 422 Vandal King Gunderic decisively defeated a Roman-Suebi-Gothic coalition led by the Roman Castinus at the Battle of Tarraco. (todays Tarragona). For the next five years, according to writings of Bishop Hydatius, Gunderic created widespread havoc in the western Mediterranean.

AD 425 the Vandals sacked Hispalis (todays Seville) and maritime city Carthago Spartaria (Cartagena) the capture of the latter enabled the Vandals to engage in widespread naval activities.

AD 428 Gunderic, often regarded by historians as the most able barbarian leader of the period, captured Hispalis (todays Seville) for a second time but died while laying siege to the city's church. He was succeeded by his half-brother Genseric.

AD 429 The Vandals departed Spain for North Africa, which returned almost totally in Roman hands until 439 when a Sueves expansion south took Emerita Augusta (todays Mérida), the main city of Roman administration for the whole peninsula.

Visigoths

These tribes were followed by the Visigoths, who separated from the Ostrogoths,who invaded Italy and sacked Rome. The Visigoths first settled in southern Gaul as a tribe federated to the Romans (they had to provide Romans with troops). The Visigoths converted to Arianism Catholicism rather than Nicean Catholicism. The Romans saw them as heritics. The Visigoths soon fell out with their Roman hosts and extended their authority into Hispania Betica at the expense of the Suevi and Vandals.   The Visigoths had nearly completed the conquest of all Iberia by AD 476 pushing the Vandals south in Africa. Hence with the exception of the Suevic kingdom in the north west, which did not fall until 585, and the exception of areas controlled by the Basques, all Hispania was Visigoth.

AD 476 Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer after loosing the Battle of Ravenna (in todays Northern Italy, the last Capital of the Western Roman Empire). Most chronologies place this the end of the Western Roman Empire.

AD 484 the Visigoths established Toledo as their capital in Hispania. It is often thought that by this period, the Romans had left Hispania. Indeed, their armies had gone but many Roman families had been in Hispania for generations and had survived the deprivations of the Vandal period and it was those people who ran the civil administration. Latin continued as the official language. Education and government became the responsibility of the church bishops who answered to the Pope.

AD 550 revolts against the Visigoth rulers took place. Roman Catholics in Cordoba defeated the Visigoth King Aguila who retreated to Merida.

AD 551 An usurper to the Visigothic throne, Athanagild, met Aguila in battle and took Seville. Athanagild ruled as king from Seville in opposition to Agila.

AD 552 According to Isidore of Seville in his ‘History of the Goths’, Athanagild asked the Byzantines, who occupied NA, for assistance against Agila. A Byzantines force landed at the mouth of the Guadalette river (Puerto de Santa Maria). For two years, they expanded the territory they held into a coastal strip from the Portuguese border to north of Cartagena.

Byzantine Province

In 554, Granada, Malaga and southernmost Hispania Baetica were lost to the Byzantine Empire to form the province of Spania. The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern successor to the Roman Empire in the west. It came into being around the year 330 AD when Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine I moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium, later Constantinople now Istanbul. Under Emperor Justinian a concerted effort was made to regain much of the lost empire.

In 551 a Vizigoth nobleman named Athanagild, who was fighting the Vizigoth King Agila made his base Seville. Athanagild 'invited' Byzantium Emperor Justinium to help. His forces arrived in 552, after a couple of years Agila was assassinated in Merida and Athanagild was crowned. However the Byzantine forces stayed on, as a spearhead to a reconquest of the far west envisaged by Roman emperor Justinian I. However Visigoth King Suintila reconquered completely in 624.

AD 552 According to Isidore of Seville in his ‘History of the Goths’, Athanagild asked the Byzantines, who occupied North Africa, for assistance against Agila. A Byzantines force landed at the mouth of the Guadalette river (Puerto de Santa Maria). For two years, they expanded the territory they held into a coastal strip from the Portuguese border to north of Cartagena.

AD 555 A further Bazantine army landed at Cartagena. The Byzantines called it Spania and were to remain for another seventy years until they were removed by Visigoths who still held the vast majority of Spain.

Basilica de Vega del Mar in San Pedro, Marbella is a rare example of a Byzantine Church.

Visigoths (continued)

In the sixth century, Visigoth rule in Gaul was ended by the Franks. After that, the Visigoth kingdom was limited to Hispania.

589 AD King Reccared converted his people from Arianism to Catholicism. Their legal code, the Visigothic Code, was completed in 654 and abolished the long standing practice of applying different laws for Romans and Visigoths. Once legal distinctions were no longer being made these two peoples became known collectively as Hispani.   Their Catholic bishops increased in power, until, at the Fourth Council of Toledo in 633, they took upon themselves to upsurp the nobles' right to select a king from among the royal family. Visigothic also began the persecution of Jews began after the conversion to Catholicism.

642 AD Chindasuinth becomes the Visigothic King of Hispania on 17th April after deposing King Tulga in a coup and tonsuring him. By tonsuring King Tulga, Chindasuinth was essentially forcing him into a monastic life. This was a common practice in that era to remove a deposed ruler from political power permanently, as becoming a monk meant renouncing worldly affairs, including any claim to the throne. It was a way to ensure he couldn't rally support or attempt another coup. There were different styles of tonsure, but the most common for monks in the Western Church involved shaving the top of the head, leaving a ring of hair around the sides, often associated with representing the crown of thorns.

When the Tariq and the Moors invaded in 711, they conquered Visigothic Iberia very quickly. Following the death of Hispani King Rodrigo in the battle of Guadalete, there was no movement by the Visigoth nobility, nor Wanda's prince sons, nor the people to push them back. Perhaps the Visigoth saw the berber tribesman as involuntary allies who were going to rid them of a fiscal and clerical tyranny. It was true almost everybody helped them on their way, like a liberating army, guiding them and opening gates for them. More about the Moorish invasion.

Visigoth sites in Andalucia today

The Visigoths left very few visible signs from their rule in Andalucia, except for stone pillars from their churches (some were Arian, others Catholic) reused by the Moors to build their mosques. If you are interested, you can visit some Visigoths graves at ruins.

Carteia in San Roque one can view Visigoths graves.

Cerro de Castellón Visigoth Necropolis and ruined village outside Montefrio, Granada are found the remains of a Visigoth village where the foundations can be clearly seen since this area was excavated by a team from University of Granada in 1981. There are also toombs and a Baptismal font. This village existed as a christian enclave well into the Moorish period.

La Basilica de Vega del Mar
La Basilica de Vega del Mar was a Paleo-Christian (early Christian) church and necropolis (burial site), located near the coast just east of the mouth of the Guadalmina river, in San Pedro, Marbella. The present visible ruins largely relate to the church that was built in the year 572 AD by Bishop Andrea of Ira Flavia during the Byzantine tenure of the coast which was from 552 AD until the Visigoths reconquered in 621 AD.

Cordoba Mosque-Cathedral
While overwhelmingly famous for its Islamic and later Christian architecture, the Mezquita-Catedral actually stands on the site of a Visigothic Basilica of San Vicente. When Abd al-Rahman I began construction of the Great Mosque, some of the original building materials, including columns and capitals from the Visigothic basilica, were reused in the first section of the Mosque. You can still see these elements integrated into the structure, especially in the earliest parts.

Mosque of Almonaster la Real This is another fascinating example of a building with multi-layered history. The site was a Roman military base and later a fifth-century Visigoth basilica, this is one of few surviving rural mosques in Spain. A beautifully-preserved mezquita that was converted into a church (a smaller example of Cordoba's famous Mezquita), it is highly unusual in that most of its Islamic features have survived almost intact to this day, alongside the Christian additions. Its foundations and some structural elements contain traces of its Visigothic past.

Nots on Visigoth sites in Andalucia today

Visigothic burial sites are often found near existing Roman or later settlements. Smaller Church Foundations, while less grand than Roman structures, numerous small Visigothic churches and hermitages existed across the region. Their remains are less obvious and often require archaeological excavation to be fully appreciated. The Visigoths often reused materials from older Roman buildings, and later Islamic and Christian constructions incorporated Visigothic elements. Keep an eye out for carved stones, column fragments, or capitals that don't quite fit the style of the dominant architectural period.

It is important to remember that Visigothic architecture was generally less monumental than Roman or Islamic constructions, often utilizing simpler techniques and materials. Therefore, their "remains" might be less visually striking than, say, a Roman amphitheater or an Islamic palace, but they are crucial for understanding the transition period before the arrival of the Moors.

Archaeological museums in Andalusia (such as the Provincial Archaeological Museum in the provincial capital cities such as Málaga or the Archaeological Museum of Seville) display Visigothic artifacts, including pottery, metalwork (belt buckles, brooches), and funerary objects.

Next page: Moors in Andalucia

Next page: Moors in Andalucia