No More Learning

The Merovingian goldsmiths were
skilful. Eligius, son of a minter at Limoges, attained by the aid of his
art to the highest posts; he became the counsellor of Dagobert and bishop
of Noyon. There was also in the Merovingian period a certain amount
of commercial activity. The Franks imported from abroad spices,
papyrus and silk fabrics. This merchandise was either brought to the
ports of Marseilles, Aries and Narbonne, or came by way of the Black
Sea and the Danube. In the time of Dagobert a Frankish merchant
named Samo went to trade on the banks of the Elbe, and there formed
a great Slav kingdom which had its centre in Bohemia, and extended from
the Havel to the Styrian Alps. The merchants of the town of Verdun
formed an association in the time of Theudibert, about 540. The king
aided them by lending them, at the request of the bishop Desiderius, 7000
aurei. They were thus enabled to put their business on a sound footing.


## p. 156 (#188) ############################################

156 Kenantius Fortunatus
and in the time of Gregory of Tours the wealth of these merchants was
renowned. But commerce was chiefly in the hands of Byzantines and
Jews. The Byzantines, who were generally known by the name of
Syrians, whether they came from Asia or from Europe, had important
trading-stations at Marseilles, at Bordeaux, at Orleans. When in 585
Guntram made his entry into the last-named city he was welcomed with
cries of acclamation in the Syriac language. Simeon Stylites conversed
with Syrian merchants who had seen Ste Genevieve at Paris. In 591 a
Syrian named Eusebius was even appointed bishop of Paris, and gave
offices in the Church to his compatriots. The Jews, on their part, formed
prosperous colonies. Maintaining friendly relations with their co-
religionists in Italy, Spain, and the East, they were able to give a wide
extension to their business, and, as the Christian Church forbade the
lending of money at interest, all dealing in money, all banking business,
was soon in their hands. Five hundred Jews were settled at Clermont-
Ferrand; at Marseilles and Narbonne they were more numerous still.
The Jew Priscus acted as agent in purchases made by King Chilperic, who
held disputations with him concerning the Holy Trinity.
Intellectual culture naturally declined during the Merovingian
period. Nevertheless in the sixth century there are still two names
which are celebrated in the history of literature, those of the poet
Fortunatus and the historian Gregory of Tours. Fortunatus, it is
true, was born in Italy and educated in the Schools of Ravenna; but
his verses, with their wealth of mythological allusions, pleased the taste
of the Frankish lords and the Merovingian kings, of whom he was
to some extent a flatterer. He sang the praises of all the monarchs
of his period, Charibert, Sigebert and Chilperic; he even lavished
on Fredegund his paid panegyrics:
Omnibus excellens meritis Fredegundis ojnma.
Becoming the adviser of Queen Radegund he settled in her neigh-
bourhood at Poitiers. He there became first priest, and then bishop.
It was at this period that he wrote those charming notes in verse,
thanking Radegund for the delicacies which she sent him and describing,
with a slightly sensual gourmandise, the pleasure he derived from a good
dinner; but at the same time he finds a more energetic strain in which
to deplore the sorrows of Thuringia. And, also doubtless at the request
of his patroness, he wrote the fine hymns which the Church still uses in
the Vexilla regis prodeunt and the Pange lingua.
If Fortunatus was the sole poet of the Merovingian period Gregory
of Tours is almost the sole historian. In his work, the History of the
Franks, this troublous period lives again, with its vices, crimes and
passions. The portraits which he gives us of Chilperic, Guntram and
Brunhild are painted with extraordinary vividness. His work manifests
real literary power. Critics sometimes speak of the naivete of Gregory,


## p. 157 (#189) ############################################

Gregory of Tours 167
but we must not deceive ourselves; this naivete is a matter of deliberate
art Gregory does not of course observe strict grammatical correctness;
he is by no means Ciceronian; he writes the language as it was spoken
in his day. In a few passages only, where he is obviously writing with
conscious effort, he employs rare and poetical expressions, as for example
in the account of the baptism of Clovis, in the description of Dijon, in
the narrative of his quarrels with Count Leudastes. But to these we
prefer those pages where he lets himself go, and writes with his natural
vigour, where he slips in malicious reflexions as it were unconsciously, or
where he excoriates his adversaries. He has the real gift of story-telling
and has justly been called the barbarian Herodotus. After his day
all culture disappeared. A vast difference separates him from his
continuator, the chronicler who has been named—we do not know for
what reason—Fredegar. The chronicle of Fredegar is composed of
scraps and fragments from various sources. One of the authors from
whom extracts are made writes, "The world is growing old; the keenness
of intelligence is becoming blunted in us; no one in the present age can
compare with the orators of past times,'1 and this phrase might be applied
to the whole of the work. Nevertheless there are still found in Fredegar
attempts at portraits of some of the Mayors of the Palace, Bertoald,
Protadius, Aega, whereas in the last chronicler of the period, the Neustrian
who compiled the Liber Historiae Francorum, there is no longer any-
thing of that kind; it is a very meagre chronicle of the rois fainiants.
The lives of the saints, which are still numerous enough, are singularly
monotonous; they rarely inform us of any facts and are as like each
other as one ecclesiastical image is to another.
A certain number of churches were built during the Merovingian
period, such as those of Clermont, Nantes and Lyons, without counting
the abbey churches such as St Martin de Tours and St Vincent or
St Germain-des-Pres at Paris, but of these great buildings no trace
remains to us. The only remnants of buildings of this period belong to
less important edifices, such as the baptisteries of Riez in Provence and
St Jean de Poitiers, the crypt of St Laurent at Grenoble, and of
the abbey of Jouarre. The great churches which are known to us from
descriptions generally have a nave and two side-aisles with a transept, and
are in the form of a Latin cross. At the point of intersection of nave and
transept there was a tower, which at first served by way of "Lantern,''''
but afterwards to hang bells in. On the walls were placed numerous
inscriptions, sentences taken from the Scriptures, verses in honour of the
saints. Pictures recalled to the faithful the history of the saints or
scenes from Scripture. Often, instead of pictures the walls, as well as
the floor, were covered with mosaic-work in which gold was freely used;
a basilica at Toulouse was known for this reason as la Daurade. Sculpture
in high relief was unknown, even in bas-reliefs the human figure appears
very rarely after the sixth century. The artists could no longer even


## p. 158 (#190) ############################################

158 Merovingian Art
trace the outlines of animals, they drew conventional animals which are
difficult to recognise, geometrical designs or roseate and foliate forms.
Some houses which Fortunatus describes to us seem still to have had
a fine appearance. Such was the castle built by Nicetius, bishop of
Treves, on a hill overlooking the Moselle. The single entrance gate was
commanded by a tower; a mechanical contrivance raised water from the
river to turn a mill. This is quite a medieval donjon-keep. There
were great houses too at Bissonnum and Vereginis villa, belonging to
the bishop Leontius of Bordeaux, where under porticoes formed by
three rows of columns guests could promenade sheltered from rays of
the sun. But such dwellings must have been exceptional; the ordinary
houses surrounded by the necessary appurtenances must have resembled
farms rather than castles. Merovingian art however is mainly repre-
sented by the numerous pieces of jewellery which have been discovered,
as was mentioned earlier. This art is certainly of Oriental origin: it
was practised not among the Franks only, but among the other bar-
barian peoples of the West, and even here are found the same decorative
ornaments.
In art as well as in literature the seventh century and beginning
of the eighth are marked by a profound decadence. But just at the
period of blackest barbarism the Frankish kingdom came into contact
with Italy, the mother of arts and sciences, where the monuments of
antiquity were preserved; and with England, where the monks still
studied in their cloisters, and where the Venerable Bede had founded a
school of worthy disciples. The Anglo-Saxons and the Italians brought
to the Franks the treasures they had safely guarded; the Emperor
Charles the Great recognised that it belonged to the duties of his office
to spread enlightenment, to foster art and literature; and at length,
after this night of darkness, there shone forth the brilliance of a true
renaissance.


## p. 159 (#191) ############################################

159
CHAPTER VI.
SPAIN UNDER THE VISIGOTHS.
Of the Gothic kings, it was Euric who really conquered the Iberian
peninsula. We cannot indeed exactly determine the extent of his
conquests. If we accepted in their literal signification the words of
Jordanes, Mas Hispanias, we should have to believe that Euric ruled
over the whole peninsula; but those words are inexact, because we
must except not only the Suevic State, but also other territories of the
south and centre, which were not conquered by the Visigoths until
considerably later. St Isidore, with reference to the campaigns of Euric,
uses the words Hispania superior, which Hinojosa takes to mean Spain
with the exception of Vasconia, Cantabria, and possibly the two
Conventus of Saragossa and Clunia. Other writers allude to the con-
quest of districts in the north-east and south-east; and lastly, from the
decrees of various councils held between 516 and 546, and from other
evidence, we conclude that, near the end of the fifth century, the Visigoths
held in Spain practically the whole of the ancient province Tarraconensis
with the almost certain exception of part of Vasconia—most of the
provinces of Carthaginensis and some portion of Baetica and Lusitania,
and Galicia; while the rest of Lusitania remained in the hands of the
Sueves, and the Balearic Isles still belonged to the Empire. In Gaul
the Visigothic kingdom was bounded on the north-west by the Franks,
on the north-east by the kingdom of Syagrius, and on the east by the
Burgundians; thus it stretched from the Loire to the Pyrenees, and
from the Atlantic to Aries.
International complications immediately confronted the Visigothic
king, Alaric II (485-507). They originated in the ambition of the
Frankish king, Clovis, whose predecessors had fought against Euric.
The first encounter between the two powers was brought about by Clovis1
invasion (486) of the kingdom of Syagrius, whom he defeated, and
forced to take refuge in Toulouse, under the protection of Alaric. The
Frank demanded his surrender. According to Gregory of Tours, Alaric
was afraid of incurring the wrath of Clovis, and consented to give up
Syagrius. But this docility on the part of Alaric did not deter Clovis
from his determination to take possession of as much of Visigothic
Gaul as possible. He could rely on a good deal of help from the
outcome of his conversion to Catholicism in 496. The clergy and the


## p. 160 (#192) ############################################

160 Battle of VougU [507
Catholic inhabitants of Gaul, both in the Burgundian and in the
Visigothic provinces, looked upon Clovis as the leader destined to deliver
them from Arian oppression. Even during the reign of Euric, there
had been serious disagreement between the Catholic element and the
monarch, which had given rise to persecution. The ground was there-
fore well prepared, and from the evidence of contemporary chroniclers
it is clear that Clovis did not fail to take advantage of this inclination
on the part of the Catholics, and that he stirred up public opinion in
his favour. This led Alaric to adopt rigorous measures in the case of
sundry Catholic bishops, whom he banished on the more or less well-
founded charge of conspiring with the Franks. In due course Alaric
prepared for war. He summoned to arms all his subjects, Visigoths and
Gallo-Romans, clergy and laymen, collected sums of money, and when war
was imminent (506) he tried to conciliate the Catholic clergy and the
Roman element as a whole by the publication of the code which bears
his name (the Breviarium Alarici), and by other demonstrations of
tolerance. The code consisted of passages of Roman Law, which only
applied to questions of private legislation among the non-Visigothic
population. Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, who was related by
marriage to Alaric and Clovis, attempted to avert war by personal
mediation, to which, at his instigation, were added the entreaties of the
Burgundians, Thuringians, Warni and Heruli, old friends of Euric.
This mediation, to which Cassiodorus alludes, only served to postpone the
crisis.
War broke out in 507. On the part of Clovis it was a war of
religion, to free Gaul from the Arian heretics. Yet his policy was not
quite so effectual as we might have expected, for a considerable part of
Alaric's Catholic subjects fought on his side, displaying great courage.
This was the case with the people of Auvergne, who, under the command
of Apollinaris, son of the famous bishop Sidonius, formed an important
element of the Visigothic army. It was a short campaign. The decisive
battle was fought in the Campus Vocladensis, which seems to corre-
spond to Vouille, near Poitiers, on the banks of the river Clain1.
The battle proved disastrous to Alaric, who was himself slain by
Clovis. As a result of this victory, the Franks possessed themselves
of the greater part of Gothic Gaul. At the close of 507, Clovis
seized Bordeaux; in the spring of 508, he took Toulouse, where he laid
hands on the treasure of Alaric; shortly afterwards, he entered Angouleme.
His son Theodoric conquered the country round Albi and Rodez, and
the small towns on the Burgundian frontier. Moreover, the dioceses of
Eauze, Bazas and Auch were incorporated into the Frankish kingdom.
To the Visigoths remained only the district afterwards called Septimania,
bounded by the Cevennes, the Rhone and the sea, with its capital at
Narbonne.
1 There is some dispute about the exact site


## p. 161 (#193) ############################################

498-mi] Death of Clovis 161
In addition to this war with the Franks, Alaric had to contend with
a rebellion of the Bagaudae of Tarragona, whose chief, Burdurellus, was
taken prisoner at Toulouse, and there slain (498). On the death of
Alaric, the Visigothic magnates chose for their king his illegitimate son
Gisalic, instead of Amalaric, his legitimate heir. Theodoric, the king
of the Ostrogoths and grandfather of Amalaric, opposed him by armed
intervention, and thus re-established the right of succession to the
throne and saved the Visigothic kingdom from total destruction.
Gisalic, who is represented by the historians of the period as being very
wicked and cowardly, was defeated in the neighbourhood of Narbonne
by the Burgundians, at that time the allies of Clovis. He fled to
Barcelona, whence he was expelled by the troops of Theodoric. He
then took refuge in Africa at the court of the king of the Vandals,
who refused to support his claims; afterwards, under the protection of
Clovis, he returned to Gaul, and was killed there. Meanwhile, the
Burgundians, who had taken possession of Narbonne, combined with
the Franks, and besieged Aries: but they were defeated by the army of
Theodoric, under command of his general Ibbas, who compelled them to
withdraw from Carcassonne. Thus, almost all the cities of the province
of Narbonne, including the capital, were reconquered, and the whole of
Visigothic Spain was placed in subjection to Theodoric, albeit in the
name of Amalaric. The final episode of the war was the raising of the
siege of Aries in 510; this city was heroically defended by its inhabitants
assisted by the Ostrogothic general Tulum. Shortly afterwards (511)
Clovis died, and the city of Rodez reverted to the Visigoths. The part
of Provence which Theodoric had conquered remained, for the time
being, united to the other territories, but, on the death of Theodoric,
it became part of the Ostrogothic kingdom in consequence of a treaty
between Amalaric and Theodoric's successor Athalaric.
As regards internal policy, matters were settled on the following
terms: Amalaric, a minor, was to be king of the Visigoths, and his
grandfather Theodoric acted as his guardian. Indeed, for fifteen years,
Theodoric was the real ruler of the kingdom both in Gaul and Spain.
Theodoric tried to make his rule agreeable to the Visigoths. He adhered
to the system, privileges and customs of the time of Alaric; he remitted
taxation in the districts which had been especially impoverished by the
war; he supplied Aries with money and provisions, and in order that
his troops might not prove a burden to the inhabitants, he sent them
corn and gold from Italy. His conduct as a guardian was particularly
advantageous to Spain. He there displayed all the wise and vigorous
policy which had rendered so illustrious his rule in Italy and which was
all the more vital to Spain on account of the immorality and anarchy
which had crept into the government during the decline of the
Empire. Theodoric recovered for the Crown the exclusive right to
coin money, which was being exercised by a few private individuals; he
C. MED. B. VOt. II. CH. VI. 11


## p. 162 (#194) ############################################


162 Amalaric [526-533
contrived to put an end to the extortions practised by the collectors of
taxes and by the administrators of the royal patrimony (conductores
villici) to the detriment of the State funds. It appears that, in the
name of Theodoric, the Peninsula was at one time governed by two
officials, viz. Ampelius and Liberius, and at another by one alone, viz.
Theudis. Some of the chronicles allude to these officials as consules,
and it is probable that their authority extended over every branch of
the administration. On the death of Theodoric in 526, his ward
Amalaric assumed complete royal power over the Visigoths. The Frankish
peril, which had hitherto been held at bay by the prestige of the Ostro-
goths, still presented a threatening aspect. The sons of Clovis were
longing to extend their dominion in Gaul by the conquest of the part
occupied by the Visigoths. Amalaric attempted to avert the danger
by means of an alliance and, after repeated demands, he succeeded in
obtaining the hand of Clotilda, daughter of Clovis; but this marriage,
which he had regarded as a means of salvation, supplied the Frankish
kings with the very pretext they desired. Amalaric did his utmost to
make Clotilda abjure the Catholic Faith and embrace Arianism, and
according to Gregory of Tours actually ill-treated her. Clotilda made
complaint to her brother Childebert, and he hastened to declare open
war in Septimania. Near Narbonne he defeated the army of Amalaric
(531); the latter fled, but, according to Jordanes and Isidore, he was
shortly afterwards slain by his own soldiers. Childebert took possession
of Narbonne, where he joined his sister, and seized considerable treasure.
The position of the Visigoths could hardly have been worse. With-
out the hope of finding a powerful defender such as Theodoric, they
found themselves threatened by the Franks, a nation naturally war-
like, and further emboldened by its conquest of Aquitaine. In fact,
dating from the defeat of Amalaric, the Visigothic kingdom may be
regarded as consisting of Spanish territory, and its capital was then
transferred from Gaul to the Iberian peninsula. But they had the
good fortune to find a man who was equal to the occasion. This was
Theudis the Ostrogoth, who had been governor of Spain in the time
of Theodoric, and who had settled in the Peninsula, where he had
married a very wealthy Spanish woman, the owner, according to
Procopius, of more than 2000 slaves and dependents. When Theudis
had been formally elected king, he began to make preparations for the
ejection of the Franks, who, in this same year (531), had entered the
kingdom by way of Cantabria, and in 532 had annexed a small territory
near Beziers. In 533 Childebert joined forces with his brother, Chlotar I,
invaded Navarre, took possession of Pampeluna, and marched as far as
Saragossa, to which he laid siege. The inhabitants resisted bravely:
thus the Visigoths had time to send two armies to their assistance; of
these one was commanded by Theudis himself, and the other by bis
general Theudegesil. At their approach the Franks retreated as fax
▼^


## p. 163 (#195) ############################################

533-554] Athanagild 163
as the Pyrenees. They were seriously defeated by the army of Theudis;
but Theudegesil, whom they succeeded in bribing, permitted them to
escape, and to bear with them the treasures which they had acquired
during the campaign. Among these was the body of St Vincent, the
martyr, for which they built near Paris a church, that afterwards known
as St Germain-des-Pres. After having thus ejected the Franks, Theudis
undertook an expedition to the coast of Africa, which was being conquered
by the army of the Byzantines. By this expedition, made in 543, Theudis
only acquired temporary possession of Ceuta, which was shortly after-
wards retaken by the Emperor, for in 544 Justinian alludes to it as his
own. Four years later, in 548, Theudis was assassinated in Seville by
a man who pretended to be mad. His successor, Theudegesil, only
reigned for sixteen months. We know nothing more of him than that
he was a man of immoral conduct, and that in 549 he too was assassi-
nated in Seville.
The fact that the Visigoths possessed Seville does not mean that they
ruled over the whole of Baetica. On the contrary, the greater part of
it was independent, controlled by the Spanish-Roman nobles, who since
the time of Majorian, and even before, had obtained possession of the
country. Agila, the successor of Theudegesil, set himself to conquer
these independent territories; he was defeated before Cordova by the
Andalusians, who slew his son, and possessed themselves of the royal
treasure. This defeat (which the chroniclers regard as a divine punishment
for Agila's profanation of the tomb of St Acisclus), his tyrannical
behaviour and his hostility to the Catholics, who constituted the bulk
of the Spanish population, were turned to account by Athanagild, a
Visigothic noble who had designs on the crown. In order to make sure
of success, he solicited the support of the Emperor Justinian, who sent
him a powerful army under the command of his general Liberius (544).
The Byzantines were probably assisted by the inhabitants of the country
who, on account of their Catholic Faith, were bound to welcome the
imperial forces and the person of Athanagild, concerning whom Isidore
himself states that he was secretly a Catholic. They had, therefore, no
difficulty in possessing themselves of the most important towns on the
coasts of the Mediterranean, more particularly those in the east and
south, i. e. the district round Valencia, Murcia and Andalusia. Agila
was defeated near Seville by the combined forces of Athanagild and
Liberius, and withdrew to Merida, where he was assassinated by his own
followers, who forthwith acknowledged the usurper.
Thus when Athanagild became king in 554, the power of Justinian
in the Peninsula was extensive, for he was not content with playing the
part of helper, but claimed a substantial acknowledgment of his services.
It is probable that Athanagild rewarded him by an offer of territory, but
we have no exact information on the subject, because the text of the treaty
which ensued has not been preserved. But it is certain that Liberius
CH. VI. 11—2


## p. 164 (#196) ############################################

164 Brunteld and Galswintha [564-567
encroached on the boundaries agreed upon, for he seized all the land lying
between the Guadalquivir and the Jucar (going from west to east),
together with that between the sea and the mountains of Gibalbin,
Ronda, Antequera and Loja, the Picacho de Veleta, the mountains of
Jaen, Segura and Alcaraz, the pass of Almansa (in the province now
called Albacete), the territories of Villena, Monovar and Villajoyosa
(from the south-west and the north-east, following the line of the
Penibaetian mountain range, and the continuation on the east which
connects it with Iberica). The situation was all the more serious
because to the great military strength of the Eastern Empire was now
added the aggregate force of all the Spanish-Roman element in Baetica
and Carthaginensis, that is to say, all who had remained independent
of the Visigoths, and whom Agila had attempted to subdue. These
Spanish-Romans who, by reason of their religion, were opposed to the
Visigoths, naturally regarded the rule of Justinian as the prolongation
of the Empire whereof they had formed a part until the coming of the
Goths. Hence the tradition that the inhabitants of these regions
rebelled against the Visigoths and proclaimed Justinian as their sovereign
is most probably authentic.
Athanagild did not submit to this treachery, but immediately pro-
ceeded to make war on the Byzantines, and established his capital at
Toledo, an excellent position from the strategical point of view. He
attempted to flatter the Catholics, by means of a benevolent policy,
which was intended to estrange them from the Empire. The war
lasted for thirteen years, that is, throughout the whole of the reign of
Athanagild, who had also to fight against the Franks in order to defend
Septimania, which was still in the hands of the Visigoths, and against
the Vascons, who were continually struggling for independence. But
this perpetual warfare did not prevent Athanagild from strengthening
his kingdom from within, or from increasing its prosperity. The fame
of his wealth and the splendour of his court; the fame of his two
daughters, Brunhild and Galswintha, spread to the neighbouring
kingdoms. Two Frankish kings, Sigebert of Austrasia and Chilperic of
Neustria, were inspired thereby to seek an alliance with him; the former
became the husband of Brunhild and the latter of Galswintha. Of
these marriages, and more particularly of the second, which took place in
567 and ended in tragedy, we possess detailed accounts in the chronicle
of Gregory of Tours, and in the Carminum Liber of Venantius Fortunatus.
A few months after the marriage of Galswintha, Athanagild died at
Toledo (Nov. ,or Dec. 567).
The throne remained vacant for several months, until the spring of
568, but we do not know the reason of this. The interregnum came to
an end with the accession of Liuwa or Leuwa, a brother of Athanagild,
who (why or for what purpose we are unable to say) shared the govern-
ment with his brother Leovigild or Liuvigild, to whom he entrusted


## p. 165 (#197) ############################################

42&-580] Leovigild. The Sueves 165
the Spanish part, keeping for himself the territory in Gaul. It has been
observed that John of Biclar, a chronicler of the latter part of the
sixth century, states that Leovigild obtained ffispania Citerior. This
phrase seems to confirm what has been said before, that from the
beginning of the reign of Athanagild, Hispania Ulterior, or the greater
part of the districts which belonged to it, was either in the hands of the
Byzantines or, at any rate, was not loyal to the Visigoths. This evidence,
viewed in connexion with the results of Leovigild's campaigns, shews
that several districts of north-western Spain, such as Oviedo, LeOn,
Palencia, Zamora, Ciudad Rodrigo, etc. , were independent, under petty
princes or rulers, the majority of whom belonged to the Spanish-Roman
nobility: it also shews that the district of Vasconia could only nominally
be considered as belonging to the Visigothic kingdom.
To remedy this, Leovigild adopted as a guiding principle the ideal
of hegemony in the Peninsula. He began by surrounding himself with
all the external pomp which adds so much to the prestige of a sovereign;
he adopted the ceremonial of the Emperors and celebrated his proclama-
tion in Toledo by striking gold medals, bearing an effigy of himself
in regal vestments. But he did this with a view to his relations
towards his subjects, and took care not to arouse the jealousy of
the Empire: on the contrary, he made use of it to further his own
designs. He revived the former connexion between the Visigothic
kings and the Emperors, by communicating to Justin II the news of
his election as king, and by acknowledging his authority he made a
truce with the Byzantine army in the Peninsula, and persuaded it to
join with him in opposing the advance of the Sueves.
We hear very little of the Sueves.
Since the year 428, when
they had been delivered from their barbarous enemies, the Vandals,
they had been trying to obtain possession of the territories formerly
occupied by the latter, which extended towards the south-east and
south-west of the Peninsula. This attempt at territorial expansion gave
rise to constant wars, usually between the Sueves and the Romans,
sometimes between the Sueves and the Visigoths, though in some cases
the two barbarian powers united. (Thus Theodoric I allied with
Rectiiarius the Sueve against the Romans, and in 460, Theodoric II
with Remismund against Frumar, another petty king of the Sueves. )
The consequence of this last alliance was that the Sueves, who were
partly Catholics and partly Pagans, were converted to Arianism. In
465, Remismund, with the help of the Visigoths, took possession of
Coi in bra, and shortly afterwards of Lisbon and Anona. But in 466
Euric put an end to these friendly relations, and in a terrible war, to
the horrors of which Idatius refers, he forced the Sueves to fall back on
their ancient possessions in the north-west. There is a considerable
gap in the history of the Sueves, from 468—in which year the chronicle
of Idatius comes to an end, until 550 when Carrarich appears as king.


## p. 166 (#198) ############################################


166 Campaigns of Leovigild against the Sueves [559-573
In the reign of Carrarich, or in that of Theodomir who succeeded him
(559-570), this people was converted to Catholicism, through the influence
of Martin, bishop of Braga (St Martin). During this same period, the
Sueves had again extended their eastern and southern boundaries to
the Navia in the province of Asturias, to the Orbigo and the Esla in
Leon, to the Douro in the country of the Vettones, to the Coa and the
Eljas where they join the Tagus, in the direction of Estremadura (west
of Alcantara), and in Lusitania to the Atlantic, by way of Abrantes,
Leiria, and Parades.
In 569 Leovigild began his campaign against the Sueves and the
independent districts in the north-west. He very quickly took posses-
sion of Zamora, Palencia and Leon, but Astorga resisted bravely.
Nevertheless, the victories which he had gained sufficed to justify
him in striking a new medal in commemoration of them. On this
medal Leovigild stamped the bust of the Emperor Justin and applied
to himself the adjective clarisximus. In 570 we see Leovigild, for-
getful of his protestations of submission, attacking the district called
Bastania Malagnena (the ancient Bastetania, which extended from
Tarifa to Agra) where he defeated the imperial forces. Continuing the
war in 571 and 572, he took Medina Sidonia (Asidona) and Cordova
with their adjacent territories. These victories moved the Sueves, at
that time ruled by King Mir or Miron, who in 570 had succeeded
Theodomir and who possibly bore the same name, to make war in their
turn. They therefore invaded the country round Plasencia and Coria,
Las Hurdes and Batuecas—that is, the valleys of the Jerte, Alagors
and Arrago—and afterwards the territory of the Riccones1.
In 573, whilst Leovigild was preparing to check the advance of the
Sueves, he received the news of the death of his brother Liuwa, which
left him king of all the Visigothic dominion. Immediately he made
his two sons, Hermenegild and Recared, dukes of Narbonne and Toledo,
although it is not certain which of the two duchies was given to which.
He thus reassured himself in this direction, and, when he had secured
the capital, he set forth on a new campaign in which he conquered the
district of Sabaria, i. e. according to the best geographers, the valley of
the Sabor, the province of Braganza, and Torre de Moncorvo, which
bordered on the Suevic frontier.
These expeditions were interrupted by internal troubles for which
the nobles were responsible. From the political point of view the
fundamental fact on which all the history of the Visigoths turns, is the
opposition between the nobles and the kings. Of these, the nobles were
continually struggling to maintain their predominance, and the right to
bestow the crown on any one of their members, while the kings were
1 According to Fernandez Guerra the Riccones occupied the places now known
as Jaraicejo, Trujillo, Logrosan and La Conquista, although other historians believe
that their territory was nearer to Cantabria and Vasconia.


## p. 167 (#199) ############################################

574-678] Internal Troubles 167
continually endeavouring to suppress all possible rivals, and to make
the succession to the throne hereditary or at any rate dynastic. Gregory
of Tours states that the kings were in the habit of killing all the males
who were in a position to compete with them for the crown; and the
frequent confiscation of the property of the nobles to which the laws
of the period refer, shews clearly the means to which the kings had
recourse in the struggle. Whether Leovigild exceeded his power by
dividing the kingdom between his two sons (and this is the view taken
by Gregory of Tours); or whether he tried in general to lessen the
authority of the nobles—and perhaps not only that of the Visigothic
nobility, but also of the Spanish-Romans—the result was that the
nobles stirred up several insurrections; first amongst the Cantabri, secondly
amongst the people of Cordova and the Asturians, and thirdly, in
Toledo and Evora, at a time when the Sueves and Byzantines were
planning attacks. Leovigild, undismayed by these manifold dangers,
attended to everything and, by dint of good luck, with the help of
Recared, he succeeded in subduing the rebels. He took Ammaia
(Aniaya), the capital of the Cantabri; he obtained possession of
Saldania (Saldana), the stronghold of the Asturians; he quelled the
insurgents in Toledo and Evora (Aebura Carpetana) and in every case
he sealed his victories with terrible punishments (574).
When he had suppressed these preliminary internal rebellions
Leovigild proceeded to conquer various independent territories in the
provinces of Galicia and Andalusia. The former consisted of the
mountainous district known as Aregenses, situated in what is now the
province of Orense, and of which a certain Aspidius was king. The
Andalusians possessed the whole of the tract of country round the
Orospeda mountains, from the hill of Molaton in the east of the present
province of Albacete, to the Sierra Nevada, passing through the provinces
of Murcia, Almeria and Granada, that is to say, the lands of the
Deiittani, Bastetani and Oretani. In both parts of the country Leovigild
was successful, but his victories, and especially those in the Orospeda
mountains, which bordered on the Byzantine dominion, naturally excited
the jealousy of the imperial governors. In order to check the progress
of Iicovigild, now threatening them at such close quarters, they stirred
up fresh strife in the interior of the kingdom, instigating rebellions in
the province of Narbonne, on the coasts of Catalonia and Valencia, and
in the central region of the Ebro. Leovigild, assisted by his son
Recared, also succeeded in suppressing these insurrections; he made
triumphant entries into Narbonne, Saragossa, Loja, Rosas, Tarragona
and Valencia, and punished the rebels with the utmost severity. These
campaigns, and the preceding ones in Galicia and Andalusia, lasted from
575 to 578. A notable incident in them—which, although it had no
connexion with the action of Leovigild, yet to some extent favoured his
designs—was the attack made by the Byzantine general Romanus, son


## p. 168 (#200) ############################################


168
Religious Disunion
[578-580
of the patrician Anagartus, on part of Lusitania, in the direction of
Coimbra and the valley of the Munda (i. e. the Mondego), which at that
time was governed by a Suevic duke, who bore the title of king.
Romanus seized this individual, his family and his treasure, and annexed
the district to the Empire. Leovigild took advantage of this reverse
to attack the Suevic frontier in the direction of Galicia, and the Suevic
king Mir or Miron was obliged to sue for peace. The Visigothic
monarch granted him a truce for a short time and meanwhile, in the
district afterwards called Alcarria, he built a fortified city to which he
gave the name of Recopolis in honour of Recared. There are still a
few traces of it to be seen.
From 578 to 580, there was a period of external peace, but on the
other hand, these years marked the beginning of a civil war of graver
import than any former one; for, in the first place, this war was
concerned with religion; and in the second, with the rash ambition of
one of Leovigild's own sons. This was Prince Hermenegild; the
struggle originated in the same way as the former contests between the
Visigoths and the Franks. Once more, the cause of it was a Frankish
princess, Ingundis, daughter of Sigebert, king of Austrasia, and of
Brunhild, and therefore niece of Leovigild. In 579 Hermenegild
married her, he being an Arian and she a Catholic. Immediately there
was quarrelling at Court, not between husband and wife, but between
Ingundis and her grandmother, Goisvintha, the widow of Athanagild,
who had married Leovigild. Goisvintha was a zealous Arian and tried
to convert her grand-daughter, first by flattery and afterwards by
threats, ending, according to the chroniclers of the period, in violence.
Nothing could shake the faith of Ingundis, but she made bitter
complaints to the Spanish Catholics and the Franks. To prevent
matters from going further, Leovigild sent his son to govern Seville, one
of the frontier provinces. There Hermenegild found himself in an
atmosphere essentially Catholic, and, at the instigation of his wife
Ingundis and Archbishop Leander, he finally abjured Arianism. The
news of his conversion gave fresh courage to the malcontent Spanish-
Romans in Baetica, and the consequence was that Seville and other
cities rebelled against Leovigild and proclaimed Hermenegild as king.
The latter was rash enough to make the venture and fortified himself in
Seville, with the help of the greater part of the Spanish, and of a few
Visigothic nobles. It has been said that, on this occasion, Hermenegild
did not receive the support of the Catholic clergy. This statement is
possibly exaggerated. It is true that Gregory of Tours, John of Biclar,
and Isidore condemn the revolt and call Hermenegild a usurper; but
this does not mean that, at the time of the rebellion, none of the
clergy took his side. It is only reasonable to infer that he did receive
some support from them. Though uniformity of religion on the Arian
basis may have played an important part in Leovigild's scheme of


## p. 169 (#201) ############################################

579-582] Revolt of the Gascons 169
government; nevertheless, on this occasion, he did not allow himself
to be led away by zeal, or by the irritation which the behaviour of his son
must have aroused in him. Hitherto, he had been inconsistent in his
treatment of the Catholics. He had frequently persecuted them—for
instance, we learn from Isidore of Seville that John of Biclar was in 576
banished to Barcelona for refusing to abjure his religion, and that, for
ten years, he was subjected to constant oppression. Again, Leovigild
had sometimes flattered the Catholics and complied with their desires.
In 579 he adopted a policy of moderation. He sent ambassadors to
his son to reduce him to submission, gave orders to his generals to act
only on the defensive, and took active measures to prevent the clergy
from supporting Hermenegild. The latter did not yield; on the con-
trary, afraid that his father would take revenge, he sought the assistance
of the Byzantines and the Sueves.
Then Leovigild thought of establishing some form of agreement
between Catholics and Arians, and convoked a synod, or general meeting
of the Arian bishops, at Toledo, in 580. At this synod, it was agreed
to modify the form to be used in the adoption of Arianism, substituting
reception by the laying on of hands for the second baptism. As
John of Biclar says, many Catholics, among whom was Vincent, bishop
of Saragossa, accepted the formula and became Arians. Nevertheless,
the majority remained faithful to Catholicism. Leovigild attempted
to reduce this majority by conversions to Arianism, but when these
were not forthcoming, he resorted to persecution. Isidore of Seville in
his Historia says that the king banished a number of bishops and nobles,
that he slew others, confiscated the property of the churches and of
private individuals, deprived the Catholic clergy of their privileges, and
only succeeded in converting a few priests and laymen.
Meanwhile Hermenegild had strengthened his party by winning over
to his cause important cities such as Merida and Caceres. He twice defeated
Duke Aion, who had been sent against him, and in commemoration of
these victories, he coined medals after the manner of his father.
But this serious struggle did not cause the king to neglect his other
military duties. In 580, the Vascons rebelled once more, possibly
under the influence of the Catholic insurrection in Baetica. In 581
Leovigild went against them in person, and after much trouble succeeded
in occupying a great part of Vasconia, and in taking possession of the
city of £gessa (Egea-de-los-Caballeros). To clinch his success, he
founded the city of Victoriacus (Vitoria) in a good strategical position.
Having thus finished this campaign, Leovigild decided to take energetic
action against his rebellious son. To this end, he spent several
months of 582 in organising a powerful army, and, as soon as it was
assembled, marched against and captured Caceres and Merida. Where-
upon the troops of Hermenegild retreated as far as the Guadalquivir,
taking Seville as their centre of defence.


## p. 170 (#202) ############################################

170 Revolt of Hermenegild [583-586
Before attacking the city, Leovigild set himself to make the Byzan-
tines withdraw from their alliance with his son, and he ultimately
succeeded. According to the chronicle of Gregory of Tours, his success
was due partly to motives of political expedience and partly to a gift of
30,000 gold coins. When he had thus secured himself in this direc-
tion, Leovigild, in 588, marched on Seville. The first battle was fought
before the Castle of Osset (San Juan de Alfarache), which he was
not long in taking. Amongst the enemy, he found the Suevic king
Miron, whom he compelled to return to Galicia.
The siege of Seville lasted for two years. Hermenegild was not in
the city, seeing that he had left it shortly before to go in search of fresh
help from the Byzantines. He cannot have been successful, since he
took refuge in Cordova, whither Leovigild advanced with the army.
Convinced that all resistance was in vain, Hermenegild surrendered and
prostrated himself before his father, who stripped him of his royal
vestments and banished him to Valencia. Shortly afterwards, for some
unknown reason, he caused him to be transferred to Tarragona, and
entrusted to Duke Sigisbert, whom he ordered to guard his son closely,
for his escape might lead to a fresh civil war. Sigisbert confined the
prince in a dungeon, and repeatedly urged him to abjure Catholicism.
Hermenegild stubbornly resisted, and was finally killed by Sigisbert
(18 April 585). Leovigild is accused of the crime by our earliest
authority, the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, but the best opinion
acquits him of it. Hermenegild was afterwards canonised by the
Catholic Church.
Whilst the ambition of Hermenegild was thus ruthlessly cut short,
his father's was realised in the destruction of the kingdom of the
Sueves. He did not lack a pretext: a noble called Andeca who, since
the death of Miron in 583, had usurped the crown, in the following year
proclaimed himself king of that people, disputing the rights of Miron's
son Eburic or Eboric, the ally of Leovigild, who at once invaded Suevic
territory. As Isidore says, "with the utmost rapidity" he struck fear
into the hearts of his enemies, completely vanquishing them at Portucale
(Oporto) and Bracara (Braga), the only two battles fought during the
campaign. Andeca was taken prisoner, forced to receive the tonsure,
and banished to Pax Julia (Bejar). In 585, the Suevic kingdom was
converted into a Visigothic province. Thus, it only remained for
Leovigild to possess himself of the two districts held by the Byzantines
—one in the south of Portugal and west of Andalusia, and the other
in the province of Carthagena—and to make the political unity of the
Peninsula an accomplished fact. But it was not given to him to
effect this. He died in 586, at a time when his army, under the
command of Recared, was fighting in Septimania against the Franks
who had twice again made the murder of Hermenegild a pretext for
invading this remnant of Visigothic land. Even during the lifetime of


## p. 171 (#203) ############################################

586] Reign of Recared 171
Leovigild, Guntram, king of Orleans, had made an invasion, and had also
sent ships to Galicia to instigate an insurrection of the Sueves. The
Franks were driven hack by Recared and their ships sunk by the naval
forces of Leovigild. After this preliminary struggle Leovigild attempted
to make an alliance with Guntram, but the Frankish king rejected all
his advances, and for the second time invaded Septimania. Recared was
engaged in fighting against him when he received the news of his father's
last illness, which caused him to return to Spain. No sooner was
Leovigild dead, than Recared was unanimously elected king.
His reign was very unlike that of his predecessor. Leovigild had
been essentially warlike, striving for the political unification of the
Peninsula. Recared fought only in self-defence against the Franks and
Vascons; instead of continuing the conquest of Spain, he made peace
with the Byzantines, acknowledged their occupation of certain territories
and promised to respect it. Moreover, Leovigild desired uniformity of
religion, but on the basis of Arianism, whilst Recared made it his main
concern, but on the basis of Catholicism. It is probable that he
abandoned the warlike policy of his father, because recent events had
convinced him that the greatest danger for the Visigothic kingdom lay
in the discord between the Visigothic and the Spanish-Roman elements.
He probably realised that the main work before him was to unite these
two elements, or at least, to induce them to lay aside their discontent
and jealousy. More than one reason has been alleged for the change in
the religious point of view. It has been supposed that Leovigild himself
turned Catholic shortly before his death, and this view is supported by
a passage in Gregory of Tours, but it scarcely suits the nature of the
king, as illustrated by the earlier events of his life. There is another
statement, connected with the above, which has less documentary evidence
to support it It occurs in the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, and
is to the effect that Leovigild charged Leander, bishop of Seville, to
convert Recared. Lastly, the conjecture that Recared had secretly
turned Catholic in his father's lifetime, is not supported by any
contemporary documents. We are, therefore, led to suppose that this
change on the part of Recared was due to one of the following causes:—
(1) Reflection, which had ripened in the knowledge of the real force
which the Catholics represented in the Peninsula, superior as they were
in number to the Visigoths, possessed of money and property in the land,
and connected with the Byzantines. (2) A change of conviction on the
part of Recared himself, after his accession to the throne, which was
possibly brought about by the preaching of Leander, and also by the
example of Hermenegild. (8) A possible combination of both causes.
The facts are:—(1) The execution of Duke Sigisbert, which might
have been either the outcome of Recared's affection for his brother
Hermenegild, or in punishment of Sigisbert's transgression of his orders;
but it is noteworthy that Recared accounted for it by stating that Sigisbert


## p. 172 (#204) ############################################

172 Conversion of the Visigoths [587-589
was guilty of conspiracy. (2) The public and formal conversion to
Catholicism of the king and his family, which, according to John of
Biclar, took place in 587, ten months after Recared had ascended the
throne.
The conversion was heralded, first, by a decree which put an end to
the persecution of the Catholics, secondly, by the adoption of extra-
ordinary measures with regard to the Gothic prelates and nobles in the
provinces entrusted to the king's agents (whom Gregory of Tours calls
nuntios), and lastly by permission given to the bishops of both religions
to hold a meeting, to the end that they might freely discuss their
respective dogmas. At the conclusion of this discussion, Recared declared
his preference for Catholicism and his conversion thereto, which he
ratified with all due formality at the Council held in Toledo (the
third of this name) in May 589. There were present at this Council
62 bishops, five metropolitans, the king, his wife, and many nobles, all of
whom signed the declaration of faith. Henceforth the Catholic religion
became the religion of the Visigothic State. According to John of Biclar,
the king exhorted all his subjects to be converted to it.
But the faith of a people cannot be changed at the command of a
king, nor could the interests which had grown up in the shadow of the
ancient national religion allow themselves to be suddenly swept away.
There ensued conspiracies and rebellions on the part of the Arian
bishops, the nobles and the people, who adhered to their traditional
faith. Goisvintha herself, the queen-mother, who lived for some time
longer, Sunna, bishop of Merida, Athelocus, bishop of Narbonne,
Bishop Uldila, several counts, amongst others Segga and Witteric,
Duke Argimund, and other persons of importance, made plots and
conspired against the life of the king, took up arms, and sought the help
of the Frankish king Guntram, who made two incursions into Septimania.
On both occasions he was defeated and forced to withdraw. Moreover,
Recared succeeded in suppressing all the rebellions of the Arians,
punished the instigators, and caused many of the books dealing with that
religion to be burnt. Nevertheless, although John of Biclar affirms the
contrary, Arianism did not die out among the Visigothic people. It
continued to exist until the fall of the Visigothic kingdom; it was the
cause of fresh insurrections, and, as we shall see, it was sufficiently strong
to produce a temporary reaction.
Recared had still to struggle with the Byzantines, who had renewed
their quarrel with the Visigoths. But through the mediation of Pope
Gregory I, he made with the Emperor Maurice the treaty to which we
have already alluded, whereby it was agreed that each monarch should
respect the territory possessed by the other. Lastly, Recared made war
on the Vascons, whom Leovigild had driven back to the further side of
the Pyrenees, and who were trying, though without success, to regain
the land which they had formerly held.


## p. 173 (#205) ############################################


587-612]
Laws of' Recared
173
Recared's internal policy of appeasing the Spanish-Roman element
manifested itself in another direction. According to Isidore of Seville,
Leovigild reformed the primitive legislation of the Visigoths, which
dated from the time of Euric, by modifying a few laws, suppressing
others which were unnecessary, and adding some which had been omitted
from Euric's compilation. Since the text of this reform has not come
down to us, we know only that it actually existed1.
From the tone of approval in which Isidore of Seville tells of the
reforms accomplished by Leovigild, it has justly been inferred that they
were a decided attempt at conciliation, and that it was intended to proceed
with them until the differences between Visigoths and Spanish-Romans
had been lessened or suppressed. There is more reason to suppose that
Recared worked in this direction, but for this we have no such con-
temporary evidence as that which refers to Leovigild.
The three monarchs who successively occupied the Visigothic throne
after Recared were of no great individual importance, but their history
gives proof of the disturbed condition of the country. In fact,
Recared's son, Liuwa II, who was elected king on the death of his
father and who continued his father's Catholic policy, only reigned for
two years. In 603 he was dethroned and slain in an insurrection
headed by Count Witteric, who gained the support of the Arian party
and attempted to restore the ancient religion of the Gothic people. In
610, in consequence of a reaction on the part of the Catholics, Witteric
forfeited his crown and his life. The crown was bestowed on Gundemar,
a representative of the nobles. He only reigned for two years, during
which time he waged two wars, one with the ever-restless Vascons, and
the other with the Byzantines. Both these wars were continued by
Sisebut, who succeeded him in 612. He, like Gundemar, was a Catholic
and he pursued the militant policy of Leovigild. When he had sup-
pressed the Vascon insurrection, Sisebut marched against the imperial
forces, and, in a brief campaign, after defeating their general Asarius in
two battles, took possession of all the eastern provinces of the Byzantines,
that is to say, of the land between Gibraltar and the Sucro (Jucar).
The Emperor Heraclius sued for peace, which Sisebut granted on
condition of annexing that province to his kingdom, leaving to the
Byzantines only the west, from the Straits to the Algarves.
As concerns internal order, the most important event of Sisebut's
reign was the persecution of the Jews. They had lived in the Peninsula
in great numbers since the time of the Empire under the protection
1 Professor Gaudenzi alone is of opinion that the fragments of St Germain-des-
Pres, of which I shall presently speak, form part of it. Professor Urefia maintains
that the leges antiquae of the compilation made in the time of Receswinth, and the
four fragments of Visigothic law found in Manuscript B 32 of the Biblioteca
Vallicelliana in Rome are to be attributed to Leovigild. Other scholars believe
that they are taken wholly or in part from the code of Euric.


## p. 174 (#206) ############################################


174 Visigothic Intolerance [eia
of the laws. The Lex Romana of Alaric II had only copied those of
the Roman laws which were least favourable to the Jews. It therefore
preserved the separation of races, counting marriages of Jews and
Christians no better than adultery, and forbade the Jews to hold
Christian slaves or to fill public offices. But it upheld their religious
freedom, the jurisdiction of their judges and the use of Jewish law.
But custom was more favourable to them than law, for mixed marriages
took place in spite of the law, the Jews held public offices, and
bought and circumcised Christian slaves. Recared put the laws in force,
and further commanded to baptise the children of mixed marriages
(Third Council of Toledo). Sisebut went further, and began the
persecution of the Jews. He made two series of regulations on the
subject. One of these, which appears in the Forum Judicum, restores
and sharpens the laws of Recared; the other included an order to
baptise all the Jews, under penalty of banishment and confiscation of
goods1.
What was the cause of this intolerance? It has been attributed
to the influence of the clergy; but against this opinion we must set the
disapproval of Isidore of Seville in his Historia, and of the Fourth
Council of Toledo, over which the same prelate presided. Equally
untrustworthy is the statement that these measures were forced upon
Sisebut by the Emperor Heraclius, in the treaty made between them
to which we have already alluded, for there is no text to bear out this
statement, and moreover, the analogous case which Fredegar attributes
to King Dagobert is equally unproved. All that we know for a fact is
that Sisebut adopted the measure without consulting any Council, so
that we must attribute the king's resolution either to his own inclination
(Sisebufs piety led him to write Lives of the Saints, for instance, the
well-known life of St Desiderius), or to the desire of obtaining possession
of property by means of confiscation, or of gaining money from the sale
of dispensations. Such were certainly his motives on other occasions.
Moreover, he claimed religious authority for himself, for he considered
that he was the ecclesiastical head of the bishops, and behaved as such.
It is possible that he was also indirectly influenced by the fact that the
Jews had assisted the Persians and Arabs in their wars against the
Christians of the East. The immediate result of the law was that the
greater part of the Jews received baptism, and that, according to the
Chronicle of Paulus Emilius, only a few thousands (aliquot mill in) sought
refuge in Gaul. But this effect must have been short-lived, for we know
that, nineteen years later, there were in Spain Jews who had not been
baptised and others who had reverted to their former religion.
1 The existence of this law is proved by contemporary evidence, though it doea
not appear in the Forum Judicum. From a passage in Isidore of Seville we are led
to suppose that this decree was made during the first year of Sisebut's reign, that is
to say, in 612.
7^


## p. 175 (#207) ############################################

621-636] Swinthila. Sisenand 175
Sisebut died in 621, and was succeeded by his son Recared II who
reigned for a few months only. He was followed by Duke Swinthila,
who had greatly distinguished himself as a general in the wars of
Sisebut. He pursued and completed the military policy of the latter,
conquering (629) the Algarves, the last province in the possession of the
Byzantines. Thus, with the exception of a few unimportant districts in
the north, which had no regular government, such as Vasconia, the
Pyrenees of Aragon, and possibly some other places in mountainous
parts, whose inhabitants remained independent, the Goths at last suc-
ceeded in reducing the country to one united State. Swinthila also fought
against the Vascons, and on one occasion defeated them. As a military
base for his control over the district, he built the fortress of Oligitum,
which some geographers take to be the same as the modern Olite, in the
province of Navarre.
If Swinthila had stopped short at this point, he would certainly
have retained the good will of his contemporaries, and the epithet of
"father of the poor" applied to him by Isidore of Seville; but it is
probable that Swinthila was too sure of his power when he ventured to
deal with the problems of internal policy, and that his failure affected
the judgments passed on him. As a matter of fact, Swinthila did
nothing more than what Liuwa and Leovigild had done before him,
when he shared the government of the kingdom with members of his
own family, namely:—his son Recimir, his wife Theodora, and his
brother Geila. Why was Swinthila not permitted to do this, seeing that
it had been tolerated in the former kings? Whether he set about it
with less caution than his predecessors, or shewed more severity in
suppressing the conspiracies, we do not know. The fact is that he not
only lost the crown in 631, whilst struggling against the party of a
noble called Sisenand, who, with an army of Franks, advanced as far as
Saragossa, but that the chroniclers of the period call him a wicked and
sensual tyrant. He did not die in battle—his defeat was mainly due to
treachery—nor did he lose his freedom. In 633, to judge from a canon
of the Fourth Council of Toledo, he was still alive, but of his end we
know nothing.