The Visigoths Conquer Spain: 600-900 A.D.

The Visigoths ruled Hispania for over two centuries, from early 500A.D. to about 800A.D. At first they had great difficulty integrating with the Hispania-Roman population. Their subjects far outnumber them, thus, they ruled primarily by means of military force. They practiced Arianism, a form of Christianity considered heretical by their subjects, and dealt harshly with the Hispania-Roman people, who were Orthodox Christians. In 589, their elected King Recared converted to Catholicism, thereby, adopting Roman Catholic as the Monarch of Visigoth’s religion. This conversion pacified the hostility between the two religions.

The Visigoth never developed a strong centralized bureaucratic Visigoth system because they elected their king from among their own ranks. As a consequence, frequent power struggles between Dynasties ensued. Under King Leovigild (569-586) and his son Recared (586-601) the last remaining Byzantine stronghold was conquered. This was the high point of their monarchy. The reign of King Recceswinth (649-672) completed of a single code of law for the entire kingdom. The Liber Ludiciorum, written in 654, integrated Roman law and Germanic customary law. This is considered the greatest achievement of the Visigoths having unified Visigoth-Spain as the largest region of Roman Catholicism Christians throughout the spread of Christianity. Although the Visigoths was able to establish a foundation during their rule of Hispania, this fragmented system remained unchangeable, for it reflects the governing structure of Spain today.

The Visigoth’s internal dynastic struggle made their rule unstable and weak. “Their monarchy depended heavily on the church and Roman governance to collect taxes, educate the population and administer justice.” Continued internal struggles amongst themselves weakened their military strength. This lack of unity led to their fall. As a consequence, the Visigoth eventually became more romanized converting to Roman Catholicism including learning and communicating in Latin.

Yet, with this unstable political and military structure, Visigoth-Spain was able to strive for nearly 300 years when the spread of Islam had begun. The Moors from North Africa, a Muslim Arabic people, began to show interest in Hispania about 800 A.D.