|
|
Wh
en Isidore was born around the middle of the sixth
century, the Western Roman Empire no longer existed
as a political entity. Gaul was now ruled by the Franks,
and in Italy the Ostrogoths had just been defeated by
Byzantine forces, who had also taken over North Africa
from the Vandals a short time earlier. Spain, meanwhile,
had been under Visigothic rule for over a century.
3
The Visigoths, like the Ostrogoths, were a Germanic
people, originally settled north of the Danube. In
376
,
under increasing pressure from the Huns, they were
allowed by Roman authorities to cross the Danube and
settle in Thrace. Their dealings with Rome within the
Empire were rocky from the outset, and they soon
rebelled, rai
ding throughout Thrace before defeating
Ro
man forces outside Adrianople in
378
. Fighting con-
tinued until the two sides reached an agreement in
382
which established the Visigoths as Roman allies bound
to
supply troops in return for subsidies and a certain
amount of autonomy. By the end of the century rela-
tions had deteriorated again, however, and the Visigoths,
led by Alaric (reigned
395
–
410
), entered Italy and sacked
Rome in
410
after they were unable to reach an agree-
ment with the Emperor on the subsidies they were to
receive.
Still at odds with the Romans, they made their
way to Southern Gaul in
412
,andfrom
there were driven
by
Emperor Constantius into Spain.
The Roman province of Hispania had been overrun a
few years previous to this by a loose alliance of Germanic
tribes, the Alans, the Vandals, and the Sueves. The Visi-
goths, faced with food shortages due to a Roman block-
ade, came to an agreement with Constantius to fight
these earlier barbarian invaders on Rome’s behalf. After
some success, they were resettled in Gaul in
418
.
In
456
,underTheodoricII(reigned
453
–
466
),
the Visigoths invaded Spain again, where the Suevi
had become the dominant power in the meantime.
Theodoric’s forces did not manage to conquer the entire
peninsula, however; areas held by the Suevi, Galicians
and others continued to assert their independence for
some time, and the Basque territories were never com-
pletely subdued.
In
507
,Clovis,
the king of the Franks, attacked the
Gaulish part of the Visigothic kingdom, and over the
next quarter century the Visigoths lost all their Gaul-
ish territory apart from the region around Narbonne
known as Septimania. From this point on, the Visi-
gothic kingdom was essentially confined to the Spanish
peninsula.
It
should be pointed out that although the Visi-
goths were rulers of Spain they probably only made up
a small percentage of the population throughout the
period under their rule; the majority of the inhabitants
we
re
Hispano-Roman. The new rulers retained a large
part of the Roman administrative structure; Roman gov-
ernors and officials continued to collect at least some
Ro
man taxes
4
and enforce Roman law.
5
The two groups
remained socially distinct, however; a ban from imperial
times on intermarriage between Goths and Romans, for
example, apparently remained in effect until the later
part of the sixth century.
6
Visigothic Spain was a politically unstable kingdom
throughout most of the sixth century. Four successive
kings were murdered (Amalric, Theudis, Theudisclus,
and Agila). From
544
,B
yzantine forces intervened in
Visigothic affairs, possibly at the invitation of Athana-
gild in his reb
ellion against Agila. By
557
,theBy
zan-
tines occupied the southeastern coast of the peninsula,
including the port city of Cartagena. Isidore’s parents
appear to have left Cartagena at about this time, quite
possibly as a result of this invasion. In the meantime,relations with the Franks to the north deteriorated and
they began to threaten Visigothic Septimania and the
Ebro Valley.
Following A
thanagild’s death in
568
,the Visigothic
nobility chose Liuva to be king, and after Liuva’s death
in
571
or
573
,his brother Leovigild (the Visigothic monar-
chyw
as not hereditary, although sometimes a son did
succeed his father to the throne). Under Leovigild, the
kingdom saw its strength increase. The new king’s mili-
tary successes restored territory that had been lost to the
Byzantines and regained political control over rebellious
areas (the city of Cordoba, for example, which had been
in a state of rebellion since
550
)andborderingregions
in the northern part of the peninsula.
Le
ov
igild’s attempt to win new converts to Arianism
met with less success. Arianism was a form of Chris-
tianity that held that the three members of the Trin-
ity were not equal and co-eternal – specifically that the
Son was not God by nature but created, and not eternal
like the Father.
7
Catholic Christians condemned Arian
doctrine as heresy at the Council of Nicaea in
325
.The
Goths, however, had already accepted Arianism when
they converted to Christianity, and they continued to
hold this doctrine as they moved westward into Gaul
and then into Spain. Until Leovigild, the Gothic rulers
had made no attempt to convert their largely Catholic
subjects, and had apparently made little restriction on
the practice of Catholicism, although the Catholic clergy
had bee
ndeprivedofsomeoftheirprivileges.Underthe
Ar
ian rulers, the Catholic Church in Spain had been free
to convene synods, constr
uct new churches and found
monasteries, correspond with the Pope, and circulate
their writings openly. The two Churches coexisted inde-
pendently of each other, each with its own clergy, shrines,
and other institutions. Le
ov
igild, however, mounted a serious campaign to
expand Arianism, choosing persuasion and rewards as
his instruments, rather than force. In
580
he summoned
the first Arian synod held in Spain, and ruled that con-
verts to Ar
ianism n
olongerneededtoberebaptized,
which presumably also made the process of conver-
sion more appealing to Catholics. According to Gre-
gory of Tours (
Libri H
istoriarum X
,
6
.
18
), Leovigild also
attempted to win converts by redefining Arian doctrine
to
hold that the Father and Son were equal and co-eternal
and only the Holy Spirit was not equal. Although he
managed to win over a few important Catholic figures,
including the Bishop of Saragossa, he lost ground in his
ow
n family, for by
582
his older son Hermenigild had
conv
erted to Catholicism.
Hermenigi
ld’s conversion may have been based as
mu
ch
on political considerations as religious convic-
tion. He had rebelled against his father in
579
,soonafter
his marriage to a Frankish princess (Clovis, the king of
the Franks, had converted to Catholicism around the
beginning of the sixth century),
8
and had declared him-
self the independent monarch over the southern part of
the peninsula. For three years, Leovigild seems to have
accepted the situation, making no attempt to regain con-
trol, while Hermenigild, for his part, did not seek to
expand the territory under his rule. Some time around
582
,H
ermenigild converted to Catholicism, under the
influence of Isidore’s brother Leander, according to Pope
Gr
egory I, a friend of Leander.
9
In
583
,Leovig
ild finally moved to retake the terri-
tory he
ld by Hermenigild, and by
584
he had regained
control and exiled Hermenigild to Valencia, where he
was murdered the next year. Leovigild, in the meantime,
continued his military successes, conquering the Suevic
kingdom befor
ehediedin
586
.
Re
ccared, Leovigild’s other son and Hermenigild’s
younger brother, became king at his father’s death, and
conv
erted to Catholicism the following year. Again, as
with Hermenig
ild, Leander of Seville was apparently
instrumental in his conversion
10
.Rec
cared began sys-
tematically disassembling the Arian Church structure,
reassigning Arian churches to the Catholic dioceses
where they were located, and allowing Arian bishops
who converted to retain their sees, even when this meant
having two bishops in a single see. Most of the ground-
wo
rk
for these changes was laid at the kingdom-wide
ch
urch Council convened by Reccared at Toledo in
589
.
|
|