The Visigoths from the Migration Period to the Seventh Century - (Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology) by Peter Heather (Paperback)

About the Book

Studies of the advances made by the Visigoths from the decline of the Roman Empire to the seventh century, when their kingdom stretched from the Loire to the Straits of Gibraltar. Studies of the advances made by theVisigoths from the decline of the Roman Empire to the seventh century, when their kingdom stretched from the Loire to the Straits of Gibraltar.

Book Synopsis

Studies of the advances made by the Visigoths from the decline of the Roman Empire to the seventh century, when their kingdom stretched from the Loire to the Straits of Gibraltar. Studies of the advances made by theVisigoths from the decline of the Roman Empire to the seventh century, when their kingdom stretched from the Loire to the Straits of Gibraltar.

Between 376 and 476 the Roman Empire in western Europe was dismantled by aggressive outsiders, "barbarians" as the Romans labelled them. Chief among these were the Visigoths, a new force of previously separate Gothic and other groups from south-west France, initially settled by the Romans but subsequently, from the middle of the fifth century, achieving total independence from the failing Roman Empire, and extending their power from the Loire to the Straits of Gibraltar.
These studies draw on literary and archaeological evidence to address important questions thrown up by the history of the Visigoths and of the kingdom they generated: the historical processes which led to their initial creation; the emergence of the Visigothic kingdom in the fifth century; and the government, society, culture and economy of the "mature" kingdom of the sixth and seventh centuries. A valuable feature of the collection, reflecting the switch of the centre of the Visigothic kingdom from France to Spain from the beginning of the sixth century, is the inclusion, in English, of current Spanish scholarship.

Dr PETER HEATHER teaches in theDepartment of History at University College London.

Contributors: Dennis H. Green, Peter Heather, Ana Jimenez Garnica, Giorgio Ausenda, Ian Nicholas Wood, Isabel Velazquez, Felix Retamero, Pablo C. Diaz, Mayke de Jong, Gisela Ripoll Lopez, Andreas Schwarcz

Review Quotes

Books on the Visigoths and Visigothic Spain in English are rare, so this is a welcome addition to their ranks... wide-ranging collection [which] has much to offer, not just to Spanish studies but to students of late antiquity in general.-- "CLASSICAL REVIEW"

Indispensable for all scholars of the Visigoths.-- "ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW"

The work of top scholars in Visigothic studies... Using all evidence available, the volume addresses the evolution of the Visigoths in early medieval history.-- "CHOICE"