Download Life of Gregory II

Visigothic Spain and Lombard
Italy
Spain
• 409: Vandals
• 439 Suevi
• 456 Visigoths
– Question: Who were the Visigoths?
– What was their power base during this time?
• 409-569: turnover
• Regions of Spain
• Unification under Leovigild (d. 586)
– How did Catholicism triumph over Arianism in Spain?
Visigothic Kingdom
•
•
•
•
Importance of bishops
How were kings chosen
Chindasuinth (642-53): established stability
Visigothic Law: late 7th century
– Roman influence
– Persecution of Jews
• Survival of Roman institutions, education
– Isadore of Seville
Fall to Berbers: 711
• Wickham claims that in the late seventh century,
"the Visigothic state was the strongest in the
west" (139). What is the basis for this claim?
How, then does he explain its conquest by the
Arab and Berber invaders?
Lombard Italy
• Gothic War 536-54
• Lombard invasion: 568-69
• 605: Agiluf established peace with emperor
Phocas, paid tribute to Franks
• Continued Byzantine presence: how do you
characterize their style of governance, compared
to Constantinople itself ?
• Lombard dynasties?
Character of Lombard rule
• On p. 144, Wickham alleges that the Lombard
state "intervened in local society in capillary
ways." What does he mean by this?
• What was the financial basis of the government:
tax or land? How would you characterize the
aristocracy?
• Religion?
• 643: Lombard law code, the Edict of Rothari
• Liutprand (712-44): established hegemony
Lombards, Franks, and the Papacy
• Significance of Rome
• Eventually: Lombards would succumb to the
Carolingians
• Relationship to Roman antecedents: RomanoGermanic Kingdoms
Questions on Sources
• How does Gregory II advise his missionary Boniface to
handle the problem of fellowship with bishops and
priests who are "so involved in vices of many sorts that
their lives are a blot upon the priesthood"?
• On p. 126, footnote #4, Rosenwein asks you to "compare
[the Life of Gregory II]'s account of the Muslim conquest
of Spain with the evidence from the Treaty of Tudmir" on
p. 92. What does such a comparison suggest?
• To what extent and in what ways did Roman
infrastructure survive in England, Spain, Francia, and
Italy, respectively?