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LECTURE 24 Sketch ofthe history of Spain under the Visigoths. ~ Condition of Spain under the Roman empire. ~ Settlement ofthe Visigoths in the south-west ofGaul. ~ Euric's collection ofthe laws ofthe Visigoths. ~ Alaric's collection ofthe laws ofthe Roman subjects. ~ Settlement ofthe Visigoths in Spain. ~ Conflict between the Catholics andArians . ~ Political importance ofthe Councils ofToledo. ~ Principal kings ofthe Visigoths. ~ Egica collects the Forumjudicum. ~ Fall ofthe Visigothic monarchy in Spain. UNDER the Roman empire, before the Barbarian invasions, Spain enjoyed considerable prosperity. The country was covered with roads, aqueducts, and public works ofevery description. The municipal government was almost independent ; the principle of a landed census was applied to the formation of the curiae; and various inscriptions prove that the mass ofthe people frequently took part with the Senate ofthe town, in the acts done in its name. There were conventusjuridici , or sessions held by the presidents of the provinces and their assessors in fourteen towns of Spain; and conventus provinciales, or ordinary annual assemblies ofthe deputies ofthe towns, for the purpose of treating of the affairs of the province, and sending deputies to the emperor with their complaints and petitions. All these institutions fell into decay at the end ofthe fourth century. The imperial despotism, by devolving all its exactions upon the municipal magistrates , had rendered these offices onerous to those who filled them, and odious to the people. On the other hand, since the emperor had made himselfthe centre of all, the provincial assemblies were useless except as intermediaries between the cities and the emperor; when the municipal organization had become enervated, and the emperor had almost entirely disappeared, these assemblies were found to be inconsistent and powerless in themselves. The sources whence they emanated, and the centre at which they terminated, were devoid of strength, and perished. Such was the condition of Spain when, in 409, the Vandals, Alans, and IJ8 LECTURE 24 Suevi crossed the Pyrenees. The Vandals remained in Galicia and Andalusia until429, at which period they passed into Mrica; the Alans, after having dwelt for a time in Lusitania and the province of Carthagena, emigrated into Africa with the Vandals. The Suevi founded a kingdom in Galicia, which existed as a distinct State until585, when Leovigild, king ofthe Visigoths, reduced it under his sway. Finally Ataulphus, at the head of the Visigoths, entered Southern Gaul, acting sometimes as an ally, and sometimes as an enemy of the empire. He was assassinated at Barcelona, in the year 4r5. I shall now pass in rapid review the principal events which mark the history ofthe Visigoths in Spain, subsequently to the death ofAtaulphus. r. Wallia, king ofthe Visigoths, from 4r5 to 4r9, made peace with the Emperor Honorius, on condition of making war against the other Barbarians in Spain. He was furnished with supplies, and authorized to establish himselfin Aquitaine. He fixed his residence at Toulouse, and waged war against the Alans and Vandals. The Romans regained possession of a part of Spain; Wallia's Goths, mingled with the Alans, settled in the province ofTarragona. Catalonia (Cataulania, Goth-A/ani) derives its name from this commingling of the two nations. The settlement ofthe Goths in Gaul lay between the Loire, the Ocean, and the Garonne, and comprehended the districts of Bordeaux, Agen, Perigueux , Saintes, Poitiers, and Toulouse. 2. Theodoric I. (4r9-45r). Under this monarch, the Visigoths extended their dominion in the south-east of Gaul. Their principal wars were with the Roman empire, which, after having made use ofthe Goths against the Vandals and Suevi, was now using the Huns against the Goths. In 425, occurred the siege ofArles by Theodoric; in 436, the siege of Narbonne. There was a disposition among the inhabitants ofthe country to range themselves under the dominion ofthe Goths, who were able to defend them against the other Barbarians, and to renounce their allegiance to Rome, which was bringing other Barbarians to subdue the Goths. About 449, the kingdom ofthe Visigoths extended as far as the Rhone. Theodoric made several expeditions into Spain; generally as the price ofpeace with the Romans. In 45r, Theodoric was killed at a battle fought against Attila, either at Chalons-sur-Marne, or Mery-sur-Seine. 3· Thorismund (45r-453). A victory was gained over Attila, who had attacked the Alans settled on the Loire and in the neighbourhood ofOrleans. It was evidently the Visigoths who drove the Huns out ofGaul. Thorismund was assassinated. 4· Theodoric II. (453-466). Avitus, Magister militiae in the south of Roman...

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