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THE VISIGOTHS IN GAUL.
412-507
KING ATAULF had no
intention of establishing a permanent dominion in Italy. As an occupation of
Africa seemed hopeless he turned towards Gaul in the year 412, probably making
use of the military road which crossed Mt Genèvre via
Turin to the Rhone. Here he at first joined the anti-emperor Jovinus (set up in
the summer of 411) who had a sure footing, especially in Auvergne, but was
little pleased by the arrival of the Visigoths, which interfered with his plans
of governing the whole of Gaul. Hence the two rulers soon came to open strife,
especially as Jovinus had not named the Gothic king co-ruler, as he had hoped,
but his own brother Sebastian. Ataulf went over to the side of the Emperor
Honorius and promised, in return for the assurance of supplies of grain (and assignments
of land), to deliver up the heads of both usurpers and to set free Placidia,
the Emperor's sister, who was held as a prisoner by the Goths. He certainly
succeeded without much trouble in getting rid of the usurpers. As, however,
Honorius kept back the supply of grain and Ataulf, exasperated by this, did not
give up Placidia, hostilities once more began between the Goths and the Romans.
After an unsuccessful attempt to surprise Marseilles, Ataulf captured the towns
of Narbonne, Toulouse, and Bordeaux by force of arms (413). But a complete
alteration took place in the king's intentions, obviously through the influence
of Placidia, whom he took as his (second) wife in January (414). As he himself
repeatedly declared, he now finally gave up his original cherished plan of
converting the Roman Empire into a Gothic one, and rather strove to identify
his people wholly with the Roman State. His political programme was therefore
just the same as that of the Ostrogoth king Theodoric, later on, when he accomplished
the founding of the Italian kingdom. In spite of these assurances the Emperor
refused him every concession; influenced by the general Constantius, who
himself desired the hand of the beautiful princess, Honorius looked upon the
marriage of his sister with the Barbarian as a grievous disgrace to his house.
In consequence Ataulf was again compelled to turn his arms against the Empire.
He first appointed an anti-emperor in the person of Attalus, without however
achieving any success by this move, since Attains had not the slightest support
in Gaul. When Constantius then blockaded the Gallic ports with his fleet and
cut off supplies, the position of the Goths there became quite untenable, so
that Ataulf decided to seek a place of retreat in Spain. He evacuated Gaul,
after terrible devastation, and took possession of the Spanish province
of Tarraconensis (in the beginning of 415),
but without quite giving up the thought of a future understanding with the
imperial power. In Barcelona, Placidia bore him a son, who received the name of
Theodosius at his baptism, but he soon died. And not long afterwards death
overtook the king from a wound which one of his followers inflicted out of
revenge (in the summer of 415).
Wallia. 415-418
After Ataulf's death the anti-Romanizing tendencies among the
Visigoths, never quite suppressed, became active again. Many Pretenders
contended for the throne, but all, as it seems, were animated by the thought of
governing independently of Rome and not in subjection to it. At length Sigerich, brother of the Visigoth prince Sarus, murdered by
Ataulf, succeeded in getting possession of the throne. Sigerich at once had the children of Ataulf’s first marriage
slaughtered, and Placidia suffered the most shameful treatment from him.
However, after reigning for one week only he was murdered certainly by the
instigation of Wallia, who now became head of the Goths (autumn
415).
Wallia, although
no less an enemy to Rome than his predecessor, at once granted the imperial
princess a more humane treatment, and first tried to develop further the
dominion already founded in Spain. But as the imperial fleet again cut off all
supplies, and famine broke out, he determined to take possession of the Roman
granary in Africa. But the undertaking miscarried because of the foundering in
the Straits of Gibraltar of a detachment sent on in advance, which was looked
upon as a bad omen (416). The king, obliged by necessity, concluded a treaty
with Constantius in consequence of which the Goths pledged themselves, in
return for a supply of 600,000 measures of grain from the Emperor, to deliver
up Placidia, to free Spain from the Vandals, Alans, and Sueves, and to give
hostages. After fierce protracted fighting the Gothic army overcame first
the Silingian Vandals and then the Alans
(416-418). But when Wallia also wanted to advance against the Asdingian Vandals and the Sueves in Galicia he was
suddenly called back by Constantius, who did not wish the Goths to become too
powerful, and land for his people to settle upon was assigned to him in the
province of Aquitania Secunda and in
some adjoining districts by the terms of a treaty of alliance (end of 418).
Shortly after Wallia died, and was succeeded on the Visigoth throne
by Theodoric I, chosen by the people.
Theodoric and Aetius. 421-451
Historical
tradition is silent over the first years of Theodoric's reign; they were taken
up with the difficulties of devising and executing the partition of the land
with the settled Roman population. The Goths kept their national constitution
and were pledged to give military assistance to the Empire. Their king was
under the supreme command of the Emperor; he only possessed a real power over
his own people, while he had no legal authority over the Roman provincials.
Such an indeterminate situation, after the endeavours so long directed towards
the attainment of political independence, could not last long.
In 421 or 422
Theodoric fulfilled his agreement by sending a contingent to the Roman army
which was marching against the Vandals; but in the decisive battle these troops
fell upon the Romans from behind and so helped the Vandals to a brilliant
victory. In spite of this base breach of faith the Goths came off unpunished,
and even dared to advance southwards to the Mediterranean coast. In the year
425 a Gothic corps was before the important fortress of Arles, the coveted key
of the Rhone valley; but it was forced to retreat by the rapid approach of an
army under Aetius. After further fighting, about which unfortunately nothing
detailed is known to us, peace was made and the Goths were granted full
sovereignty over the provinces which had originally been assigned to them for
occupation only—Aquitanica Secunda and
the north-west corner of NarbonensisPrima—while
they restored all their conquests (c. 426).
This peace
continued for a considerable period and was only interrupted by the
unsuccessful attempt of the Goths to surprise Arles (430). But when in 435
fresh disturbances broke out in Gaul, Theodoric took up once more his plans for
the conquest of the whole of Narbonensian Gaul.
In 436 he appeared with a strong force before the town of Narbonne, which
however after a long siege was relieved by Roman troops (437). The Goths went
on fighting, but without success, and were at last driven back as far as
Toulouse. But in the decisive battle which was fought before the walls of this
town (439) the Romans suffered a severe defeat, and only the heavy loss of life
which the Goths themselves sustained could decide the king to agree to the
provisional restoration of the status quo.
Theodoric was
certainly not disposed to be satisfied with the narrow territory surrendered to
him. Therefore (c. 442) we find him again on the side of Rome's enemies. First
he entered into close relations with Gaiseric, the dreaded king of the Vandals;
but this coalition, which would have been so dangerous for the Roman Empire,
was broken up by the ingenious diplomacy of Aetius. He next tried to attach
himself to the powerful and rising kingdom of the Sueves by giving King Rechiar one of his daughters in marriage, and by
furnishing troops to assist his advance into Spain (449). It was only when
danger threatened the whole of the civilized West by the rise of the power of
the Huns under Attila, that the Goths again allied themselves with the Romans.
Invasion of Attila. 451
In the beginning
of the year 451 Attila's mighty army, estimated at half a million, set out from
Hungary, crossed the Rhine at Easter-time, and invaded Belgica.
It was only now that Aetius, who had been deceived by the false representations
of the king of the Huns, thought of offering resistance; but the standing army
at his command was absolutely insufficient to hold the field against such a
formidable opponent. He found himself, therefore, obliged to beg for help from
the king of the Visigoths, who although he had at first intended to keep
himself neutral and await the development of events in his territory, thought, after
long hesitation, that it would be to his own interest to obey the call.
Theodoric joined the Romans with a fine army which he himself led, accompanied
by his sons Thorismund and Theodoric. Attila had in the meantime
advanced as far as Orleans, which Sangiban, the
king of the Alans who were settled there, promised to betray to him. The
proposed treachery, however, was frustrated, for the allies were already on the
spot before the arrival of the Huns, and had encamped in strength before the
city. Attila thought he could not venture an attack on the strong
fortifications with his troops, which principally consisted of cavalry, so he
retreated to Troyes and took up a position five miles before that town on an
extensive plain near the place called Mauriacus,
there to await a decisive battle with the Gotho-Roman
army which was following him. Attila occupied the centre of the Hun array with
the picked troops of his people, while both the wings were composed of troops
from the subjected German tribes. His opponents were so arranged that Theodoric
with the bulk of the Visigoths occupied the right wing, Aetius with the Romans,
and a part of the Goths under Thorismund formed the left wing of the
army, while the untrustworthy Alans stood in the centre. Attila first tried to
get possession of a height commanding the battlefield, but Aetius and Thorismund were
beforehand and successfully repulsed all the attacks of the Huns on their
position. The king of the Huns now hurled himself with great force on the Visigothic main
body commanded by Theodoric. After a long struggle the Goths succeeded in
driving the Huns back to their camp; great losses occurred on both sides; the
aged king of the Goths was among the slain, as was also a kinsman of Attila's.
The battle however
remained drawn, for both sides kept the field. The moral effect, which told for
the Romans and their allies, was, however, very important, inasmuch as the
belief that the powerful king of the Huns was invincible had suffered a severe
shock. At first it was decided to shut up the Huns in their barricade of wagons
and starve them out. But when the body of Theodoric, who had been supposed up
till then to be among the survivors, had been found and buried, Thorismund,
who was recognized as king by the army, called upon his people to revenge and
to take the enemy's position by storm. But Aetius, who did not wish to let the
Goths become too powerful, succeeded in persuading Thorismund to
relinquish his scheme, advising his return to Toulouse, to prevent any attempt
on his brother's part to get possession of the crown by means of the royal
hoard there. Thus were the Goths deprived of the well-earned fruits of their
famous exploit; the Huns returned home unmolested (451).
Theodoric II. 451-467
Thorismund proved
himself anxious to develop the national policy adopted by his father, and in
the same spirit. After he had succeeded, for the time being, in keeping
possession of the throne, he subdued the Alans who had settled near Orleans and
thereby made preparations for extending the Gothic territory beyond the Loire.
Then he tried to bring Arles under his power, but without having attained his
object he returned once more to his country, where in the meanwhile his
brothers. Theodoric (II) and Friedrich had stirred up a rebellion. After
several armed encounters Thorismund was assassinated (453).
Theodoric II
succeeded him on the throne. The characteristic mark of his rule is the close
though occasionally interrupted connection with Rome. The treaty broken under
Theodoric I—which implied the supremacy of the Empire over the kingdom of
Toulouse—was renewed immediately after his accession to the throne. For the
rest, this connection was never taken seriously by Theodoric but was
principally used by him as a means towards the attainment of that end which his
predecessors had vainly striven for by direct means — the spread of the
Visigoth dominion in Gaul and more especially in Spain. Already, in the year
454, Theodoric found an opportunity for activity in the interest of the Roman
Empire; a Gothic army under Friedrich marched into Spain and pacified the
rebellious Bagaudae ex auctoritate Romana. After the murder of
Valentinian III (March 455) Avitus went as magister militum to Gaul to win over the most influential
powers of the country for the new Emperor, Petronius Maximus. In consequence of
his personal influence — he had formerly initiated Theodoric into the knowledge
of Roman literature - he succeeded in bringing the king of the Goths to
recognize Maximus. When, however, soon after this, the news of the murder of
the Emperor arrived (31 May), Theodoric requested him to take the imperium himself.
On 9 July, Avitus, who had been proclaimed Emperor, accompanied by Gothic
troops marched into Italy where he met with universal recognition. The close
relations between the Empire and the Goths came again into operation against
the Sueves. As the latter repeatedly made plundering expeditions into Roman
territory, Theodoric, with a considerable force to which the Burgundians also
added a contingent, marched over the Pyrenees in the summer of 456, decisively
defeated them, and took possession of a large part of Spain, nominally for the
Empire, but actually for himself.
But the state of
affairs changed at one stroke when Avitus, in the autumn of the year 456,
abdicated the purple. Theodoric had now no longer any interest in adhering to
the Empire. He had in fact required the promotion of Avitus because
he enjoyed a great reputation in Gaul and possessed there a strong support
among the resident nobility. Friendship with him could only be of use to the
king of the Goths in respect to the Roman provincials living in Toulouse. But
the elevation of the new Emperor Majorian, on 1 April 457, had occurred in
direct opposition to the wishes of the Gallo-Roman nobility to place one of
themselves upon the imperial throne. Taking advantage of the consequent discord
in Gaul, Theodoric appeared as the open foe of the imperial power of Rome. He
himself marched with an army into the Gallic province of Narbonne and once more
began with the siege of Arles; he also sent troops to Spain which, however,
only fought with varying success. But in the winter of 458 the Emperor appeared
in Gaul with considerable forces, quieted the rebellious Burgundians, and
obliged the Visigoths to raise the blockade of Arles and again conclude peace
(spring 459).
Although in the
year 461 yet another change took place on the imperial throne, Theodoric
thought it more advantageous for the time being to maintain, at least formally,
the imperial alliance. On the other hand the chief general Aegidius, a
faithful follower of Majorian, supported by a fine army, marched against
the new imperial ruler. In the conflict which then ensued Theodoric found a favourable
opportunity for resuming his policy of expansion in Gaul. At the call of
Count Agrippinus, who was commanding in Narbonne
and was hard pressed by Aegidius, he marched into the Roman territory and
quartered upon that important town Gothic troops under the command of his
brother Friedrich (462). Driven out of southern Gaul, Aegidius turned
northwards whither a Gothic army led by Friedrich followed him. A great battle
took place near Orleans in which the Goths suffered a severe defeat, chiefly
through the bravery of the Salian Franks, who were opposed to them and lost
their leader in the battle (463). Taking advantage of the victory, Aegidius now
began to press victoriously into the Visigoth territory, but sudden death
prevented him from carrying out his purposes (464).
Euric. 467-484
Theodoric, freed
from his most dangerous enemy, did not delay making good the losses he had
suffered; but he died in the year 466 at the hand of his brother Euric,
who was a champion of the anti-Roman national party and now ascended the
throne. Contemporaries agree in describing the new king as characterized by
great energy and warlike ability. We may venture to add from historical facts
that he was also a man of distinguished political talent. The leading idea in
his policy—the entire rejection of even a formal suzerainty of the Roman
Empire—came into operation on his accession to the throne. The embassy which he
then sent off to the Emperor of Eastern Rome can only have had for its object a
request for the recognition of the Visigoth sovereignty. As no agreement was
arrived at he tried to bring about an alliance with the Vandals and the Sueves,
but the negotiations came to nothing when a strong East-Roman fleet appeared in
African waters (467). Euric at first pursued a neutral course, but as
the Roman expedition, set on foot with such considerable effort against the
Vandal kingdom, resulted so lamentably (468), he did not hesitate to come
forward as assailant, while he simultaneously pushed forward his troops into
Gaul and Spain (469). He opened hostilities in Gaul with a sudden attack on the
Bretons whom the Emperor had sent to the town of Bourges; at Déols, not far from Chateauroux, a battle took place in
which the Bretons were overthrown. Yet the Goths did not succeed in pushing
forward over the Loire to the north. Count Paulus, supported by Frankish
auxiliaries, successfully opposed them here. Euric therefore
concentrated his whole strength partly on the conquest of the province of Aquitanica Prima, partly on the annexation of the
lower Rhone valley, especially the long-coveted Arles. The provinces of Novempopulana and (for the most part) Narbonensis Prima had been probably already occupied
by the Goths under Theodoric II. An army which the West-Roman Emperor Anthemius
sent to Gaul for the relief of Arles was defeated in the year 470 or 471, and
for the time being a large part of Provence was seized by the Goths. In Aquitanica Prima, also, town after town fell into the
hands of Euric's general Victorius; only Clermont, the capital city of Auvergne,
obstinately defied the repeated attacks of the barbarians for many years. The
moving spirits in the resistance were the brave Ecdicius,
a son of the former Emperor Avitus, and the poet Sidonius Apollinaris,
who had been its bishop from about 470. The letters of the latter give us a
clear picture of the struggle which was waged with the greatest animosity on
both sides. Euric is said to have stated that he would rather give up
the much more valuable Septimania than
renounce the possession of that town. The wholly impotent Western Empire was
unable to do anything for the besieged. In the year 475 peace was at last made
between the Emperor Nepos and Euric by the intervention of Bishop
Epiphanius of Ticinum (Pavia).
Unfortunately the conditions are not more accurately known, but there can be no
doubt that, besides the previously conquered territory in Spain, the district
between the Loire, the Rhone, the Pyrenees, and the two seas was relinquished
to Euric in sovereign possession. Thus Auvergne, so fiercely
contended for, was surrendered to the Goths.
But in spite of
this important success the king of the Goths had by no means reached the goal
of his desires; it may be seen from the line of policy he followed later that
the present moment seemed to him fit, for carrying out that subjection of the
whole of the West which had long since been the aim of Alaric I.
For this reason
peace only lasted for a year, which was spent in settling internal affairs. The
most important event under Euric’s government
at this time is the publication of a Code of Law which was intended to settle
the legal relations of the Goths, both amongst themselves and with the Romans
who had come under the Gothic dominion. The deposition of the last West-Roman
Emperor, Romulus, by the leader of the mercenaries, Odovacar (Sept. 476), gave
the king a welcome reason for renewing hostilities, as he looked upon the
treaty made with the Empire as dissolved. A Gothic army crossed the Rhone and
obtained final possession of the whole of southern Provence as far as the
Maritime Alps, together with the cities of Arles and Marseilles, after a
victorious battle against the Burgundians, who had ruled over this district
under Roman suzerainty. But when Euric also marched a body of troops
into Italy it suffered defeat from the officers of Odovacar. Consequently a
treaty was concluded by the East-Roman Emperor Zeno and the king of the
Burgundians whereby the newly conquered territory in Gaul (between the Rhone
and the Alps south of the Durance) was surrendered by Odovacar to the Goths,
while Euric evidently pledged himself to undertake no further
hostilities against Italy (c. 477).
Euric was
incessantly harassed by the difficulties of defending this mighty conquest from
foes without and within. In particular, very frequent cause for interference
was given by the conduct of the Catholic clergy, who openly showed their
disloyalty, and in the Vandal kingdom did not shrink from the most treacherous
actions. Yet they seem only in rare instances to have been answered by violence
and cruelty. The Saxon pirates who, according to old custom, infested the coast
of Gaul were vigorously punished by a fleet sent out against them. In the same
way it seems that an invasion of the Salian Franks was warded off successfully.
It is not strange that, owing to the prestige of the Visigoth power, Euric's help was repeatedly requested by other
peoples, as by the Heruli, Warni,
and Tulingi who, settled in the Netherlands,
found themselves threatened by the overwhelming might of the Franks and owed to
the intervention of the Gothic king the maintenance of their political
existence. The poet Sidonius Apollinaris has left behind a vivid
description of the way in which, at that time, the representatives of the most
diverse nations pressed round Euric at the Visigoth Court, even the
Persians are said to have formed an alliance with him against the Eastern
Empire. It seems that envoys from the Roman population of Italy also appeared
at Toulouse to ask the king to expel Odovacar, whose rule was only reluctantly
endured by the Italians.
We do not know
if Euric intended gratifying this last request, in any case he was
prevented from executing any such designs through death, which overtook him in
Arles in December 484. Under his son Alaric II the Visigoth power fell from its
height. To be sure, the beginning of the decline originated at a time further
back. Ataulf’s political programme, as already
observed, had originally contemplated the establishment of a national Gothic
State in the place of the Roman Empire. Yet not one of the Visigoth rulers, in
spite of honest purpose, could accomplish this task. It is to their credit that
they succeeded at last, after severe fighting, in freeing themselves from the
suzerainty of the Emperor and obtaining political autonomy, but the State which
thus resulted resembled a Germanic National State no more than it did a
Roman Imperium, and it could not contain the seeds of life because it was
in a great measure dependent on foreign obsolescent institutions. The Goths had
entered the world of Roman civilization too suddenly to be able either to
resist or to absorb the foreign influences which pressed on them from all
sides. It was fortunate for the progress of Romanization that the Goths, cut
off from the rest of the German world, could not draw thence fresh strength to
recuperate their nationality or to replace their losses, and moreover that
through the immense extension of the kingdom under Euric the
numerical proportion between the Roman and Gothic population had altered very
much in favour of the former. So under the circumstances it was a certainty
that the Gothic kingdom in Gaul must succumb to the rising and politically
creative power of the Franks. Neither the personality of Alaric, who was little
fitted for ruling, nor the antagonism between Catholicism and Arianism caused
the downfall, they only hastened it.
Alaric II. 484-502
Alaric ascended
the throne on 28 December 484. The king was of an indolent weak nature,
altogether the opposite of his father, and without energy or warlike capacity,
as immediately became evident. For example, he submitted to give up Syagrius,
whom he had received into his kingdom after the battle of Soissons (486), when
the victorious king of the Franks threatened him with war. The inevitable
settlement by arms of the rivalry between the two principal powers in Gaul was
of course only put off a little longer by this compliance. About 494 the war
began. It lasted for many years and was carried on with varying success on both
sides. Hostilities were ended through the mediation of the Ostrogoth king
Theodoric—who in the meanwhile had become Alaric's father-in-law —by the
conclusion of a treaty of peace on the terms of Uti possidetis (c. 502), but this condition could not
last long, for the antagonism was considerably aggravated by the conversion of
Clovis to the Catholic Church in the year 496 (25 Dec.). Consequently the
greatest part of Alaric's Roman subjects, with the clergy of course at their
head, adhered to the Franks, and jealously endeavoured to bring about the
subjection of the Visigoth kingdom to their rule. Alaric was obliged to adopt
severe measures in some instances against such treasonable desires, but usually
he tried by gentleness and the granting of favors to
win over the Romans to his support, an attempt which, in view of the prevalent
and insurmountable antagonism, was of course quite ineffectual and even
defeated its own ends, being regarded only as weakness. Thus he permitted the
bishoprics kept vacant under Euric to be again filled, he moreover
permitted the Gallic bishops to hold a Council at Agde in
September 506, and—of the ambiguous attitude of the clergy—it was opened with a
prayer for the prosperity of the Visigoth kingdom. The publication of the
so-called Lex Romana Visigothorum,
also named Breviarium Alaricianum, represented the most important act of
conciliation. This Code of Law, which had been composed by a commission of
lawyers together with prominent laymen and even clergy, and was drawn from
extracts and explanations of Roman law, was sanctioned by the king at Toulouse,
2 Feb. 506, after having received the approval of an assembly of bishops and
distinguished provincials, and was ordered to be used by the Roman population
in the Gothic kingdom.
Battle of Vouglé. 506-507
Why the explosion
was delayed until the year 507 is unknown. That the king of the Franks was the
aggressor is certain. He easily found a pretext for beginning the war as
champion and protector of Catholic Christianity against the absolutely just
measures which Alaric took against his treacherous orthodox clergy. Clovis had
sufficiently appreciated the by no means despicable power of the Visigoth
kingdom, and had summoned a very considerable army, one contingent of which was
furnished by the Ripuarian Franks. His allies, the Burgundians,
approached from the east in order to take the Goths in the flank. Among his
allies Clovis probably also counted on the Byzantines, who placed their fleet
at his disposal. On his part Alaric had not looked upon coming events idly, but
his preparations were hampered by the bad state of the finances of his kingdom.
In order to obtain the necessary funds he was obliged to coin gold pieces of
inferior value, which were soon discredited everywhere. Apparently the fighting
strength of the Gothic army was inferior to the army of Clovis, but if the
Ostrogoth troops, who had held out prospects of coming, should arrive at the
right time Alaric could hope to oppose his foe successfully. The king of the
Franks had to endeavour to bring about a decisive action before the arrival of
these allies. In the spring of 507 he suddenly crossed the Loire and marched
towards Poitiers, where he probably joined the Burgundians. On the Campus Vocladensis, ten miles from Poitiers, the Visigoths had
taken up their position. Alaric put off beginning battle because he was waiting
for the Ostrogoth troops, but as they were hindered by the appearance of a
Byzantine fleet in Italian waters he determined to fight instead of beating a
retreat, as it would have been wise to do. After a short engagement the Goths
turned and fled. In the pursuit the king of the Goths was killed, it was said
by Clovis' own hand (507). With this overthrow the rule of the Visigoths in
Gaul was ended forever.
The principal town
of the Gothic kingdom was Toulouse, where the royal treasure was also
kept; Euric from time to time also held court in Bordeaux, Alaric II
in Narbonne. The Gothic rule originally stretched, as has been already
mentioned, as far as the province of Aquitanica Secunda and some bordering municipalities, among which
was the district of Toulouse, but later on it extended not only over the whole
territory of the Gallic provinces, but in addition to several parts of the
provinces Viennensis, Narbonensis Secunda, Alpes Maritimae,
and Lugdunensis Tertia. The Gothic
possessions included also the greater part of the Iberian peninsula, i.e. the
provinces of Baetica, Lusitania, Tarraconensis, and Carthaginensis.
The provinces named were in Roman times, in so far as it was a question of
civil administration, governed by consulares or presides, and they were again divided into city-districts (civitates or municipia).
Under the sovereignty of the Goths this constitution was maintained in its
chief features.
The inhabitants of
the kingdom of Toulouse were composed of two races—the Goths and the Romans.
The Goths were regarded by the Romans as foreigners so long as the federal
connection remained in force, yet both peoples lived side by side, each under
its own law and jurisdiction: intermarriage was forbidden. This rigid line of
separation was adhered to even when the Goths had shaken off the imperial
suzerainty and the Gothic king had become the sovereign of the native
population of Gaul. Theoretically, the Romans had equal privileges in the
State; thus they were not treated as a conquered people without rights, as the
Vandals and Langobards (Lombards) dealt with the inhabitants of
Africa and Italy. That the Goths were the real rulers was clearly enough made
manifest to the Romans.
The domestic
condition of the Visigoths before the settlement in Gaul was undoubtedly on the
same level as in their original home; private property in land was unknown,
agriculture was comparatively primitive, and cattle-rearing provided the
principal means of subsistence. A national change began with the settlement in
Aquitaine. This was done on the principle of the Roman quartering of troops, so
that the Roman landowners were obliged to give up to the Goths in free
possession a portion of their total property together with the coloni, slaves, and cattle appertaining to it.
According to the oldest Gothic codes of law the Goth received two-thirds of the
tilled land and, it seems, one-half of the woods. The wood and the meadow land
which was not partitioned belonged to the Goths and the Romans for use in
common. The parcels of land subjected to partition were called sortes, the Roman share, generally, tertia,
their occupants hospites or consortes. The Gothic sortes were
exempt from taxation. As the invaders were very numerous compared with the
extent of the province to be apportioned, there is no doubt that not only the
large estates, but also the middle-sized and smaller properties were partitioned.
Nevertheless it is evident that not every Goth can have shared with a Roman
possessor, because there would certainly not have been estates enough; we must
rather assume that in the share given up larger properties were split up among
several families, as a rule among kinsmen. As the apportionment of the single
lots undoubtedly took place through the decisive influence of the king, it is
natural that the nobility (i.e. nobility by military service) was favoured in
the partition above the ordinary freemen. The landed property of the monarch’s favourites
must have gained considerably in extent, as elsewhere, through assignments from
state property. The very considerable imperial possessions, both crown and
private property, as a rule fell to the share of royalty.
Land partition in
the districts conquered later followed the same plan as in Aquitaine; seizures
of entire Roman estates certainly occurred, but they were exceptions and
happened under special circumstances. As a rule the Romans were protected by
law in the possession of their tertiae,
even if it were only for fiscal reasons. The considerably extended range of the
Gothic kingdom offered the people ample space for colonization, so it was not
necessary to encroach on the whole of the Roman territory as had been the case
in Aquitaine. It is to be assumed that in the newly won territories only the
superfluous element of the population had to be provided for; we are not to
suppose a general desertion of the home-land.
The social economy
proceeded, on the whole, on the same lines as before, i.e. through coloni and slaves, from whose toil the owners
derived their principal support, at least in so far as it was a question of
food. For the Goths, whose favourite occupations were warfare and the chase,
had no inclination to devote themselves to arduous agricultural toil. They only
wanted to control directly the rearing of cattle, as they did of old; animal
food seems to have been provided principally by means of large herds of swine.
The revolution which the partition of land brought about in the habits of the
Goths was too powerful not to exert the deepest influence on all the conditions
of life. The rich revenues led to the display of a wanton and indolent way of
living; the close contact with the Romans, who were for the most part morally
decadent, was bound to affect injuriously a people so famous in earlier times
for its austere manners. The old national bonds of union, besides having been
relaxed through the migration, now from the scattering of the mass in colonization
lost more and more of their original importance, since kinsmen need no longer
be companions on the farmstead in order to obtain a living. The adoption of the
Roman conditions of land-holding obliged the Goths to accept numerous legal
arrangements which were foreign to their national law and altered its
principles considerably. Nevertheless the national consciousness was strong
enough to prevent it from merging itself quickly and completely in the Roman
system; in contrast to the Ostrogoths who did nothing but carefully conserve
the Roman institutions which they found, the Visigoths are remarkable for an
attitude in many respects independent towards the foreign organization.
The entire power
of government lay in the hands of the king, but the several rulers did not
succeed in making their power absolute. Outwardly the Visigoth king was only
slightly distinguished from the other freemen; like them he wore the national
skin garment, and long curly hair. The raised seat as well as the sword appear
as tokens of royal power, the insignia such as the purple mantle and the crown
do not come till later. The succession to the throne follows the system
peculiar to the old German constitution of combined election and inheritance.
After the death of Alaric I his brother-in-law Ataulf was chosen king; thus a
kindred connection played an important part in this choice. Ataulf’s friendliness to Rome had placed him in opposition to the great mass of the
people; therefore his successor was not his brother, as he had wished, but
first Sigerich and then Wallia, who both
belonged to other houses. The elevation of Theodoric I is also an instance of
free election; the royal dignity remained in his house for over a
century. Thorismund was appointed king by the army; the succession of
Theodoric II, Euric, and Alaric II, on the other hand, was only confirmed
by popular recognition.
Just as the people
regularly took a part in the choice of the successor to the throne, so their
influence was often brought to bear on the sovereign's conduct of government.
After the settlement in Gaul there could certainly no longer be any question of
a national assembly in the old sense of the word, especially after the great
expansion of territory under Euric. Meetings of all the freemen had become
impossible on account of the expansion of the Gothic colonies. The circle of
those who could obey the call to assemble became, therefore, smaller and
smaller, while in carrying out the principal public functions, such as the
coronation of the king, only those of the people who happened to be present at
the place of election or who lived in the immediate neighbourhood, could as a
rule take part. The importance which the commonalty hereby lost was gained by
the nobility, an aristocracy founded on personal service to the king. It was
only in the army that the greater part of the people found opportunity of
expressing its will. It is certain that among the Visigoths, as among the
Franks, regular military assemblies were held, which at first served the
purpose of reviews and were under the command of the king. In these assemblies
important political questions were discussed but the decision of the
people was not always for the welfare of the State.
The kingdom was
subdivided very nearly on the lines of the previous Roman divisions into provinciae, and these again into civitates (territoria). At the head of the province was the dux
as magistrate for Goths and Romans. He was also, as his title implies, in the
first place the commander of the militia in his district, and he provided also
the final authority and appeal in matters of government, corresponding to the Praefectus Praetorio or vicarius of imperial times. The centre of
gravity of the government lay in the municipalities whose rulers were comites civitatum.
They took exactly the place of the Roman provincial governors, so that the
city-districts also appear under the title of provinciae.
Their authority extended even to the exercise of jurisdiction with the
exception of such cases as were reserved to the civic magistrates, and included
control of the police and the collection of taxes. The dux could
at the same time becomes of a civitas in his district. At the
head of the towns themselves were the curiales who,
as hitherto, were bound by oath to fill their offices; and they were personally
responsible for collecting the taxes. The most important official was the defensor, who was chosen from among the curiales by the citizens and only confirmed by the
king. He exercised, in the first instance, jurisdiction in minor matters, but
his activity extended over all the branches of municipal administration. Side
by side with this Roman magistrature existed the national
system which the Goths had brought with them. The Gothic people formed
themselves into bodies of thousands, five hundreds, hundreds, and tens, which
also remained as personal societies after the settlement. The millenarius, as of old, led the thousand in war and
ruled over it jointly with the heads of the hundreds both in war and in peace.
The comes civitatis and
his vicar originally only possessed jurisdiction over the
Romans of his own circuit, but in Euric's time
that had so far changed that he now possessed authority to judge the Goths as
well in civil suits in conjunction with the millenarius:
thus the later condition was prepared in which the millenarius appears
only as military official. On the other hand the defensor remained
a judiciary solely for the Romans.
We know but little
about the officers of the central government. The first minister of Euric and
of Alaric II was Leo of Narbonne, a distinguished man of varied talents. His
duty comprised a combination of the functions of the quaestor sacri palatii and
of the magister officiorum at the imperial Court; he drew
up the king's orders, conducted business with the ambassadors, and arranged the
applications for an audience. A higher minister of the royal chancery was Anianus, who attested the authenticity of the official
copies of the Lex Romana Visigothorum and
distributed them; he seems to have answered to the Roman primicerius notariorum or referendarius.
The Church
The organization
of the Catholic Church was not disturbed by the Visigoth rule: rather it was
strengthened. The ecclesiastical subdivision of the land as it had developed in
the last years of the Roman sway corresponded on the whole with the political:
the bishoprics, which coincided in extent with the town districts, were grouped
under metropolitan sees, which corresponded with the provinces of the secular
administration. Since the middle of the fifth century the authority of the
Roman bishop over the Church had been generally recognized. Next to the Pope
the bishop of Arles exercised over the Gallic clergy a theoretically almost
unlimited disciplinary power. A bishop was chosen by the laity and the clergy
of his see, and was ordained by the metropolitan bishop of the province
together with other bishops. Although the boundaries of the Visigoth kingdom
now in no way coincided with the old provincial and metropolitan boundaries,
the hitherto existing metropolitan connection was nevertheless not set aside,
nor were the relations of the bishops with the Pope interfered with. The Gothic
government as a rule showed great indulgence and consideration to the Catholic
Church, which only changed to a more severe treatment when the clergy were
guilty of treasonable practices, as happened under Euric. No organized and
general persecution of the Catholics from religious fanaticism ever took place.
The Catholic Church enjoyed particularly favourable conditions under Alaric II,
who in consideration of the threatening struggle with Clovis acknowledged the
formal legal position of the Roman Church according to the hitherto existing
rules.
Hardly anything is
known of the ecclesiastical organization of the Arians in the kingdom of
Toulouse. Probably in all the larger towns there were Arian bishops as well as
orthodox ones, and no doubt in earlier times they had been appointed by the
king. Under the several bishops were the different classes of subordinate
clergy; presbyters and deacons are mentioned as in the orthodox Church. The
endowment of the Arian Church was probably as a rule allowed for out of the
revenue; now and then confiscated Catholic churches as well as their endowments
were also made over to it. The church service was of course held in the
vernacular as it was in other German churches; the greater number of the clergy
were therefore of Gothic nationality. The opposition between the two creeds was
also certainly a very sharp one. Both sides carried on an active propaganda,
which on the Arian side not unfrequently seems to have been urged by
force, but such ebullitions scarcely had the support and approval of the Gothic
government.
Very scanty indeed
is our knowledge of the civilization of the kingdom of Toulouse. That the
Romance element was foremost in almost every department has already been
observed. The Goths however held to their national dress until a later period;
they wore the characteristic skin garment which covered the upper part of the
body, and laced boots of horse-hide which reached up to the calf of the leg;
the knee was left bare. There is no doubt that the Gothic tongue was spoken by
the people in intercourse with each other; unhappily no vestiges remain of it
except in proper names. It is certain however that a great part of the
nobility, especially the higher officials, understood Latin well. Most of the
Arian clergy undoubtedly were also masters of both languages. Latin was the
language of diplomatic intercourse and of legislation. Theodoric II was trained
in Roman literature by Avitus; Euric however understood so
little of the foreign language that he was obliged to use an interpreter for
diplomatic correspondence. Yet this king was in no way opposed to the knowledge
and significance of classical culture. The Visigothic Court therefore
formed a haven of frequent resort for the last representatives of Roman
literature in Gaul. And the kings, from various motives, but especially from a
fondness for Roman models, would employ the art of these men to celebrate their
own deeds. Here may be named in the first place the poet Sidonius Apollinaris who
for a long time lived, first in the Court of Theodoric II and then in that
of Euric. Euric’s minister Leo also is said to have
distinguished himself as a poet, historian, and lawyer, but no more of his
writings have been preserved than of the rhetorician Lampridius,
who sang the fame of the Gothic royal house at the Court of Bordeaux. But the
decay of literature and of culture in general, which had been for so long in
progress in spite of the support of the still existent schools of rhetoricians,
could assuredly not be stayed by the patronage of the Gothic kings.
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