The
Visigothic Kingdom was a kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern
France and the
Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the
Germanic successor states to the
Western Roman Empire, it was originally created by the settlement of the
Visigoths under
King Wallia in the province of
Aquitaine in southwest
France by the
Roman government and then extended by conquest over all of the
Iberian Peninsula.
 |
Aquitaine |
Wallia , (c. 385 – 418) was king of the
Visigoths from 415 to 418, earning a reputation as a great warrior and prudent ruler. Early on,
Wallia made peace with
Emperor Honorius and accepted a treaty with the
Roman Empire. In 418 he honored the alliance by invading
Hispania, where his army destroyed the
Siling Vandals. He died in 418 CE.
 |
Willia, King of Visigoths |
Theodoric I succeeded king
Wallia to become the
King of the
Visigoths and ruled from 418 to 451. After the death of
Roman Emperor Honorius and the usurpation of
Joannes in 423 internal power struggles broke out in the
Roman Empire. Theodoric used this situation and tried to capture the important road junction
Arelate, but the
Magister militum Aëtius, who was assisted by the
Huns, was able to save the city.
 |
Theodoric I |
When
Attila the Hun advanced with his large army to
Western Europe and finally invaded
Gaul, Avitus arranged an alliance between
Theodoric and his long-standing enemy
Aëtius against the
Huns. Theodoric accepted this coalition because he recognized the danger of the
Huns to his own realm. The
Visigoth and
Roman troops then saved the
civitas Aurelianorum and forced
Attila to withdraw (June 451).
 |
Attila the Hun |
Then
Aëtius and
Theodoric followed the
Huns and fought against them at the
Battle of Châlons near
Troyes in about June 451.
Theodoric's forces contributed decisively to the victory of the
Romans, but he himself was killed during the battle. Immediately his son
Thorismund was elected as successor of his father. Other sons of
Theodoric were
Theodoric II, Frederic, Euric I, Retimer and Himnerith.

Thorismund(c. 420 – 453) became king of the
Visigoths after his father
Theodoric was killed in the
Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451 CE. He was murdered in 453 and was succeeded by his brother
Theodoric II who ruled from from 453 to 466. Theodoric was himself murdered in 466 by his younger brother
Euric, who succeeded him to the throne.
 |
Theodoric II |
Euric ruled as king of the
Visigoths, after murdering his brother,
Theodoric II, from 466 until his death in 484. With his capital at
Toulouse, Euric inherited a large portion of the
Visigothic possessions in the
Aquitaine region of
Gaul, an area that had been under
Visigothic control since 415. In 470
Euric defeated an attempted invasion of
Gaul by the
British king Riothamus and expanded his kingdom even further north, possibly as far as the
Somme River, the
March of Frankish territory
 |
Toulouse, France |
At
Euric's death in 484 the
Kingdom of the Visigoths encompassed all of
Iberia except for the region of
Galicia (ruled by the
Suebi) and a third of modern
France. Euric was succeeded by his son
Alaric II (484–507). He established his capital at
Aire-sur-l'Adour (Vicus Julii) in
Aquitaine. In 506, the
Visigoths captured the city of
Dertosa in the
Ebro valley. The
Visigoths now came into conflict with the
Franks under their
King Clovis I, who had conquered northern
Gaul.
 |
Dertosa |
In 507, the Franks attacked again, this time allied with the Burgundians. Alaric II was killed at the battle of Campus Vogladensis (Vouillé) near Poitiers, and Toulouse was sacked. By 508, the Visigoths had lost most of their Gallic holdings save Septimania in the south.
 |
Poitiers |
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