Visigothic Kingdom of Europe - Kingdom of Toulouse

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