[gothic-l] Re: Gothic christianity

[Dr. Dirk Faltin <dirk@smra.co.uk>]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, Ingemar Nordgren
<ingemar.nordgren at e...> wrote:
>
>
> Hi Dirk,
>
> >I do not deny that Arianism was a uniting factor for the
Visigoths.
> >Yet, Visigothic kingship emerged strengthened after the conversion
to
> >Catholicism. Throughout the 6th century Visigothic kingship was
> >rather weak. For a lot of the time they relied on government
provided
> >by Ostrogothic Italy. Also, the Byzantine colonies in the south
> >seemed to pose the most direct threat. The big mistake of the
> >Visigoths was that they failed to create an inclusive, integrated
> >kingdom that could mobilised all parts of the society. When the
> >biggest hurdle to such an integrated realm was removed (i.e.
> >Arianism) this was already too late and he subsequent steps failed
to
> >promote unitity.
> >
> Here we definitely disagree since Arianism was just the uniting
factor
>  able to mobilize the Goths.


Hi Ingemar,

I don't deny that Arianism was an important uniting factor for the
Visigoths. Yet, I think that compared to the Franks, who had chosen
Catholicism (after perhaps briefly toying with Arianism) it was
(among others) the Arianism that segregated Goths from the majority
population and prevented the creation of a strong and integrated
kingdom, like the Frankish kingdom in Gaul. I think such an
integrated kingdom could have withstood the Arab invasion, just as
the Franks defeated the Muslim armies. Btw, the Franks also did not
institgate any religious persecutions like the Arian Vandals and the
Catholic Visigoths.


best
Dirk



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