[gothic-l] Re: Visigoths not "Booted Out"

[Francisc Czobor]

Dear Jim,

The freedom of thought that allowed the manifestation of such great
minds like Averoes happened not in Visigothic Spain, but in the
Moorish Spain (the Cordoban Caliphate). The name of Averoes
(not "Avaroes") has nothing to do with "Avar": it is just the
Latinised form of his Arabic name: Ibn-Rushd (like Avicena from Ibn-
Sina).
After the defeat of the Ostrogoths in Italy by the Byzantine, they
were not simply "booted out" of Italy, just they ceased to exist as a
political nation. The Byzantine emperor allowed them to stay in
Italy, keeping their properties, with the condition to be faithful to
the emperor. Some of them remained, and were gradually assimilated by
the majoritary Romanic population, leaving some place names in
Northern Italy and some words in the North-Italian dialects. Others
took probably refuge in Bavaria, where they were assimilated by the
local Germanic population. Here the Ostrogothic influence consists in
some loanwords in the Bavarian German dialects, but also in their
strong influence on the Old German epic, with such characters, found
in the Niebelungen-lied and connected legends, like Dietrich von Bern
(= Theodoric the Great, the most important king of Ostrogoths), Etzel
(= Attila, the famous king of the Huns), Odoacher (that one defeated
and killed by Theodoric), Krimhild (= Ildiko, the last bride of
Attila) etc.
In Pannonia there were rests of the Gepids that probably lasted until
the arrival of the Magyars (AD 896), who afterwards assimilated the
populations of Pannonia (mainly Slavic, but also Romanic and rests of
migratory peoples like Huns, Bulgars, Avars, Gepids etc.).

Francisc

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, James Young <daddio52 at s...> wrote:
>
>
>
> Dr. Dirk et al.,
>
> As the originator of the now discarded "booted out" of Spain I feel
the need to confess guilt to the accusation of ignorance of the
Visigothic Spain or for that matter much of Spanish history. I want
to thank again all those members whom are helping me correct that
deficiency.
>
> I've long had an admiration for Avaroes, a Spanish Islamic
philosopher of Berber descent. Now I wonder if the decentralized
nature of Visgothic Spain may have led to the freedom of thought and
science expressed in Avaroes' philosophy in the same way that the
Reformation led to the Age of Reason. And what about that "Avar" in
his name?
>
> The question that my "booted out" theory was adressing was related
to possible theories for the existence of an eighth century island of
the Gothic Language in the upper Balkan Peninsula. Now I ask, what
happened to the Ostrogoths after they were booted out of Italy?
Pannonia? Thuringia?
> Jim
>




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