[gothic-l] Visigoths not "Booted Out"

[F.E.J.D. IV]

James,
You seem to be somewhat confused about this period of history.
The Visigoths were absolutely not as you say "booted out of Spain".
Neither is there evidence of any meaningful emigration outside of
Spain after their defeat in 711. Rather- after Guadalete, a great many
of remaining Visigoths retreated to Asturias, an area never occupied
by the moors. It is from Asturias that an organized resistance against
the moors (see covadonga) began under the leadership of Pelagius,
attested in period documents to have been a Visigoth noble and one of
King Roderick's bodyguards. Fafila, the son of Pelagius was actually
recognized as Rex Gothorum (King of the Goths) by the Pope after his
father's death. Roderick was of course the last king of the Toletan
Gothia. I might also add that some Visigoths were allowed to stay-on
in their lands in Castile, (North-Central Spain)and elsewhere after
the moorish invasion, however, the conditions under which they existed
became increasingly intolerable and led to what is termed as the
"Martyr's Movement". The intolerable conditions leading to the
Martyr's Movement caused many individuals, the majority being
Visigoths, to migrate northward to Asturias and Leon in northern
Spain. By that time a considerable amount of territory had already
been retaken from the moors. The latter migration is well documented
in period documents once archived at the library of the monastery of
Sahagun and subsequent onomastic research. (Fortunately, there is a
wealth of documentation in Spain even from the time of the Visigoths,
which unfortunately has not yet been fully exploited by researchers).
A paper, based on such documents and whose findings further support
the stated migration was recently published and accounts for a sudden
dearth of Gothic names in the Visigothic area under Moorish control
and a subsequent flood of Gothic names in the areas under Christian
control to the north in Asturias and Leon. I will present some
highlights of that paper at a later time.

Cheers,
F.E.J.D.


--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "James Young" <daddio52 at s...> wrote:
> The Visigoths had just been booted out of Spain and the Franks didn't
> want them. Some of them probably went back to their old homeland from
> Roman days. I wonder if they had to get permission from
> Constantinople? The Turks still hadn't gotten to Turkey.
>
> Kon52476



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