bmv_269629 - ROYAUME WISIGOTH - AQUITAINE Triens à la croix

VISIGOTHIC KINGDOM - AQUITAINE

(5th-6th century)

The Goths were settled at the mouth of the Vistula in the 1st century AD. They divided into Visigoths (Western Goths) and Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths). On August 9, 378, they crushed the Romans at Adrianople where Valens was killed. Alaric, king of the Visigoths, first besieges Ravenna where Honorius resides and takes Rome in 410. Athaulf, his brother-in-law, succeeds him and marries Galla Placidia, Honorius' sister. Wallia, his brother, founded in 419 the kingdom of the Visigoths of Toulouse which was to last a century. Euric (466-484) adds Spain to his kingdom. Clovis, king of the Franks, crushes Alaric II (484-507) at the battle of Vouillé in 507, destroying the Visigoth kingdom of Toulouse. The Visigoths nevertheless retain Spain and Septimania. The Spanish dynasty will reign until Rodrigue and the invasion of the Arabs in 711. It will take the energy of a Charles Martel, Mayor of the Palace, to stop the Muslims in Poitiers in 732.