Created by María Jesús Campos, teacher of Social Studies, Geography and History in a bilingual section in Madrid (Spain)

1. THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES (PART 2).
THE GERMANIC KINGDOMS: THE VISIGOTHS
María Jesús Campos
learningfromhistory.wikispaces.com

2. THE FALL OF THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE
 The fall of the
Western Roman
Empire after the
conquest of Rome by
the Ostrogoths in the
year 476 A.D. meant
the break-up of
Mediterranean unity
and the arose of new
powers and
civilizations as the
Germanic
Kingdoms, the
Byzantine Empire
and the Islamic

3. THE BREAK-UP OF MEDITERRANEAN UNITY

4. THE GERMANIC KINGDOMS
 Germanic tribes settled
on the Roman territories
they conquered and
established different
kingdoms.
 Some of the kingdoms
that replaced the
Western Empire were:
 The Franks, that settled
in France
 The Visigoths, that
settled in Spain
 The Ostrogoths, that
settled in Italy
 The Angles and the
Saxons, that settled in
Britain.

5.  Germans
gradually
intermingled
with the people
that lived in
those territories
who had already
adopted
Romans
customs, laws
and language
and had
become Roman

6. THE VISIGOTHS
 In the 4th century, the
Visigoths, in Asia, were
attacked by the Huns.
They received permission
to enter the Western
Roman Empire and settle
under its protection as
allies.
 Some years later, the
Roman emperor asked the
Visigoths for help to expel
other Germanic tribes (the
Suevi, the Vandals and
the Alans) from the Iberian
Peninsula.

7.  In exchange of
giving back the
Iberian Peninsula
territories to the
Romans, they
would receive lands
in southern Gaul.
 The Visigoths
established their
first kingdom in
Gaul.
 Later they also
conquered the
Iberian Peninsula.

8.  At the beginning of
the 6th century, the
Franks expelled the
Visigoths from Gaul.
 The Visigoths
founded a new
kingdom in the
Iberian Peninsula, the
Visigoth Kingdom
of Toledo. This city
was made its capital.
 The kingdom endured
during the 6th and the
7th centuries until the
Arabs conquered the
Iberian Peninsula in
the year 711.

9.  Some of its most
important kings
were:
 King Leovigild, who
extended the
territory and
intermingled
Germanic and
Roman law setting
up a new code.
 King Reccared who
became catholic as
well as his subjects
to try to intermingle
Visigoth and

10. Consequences of the Visigoth conquest of the Iberian
Peninsula
 Hispanic subjects (former
Roman citizens) accepted
Visigoth’s rules. And
when Visigoths converted
into catholicism they
finally intermingled.
 The lack of security after
the Germanic invasions
broke up trading.
People left the cities and
return to the country to
farm their own
nourishment.
 A new legal code mixed
Germanic and Roman
law.
 Art became less impressive
as there wasn’t enough
money to spend on
architecture. Palaces and
churches were built with
poor materials.
 The most important art
pieces were Visigoth
crowns made of gold and
jewels for the king to give as
a present to God for His
help on the battlefield.

12. Developed by María Jesús Campos
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