European Kingdoms

Post-Roman Iberia (Hispania)

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Europe's south-western corner is formed by the peninsula of Iberia (today's Portugal and Spain, plus the principality of Andorra and Gibraltar). Once dominance of the Mediterranean switched to republican Rome following the twin third century BC Punic wars, a drawn-out period of 'Roman Conquest' of Iberia soon followed.

When the Romans eventually managed to subdue its many and varied tribes, they divided it into two provinces. These were gradually redefined and reduced in size under various imperial Roman governors of what they termed Hispania. The biggest of these, Tarraconensis, initially incorporated all of today's northern, eastern, and south-central Spain, plus the Balearic Islands.

Hispania was significantly Romanised throughout the imperial period, coming to be one of the empire's most important territories. Emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and Theodosius were all born there, as were the philosopher Séneca, the poet Marcial, and the public speaker, Quintiliano.

All of the free people of Hispania were granted Roman citizen status in the third century AD. However, various crises in the same century, followed by a gradual and barely-managed decline in the late fourth and the early fifth centuries, saw Roman power and control diminish.

The remaining forces in Hispania at the start of the fifth century were further reduced by the removal of soldiers to fight in the civil war which followed the attempt by a Britannia-based usurper, Constantine III, to seize power from Emperor Honorius in 406. What was left was entirely unable to provide much resistance to the Vandali, Suevi, and Alani who swept across the Pyrenees in 409.

(Information by Peter Kessler and Trish Wilson, with additional information from the Notitia Dignitatum, from Encyclopaedia of the Roman Empire, Matthew Bunson (1994), from History of Ancient Rome, Cassius Dio, and from External Links: Celtiberia.net (in Spanish), and Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa (in Spanish), and A misty history of Roman Portugal (The Portugal News), and Euskomedia (in Spanish), and Encyclopaedia Britannica, and The Roman Military Research Society, and Rome (articles from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th Edition (1875) and 10th Edition (1902)).)

406 - 409

By now the Franks are settled on the west bank of the Rhine in minor 'kingdoms' which cover areas of north-eastern Gaul, along with some groups of Suevi. Now, in 406, the bulk of the Suevi peoples cross the Rhine at Moguntiacum (Mainz) in association with the Vandali and Alani.

The main bodies of the Vandali, Alani, and Suevi tribes crossed the Rhine at the end of 406, resulting in panic and chaos within the Roman empire

408

Constantine III, usurper Western Roman emperor and ruler of Britain, sends his son, Constans, and General Gerontius to Hispania to defeat the cousins of Roman Emperor Honorius there and secure that province (Gerontius could be the Gerenton mentioned in connection with Domnonia in the Vannetais).

409

Having spent two years ravaging Gaul, the Alani, Suevi, and Vandali enter the late Roman provinces of Hispania, disrupting Constantine's hold on his territory. The Suebi and Asding Vandals eventually settle in the north-western province of Gallaecia (former tribal territory of the Gallaeci).

The Siling Vandals occupy Baetica in the south, and the Alans settle in the central provinces of Lusitania and Carthaginiensis. For the time being, only Tarraconensis in the north-east remains entirely under Roman control.

Gerontius rebels against Constantine, and raises Maximus as his own puppet emperor. With Constantine now in serious difficulties in Gaul, further Saxon raids convince the British and Armoricans to rebel and expel Roman officials, thereby breaking ties with Rome which are never renewed.

With discord building in the empire in the fifth century AD, many Romano-Gauls and Hispanics left their homes in a hurry, often burying their wealth in the hope that they could return in better times to collect it

417 - 418

During its last days the Western Roman empire allows the Visigoths to settle in southern Gaul thanks to a treaty which is signed in 418. The Visigoth leader, Theodoric, founds a kingdom of his peoples which covers much of southern Gaul and extends into the Iberian peninsula.

426

The Suevi now settle in north-western Iberia (Roman Gallaecia, former Gallaeci territory). With the Visigoths becoming more powerful in southern Gaul and northern Iberia, the weakened Alani merge with the Asding Vandali, and migrate farther south, leaving at least some of their people behind in Gaul.

429

Under pressure from the newly settled Visigoths, the Vandali and Alani move south from Iberia to invade the Roman diocese of Africa, taking the cities of Carthage and Utica. An independent autocracy is formed in modern Tunisia and north-eastern Algeria.

The Suevi found themselves in a rocky landscape in Gallaecia, with settlements made up of Celtic stone houses like this example from Santa Tegra near the Portuguese border

439 - 446

Suevi raids are ravaging the eastern and southern provinces of Iberia to such an extent that Rome is deprived of vital income in the form of tax revenue. Between 439-441 it dries up completely, so the magister militum, Flavius Aëtius, sends first Asturius in 442 and then Merobaudes in 443 to handle the problem.

They concentrate on defeating the Bagaudae (peasant insurgents or brigands who are roaming the land), in order to secure Roman control of Tarraconensis. In 446 Vitus, the magister utriusque militiae, is sent to Iberia to put a halt to the raiding, leading a combined Romano-Visigothic force into the province of Carthaginiensis and Baetica.

When his unruly force meets the Suevi in battle, it is routed. The defeat confirms Suevian control of Lusitania and Baetica and the permanent loss of the bulk of Hispanic revenues to Rome.

The figure on the right is thought to be Aëtius, although there is some doubt, and the possibility exists that the sarcophagus on which this relief sits could even have been built half a century before this period

456

In the past seven years, Rechiar of the Suevi has been responsible for a large number of raids into the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis, with tacit approval by the Visigoths. Now the Visigoth king, Theodoric II, changes his policy and turns on the Suevi.

He leads a large army which is bolstered by Burgundians under Gundioc and Chilperic, crossing the Pyrenees and defeating Rechiar at a site which is close to the modern town of Astorga in north-western Iberia.

585

Andeca's usurpation of the Suebian throne gives Leuvigild, the Visigoth king, just the pretext he needs for an invasion of north-western Iberia. Andeca is defeated in battle and is quickly replaced by Amalaric, as the Suevi face disaster.

Leuvigild's Visigoth invasion of the kingdom remains unstoppable and Amalaric makes his own attempt to bring it to a halt. He is defeated before he can be formally installed as king of the Suevi.

With his defeat, the Suevi kingdom falls to the Visigoth kingdom and is incorporated as its sixth province. Despite being a conquered population, the Suevi are generally left in peace in Gallaecia, and they eventually blend into the general population of what will become known as Galicia.

In AD 469/470 the Visigoths expanded their kingdom to its largest extent, reaching Nantes in the north and Cadiz in the south, but it was not to last - with the accession of Clovis of the Salian Franks, the Visigoths had found an opponent who would wrest Gaul away from their control in stages (click or tap on map to view full sized)

591

Under Gennadius the prefecture of Africa becomes an exarchate (often, but not permanently it seems. In fact the title may be more of a personal one than a specific office). The exarch in Africa is the direct military and civil representative of the Eastern Roman emperor, and as such he wields considerable power over the entire western half of the North African coast, the islands, and Iberia.

711 - 714

Ceuta, and the Pillars of Hercules, which until very recently had fallen under the control of the Eastern Roman empire via Carthage, are apparently turned over to the Islamic empire by 'Count Julian', as the empire prepares its invasion of Visigothic Iberia.

The kingdom is overrun by the Umayyad invasion of the same year, at the battles of Jerez de la Frontera and Ecija. Cordova is captured (711), as is Seville and Toledo (712). The Battle of Segoyuela sees Saragossa captured (in 713, capital of the Vascones), and Valencia falls (714). Much of the peninsula's population now comes under the sway of Umayyad Iberia.

The Arab empire conquered Eastern Roman Carthage through a series of campaigns over the space of half a century, with Roman control over the region gradually weakening during a series of military defeats