Chapter 3 Medieval Spain

The Visigoths were people that ruled Spain for more than three centuries and oddly in Toledo the remains of them are not present at all.

The Visigoths had the largest and strongest kingdom in Western Europe. This invasion marked Spain's first attempt to becoming a unified nation. The Visigoths brought large scale herding, the horseshoe arch and some Germanic words that later entered the Spanish and English languages. Their greatest impact was settling in Roman Toletum ( Toledo) where for the first time the advanced coastal region looked to the interior for power.


The Goths and the Romans lived together when the Goths took over in 476. The Goths used Roman coins and lived in Roman cities because there were not any Goth ones. The Goths although they were abundant and ruled they still were very intimidated by the last rulers. A major difference of the two people was religion. The Goths practiced Christianity while the Romans practiced " Roman religion" later known as Catholic.

In 675, the Moors would come and try their hand at conquering the land but in the end fail. But later after successfully taking over the Moors would rewrite Spanish history and make Spain different again. They were Berber or Arab people which refers to all Muslims. The Moors brought new religion and culture. After Tariq took over he took some Goths and cut them in pieces so that they could be boiled in cauldrons. Ironically Tariq spent the rest of his winter in Toledo, the old Visigoth capital.
The Moors took over Spain easily, the Visigoths were weak and the Romans didn't like their Germanic rulers. The Moors would soon that conquering was not easy, they became entangled in Arab rivals. It was Pelayo who led some Asturians and surviving Goths to the first Christain victory. A new dynasty then came when Abd-er-Rahman came into power. Al- andalus became very wealthy with it's farms and commerce and culture. The Great Mosque became the Moors notable accomplishments as it was their legacy. Another thing that was important during this time was the fact that there was three distinct religions that separated everyone. You were either Jew, Muslim, or Christian and this in turn made the social ladder to position a way of thinking.