La España Visigoda, 409-711

A History of Spain

by Roger Collins, Mercedes García Garmilla (Translator)

La España visigoda se nos solía presentar como la prefiguración de una monarquía unificada en que Iglesia y Estado colaboraron para crear una sociedad ordenada y estable. La ruptura con esa tradición fosilizada nos permite mirar hoy con nuevos ojos a una época que Roger Collins nos invita a reconsiderar, sobre la base de las nuevas aportaciones realizadas por la investigación histórica y arqueológica. El cuadro tradicional queda aquí transformado en la imagen de una sociedad en que una pequeña aristocracia militar dominaba una amplia población civil que no sólo no se integró con ella, sino que vio con la mayor indiferencia su derrota a manos de un puñado de invasores del otro lado del estrecho.

Genres: History, Spain, Nonfiction, Spanish History, Medieval, European History

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Roger J. H. Collins (born 1949) is an English medievalist, currently an honorary fellow in history at the University of Edinburgh.

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adoro este libro. Ya escribiré una crítica mejor algún día. Pero lo he disfrutado muchísimo, tanto por el contenido (uno de mis temas favoritos) como por la forma. Me encanta el estilo de Roger Collins, su seriedad, su ironía e ingenio, su indignación ante la falta de pensamiento crítico. Ojalá más historiadores como él.

[Mats St · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kapittel 2 til 4: "Vi vet veldig lite, men disse skriver dette og dette, men vi kan ikke vite noe sikkert, fordi krønikene er skrevet 100 år etter de påståtte hendelsene, men ved å gjøre sånn og sånn, så kan vi si at det kanskje var sånn. Og kanskje ikke".

Periodevis fascinerende lesning, spesielt om møte mellom den berber-arabiske erobringen og vestgoterne. Savner mer om etnisk identitet, spesielt i kapittelet "Law and Ethnic Identity".

For mye teoretisk drøfting om arkeologi og kilder for min del til at jeg klarer å nyte boken til det fulle.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent survey on the history of the Visigoths in Spain. I would recommend this book for anyone with an interest in the Late Antique period, Iberian archaeology, "Gothic" tribes and their cultural and legal systems, Iberian historiography, etc. It includes a bibliographic essay, and is richly supported by citations to primary source materials (when available). Dr. Collins writes in a lively critical style which takes nothing as gospel and frequently suggests areas for further study and interpretation.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like your academics curmudgeonly this is the book for you. He lays out the evidence for what we know about the Visigoths whilst making some entertaining sideswipes at Spanish archaeologists, German romantic historians and assorted nincumpoops who have had ideas without thoroughly researching the territory first.

It is easy to read: don't pay attention to the dullards who should never have picked up an academic book in the first place.

[Riq Hoelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Answers the question of why the Visigothic Kingdom collapsed so fast when a mere two thousand or so Arabs and Berbers invaded it, and why it seemed to happen in just one battle with no back and forth. Well, actually some of the fault is in the question: there was some back and forth. But the main point is a state of civil war was in progress – the country was divided and being ruled by two antagonistic kings – and as the threat did not seem significant, continued despite the threat. In fact the king may have been murdered when he went to fight the Muslims so that a rival could be enthroned. The Visigoth elites who ruled were relatively few in number and their subjects did not particularly care for them. Some of them in the south readily made peace with the Muslims. In fact there was a long history of conflict at the capital of Toledo where rival families got themselves elected to the throne and started taking the properties of rivals until they in turn were inevitably killed, upon which the proceess restarted again. Why so much division? Probably because Iberia was a well-defined territory with good natural borders on all sides. They did not have serious external threats that would tend to unite them. Instead they turned such energies on one another, similar to the era of the English Richard II, and in remarkable contrast to the contemporary Franks.

[Seneka Najmłodszy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Hiszpania w czasach Wizygotów" stanowi chyba próbę podsumowania stanu badań nad tym okresem dziejów półwyspu Iberyjskiego. Z roli tej wywiązuje się bardzo dobrze, krytycznie analizując większość zagadnień związanych z tym tematem. Napisana jest ponadto lekkim stylem, sprawiając, że ciekawe wydaje się stosowanie nawet najmniej ekscytujących źródeł i metod. Poza jedną lekką sprzecznością w opinii autora dotyczącą wizygockiej tożsamości etnicznej nie mam tej monografii właściwie nic do zarzucenia. Myślę, że jest dobrym punktem startowym do dalszego zgłębiania dziejów Hiszpanii tego okresu.

[Rozalia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bieg przez daty i imiona, z pominięciem kontekstu czy choćby rozróżnienia na to, co istotne dla kształtowania się królestwa Wizygotów, a co marginalne. Mam wrażenie, że największą frajdę sprawiało autorowi podawanie dat dziennych dokumentów synodalnych.

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 2 out of 5]

En väldigt detaljerad men väldigt torr genomgång av Västgoternas spanien.

[Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primera parte de la trilogía de Collins sobre la historia de la Hispania medieval. Sin pretensiones mayores ni exóticas, la primera parte es un buen resumen de la historia política visigoda. El final de la primera y toda la segunda parte resultan de mayor interés, ya que profundizan sobre el ocaso de los visigodos, la cuestión arqueológica, social e identitaria.

Gran lectura para introducirse al periodo.

[Alexander Rolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collins seemed pretty reasonable to me. The prose was pretty dull, and there was a lot of good information...so I wrote down what I learned as soon as I finished. Should have done this all through graduate school, of course, but hardly ever did. But now I'm too old to A) plan on re-reading everything, or B) remember it all without writing it down.

[Arbitrista · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again with the archeological history, but then I suppose that there isn't a great deal of primary source material during that period.