This is episode 18 called Tyranny and Peace and in this episode you will learn:

Show notes

• The steps that Chindasuinth followed to consolidate his power and prevent rebellions, which include executions and forced exiles
• How Chindasuinth used the Spanish clergy to support the administration and how he played the nobility and clergy against each other
• The codification of the most important Visigothic legal code, the Visigothic Code of Recceswinth
• The uneasy succession of Recceswinth and how the rebellion of Froia marked his reign as he had to adopt a conciliatory policy, as opposed to the tyrannical policies of his father
• How the succession was future monarchs was established to ensure the continuity of the ruling noble faction, not dynasty
• The increasing social polarization and political division
• Why the Visigothic Kingdom didn’t face external threats during the 7th century
• The powers of the Spanish clergy and the collaboration between the Church and the state
• The role of monasteries in Christianizing the most marginal areas of the Iberian Peninsula, that would later become bastions of resistance to Islam
• The relationship between the Spanish Church and Rome during the Visigothic period
• The legacy of the Visigoths in Spain, from intellectual to political and religious aspects
• Reflection on why a long-lasting powerful state was impossible to establish in the Early Middle Ages

Script

I’m David Cot, host of The History of Spain Podcast, and this is episode 18 called Tyranny and Peace. In this episode you will learn about the tyrannical reign of the old Chindasuinth, the peaceful reign of his son Recceswinth, some aspects of the powerful Spanish Church, and the legacy of the Visigoths in Spain. Subscribe to the podcast to not miss an episode!

In the last episode titled Changing dynasties I talked about the rebellion of Chindasuinth that led to the overthrown of King Tulga, and in The Verdict I already mentioned that Chindasuinth took bold measures to limit aristocratic and ecclesiastical power. Without a doubt, the reigns of Leovigild and Chindasuinth defined the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo. Those kings represented the ideal of a centralized and caesaropapist state of the Late Antiquity. However, that brings up the question of why that ideal was challenged over and over again. The paradox is that the political structure of the Visigothic Kingdom was sustained by a landowner class of large estates. Those landowners formed noble factions through relationships of dependency and fidelity that were constantly fighting to achieve the hegemony that royal power represented. It’s quite easy to see the contradiction of having a quasi-feudal society while attempting to establish a strong and centralized state. In the long run, if there were no changes in the economic and social relationships, failure was granted for such an attempt to consolidate royal power.

Chindasuinth ascended the throne being 79 years-old, and he had a turbulent past of participating in several failed conspiracies. Needless to say, he understood the internal problems of the Visigothic Kingdom and he knew how noble factions and conspiracies were formed. I mean, that’s precisely what he did to usurp the throne. Chindasuinth exploited the structural political weaknesses of the realm to conquer royal power, but as he was now king, he had to fix those weaknesses to prevent rebellions against his rule. Therefore, Chindasuinth followed four steps for dummies to achieve his aims.

The first step was the execution and forced exile of hundreds of nobles and the confiscation of their properties. Second, Chindasuinth closed ties with a noble faction that supported him in exchange of several concessions and privileges. The third step consisted in enriching himself and his family with new estates, and the fourth and last step was about fusing even more secular and religious power.

Let’s go more into detail with each step. Chindasuinth executed 200 first-rank nobles and 500 of lesser standing, while many more went into exile in Frankish or Basque territory either to avoid being sentenced to death or charged for conspiring against the King. The confiscation of properties was the norm against those executed or exiled. Actually, not only their properties, but their widows and daughters were redistributed amongst the king’s supporters. It was certainly a major redistribution of political power and wealth, and even though it was a tyrannical and very harsh act, it produced a period of stability. Later on, Chindasuinth summoned the bishops of the kingdom in the Seventh Council of Toledo in 646, where the law against treason added excommunication on those who conspired against the King, and it extended the punishment to the clergy too. The bishops for sure feared Chindasuinth. Most of those labelled as traitors faced execution, but they could accept “royal benevolence” and be blinded instead. Chindasuinth sure was a nice guy.

As for the second step of creating a loyal noble faction, it’s something rather simple and common in world history: making your supporters wealthier or moving them up in terms of social status. Chindasuinth forced the marriage of the widows and daughters of those who were executed or exiled with his supporters, to restructure the alliances and kinship ties. More interestingly, he gave certain rights to royal slaves that occupied important positions in the administration of the state, such as giving them the right to testify, mainly to use them against their former masters. A truly clever policy once again.

The third step was about amassing estates for the royal family, something essential to make his position more secure. It wasn’t difficult to own more estates, since he just made some of those estates he had confiscated his own. And the fourth step, that consisted in increasing his power over religious affairs, was materialized by making the word of a king equal to that of God. Disobedience was therefore sacrilege. And he managed to do that without increasing anti-Jewish policies, what an achievement!

To control more firmly the nobility and clergy on a provincial level, the King played them against each other. He allowed bishops to inspect the judicial sentences of the secular administration, which allowed him to control more closely the clergy as he used them as royal administrators. Even though Chindasuinth was a great benefactor of the Church, he had many enemies in the clergy. It’s not surprising, since they didn’t like the interference of royal power in ecclesiastical affairs nor how Chindasuinth removed some of their privileges. Nonetheless, he had collaborators, for instance the prominent bishop of Zaragoza, Braulio of Zaragoza. Braulio of Zaragoza, along other bishops, advised Chindasuinth to associate Recceswinth to the Visigothic throne. There are some possible explanations, maybe their supporters feared that the old Chindasuinth could die soon and with him everything they had obtained in exchange of their loyalty. Another explanation could be that there was an increasing opposition within the nobility and clergy, and Chindasuinth’s supporters needed to ensure the continuity of the regime, to again preserve their wealth. In the end, it’s all about money and power. Anyway, Recceswinth was made co-ruler in 649, and Recceswinth started his sole reign when his father died in 653.

<figure class="aligncenter"><figcaption>Visigothic Code</figcaption></figure>

Before he died, Chindasuinth commissioned a new codification of laws for the kingdom. In 654 the codification was finished and Recceswinth promulgated what became known as the Visigothic Code. In episode 15 titled Leovigild, restorer and unifier, I mentioned that King Leovigild not only essentially unified Hispania under Visigothic rule, he attempted to unify religiously and legally the Hispano-Roman and Gothic population. Apparently, the lost Code of Leovigild eliminated most legal differences between Goths and natives, but not all. On the contrary, the Visigothic Code of Recceswinth was applied equally to both groups that at this point presented no differences. The subjects of the kingdom stopped being Roman or Gothic, instead they became Spanish. The Visigothic Code combined elements of Roman, Catholic and Germanic customary laws, and it included laws that dealt with legal procedures, crimes, marriage and divorce, succession, financial transactions, and Jews. It was the most important legal code of the Visigothic Kingdom, as it outlived the kingdom and it was still used by the Mozarab population, that is, by the Christians under Muslim rule, until the 13^th cent