5 - Coexisting Leaderships in the Visigothic Cities: A ‘Coopetitive’ Model

Summary

Abstract

Throughout the fifth century, during the process of dissolving imperial power in the West and with the arrival of the new barbarian powers, cities experienced a change in urban leadership patterns, with a weakening of traditional authorities and the strengthening of new ones, such as the bishops and the comites. Although on many occasions the traditional authorities did not disappear, the truth is these new officials became the main actors in the post-imperial cities, and also in the Visigothic kingdom. The main aim of this work will be to analyse the different coexistence and relationship patterns that occurred between the different urban leaderships that coexisted in time and space in the Visigothic kingdom, by applying the notion of ‘Coopetition’.

Keywords: bishops, comites, coopetition, power dynamics, Visigothic kingdom

Introduction

The dismantling of imperial power in the West and its replacement with new political realities did not imply a change in the status of cities, which continued to play a pre-eminent role throughout the entire post-imperial period, albeit with regional variations. Not in vain did Visigoths turned them into their main administrative centres once they settled in Gaul. Consequently, cities were the rooting centres for the main territorial power agents delegated by the Gothic monarchy to rule urban areas and their respective territoria. However, they had to coexist with other urban leaders – particularly bishops – in the exercise of their duties whose authority had originated prior to Visigothic domination. The civic authority of the bishops was by no means trivial, to the point that cities and episcopal sees became practically synonyms from the fifth century.

Our aim in this work is to view the urban leaderships that took root in the cities integrated into the Visigothic kingdom from their Tolosan phase to their definitive fall following the Muslim invasion of 711. We will identify them, evaluate their influence on cities, and delve into the different modes of interrelation between the different agents involved. We therefore start from the premise that political and social interactions between them could vary from cooperation to confrontation, or even both at the same time.