4 - Constructing New Leaders: Bishops in Visigothic Hispania Tarraconensis (Fifth to Seventh Centuries)

Summary

Abstract

When the Roman Empire came to its political end in the West, societies went through a long-lasting process of transformation. The barbarian kingdoms were not merely observers of the process; they had to play a leading role in forming new identities. This chapter examines the construction of an Iberian Visigothic society in the territories of Hispania Tarraconensis through the evidence provided by bishops and their role in defining a new social elite. This study focuses on how bishops adapted and constructed their authority with the new political leaders in the course of the sixth and seventh centuries; and, how much of their Roman identity was preserved and transformed together with the demands and purposes of the new political agendas.

Keywords: bishops, leadership, identity, Tarraco, Visigothic Hispania, Church history

When the Western Roman Empire came to its political end, societies went through a long-lasting process of transformation, allowing the changes of late Roman society to consolidate. The barbarian kingdoms were not mere observers of the process and had to play a leading role in forming new post-Roman identities.

Recent scholarship has placed ‘identity’ in a leading position in the theoretical frameworks which deal with the study of Late Antiquity and the most controversial debates on the period (transformation, breakdown, continuity, etc.). Scholars have already stressed the value of ‘identity’, when used in the broad sense, as a complex of new and varied perspectives with which to work. To what extent factors such as origin, status, confession, ethnicity, or sense of belonging can contribute to a better understanding of multi-defining identities, rather than historiographical constructed identities, is something that only more particular research can help to elucidate.

This chapter examines the construction of an Iberian Visigothic society in the territories of Hispania Tarraconensis through the evidence provided by bishops and their role in defining a new social elite in post-Roman Iberia. Bishops became real social leaders throughout the late Roman period. This is especially seen in the provincial capitals, where metropolitan bishops were able to spread their power and influence to the fringes of the provinces, working hand in hand with the Roman Empire’s public representatives.