Rome and Byzantium in the Visigothic Kingdom: Beyond Imitatio Imperii(12 Late Antique and Early Medieval Iberia)

This volume interrogates the assumption that Visigothic practices and institutions were mere imitations of the Byzantine empire. Contributors rethink these practices not as uncritical and derivative adoptions of Byzantine customs, but as dynamic processes in dialogue with not only the Byzantine empire but also with the contemporary Iberian context, as well as the Roman past. The goal of the volume is to approach Visigothic customs not as an uncritical adoption and imitatio of contemporary Roman models (an "acculturation" model), but as unique interpretations of a common pool of symbols, practices, and institutions that formed the legacy of Rome. The contributors argue that it is necessary to reconsider the idea of imitatio imperii as a process that involved specific actors taking strategic decisions in historically contingent circumstances.

Table of Contents:
(Damián Fernández, Molly Lester, and Jamie Wood), Introduction 1. (Céline Martin), Visigothic Spain and Byzantium. The story of a special (historiographical) relationship 2. (Ian Wood), The development of the Visigothic court in the hagiography of the fifth and sixth centuries 3. (Merle Eisenberg), Experiments in Visigothic Rulership: Minting and Monetary Reforms under Alaric II 4. (Margarita Vallejo Girvés), A comparison of Roman and Visigothic Approaches towards Exile 5. (Cecily Hilsdale), The Roman Jewel in the Visigothic Crown: A Reassessment of the Royal Votive Crowns of the Guarrazar Treasure 6. (Damián Fernández), Capitalhood in the Visigothic Kingdom 7. (Molly Lester), Making Rite Choices: Roman and Eastern Liturgies in Early Medieval Iberia 8. (Erica Buchberger), Ethnicity and Imitatio in Isidore of Seville 9. (David Addison), Re-imagining Roman Persecution in the Visigothic Passions 10. (Santiago Castellanos), Romanness in Visigothic Hagiography 11. (Graham Barrett), Empire and the Politics of Faction: Mérida and Toledo Revisited 12. (Jamie Wood), The agents and mechanics of connectivity: The Mediterranean world and the cities of the Guadiana valley in the sixth century 13. (Ann Christys), Staying Roman after 711?

About the Author :
Damián Fernández is Associate Professor of History at Northern Illinois University. He has published on the social, institutional, and economic history of the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity, including a monograph titled Aristocrats and Statehood in Western Iberia, 300-600 CE. He is currently co-authoring a translation and commentary of the Liber Iudiciorum. Molly Lester is Assistant Professor of History at the United States Naval Academy. She is a historian of late antique and early medieval Christianity and has published on orthodoxy and heresy, liturgy, and canon law in Visigothic Iberia. Her current book project is The Word as Lived: Orthodoxy and Liturgy in Early Medieval Iberia. Jamie Wood is Professor of History and Education at the University of Lincoln. He has published extensively on Isidore of Seville’s historiography, bishops in Visigothic Hispania, and the social functions of violence. His current project explores political, economic, and religious connections between the Iberian Peninsula and the Byzantine world in late antiquity.

Review :
"Individually, all the chapters are strong essays with convincing arguments and are largely up-to-date in their bibliographies. Combined, they form an interesting volume that will be a reference for all future contributions in Visigothic studies." -Javier Martínez Jiménez, Bryn Mawr Classical Review , September, 2024 ''The editors Damián Fernández, Molly Lester, and Jamie Wood have compiled a particularly illuminating work to help guide studies of the Visigothic Kingdom away from a model of ‘acculturation’ and toward a unique interpretation of the common elements that formed the legacy of Rome.'' -Alec Dawson, Plekos , 2025