The Visigothic King Gesalic, Isidore’s Historia Gothorum and the Goths’ wars against the Franks and the Burgundians in the years 507–514

Kasperski, Robert (1981– )

doi:0023-5903

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The Visigothic King Gesalic, Isidore’s Historia Gothorum and the Goths’ wars against the Franks and the Burgundians in the years 507–514 Kasperski, Robert (1981– )

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The Visigothic King Gesalic, Isidore’s Historia Gothorum and the Goths’ wars against the Franks and the Burgundians in the years 507–514

Kwartalnik Historyczny, Vol. 124 (2017) English-Language Edition No. 1

Kasperski, Robert (1981– )

Mękarski, Artur (1972– ) : Tr. ; Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences ; Polish Historical Society

Instytut Historii Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Gesalic ; Visigoths ; Ostrogoths ; Franks ; Theoderic the Great (King of Ostrogoths ; ca 455-526) ; felicitas ; ignavia

Historians dealing with the period of the early Middle Ages do not hold a high opinion of Gesalic, the king of the Visigoths. Gesalic is blamed for the defeats they suffered in the war against the Franks and the Burgundians in 507/08–11. Modern historians’ opinions are based mainly on the work of Isidore of Seville who described Gesalic as a coward and a ruler deprived of luck (felicitas). In this article I argue that to pass an accurate judgment on the king it is necessary to take into account the real politico-military situation of the Visigothic kingdom in the years 508–11.

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