Goths

The **Goths** ( [|Gothic] : //*//Gut-þiuda//, [|[1]] *//Gutans// [|[2]] //; [|Old Norse] : //Gutar/ [|Gotar] //; [|German] : //Goten//; [|Latin] : //Gothi//; [|Greek] : Γότθοι, //Gótthoi//) were an [|East Germanic tribe] of [|Scandinavian] origin whose two branches, the [|Visigoths] and the [|Ostrogoths], played an important role in the [|fall of the Roman Empire] and the emergence of [|Medieval Europe]. The most important source is [|Jordanes] ' 6th-century, semi-fictional // [|Getica] // which describes a migration from southern [|Scandza] ( [|Scandinavia] ), to [|Gothiscandza], believed to be the lower [|Vistula] region in modern [|Pomerania] , and from there to the coast of the [|Black Sea]. The Pomeranian [|Wielbark culture] and the [|Chernyakhov culture] northeast of the lower [|Danube] are archaeological traces of this migration. In the 3rd century, either through crossing the lower [|Danube], or travelling by sea, the Goths ravaged the [|Balkan Peninsula] and [|Anatolia] as far as [|Cyprus] , sacking [|Athens] , [|Byzantium] , [|Sparta]. [|[3]] By the fourth century, the Goths conquered [|Dacia], and were divided into at least two distinct groups separated by the [|Dniester River] , the [|Thervingi] , led by the [|Balti dynasty] , and the [|Greuthungi] , led by the [|Amali dynasty]. Centered around their [|capital] at the [|Dnieper], the Goths ruled a vast [|area] which at its peak under the [|Kings] [|Ermanaric] and [|Athanaric] stretched from the [|Danube] to the [|Volga] river, and from the [|Black] to the [|Baltic Sea]. [|[4]] [|[5]] In the late fourth century, the [|Huns] invaded the Gothic region from the east. While many Goths were subdued and joined the ranks of the [|Huns], a group of Goths led by [|Fritigern] fled across the Danube and [|revolted] against the [|Roman Empire] , winning a decisive victory at the [|Battle of Adrianople]. Meanwhile, the Goths were converted from [|paganism] to [|Arian] [|Christianity] by the Gothic missionary [|Wulfila], who devised the [|Gothic alphabet] to [|translate the Bible]. In the fifth and sixth centuries, the Goths separated into two tribes, the [|Visigoths], who became [|federates] of the [|Romans] , and the [|Ostrogoths] , who joined the [|Huns]. After the [|Ostrogoths] successfully revolted against the [|Huns] at the [|Battle of Nedao] in 454, their leader [|Theodoric the Great] settled his people in [|Italy], founding a [|Kingdom] which eventually gained control of the whole [|peninsula]. Shortly after Theodoric's death in 526, the country was captured by the [|Eastern Roman Empire], in [|a war] which caused enormous damage and depopulation to Italy. [|[6]] After their able leader [|Totila] was killed at the [|Battle of Taginae], effective Ostrogothic resistance ended, and the remaining Goths were assimilated by the [|Lombards] , another [|Germanic tribe] , who invaded Italy and founded a [|Kingdom] in the northern parts of the country in 567 AD. The [|Visigoths] under [|Alaric I] [|sacked Rome in 410] , defeated [|Attila] at the [|Battle of the Catalunian Plains] in 451, and founded a [|Kingdom] in [|Aquitaine] which was [|pushed to] [|Hispania] by the [|Franks] in 507, converted to [|Catholicism] by the late sixth century, and in the early eighth century conquered by the [|Muslim Moors]. Subsequently, the [|Visigothic] nobleman [|Pelagius] began the [|Reconquista] with his victory at the [|Battle of Covadonga], and founded the [|Kingdom of Asturias] , which eventually evolved in to modern [|Spain]. [|[7]] While its influence continued to be felt in small ways in some west European states, the Gothic language and culture largely disappeared during the [|Middle Ages]. In the 16th century a small remnant of a Gothic dialect known as [|Crimean Gothic] was described as surviving in the [|Crimea]. [|[8]] [ [|hide] ] *  [|1 Etymology]
 * == Contents ==
 * [|2 History]
 * [|2.1 Origins]
 * [|2.2 Migration to the Black Sea]
 * [|2.3 On the Roman borders]
 * [|2.4 Within the Roman Empire]
 * [|2.5 Invasion of the Roman Empire]
 * [|3 Culture]
 * [|3.1 Art]
 * [|3.2 Language]
 * [|3.3 Religion]
 * [|4 Legacy]
 * [|5 Written sources about the Goths]
 * [|6 See also]
 * [|7 Sources]
 * [|7.1 References]
 * [|7.2 Bibliography]
 * [|8 External links] ||

[ [|edit] ] Etymology
[|Götaland], south [|Sweden] , with the island of [|Gotland] in the east, a possible colony of the Goths. Further information: [|Gaut] The Goths have had many names, possibly due to their population being composed of many separate ethnic groups. People known by similar names were key elements of Proto-Indo-European and later [|Germanic migrations]. Nevertheless, they believed (as does the mainstream of scholarship) [|[9]] that the names derived from a single prehistoric [|ethnonym] owned by a [|uniform culture] in the middle 1st millennium BC, the original "Goths". Etymologically, the ethnonym of the Goths derives from the stem //Guton-//", [|[10]] which gave [|Proto-Germanic] *//Gutaniz// (also surviving in [|Gutes] (Swedish //Gutar//), the self-designation of the inhabitans of [|Gotland] in [|Sweden] ). Related, but not identical, is the Scandinavian tribal name [|Geat] (the inhabitants of Swedish [|Götaland] /Geatland), from the Proto-Germanic *//Gautoz// (plural *//Gautaz//). Both *//Gautoz// and *//Gutaniz// are derived (specifically they are two [|ablaut] grades) from the Proto-Germanic word *//geutan//, meaning "to pour". [|[11]] The [|Indo-European] root of the "pour" derivation would be *gheu-d- [|[12]] as it is listed in the [|American Heritage Dictionary] (AHD). *gheu-d- is a [|centum] form. The AHD relies on [|Julius Pokorny] for the same root. [|[13]] The ethnonym has been connected with the name of a river flowing through [|Västergötland] in [|Sweden], the [|Göta älv] , which drains Lake [|Vänern] into the [|Kattegat]. [|[14]] Interestingly [|Old Norse] records do not distinguish between the Goths and the [|Gutes] (Gotlanders) and both are called //Gotar// in Old West [|Norse]. The Old East [|Norse] term for both Goths and [|Gotlanders] seems to have been //Gutar// (for instance, in the [|Gutasaga] and in the runic inscription of the [|Rökstone] ). However, the [|Geats] are clearly differentiated from the Goths, or Gutes, in both Old Norse and Old English literature. At some time in European prehistory, consonant changes according to [|Grimm's Law] created a *g from the *gh and a *t from the *d. This same law more or less rules out *ghedh-, [|[15]] The *dh in that case would become a *d instead of a *t. According to the rules of [|Indo-European ablaut], the full grade (containing an *e), *gheud-, might be replaced with the zero-grade (the *e disappears), *ghud-, or the o-grade (the *e changes to an *o), *ghoud-, accounting for the various forms of the name. The zero-grade is preserved in modern times in the [|Lithuanian] ethnonym for [|Belarusians], //Gudai// (earlier Baltic [|Prussian] territory before Slavic conquests by about 1200 CE), and in certain Prussian towns in the territory around the [|Vistula River] in [|Gothiscandza] , today Poland ( [|Gdynia] , [|Gdansk] ). The use of all three grades suggests that the name derives from an Indo-European stage; otherwise, it would be from a line descending from one grade. However, when and where the ancestors of the Goths assigned this name to themselves and whether they used it in [|Indo-European] or [|proto-Germanic] times remain unsolved questions of historical linguistics and prehistoric archaeology. A compound name, //Gut-þiuda//, at root the "Gothic people", appears in the //Gothic Calendar// (//aikklesjons fullaizos ana **gutþiudai** gabrannidai//). Parallel occurrences indicate that it may mean "country of the Goths": Old Icelandic //Sui-þjòd//, "Sweden"; Old English //Angel-þēod//, "Anglia"; Old Irish//Cruithen-tuath//, “country of the Picts”. [|[10]] Evidently, this way of forming a country or people name is not unique to Germanic.

[ [|edit] ] Origins
Main article: [|Wielbark Culture] Further information: [|Early history of Pomerania] The Roman empire, under [|Hadrian] showing the location of the **Gothones** East Germanic group, then inhabiting the east bank of the Visula ( [|Vistula] ) river, Poland         The dark pink area is the island of [|Gotland]. The green area is the traditional extent of [|Götaland]. The red area is the extent of the [|Wielbark culture] in the early 3rd century, and the orange area is the [|Chernyakhov culture], in the early 4th century. The purple area is the [|Roman Empire] According to [|Jordanes] ’ [|Getica], written in the mid-6th century, the earliest migrating Goths sailed from [|Scandza] ( [|Scandinavia] ) under King [|Berig] [|[16]] in three ships [|[17]] and named the place at which they landed after themselves. "Today [says Jordanes] it is called [|Gothiscandza] " ("Scandza of the Goths"). [|[18]] From there they entered the land of the [|"Ulmerugi" (Rugii)] who were spread along the southern coast of the [|Baltic Sea], expelled them, [|[19]] and also subdued the neighboring [|Vandals]. Regarding the location of [|Gothiscandza], Jordanes states [|[20]] that one shipload "dwelled in the province of Spesis on an island surrounded by the shallow waters of the [|Vistula] ." [|Tacitus] described the Goths as well as the neighboring [|Rugii] and [|Lemovii] as carrying round shields and short swords, and obeying their regular authority. [|[19]] [|[21]] [|[22]] [|Pliny] [|[23]] refers to the voyager [|Pytheas], who visited [|Northern Europe] in the 4th century BC. In this passage, Pytheas states that the "Gutones, a people of Germany," inhabit the shores of an estuary of at least 6,000 [|stadia] (the [|Baltic Sea] ) called Mentonomon, where [|amber] is cast up by the waves. Lehmann (mentioned above under //Etymology//) accepted this view but a manuscript variant states Guiones rather than Gutones. [|[24]] In Pliny's only other mention of the Gutones, [|[25]] he states that the [|Vandals] are one of the five races of Germany, and that the Vandals include the Burgodiones, the Varinnae, the Charini and the Gutones. The location of those Vandals is not stated, but there is a match with his contemporary [|Ptolemy] 's east German tribes. [|[26]] As those Gutones are put forward as Pliny's interpretation, not Pytheas’, the early date is unconfirmed, but not necessarily invalid. The earliest material culture associated with the Goths on the southern coast of the [|Baltic Sea] is the [|Wielbark Culture], [|[27]] centered around the modern region of [|Pomerania] in northern [|Poland]. This culture replaced the local [|Oksywie] or Oxhöft culture in the 1st century, when a Scandinavian settlement was established in a buffer zone between the Oksywie culture and the [|Przeworsk culture]. [|[28]] This area was influenced by southern Scandinavian culture from as early as the late [|Nordic Bronze Age] and early [|Pre-Roman Iron Age] (ca. 1300 – ca. 300 BC). [|[29]] In fact, the Scandinavian influence on [|Pomerania] and today's northern Poland from ca. 1300 BC (period III) and onwards was so considerable that this region is sometimes included in the Nordic Bronze Age culture. [|[30]] The Goths are believed to have crossed the [|Baltic Sea] sometime between the end of this period (ca 300 BC) and AD 100. Early archaeological evidence in the traditional Swedish province of [|Östergötland] suggests a general depopulation during this period. [|[31]] However, this is not confirmed in more recent publications. [|[32]] The settlement in today's Poland may correspond to the introduction of Scandinavian burial traditions, such as the [|stone circles] and the [|stelae] especially common on the island of [|Gotland] and other parts of southern Sweden.

[ [|edit] ] Migration to the Black Sea
Main article: [|Chernyakhov culture] Ruins of the Gothic [|fortress] [|Mangup] ( [|Ukraine] ) The arrival of Germanic-speaking invaders along the coast of the Black Sea is generally explained as a gradual migration of the Goths from what is now Poland to Ukraine, reflecting the tradition of [|Jordanes] and old songs. [|[33]] Beginning in the middle 2nd century, the Wielbark culture shifted to the southeast, towards the [|Black Sea]. The part of the Wielbark culture that moved was the oldest portion, located west of the Vistula and still practicing Scandinavian burial traditions. [|[34]] In [|Ukraine], they installed themselves as the rulers of the local [|Zarubintsy culture] , forming the new [|Chernyakhov Culture] (ca. 200 – ca. 400). The first Greek references to the Goths call them //Scythians//,[// [|examples needed] //] since this area along the Black Sea historically had been occupied by an unrelated people of that name. The term as applied to the Goths appears to be geographical rather than ethnological in reference. [|[35]] According to [|Jordanes] 's [|Getica], the Goths entered [|Oium] , part of [|Scythia] , [|[36]] under their 5th king, [|Filimer] , where they subdued the [|Spali] ( [|Sarmatians] ), conqured the [|Kingdom of the Bosporus] and captured several cities on the [|Euxinean] coast, including [|Olbia] and [|Tyras]. [|[37]] There they became divided into the [|Visigoths] ruled by the [|Balthi] family and the [|Ostrogoths] ruled by the [|Amali] family. [|[38]] Jordanes parses //Ostrogoths// as "eastern Goths", and //Visigoths// as "Goths of the western country." [|[39]] One theory claims that the Goths maintained contact with southern Sweden during their migration. [|[40]] Chernyakhov settlements tend to cluster in open ground in river valleys. The houses include sunken-floored dwellings, surface dwellings, and stall-houses. The largest known settlement ( [|Budesty-Budești] ) is 35 hectares. [|[41]] Most settlements are open and unfortified, although some forts have also been discovered.[// [|citation needed] //] Chernyakhov cemeteries feature both [|cremation] and [|inhumation] burials; among the latter the head is to the north. Some graves were left empty. Grave goods often include pottery, bone combs, and iron tools, but hardly ever weapons. [|[42]]

[ [|edit] ] On the Roman borders
Gothic invasions in the 3rd century Further information: [|Gothic and Vandal warfare] In the first attested incursion in [|Thrace] the Goths were mentioned as Boranoi by [|Zosimus], and then as Boradoi by [|Gregory Thaumaturgus]. [|[43]] The first incursion of the [|Roman Empire] that can be attributed to Goths is the sack of [|Histria] in 238. Several such raids followed in subsequent decades, [|[44]] in particular the [|Battle of Abrittus] in 251, led by [|Cniva], in which the Roman Emperor [|Decius] was killed. At the time, there were at least two groups of Goths: the [|Thervingi] and the [|Greuthungi]. Goths were subsequently heavily recruited into the [|Roman Army] to fight in the [|Roman-Persian Wars], notably participating at the [|Battle of Misiche] in 242. The first seaborne raids took place in three subsequent years, probably 255-257. An unsuccessful attack on [|Pityus] was followed in the second year by another which sacked by [|Pityus] and [|Trapezus] and ravaged large area in the [|Pontus]. In the third year a much larger force devastated large areas of [|Bithynia] and the [|Propontis], including the cities of [|Chalcedon] , [|Nicomedia] , [|Nicaea] , [|Apamea] , [|Cius] and [|Prusa]. The 3rd century [|Grande Ludovisi sarcophagus] depicts a battle between Goths and Romans. After a 10 year gap, the Goths, along with the [|Heruli], another [|Germanic tribe] from [|Scandinavia] , raiding on 500 ships, [|[45]] sacked [|Heraclea Pontica] , [|Cyzicus] and [|Byzantium]. They were defeated by the [|Roman navy] but managed to escape into [|Aegean Sea], where they ravaged the islands of [|Lemnos] and [|Scyros] , [|broke through Thermopylae] and sacked several cities of the southern Greece ( [|province of Achaea] ) including [|Athens] , [|Corinth] , [|Argos] , [|Olympia] and [|Sparta]. Then an Athenian militia, led by the historian [|Dexippus], pushed the invaders to the north where they were intercepted by the Roman army under Gallienus. [|[46]] He won an important victory near the Nessos ( [|Nestos] ) river, on the boundary between [|Macedonia] and [|Thrace], with the aid of the Dalmatian cavalry. Reported barbarian casualties were 3,000 men. [|[47]] Subsequently, the Heruli leader Naulobatus came to terms with the Romans. [|[45]] After [|Gallienus] was assassinated outside [|Milan] in the summer of 268 in a plot led by high officers in his army, [|Claudius] was proclaimed emperor and headed to Rome to establish his rule. Claudius' immediate concerns were with the [|Alamanni], who had invaded [|Raetia] and Italy. After he defeated them in the [|Battle of Lake Benacus], he was finally able to take care of the invasions in the Balkan provinces. [|[48]] In the meantime, the second and larger sea-borne invasion had started. An enormous coalition consisting of Goths ( [|Greuthungi] and [|Thervingi] ), [|Gepids] and [|Peucini], led again by the [|Heruli] , assembled at the mouth of river Tyras ( [|Dniester] ). [|[49]] The //Augustan History// and Zosimus claim a total number of 2,000–6,000 ships and 325,000 men. [|[50]] This is probably a gross exaggeration but remains indicative of the scale of the invasion. After failing to storm some towns on the coasts of the western [|Black Sea] and the [|Danube] ( [|Tomi], [|Marcianopolis] ), the invaders attacked [|Byzantium] and [|Chrysopolis]. Part of their fleet was wrecked, either because of the Gothic inexperience in sailing through the violent currents of the [|Propontis] [|[51]] or because it was defeated by the Roman navy. Then they entered [|Aegean Sea] and a detachment ravaged the Aegean islands as far as [|Crete], [|Rhodes] and [|Cyrpus]. The fleet probably also sacked [|Troy] and [|Ephesus], destroying the [|Temple of Artemis] , one of the [|Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]. While their main force had constructed siege works and was close to taking the cities of [|Thessalonica] and [|Cassandreia], it retreated to the Balkan interior at the news that the emperor was advancing. On their way, they plundered Doberus ( [|Paionia] ?) and [|Pelagonia]. [|[52]] Learning of the approach of Claudius, the Goths first attempt to directly invade Italy. They are [|engaged] near Naissus by a Roman army led by [|Claudius] advancing from the north. The battle most likely took place in 269, and was fiercely contested. Large numbers on both sides were killed but, at the critical point, the Romans tricked the Goths into an ambush by pretended flight. Some 50,000 Goths were allegedly killed or taken captive and their base at [|Thessalonika] destroyed. [|[47]] It seems that [|Aurelian] who was in charge of all Roman cavalry during Claudius' reign, led the decisive attack in the battle. Some survivors were resettled within the empire, while others were incorporated into the Roman army. The battle ensured the survival of the [|Roman Empire] for another two centuries. In 270, after the death of Claudius, Goths under the leadership of [|Cannabaudes] again launch an invasion on the [|Roman Empire], but were defeated by [|Aurelian] , who however surrendered [|Dacia] beyond the [|Danube].

[ [|edit] ] Within the Roman Empire
Main article: [|Gothic and Vandal warfare] Maximum extent of territories ruled by [|Theodoric the Great] in 523. Major sources for Gothic history include [|Ammianus Marcellinus] ' //Res gestae//, which mentions Gothic involvement in the civil war between emperors Procopius and [|Valens] of 365 and recounts the [|Gothic refugee crisis and revolt of 376–82], and [|Procopius] ' //de bello gothico//, which describes the [|Gothic war of 535–52]. In 332 [|Constantine] helped the Sarmatians to settle on the north banks of the Danube to defend against the Goths' attacks and thereby enforce the [|Roman Empire] 's [|border]. Around 100,000 Goths were reportedly killed in battle, and Ariaricus, son of the King of the Goths, was captured. In 334, Constantine evacuated approximately 300,000 Sarmatians from the north bank of the Danube after a revolt of the Sarmatians' slaves. From 335 to 336, Constantine, continuing his Danube campaign, defeated many Gothic tribes. [|[53]] [|[54]] [|[55]] Both the [|Greuthungi] and [|Thervingi] became heavily Romanized during the 4th century. This came about through trade with the Byzantines, as well as through Gothic membership of a military covenant, which was based in Byzantium and involved pledges of military assistance. Reportedly, 40,000 Goths were brought by [|Constantine] to defend [|Constantinople] in his later reign, and the Palace Guard was mostly composed of [|Germans], as the quality of the native Romans troops kept declining [|[56]]. The Goths were converted [|Arianism] by [|Ulfila] during this time.

[ [|edit] ] Invasion of the Roman Empire
[|Hunnic] domination of the Gothic kingdom in Scythia began in the 370s according to [|Ammianus]. [|[57]] and confirmed by the [|Eunapius] and the later [|Zosimus]. Under pressure of the Huns, the chieftain [|Fritigern] approached the Eastern Roman Emperor [|Valens] in 376 with a portion of the Thervingi and asked to be allowed to settle with his people on the south bank of the Danube. Valens permitted this, and even assisted the Goths in their crossing of the river [|[58]] (probably at the fortress of [|Durostorum] ). Following a famine, however, the [|Gothic War of 376–82] ensued, and the Goths and the local Thracians rebelled. The Roman Emperor Valens was killed at the [|Battle of Adrianople] in 378. The Goths remained divided — as Visigoths and Ostrogoths — during the fifth century. These two tribes were among the [|Germanic peoples] who clashed with the late [|Roman Empire] during the [|Migration Period]. A Visigothic force led by [|Alaric I] [|sacked Rome in 410]. [|Honorius] granted the Visigoths [|Aquitania], where they defeated the [|Vandals] and conquered most of the [|Iberian Peninsula] by 475. In the meantime, under [|Theodemir], the Ostrogoths broke away from Hunnic rule following the [|Battle of Nedao] in 454, and decisively defeated the Huns again under [|Valamir] at [|Bassianae] in 468. At the request of emperor [|Zeno], [|Theodoric the Great] conquered all of Italy beginning in 488. The Goths were briefly reunited under one crown in the early sixth century under Theodoric the Great, who became regent of the Visigothic kingdom following the death of [|Alaric II] at the [|Battle of Vouillé] in 507. [|Procopius] interpreted the name //Visigoth// as "western Goths" and the name//Ostrogoth// as "eastern Goth", reflecting the geographic distribution of the Gothic realms at that time. The [|Ostrogothic kingdom] persisted until 553 under [|Teia], when Italy returned briefly to Byzantine control. This restoration of imperial rule was reversed by the conquest of the [|Lombards] in 568. The Visigothic kingdom lasted until 711 under [|Roderic], when it fell to the [|Muslim] [|Umayyad] invasion of the Iberian Peninsula ( [|Al-Andalus] ). However, the Visigothic nobles under the leadership of [|Pelagius of Asturias] managed to defeat the [|Moors] at the [|Battle of Covadonga], and subsequently established the [|Kingdom of Asturias]. The Gothic victory at Covadonga is regarded as the initiation of the [|Reconquista], and it was from the Asturian kingdom that modern [|Spain] evolved. In the late 6th century Goths settled as // [|foederati] // in parts of [|Asia Minor]. Their descendants, who formed the elite // [|Optimatoi] // regiment, still lived there in the early 8th century. While they were largely assimilated, their Gothic origin was still well-known: the chronicler [|Theophanes the Confessor] calls them //Gothograeci//.

[ [|edit] ] Art
Ostrogothic eagle-shaped [|fibula], 500 AD, Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg Before the invasion of the [|Huns] the Gothic [|Chernyakhov culture] produced jewelry, vessels, and decorative objects in a style much influenced by [|Greek] and [|Roman] craftsmen. They developed a [|polychrome] style of gold work, using wrought cells or setting to encrust [|Gems] into their gold objects. This style was influential in [|western Germanic] areas well into the [|Middle Ages].

[ [|edit] ] Language
Main articles: [|Gothic language] and [|Gothic alphabet] The [|Gothic language] is an [|extinct] [|Germanic language] that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the [|Codex Argenteus], a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only [|East Germanic language] with a sizable corpus. All others, including [|Burgundian] and [|Vandalic], are known, if at all, only from proper names that survived in historical accounts, and from loan-words in other languages like [|Spanish] and [|French]. Romantic depiction of Ulfilas converting the Goths to [|Arianism]. As a Germanic language, Gothic is a part of the [|Indo-European language] family. It is the Germanic language with the earliest attestation but has no modern descendants. The oldest documents in Gothic date back to the 4th century. The language was in decline by the mid-6th century, due in part to the military defeat of the Goths at the hands of the [|Franks], the elimination of the Goths in Italy, and geographic isolation (in Spain the Gothic language lost its last and probably already declining function as a church language when the Visigoths converted to Catholicism in 589). [|[59]] The language survived as a domestic language in the [|Iberian peninsula] (modern [|Spain] and [|Portugal] ) as late as the 8th century, and [|Frankish] author [|Walafrid Strabo] wrote that it was still spoken in the lower [|Danube] area and in isolated mountain regions in [|Crimea] in the early 9th century (see [|Crimean Gothic] ). Gothic-seeming terms found in later (post-9th century) manuscripts may not belong to the same language. The existence of such early attested corpora makes it a language of considerable interest in [|comparative linguistics].

[ [|edit] ] Religion
Further information: [|Gothic Christianity] Initially [|pagan], the Goths were in the 4th century converted to [|Arian] [|Christianity] by the Gothic missionary [|Wulfila] , who devised an [|alphabet] to [|translate the Bible]. The [|Visigothic Kingdom] in [|Hispania] was converted to [|Catholicism] in the 7th century.

[ [|edit] ] Legacy
Further information: [|Gothicismus] The [|Gutes] (//Gotlanders//) themselves had oral traditions of a mass migration towards southern Europe, recorded in the [|Gutasaga]. If the facts are related, this would be a unique case of a tradition that endured for more than a thousand years and that actually pre-dates most of the major splits in the Germanic language family. The Goths' relationship with Sweden became an important part of Swedish nationalism, and until the 19th century the Swedes were commonly considered to be the direct descendants of the Goths. Today, Swedish scholars identify this as a [|cultural movement] called [|Gothicismus], which included an enthusiasm for things [|Old Norse]. In [|Spain], the [|Visigothic] nobleman [|Pelagius] who founded the [|Kingdom of Asturias] and began the [|Reconquista] at the [|Battle of Covadonga] , is a [|national hero] regarded as the country's first monarch. Beginning in 1278, when [|Magnus III of Sweden] ascended to the throne, a reference to Gothic origins was included in the title of the King of Sweden: > We N.N. by the Grace of God King of the Swedes, the Goths and the Vends. In 1973, with the death of King [|Gustaf VI Adolf], the title was changed to simply "King of Sweden." In Medieval and Modern Spain, the [|Visigoths] were believed to be the origin of the [|Spanish nobility] (compare [|Gobineau] for a similar French idea). By the early 7th century, the ethnic distinction between Visigoths and Hispano-Romans had all but disappeared, but recognition of a Gothic origin, e.g. on gravestones, still survived among the nobility. The 7th-century Visigothic aristocracy saw itself as bearers of a particular Gothic consciousness and as guardians of old traditions such as Germanic namegiving; probably these traditions were on the whole restricted to the family sphere (Hispano-Roman nobles did service for Visigothic nobles already in the 5th century and the two branches of Spanish aristocracy had fully adopted similar customs two centuries later). [|[60]] In Spain, a man acting with arrogance would be said to be "//haciéndose los godos//" ("making himself to act like the Goths"). Thus, in [|Chile], [|Argentina] and the [|Canary Islands] , //godo// was an [|ethnic slur] used against European Spaniards, who in the early colony period often felt superior to the people born locally (// [|criollos] //). In [|Colombia] the members of the [|Conservative Party] were referred to as //godos//. The Spanish and Swedish claims of Gothic origins led to a clash at the [|Council of Basel] in 1434. Before the assembled [|cardinals] and delegations could engage in theological discussion, they had to decide how to sit during the proceedings. The delegations from the more prominent nations argued that they should sit closest to the [|Pope], and there were also disputes over who was to have the finest chairs and who was to have their chairs on mats. In some cases, they compromised so that some would have half a chair leg on the rim of a mat. In this conflict, [|Nicolaus Ragvaldi], bishop of [|Växjö] , claimed that the Swedes were the descendants of the great Goths, and that the people of [|Västergötland] (//Westrogothia// in Latin) were the Visigoths and the people of [|Östergötland] (//Ostrogothia// in Latin) were the Ostrogoths. The Spanish delegation retorted that it was only the//lazy// and //unenterprising// Goths who had remained in Sweden, whereas the //heroic// Goths had left Sweden, invaded the Roman empire and settled in Spain. [|[61]] [|[62]]