This history of Spain in the period between the end of Roman rule and the time of the Arab conquest challenges many traditional assumptions about the history of this period.

• Presents original theories about how the Visigothic kingdom was governed, about law in the kingdom, about the Arab conquest, and about the rise of Spain as an intellectual force.
  
• Takes account of new documentary evidence, the latest archaeological findings, and the controversies that these have generated.
  
• Combines chronological and thematic approaches to the period.
  
• A historiographical introduction looks at the current state of research on the history and archaeology of the Visigothic kingdom.

Between the end of Roman rule in the early fifth century and the Arab conquest in the eighth, Spain's destiny lay with the Visigoths, a confederacy of different ethnic groups formed in the Balkans in the later fourth century. Taking account of important new documentary evidence and of the latest archaeological findings, the author presents a wealth of original theories, challenging many traditional assumptions about Visigothic Spain - about how the Visigothic kingdom was governed, law in the kingdom, the nature and methods of the Arab conquest, and the rise of Spain as an intellectual force in the West.

The book falls into two parts: the first providing a chronological overview of political and military events; the second reviewing the evidence for social life and organization in Visigothic Spain. A historiographical introduction summarizes the current state of research on the history and archaeology of the period.