Liuvigild and the occupation of Vasconia in 580: nuances and problems of a local conflict

Abstract

According to the Chronicle of John of Biclaro, King Liuvigild occupied Vasconia in 580. This occupation has always been understood exclusively in terms of a conquest and confrontation against a gens identified by the Vascone ethnonym. But this interpretation is problematic, as it relies on the silence of the sources, assumptions based on the choronym Vasconia, and subsequent reports about conflictive Vascones. Indeed, both the words of John of Biclaro and the chronicle of Isidore of Seville appear to contradict this interpretation. Vasconia was occupied during the negotiation of an alliance between Liuvigild and the Merovingian king Chilperico, and sealed with the engagement of their children. We know from various sources that, during the forging of trans-Pyrenean alliances, the monarchs made incursions into border territories, and presented their wives with the gift of civitates or villas. According to these written records, the Visigothic occupation of Vasconia therefore appears more complex than has previously been supposed.