Internationales Kolloquium. Aus dem Ankündigungstext der Veranstalter: «The study of Visigothic kingship has a long and respectable tradition. On the one hand, scholars have scrutinized the numerous normative texts from the Visigothic kingdom to recover the legal foundations of kingship and the institutions surrounding kings (court, councils, army). As a corollary, a robust series of studies that combine normative and historical texts have explored the interactions between kings and magnates and kings and bishops in what can be described as the kingdom’s “high politics.” On the other hand, scholars have combined the study of normative texts with theological treatises or descriptions of rituals to discuss cultural traditions of the post-imperial world. As a result, Visigothic kingship has been presented as having evolved from a supposed ancestral form of Gothic or Germanic kingship, as resulting from the transformation of Roman rulership, or as having developed Christian ideas of government.
This conference will gather experts in different areas of Visigothic history to redirect the study of kingship in new directions. By discussing “kingship in action,” the papers will consider how different social actors perceived kingship, how they resignified and repurposed top-down ideas on kingship in the Visigothic kingdom and the early medieval polities after the kingdom’s demise, and the perception of the materiality of kingship (buildings, art, coinage). Concurrently, contributors will explore how local practice and historical events shaped kingship “from below.” The combination of a multidisciplinary approach will allow new ways of interpreting kingship, showing them to be more fragmentary and contingent institution than previously thought.»
Mit Beiträgen u.a. von
– Damián Fernández (Northern Illinois University), The Visigothic Politics of Land: Royal Gifts and Property Rights
– José Carlos López Gómez (Universidad de Málaga / Universität Hamburg), Episcopal Control over Territory in Suevic and Visigothic Iberia: Insights from Spatial Technologies
– Paulo Pachá (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), Was the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo a Theocracy? Sacred Kingship and the Nature of Power
– Céline Martin (Université Bordeaux-Montaigne), Episcopal Models in Visigothic Kingship
– Lauro Olmo Enciso (Universidad de Alcalá), State Formation and Visigothic Kingship: An Interpretation through Materiality
11. bis 13. Juni 2026
Organisation: Sabine Panzram (Universität Hamburg – RomanIslam Center), Damián Fernández (Northern Illinois University), Stefan Esders (Freie Universität Berlin – Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut)
Veranstaltungsort: Warburg-Haus, Heilwigstr. 116, 20249 Hamburg
Programm: Visigothic Kingship 06.2026