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

• Authors: Robert Kasperski
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

PL

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.

Keywords

PL

Gesalic; Visigoths; Ostrogoths; Franks; Theoderic the Great; felicitas; ignavia

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla PAN w Warszawie
• Journal: Kwartalnik Historyczny
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 124
• Issue: 1

Dates

published

2017

online

2017-11-02

Contributors

author

Robert Kasperski

Identifiers

DOI

10.12775/KH.2017.124.SI.1.01