Christianity The Late Empire The Visigoths, or western Goths, were a Germanic tribe that crossed the Pyrenees in the early 5th century AD.
The first Germanic peoples crossed the Pyrenees at the beginning of the 5th century. Catalonia formed part of the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse in the 5th century, and that of Toledo in the 6th and 7th centuries.
The Visigoths - a minority in relation to the Hispano-Roman population - monopolised all political, economic and religious power. The monarchy was the unifying element, creating a communion between Church and State. The funeral customs of the new dominant class may readily be noted in the great necropolises of the Castilian Meseta: ‘dressed inhumation’ became widespread, with the deceased adorned with all kinds of ornamentation. This room displays the treasure of Torredonjimeno (Jaen, Andalusia) consisting of a number of crowns and votive crosses offered by the Visigoth kings to Justa and Rufina, the martyr saints of Seville.
At the beginning of the 8th century, the Moorish invasion and fall of the Visigothic kingdom signalled a new period of profound political, social, economic and military changes.
