Recaredo was born around 560 to Leovigildo. They lived in the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. The Visigoths held rule over a large part of the peninsula after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West in 476. 1/10
The 550s saw the Visigoths in a state of civil war, with the King Agila struggling against Atanagildo. With help from Constantinople, Atanagildo deposed Agila and became King. But this also led to Constantinople acquiring area in the peninsula. 2/10
The presence of Constantinople changed the power equations in the peninsula. The people of the Roman Empire, including in the Iberian peninsula, followed the Roman version of Christianity, updated after Council of Chalcedon in 451. But Visigoths followed Arian Christianity. 3/10
King Atanagildo was unable to remove Roman authority from the peninsula. After his death in 568, the Visigoths elected another King - Liuva, brother of Leovigildo. Leovigildo married the King's widow, Gosvinta. Leovigildo succeeded his brother as King in 573. 4/10
Leovigildo campaigned to unite the Iberian peninsula under his rule and was largely successful. He had conquered the Kingdom of the Suevi by 585. He also encouraged the population to take up Arian Christianity, but was not as successful. 5/10
Instead, Recaredo's elder brother, Hermenegildo, left Arian Christianity and rebelled against his father in 581. But Leovigildo defeated his son, who was later exiled and executed. Recaredo succeeded his father as King in 586. 6/10
Recaredo, however, took a different stance on religion from his father. In 589, at the Council of Toledo, he accepted Roman Christianity and initiated conversion of his Kingdom to the Roman faith, thereby uniting the Iberian peninsula in faith, at least in theory. 7/10
Recaredo was succeeded by his son, Liuva, in 601. But Liuva was quickly deposed in 603, threatening to reverse Recaredo's change in religion. But after an initial period of instability, Recaredo's change got reinforced. In 621, Recaredo's younger son, Suíntila, became King. 8/10
In 624, Suíntila conquered the remaining part of the Iberian peninsula ruled by Constantinople and united the Iberian peninsula under one rule. But the Kingdom did not last long. In 711, Umayyads began their conquest of the peninsula and had captured most of it by 718. 9/10
But a small Kingdom stayed on under Pelayo, who defeating the Umayyads at Covadonga. The next seven centuries saw Christian Kingdoms work, at times, together, to retake the peninsula, with the help of the Church in Rome - A mission that became complete in 1492 with Granada. 10/10
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
It is kinda odd to listen to the @TheRestHistory presenter (Not sure if it was Holland or Sandbrook) talk of reading about the Burgundians when they were 17 or Bart van Loo talk of not studying about them in school earlier.
João de Bragança was born to Teodosio de Bragança, Duke of Bragança and Ana de Velasco y Girón in 1604. The Duchy of Bragança was created in 1442 for Afonso, Count of Barcelos and an illegitimate son of Portuguese King João, by his nephew, Afonso, the then King of Portugal. 1/10
The House of Bragança retained their influence in Portugal, even after the Portuguese Royal family died out. João's grandmother, Catarina, was among the contenders, but was overtaken by the Spanish King, Felipe, who also defeated his illegitimate cousin, António, in battle. 2/10
The Burgundy "project" as it ended up took a century in making when four successive Dukes of Burgundy acquired a large part of what we call the Low Countries. 2/5
Burgundy, like Lorraine, and to an extent, Switzerland, were the successors of a failed partition of the Carolingian Empire - Middle Francia. While France and Germany fought over it, it got divided into many parts which showed independent character. 3/5
Charles was born in 1227 to King Louis VIII of France & Blanca de Castilla. Born posthumously, Charles had a long list of elder brothers including the eldest, the new King of France, Louis IX. It is likely a career with the Church awaited Prince Charles, but it wasn't to be. 1/10
In 1246, he married Countess Beatrice of Provence and Forcalquier. The same year, his brother installed him as the Count of Anjou and Maine in France. Anjou and Maine had been seized by their grandfather in 1203 from the Angevin Kings of England. 2/10
Berengar was born around 845 to Eberhard, Margrave of Friuli and Gisela, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Louis. Friuli was one of the border realms of the Kingdom of Italy and part of the larger Carolingian Holy Roman Empire. 1/10
The Empire got divided many times after the death of Emperor Louis in 840, but the position of the Emperor persisted. Berengar became Margrave of Friuli in 874, after the death of his elder brother. His half-cousin, Louis, ruled Italy at the time. 2/10
Offa was born around 730 to Thingfrith. Thingfrith may have been a descendant of Pybba, who had been King of Mercia in the 7th century. At the time of his birth, Mercia was ruled by Æthelbald, who may have been Thingfrith's second cousin. 1/10
Mercia was one of the Anglo Saxon Kingdoms formed after the collapse of the Roman occupation of Britain. But by the time of Penda, son of Pybba, Mercia had started to emerge as the major power on the island. 2/10