This history of Spain in the period between the end of Roman rule and the time of the Arab conquest challenges many traditional assumptions about the history of this period.

• Presents original theories about how the Visigothic kingdom was governed, about law in the kingdom, about the Arab conquest, and about the rise of Spain as an intellectual force.
  
• Takes account of new documentary evidence, the latest archaeological findings, and the controversies that these have generated.
  
• Combines chronological and thematic approaches to the period.
  
• A historiographical introduction looks at the current state of research on the history and archaeology of the Visigothic kingdom.