Ethnicity and Christianity: the Iberian Peninsula in a comparative perspective
Wednesday, 10 November 2021, 17:00-19:00
RomanIslam Lecture Series "Religion and Ethnicity"
Online Lecture via Zoom
Please register here to receive the Zoom link: romanislam[at]uni-hamburg.de
Ethnicity and Christianity have often been regarded as opposing principles in late antique and early medieval Europe: ethnicity was a particular form of identity that led to divisions and conflict, while Christianity offered an all-embracing and universal community and thus maintained the unity of Europe after the dissolution of the Roman Empire. However, there are many ways in which the rise of new, particular kingdoms in the West was enabled and encouraged by Christian teachings and by the Catholic Church. The Visigothic kingdom provides an impressive example of the way in which influential churchmen supported and legitimized Gothic rule. The lecture will use the writings of Isidore of Seville and the Councils of Toledo to show how Gothic identity received a Christian acknowledgement, and put the Visigothic case into a wider perspective.