This book examines the figure of Duke Theudemir, one of the last great nobles of the Kingdom of Toledo, and the impact of his career on the transfer of power between the Visigothic nobility and the Arab conquerors. In the historical record, Theudemir appears as the archetypal ambitious aristocrat involved in the complex political intrigues that led to the ruin of the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo in 711. Using this as a springboard, the book also analyzes the complex historical and administrative situation in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula between the Byzantine invasion and the Arab occupation. Finally, the important archaeological site of Pla de Nadal (Ribarroja de Turia, Valencia) and its identification with the original power centre of Duke Theudemir is considered.
This book explores Duke Theudemir's role in the fall of the Visigothic Kingdom and the shift of power to Arab rule. It examines southeastern Iberia's political context from Byzantine to Arab control and considers Pla de Nadal as Theudemir's possible seat of power.
Prologue
The South-East of the Iberian Peninsula in the Second Half of the 6th
Century: Imperial Occupation and the Formation of the Byzantine Province of
Spania
The Reign of Reccared
The Visigothic Conquest: From Witteric to Suinthila
Territorial Organisation of the Southeast in the 7th Century
Theudimer of Aurariola
Pla de Nadal: A Palace for a King
Documentary Appendix
Bibliography
Rafael Barroso Cabrera holds a masters degree in Prehistory and Archaeology from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He specialises in the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo, to which he has dedicated much of his research and numerous publications. Within this framework, the author has participated in various research projects, with noteworthy contributions to the study of Visigothic art and collaborations in the research projects Sedes Regia Toletana.
Jorge Morín de Pablos holds a PhD in Archaeology from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and is director of the Department of Cultural Heritage Resources of AUDEMA (Madrid). He has directed numerous archaeological excavations at various sites in Spain and abroad, with a particular focus on Late Antique sites in central Spain. His notable contributions to the archaeological knowledge of Toledo and its surroundings are highlighted through the Sedes Regia Toletana project of the Real Fundación Toledo. He is currently the director of the excavations at the archaeological site of Los Hitos (Arisgotas, Toledo).
Isabel Sánchez Ramos is a Lecturer in Archaeology at the Pablo de Olavide University of Seville. Her main scientific interests are phenomena related to urban societies undergoing transformation between the Roman period and the Early Middle Ages in the Western Mediterranean, the spaces and architectures of power linked to elites, and their impact on the evolution of urban landscapes. Likewise, the royal seat of Toledo and the palatine architectures linked to Hispanic aristocracies are also among her main lines of research. Between 2012 and 2019, she was director and principal investigator of the IDAVE (Idanha-a-Velha) Project.
