ImageAnnotation5_PotamianosHomem

Constantine wearning a similar crown, Hagia Sophia

Eagle-shaped fibulae, Spain, 6th century

Gothic Style

Gothic style is defined by an interest in non-classical motifs, the use of ornamentation, and its enriched polychrome or gem style. The crown of Reccesuinth, part of the Treasure of Gurrazar, was produced through a combination of “long-standing goldsmithing techniques in a Mediterranean tradition….typical late Roman jewellery-making practices, and Germanic metalwork” (Moreno Martín, 42). suggesting that the artisans required to make the piece may have become enlisted during the series of migrations undertaken by the Goths during the fourth to sixth centuries CE. These pieces demonstrate an interest in Byzantine and Latinate precedents, making it difficult to distinguish a singular “Visigothic” style in these works. By emulating Byzantine and Roman types, Visigothic kings not only sought to fashion themselves as a new distinct “Hispanic” empire but also drew on established Roman and Byzantine types to manufacture power. These crowns have a Byzantine precedent, visible in many contemporary mosaics. Both have a very systematic construction, an orbus with a transverse bar, pendant cross, cabochon-style gems, and jewels hanging from the sides. King Arhaulf’s (r. 411-415) son was raised in Constantinople, primarily as a political prisoner. However, he also received a Byzantine education and was instructed on administration in the emulation of the Byzantine Empire.

Cabochon gems like these are made by shaping and polishing a gemstone, resulting in a convex obverse and a flat reverse.

Cabochon

Many of these pieces have thin hoops from which they would have been suspended or connected to other components. In the case of the crown of Reccesuinth, these “chain links [are] made of thin twisted gold sheets” (Moreno Martín, 42). Votive crowns were typically used to decorate altars and were suspended from the ceiling. The suspended crowns were placed over light sources and would reflect the light like a lamp. This piece, in particular, is a pendant cross, and it is likely that all of these pieces were suspended from votive crowns.

Suspension hook

Letter "R" From Votive crown of Recceswinth

Cloisonné Letter

This component of the treasure resembles the “cloisonné letters with coloured stones” from the crown of Reccesuinth (Moreno Martín, 42). Cloisonné is a jewellery-making technique where thin metal strips separate each gemstone, coloured glass, or enamel. The production of cloisonné jewellery is painstaking and expensive as a great deal of precision must be exerted for each gemstone to fit precisely within its designated slot. Visually cloisonné resembles intarsia; however, the latter lacks the metal dividers, and the stones fit directly against each other. Both techniques were reserved for luxury objects and would have been immediate indicators of the wearer's wealth.

The use of gold, precious gems, and highly skilled jewellery-making techniques suggests that these pieces were produced for an elite audience, most likely royalty. Sapphires like these may have been imported “from the Far East” or “amassed by the Visigoths as loot, tributes, and/or charges for military services” (Moreno Martín, 42). Both the sapphires and the large pearl hanging from this cross resemble the extensive use of pearls and saphhires in the votive crown of Reccewinth.

Luxury objects

1. Where did the precious metals and gemstones used in these fragments originate? Has any work been the composition of the materials that could provide further insight into the jewellery-making process? 2. Have modern scholars attempted to reconstruct the treasure? Have any other "treasures" been excavated? It seems odd that the only two treasures discovered thus far date so closely together. 3. How has scholarship on these pieces changed since the fall of the Francoist regime?

Questions

Reconstruction of the Treasure of Guarrazar

Treasure of Torrendojimeno

These pieces are part of the Treasure of Torrendojimenoa. Visigothic treasure found in an olive grove in 1926, thought to belong to an unidentified Visigothic king, and likely date from around the same time as the Treasure of Guarrazar, in the seventh century or possibly later. This treasure contained several votive crowns and crosses, the latter of which is displayed here. As both treasures were buried, it has been suggested that their components were “gathered together for preservation” (Moreno Martín, 42). Some scholars have suggested that the impetus for burying the Treasure of Gurrazar was “the Muslim invasion of 711”; however, this theory “remains unproven” (Moreno Martín, 42). Both treasures were initially found in pieces; however, the Treasure of Gurrazar was later assembled into its current state, but the Treasure of Torrendojimeno has not been reconstructed.

17th century imagining of Athaulf

The Visigoths

It was during the rule of King Athaulf (411-15) that Visigothic identity first emerged. However, it was not until the reign of the Reccared, whose votive crown is thought to be amongst the Treasure of Guarrazar, that the Visigoths fully embraced Catholicism. Prior to Reccared’s conversion in 587, Visigothic kings believed in Arianism, the king controlled ecclesiastical organisations, and liturgy was delivered in the vernacular, not Latin. Part of the resistance to conversion stemmed from a desire to maintain autonomy from the Roman Empire. Therefore, by the seventh century, Visigothic kings were concerned with creating a specific identity, “hispani”, ending the designations of Roman or Goth. This was accomplished through the promulgation of the Lex Visigothorum, which built off earlier Roman laws but was applied more equitably.

Franco examining the Treasure of Guarrazar

Miñoz Degrain, La conversión de Recaredo, 1888

Inventing Spanish Identity

The nationalist interest in the Visigoths was linked “with the ascendance of liberalism” as after Spain’s independence from France, “politicians began the strategy of transmitting the concept of cultural identity” based on “communal memory” to secure social and political unity (Moreno Martín, 47, 44). As such, the objects of the Treasure of Guarrazar became particularly popular inclusions in Spanish history paintings, like La Conversión de Recardeo. In this painting, the conversion of Reccared is depicted as a carefully contrived image of medieval Spain, which emphasises material wealth, Byzantine-style imperiality, religiosity, and ethnic homogeneity. Furthermore, Visigothic artefacts like these pieces and the Treasure of Guarrazar played an important propagandistic role in Fransisco Franco’s authoritarian regime and his construction of a strictly Catholic Spanish identity. Under this framework, “Spain traced its foundations to the Third Council of Toledo in 589, when the Visigothic king Reccared guided his subjects to conversion to the Catholic faith”, thus portraying “Catholocism and…the rejection of foreign influences...as the pillars of the [Spanish] nation” (Moreno Martín, 45). Franco’s vision for Spain as a “re-españolizado” and “re-catolizado” nation meant that he, like Hitler and Mussolini, needed some imagined part of history to mobilise his nationalism around (Moreno Martín, 55). The crown of Reccesuinth was particularly useful for Franco as an ideological symbol around which he could weaponise medievalism in light of contemporary geopolitics.