- Suintila
From 621 to 631, Suintila (or "Swinthila", "Svinthila", d. 633) was Visigothic King of
Hispania (theIberian Peninsula ). There was a new peace in the Kingdom of the Visigoths. As a direct result, by 624, the king was able to retake those lands that had been under the control ofByzantium .On the linguistic front, it was around Suintila's time that a secondary form of the word "Hispania" was growing in usage: "
Spania ", from which the modern name ofSpain originated. [Notice that before the emergence of the modern country of Spain (beginning with the union of Castile andAragon in 1492), theLatin word "Hispania ", in any of theIberian Romance languages , either in singular or plural forms (in English: Spain or Spains), was used to refer to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula, and not exclusively, as in modern usage, to the country ofSpain , thus excludingPortugal .] According to St.Isidore of Seville , who died in 636, it was with the Visigothic domination of Hispania that the idea of a peninsular unity was sought, and the phrase "mater Spania" ("mother Hispania") was first spoken. Up to that date it had been the word Hispania that designated all of the peninsula's lands. In "Historia Gothorum", Suintila appears as the first king of "totius Spaniae". In "De laude Spaniae" ("About Hispania's Pride") the country is dealt with as a Gothic nation.ee also
*
Imperator totius Hispaniae Notes
External links
* [http://imagedb.coinarchives.com/img/nac/025/00740q00.jpgCoin of Suintila]
* [http://www.coinarchives.com/a/lotviewer.php?LotID=53182&AucID=55&Lot=740]
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