CHINDASWINTH

chĭnˈdəswĭnth, d. 653, Visigothic king of Spain (642–53). His reign began violently as factions of the nobility sought to dominate royal policy. Chindaswinth prevailed and, together with his son Recceswinth whom he admitted to joint rule in 649, inaugurated a program designed to reduce the differences between his Visigothic and Spanish-Roman subjects. He is therefore sometimes designated by historians a "Romanist" as opposed to a "Gothic nationalist." Unification of the diverse population was furthered by legislation. Chindaswinth seems to have been responsible for revoking the Breviary of Alaric, the compilation of Roman law principles for only Roman subjects, promulgated by Alaric II in 506. Instead he began the compilation of a code fusing Roman and Germanic law and binding upon all subjects. Eventually promulgated by Recceswinth c.654, it was known as the Liber iudiciorum (later as the Liber or Forum iudicum).

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