THE SEVENTH-CENTURY KINGDOM 109much stronger than it had ever been before. The major ideological
rift that had divided the population and provided opportunities for
the polarisation of local struggles and tensions had disappeared and,
as was made dear at III Toledo, this opened the way for the Catholic
Church to rally actively around the Visigothic monarchy. The Church
realised well enough the benefits that could be conferred by the
existence of a strong central authority, but was unable to accept them
at the hands of an Arian king. However, for all of the new spirit of
co-operation and harmony, certain basic problems still faced the king-
dom and would continue to do so throughout the course of the
succeeding century.
The difficulty of imposing a single centralised authority on all parts
of the peninsula, with its rich diversity of local cultures and the im-
mense problems of communication and enforcement posed by its
geography, remained as formidable as ever. The Catholic kings, from
Reccared onwards, at least had the advantage of a greater will to co-
operate on the part of many of the leaders of local society, especially
the bishops, than had previously existed. But this benevolence needed
to be actively maintained and the parts kept continuously involved in
the concerns of the whole. Some of the most difficult areas of the
peninsula, as far as authority based in Toledo was concerned, were
the northern regions of Galicia, the Asturias and Cantabria. However,
as a result of Leovigild's campaigns and the penetration of Christian-
ity, these regions were now more open to Romano-Gothic culture
and with it royal power. The Basques, however, remained virtually
untouched and presented the greatest military demands to the
Visigothic kingdom in the seventh century. The Basques showed no
signs of being affected by the civilisation of their Visigothic and
Frankish neighbours and attempts, initiated by Leovigild, to control
their transhument nomadism appear to have been to no avail. Two
Visigothic kings founded towns in the Basque regions: Leovigild erect-
ing Victoriacum (Olite) after his campaign in 581 and Suinthila (621-
631) persuading some Basques to form a settlement at an unspecified
site in the course of his reign. In this respect the kings were following
precedents set by their Roman predecessors in their attempts to pacify
and Romanise Cantabria through a programme of urbanisation. If
this was their intention the effects were dearly limited. The Basques
appear to have retained their paganism, although there was a bishopric
at Pamplona, and were quick to take advantage of any Visigothic
military weakness to raid the settlements of the upper Ebro valley,