18 EARLY MEDIEVAL SPAINis that the barbarians seized lands for their own use without Roman
approval, and that they drew lots amongst themselves for which por-
tions of the peninsula each tribe would receive.^12 This latter argu-
ment suffers from several weaknesses: why were two partners in the
confederacy squeezed into one not very desirable province, without
apparent protest, and why was the province of Tarraconensis entirely
omitted from consideration? On the other hand, when it is appreci-
ated that the area allotted to the Hasdings and the Sueves was pre-
viously the principal military frontier zone of the peninsula, and that
the towns they are subsequently found occupying are the military
foundations of Leon, Braga and Astorga, it seems not at all unreason-
able to suggest that they were there in the capacity of federates,
military allies of the Empire, replacing units of the Roman army in
Spain along a vulnerable frontier. In view of the timing, 410-11, it is
most likely that this was done in order to free those troops for use
in the war being fought by Gerontius against Constantine in Gaul.
Thus the treaty of federation will have been made with the barbarians
by the regime of Gerontius and Maximus. It was to these very barbar-
ians that Maximus was to flee in 411 after Gerontius's death.
Orosius tells us that the Roman troops who had formerly support-
ed the rebel empire in Spain were not returned to the province after
their renewal of allegiance to the legitimate emperor. Instead, they
were sent to Africa, possibly as part of the expedition to suppress the
revolt there of the count Heraclian in 413, and subsequently they
were transferred to Italy.l~ In effect, the imperial government gave up
the maintenance of a permanent military presence in Spain, except
for the province of Tarraconensis, in the year 411, and with it, in
practice, its authority in those regions. For most of the peninsula, the
end of Roman rule can be dated to 411. Military and political power
was in the hands of the barbarians, former partisans of the defunct
regime of Maximus and Gerontius. But in the aftermath of the events
of 411 they were left alone, and nothing is heard of their doings for
the next five years, apparently a time of some peace in the peninsula.
However, during these years a new power was developing along the
frontiers of Spain, that of the Visigoths. Mter the sack of Rome in
410, and under a new king, Ataulph (410-416), this people, unable
to make any headway in Italy, had moved on into southern Gaul.
There, although thwarted in an attempt to seize Marseille, they estab-
lished themselves in ArIes and Narbonne. Mter some initial hesita-
tion they became allies of the Romans and Ataulph a collaborator