Letter 29

King Swinthila [r.621-631, the Visigothic king who briefly unified all of Iberia under Visigothic rule] writes to the Visigothic court celebrating the recovery of the remaining Byzantine-held territories in southeastern Spain. Swinthila's campaigns against the Eastern Roman enclave completed the Visigothic reconquest of the peninsula, ending nearly a century of divided rule since the Eastern Romans had seized coastal territories in 552. The letter frames the military success in providential terms, presenting Swinthila as God's chosen instrument for restoring Iberian unity under Visigothic rule.