The Goths were a nomadic Germanic people who fought against Roman rule in the late 300s and early 400s A. Roman Empire, which had controlled much of Europe for centuries. The ascendancy of the Goths is said to have marked the beginning of the medieval period in Europe. Visigoth was goth valentines day gifts name given to the western tribes of Goths, while those in the east were referred to as Ostrogoths.

After forcing the Romans from much of the European continent, the Goths governed a large swath of territory, from present-day Germany to the Danube and Don rivers in Eastern Europe, and from the Black Sea in the south to the Baltic Sea in the north. Following their sack of Rome in 410 A. Alaric I The Visigoths tribe of Goths are believed to be descendants of an earlier group of Goths called the Thervingi. The Thervingi were the Gothic tribe that first invaded the Roman Empire, in 376, and defeated the Romans at Adrianople in 378. Following Adrianople, the Visigoths and Romans were both trading partners and warring combatants over the next decade or so. However, under the leadership of Alaric I, the first king of the Visigoths, the tribe initiated a successful invasion of Italy, which included the sacking of Rome in 410. Roman Empire, before expanding their territory to include the areas now known as Spain and Portugal, taking these lands by force from the Suebi and Vandals, in the early 500s.

Early on, they maintained positive relations with the Romans, receiving protection from the historic empire. However, the two groups soon fell out, and the Visigoths assumed full governance of their kingdom in 475 under King Euric. In fact, Visigoths maintained a presence on the Iberian Peninsula, ending their nomadic ways, from the mid-400s through the early 700s, when they were defeated by an invading force of African Moors. The region was known as the Visigothic Kingdom. Like Goths elsewhere, the Ostrogoths made frequent incursions into Roman territory until their own territories were invaded by Huns from farther east.