Madrid Institute for Advanced Study
Spain
fellow
Thomas Deswarte
2026-2027
Home institution
UMR9016
Country of origin (home institution)
France
Discipline(s)
Medieval history
Theme(s)
Religion
Fellowship dates
›
Biography
He is a SMI CNRS fellow at MIAS.
Thomas Deswarte, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Angers, specialises in the history of the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula during the Early Middle Ages (6th– 11th centuries), with a particular focus on their political, religious and cultural aspects. He is also interested in several scholarly sciences namely diplomatics (notably the study of forgeries), palaeography, codicology and ecdotic philology. His most recent work reflects a particular interest in the Visigothic period.
Research Project
Politics and religion in the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo (586–711).
The defeat of the Visigothic king Alaric II at Vouillé (507) led to the disappearance of his kingdom in Aquitaine and its reconstitution in Hispania and Narbonensis. Centred around Toledo, it quickly established itself as one of the most powerful kingdoms in the West, whilst its king, Recaredo, adopted Nicene Christianity in 589. My working hypothesis is that this kingdom, which developed largely outside the Pope's sphere of influence without ever formally denying his primacy, experienced – to a greater extent than in the Frankish kingdom – a strong union between Church and State, and between the political and the religious spheres. By examining the modalities of the Christianisation of politics, I aim to analyse how political and religious powers and their relationships were conceived, and to highlight the specifically religious logics at work in royal legislation as well as the political stakes involved in conciliar assemblies. Four concepts seem to dominate this field of study: Caesaropapism, conciliarism, theocracy and the sacralisation of kingship.
Research Interests:
Church–State Relations; Visigothic Monarchy