西哥德人(Visigoths)
哥德人的一个分支。4世纪时与东哥德人分离，376年遭到匈奴人的袭击，被赶过多瑙河，进入罗马帝国。因不堪帝国官吏的勒索而造反，劫掠帝国的巴尔干诸行省。在阿德里安堡战役（378）中，击溃瓦林斯。狄奥多西一世让他们在莫西亚（382）定居，要他们担负保卫边界的责任。395年在阿拉里克领导下离开莫西亚，首先南迁希腊，然後到义大利。410年洗劫罗马。然後在高卢南部和西班牙定居（415）。他们的首领提奥多里克一世在阿提拉之战（451）中阵亡。475年尤力克宣称自己是独立的国王。在他的领导下，扩展王国的版图，从罗亚尔河直达庇里牛斯山脉，并延伸到隆河下游，包括西班牙的大部分。於507年被克洛维一世和法兰克人击败。此後仅统治着塞蒂马尼亚和大部分西班牙地区，711年最终被穆斯林消灭。
English version：
Visigoths
Western division of the Goths. Separated from the Ostrogoths (E Goths) in the 4th century AD, they were driven from Dacia by the Huns (376) and crossed the Danube into the Roman empire. Oppressed by Roman taxation, they revolted and plundered the Balkan provinces, defeating Valens and his army at the Battle of Adrianople (378). Theodosius I settled them in Moesia (382) to defend the frontier. Converted to Arian Christianity, they left Moesia in 395 under Alaric and invaded Greece and Italy, sacking Rome (410) and settling in southern Gaul and Spain (415). Recalled from Spain by Constantius III, they lost their first king, Theodoric I, in a battle against Attila (451). They were federates of Rome until King Euric declared independence (475). He extended their kingdom from the Loire to the Pyrenees and the lower Rh?ne, including most of Spain. In 507 they were defeated by the Franks under Clovis; retaining only Septimania (a strip from the Pyrenees to the Rh?ne), they held it and much of Spain until defeated by the Muslims in 711.