Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 196
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ROOTS
As we all know, one of the external driving forces that culminated with the break-up of
the Western Roman Empire was the migratory pressure of the barbarian tribes from
Scandinavia and what are now northwestern Russia and the lands south of the Baltic.
By the end of the 5 th Century, the Visigoths, or Goths from the West, had already
crossed Germania and Gaul and were beginning to reach what is now Southern France.
During the 6 th Century the Franks pushed them further west, into Spain. Although there
was a pre-existing population of leftover Romans and more ancient tribes of Iberian,
Celtic, Greek and others of unknown origin, they eventually became the ruling majority
in the Iberian Peninsula.
By then the Visigoths were Christian and had adopted many Roman forms of law,
including that of primogeniture. This practice, which was also approved by the Christian
Church, determined that most of the wealth and high investitures of a family were
considered part of the realm, and therefore not subject to equal distribution among the
heirs. Instead, they were passed in toto to the oldest male son. This custom was
needed for the accumulation of wealth and power and for the continuous growth of
influence of the leading families. It gave leadership continuity. Thus the first Visigoth
kings of Spain titled themselves “King of Spain.”
Their Frank neighbors to the north, however, considered land and other wealth a
personal patrimony of the head of the family subject to division among all heirs. This
practice produced an opposite effect in the social organization of the area, giving rise to
feudal estates. Such condition prevailed in France, indeed in most of Europe, until the
Clovis dynasty reversed this trend and began the rise that culminated with
Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire of the 9 th Century. Except for the peri-
Charlemagne period, between the 6 th and 13 th centuries, the lands of the Pyrenees
Mountains went back and forth between consolidation and feudalization.
Following the irruption of Mohammedanism in North Africa in the 7 th Century, the Caliph
of Damascus acquired nominal suzerainty of most of the Iberian Peninsula. In the year
709 AD, a Moorish marauding party crossed the straits at the Pillars of Hercules (now
Gibraltar) and found so much wealth and so little resistance that soon Spain became to
the Moors what nine centuries later America would become to the Spaniards – a place
to pillage and conquer. In a few years the Saracens overran Spain. They took its wealth
and demanded a conqueror’s tribute on the production of its population. The Moors did
not, however, kill, torture or impose their faith by force, preferring instead to tax their
new subdits for the right to preserve their beliefs and some of their property. Moslem
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