In the past the ethnic duality of the Visigoths and the Hispano-Romans has been seen as one of the main characteristics in the formation of the Spanish Visigothic kingdom. This study shows that, instead of an ethnic division of the population, a Gothic identity, which was above all politically defined, was already applied to the entire population in the 6th century, and that overall it had less effect than is generally assumed. An analysis of the extant literary sources takes into (...) account the historical conditions and new methodical approaches to interpretation. (shrink)