<P> The Visigoths, having sacked Rome two years earlier, arrived in the region in 412, founding the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse (in the south of modern France) and gradually expanded their influence into the Iberian peninsula at the expense of the Vandals and Alans, who moved on into North Africa without leaving much permanent mark on Hispanic culture . The Visigothic Kingdom shifted its capital to Toledo and reached a high point during the reign of Leovigild . </P> <P> The Visigothic Kingdom conquered all of Hispania and ruled it until the early 8th century, when the peninsula fell to the Muslim conquests . The Muslim state in Iberia came to be known as Al - Andalus . After a period of Muslim dominance, the medieval history of Spain is dominated by the long Christian Reconquista or "reconquest" of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule . The Reconquista gathered momentum during the 12th century, leading to the establishment of the Christian kingdoms of Portugal, Aragon, Castile and Navarre and by 1250, had reduced Muslim control to the Emirate of Granada in the south - east of the peninsula . Muslim rule in Granada survived until 1492, when it fell to the Catholic Monarchs . </P> <P> Importantly, Spain never saw a decline in interest in classical culture to the degree observable in Britain, Gaul, Lombardy and Germany . The Visigoths, having assimilated Roman culture during their tenure as foederati, tended to maintain more of the old Roman institutions, and they had a unique respect for legal codes that resulted in continuous frameworks and historical records for most of the period between 415, when Visigothic rule in Spain began, and 711, when it is traditionally said to end . However, during the Visigothic dominion the cultural efforts made by the Franks and other Germanic tribes were not felt in the peninsula, nor achieved in the lesser kingdoms that emerged after the Muslim conquest . </P> <P> The proximity of the Visigothic kingdoms to the Mediterranean and the continuity of western Mediterranean trade, though in reduced quantity, supported Visigothic culture . Arian Visigothic nobility kept apart from the local Catholic population . The Visigothic ruling class looked to Constantinople for style and technology while the rivals of Visigothic power and culture were the Catholic bishops--and a brief incursion of Byzantine power in Córdoba . </P>

Who ruled spain after the roman empire fell