Belt Buckle with Struggling Animals in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2010

Belt Buckle with Struggling Animals
Copper alloy
Visigothic
Made 500-700

Accession # 66.152.2

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

The Visigoths

Of the many people who settled in the western lands once part of the Roman Empire, the Franks and Visigoths were among the most successful. They were, in fact, rivals in their territorial claims- both vying for lands situated along what is now the border between France and Spain. After the Franks led by king Clovis defeated the Visigoths in 507, the latter retreated into Spain. There they established a kingdom that flourished culturally and economically until the early 700s, when it was conquered by Muslims who crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from North Africa.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of art- additional non-specific work label information.