Las iglesias urbanas de la Hispania visigoda: dinámicas religiosas, eclesiásticas y sociales

In recent years, historiography devoted to the study of Late Antiquity in Iberia has developed numerous studies aimed at particularising the institutional, socio-economic and, above all, religious dynamics that took place in the cities and in the rural horizons, differentiating and singularising both contexts. However, one dimension that remains understudied is the specific functioning of urban churches during this period. This paper aims to address this gap by analyzing, on the one hand, the internal hierarchisation of the Christian landscape and its impact on worship, with a particular focus on secondary churches. On the other hand, the management of urban centers of worship will be explored, considering religious, economic and institutional aspects. By applying a social perspective to the available sources –especially hagiographical texts and conciliar records– this study reveals a reality of secondary churches often overshadowed by the main churches, which required the deployment of various strategies aimed at promoting worship in them. Likewise, these secondary churches became spaces where clergy gained autonomy relative to episcopal authority, a development that bishops had to navigate.