Over the past couple of decades there has been a noticeable upsurge in English-language studies of Late Antiquity in the Iberian Peninsula. Damián Fernández's fine monograph responds in interesting ways to a number of recent trends in this work, although scholarship in Spanish, Portuguese and other languages is also effectively employed, while the book is well-situated in relation to historiographical trends on the late antique West more generally. Especially impressive is F.’s grasp of the archaeological material, which, alongside the literary and documentary sources, he harnesses to good effect throughout in support of a subtle thesis about the relationships between aristocrats and statehood in late antique Iberia. F. makes a valuable intervention into well-worn debates about relations between central and local powers. However, rather than examining how western Iberian elites expressed their independence following the end of Roman imperial power in the West, or bought into or resisted the attempts of the post-imperial kingdoms of the Suevi and the Visigoths to impose royal power, he demonstrates effectively how they exercised agency in a number of different ways within late and post-Roman state systems, often shaping such systems to their own interests.

Following an introduction that lays out the theoretical, historiographical and methodological foundations of the study, as well as explaining its geographical scope, the book is divided into two parts, each composed of three chapters. Part I examines western Iberian aristocracies in the late Roman world, while the post-Roman context is the focus of Part II. Ch. 1 establishes the baseline from which the rest of the work proceeds, outlining what is known about urban and rural settlements, with a particular focus on monumentality; ch. 2 explores aristocratic identity, while ch. 3 discusses the socio-economic conditions that underpinned aristocratic wealth. Chs 4–6 repeat the same basic structure (settlement, identity, economic strategies) for the post-Roman period. The division between late and post-Roman enables F. to structure his analysis coherently, but he is careful to emphasise points of continuity across the two periods, as is noted in ch. 5: ‘In the post-Roman period as much as in the late Roman period, there was never an intrinsic opposition between local and regional or supraregional aristocracy. In both cases, social standing largely depended on the ability to enact state mandates and public authority at the local level’ (195).

I have two quibbles. The first is relatively minor: the very large number of subsections (even micro-sections) within the text means that it is at times rather fragmented. A more synthetic approach to structuring the argument, together with more liberal use of sub-titles, would have helped this reader to navigate the volume. Second, and perhaps something that should be considered by those seeking to build on F.’s important insights: the distinction that is implied, if not stated explicitly, between the ‘religious’ worlds of the bishops and the ‘secular’ ones of the aristocrats. Recent research has demonstrated that bishops originated from local elites and were thus embedded in their local communities, not separate from them. This seems to have been as true in the Iberian Peninsula as it was elsewhere in the late antique West. F. does not treat religiosity uncritically throughout. For example, in his discussion of the foundation of rural basilicas, F. states: ‘I do not wish to deny the existence of personal piety or profound religious beliefs as the motivation for building these rural basilicas. However, personal religion was expressed through the construction of Christian monuments in and near one's lands, endowed with personal property, and in which members of the founding family could be buried and prayed for. Thus, as in the case of city walls, we should not read these churches as “instruments of oppression”. Oppression did exist, but churches were not directly aimed at controlling the rural masses’ (153). While bishops are mentioned on several occasions in the text and use is made of important written sources that are focused on the activities of churchmen, such as the seventh-century hagiography from Mérida, the Vitas Sanctorum Patrum Emeritensium, their role as aristocrats interacting with state power in various ways receives minimal attention that represents, for this reviewer, something of a missed analytical trick.

Images are clear, of good quality and linked to the text, although perhaps the maps at the front of the volume could have been referred to more consistently, given the emphasis that is often placed on regional variation and the likely unfamiliarity of at least some readers with the geography of the regions concerned. The minor criticisms outlined above do not detract in any significant way from the main achievement of this volume — to synthesise a large and unwieldy body of evidence in support of a strong argument about the agency of aristocracies in post-Roman western Iberia. It is to be hoped that others will build on this work and deepen our understanding of how such processes played out elsewhere in the peninsula.