From Tribal Chiefs to Emperors, by Johannes Langobardus (900 CE).
In the British Isles, Drest II started expansion policies. In 500 AD, the Picts invaded and wiped out the Dal Riata Kingdom. Drest ordered the destruction of his enemy's capital (Dunadd), which was never repopulated; after six years, Drest conquered Din Eidyn, Lleuddiniawn, and Manaw Gododdin. The Pictish King declared Christianity the official religion, allowing Britonic missions to convert the population. Soon after this, many churches were built, especially in Fortriu, Circinn, Fotla, and Fib. Despite the attacks on the Brythonic Kingdoms, Drest II joined a crucial alliance with Ystrad Clut to reduce Irish piracy on the Western coast.
Meanwhile, the Bagaudae chieftains in Gaul merged, forming four powerful "Kingdoms": Arvernia, Sequania-Aulercia, Lemonum, and Biturigium. Early in 505, the Chieftains compiled their law codes which were written down in the Gallic language. At the same time, the Vascones started to occupy lands northwards and eastwards of their traditional borders, conquering most of the ancient Aquitani Lands. Also, Jute and Frisian raiders began to settle in Armorica, forcing some Britons to move southwards.
Saxon settlement in Domnonia, Northern Armorica.
Bolgios Viriathus became Chief of the Cantabrians. In 505, most of the Suebi Kingdom fell under the Visigoths. The Astures and Gallaecians united with the Cantabri as they feared the Gothic expansion. In consequence, Bolgios' realm encompassed from the Minius River mouth to Autrigonia. While Alaric II was preparing to capture Gallaecia from Bolgios, the Vascones and Germanic dissidents launched several attacks over Visigothic lands, destroying vital cities such as Caesaraugusta, Osca, Turiasso, and Ilerda; in consequence, the King had to withdraw from Northern Lusitania to contest the Vascones.
Bolgios Viriathus, Rex Cantabrorum et Asturorum.
Extract from "Chronicles of Hispania" by Theodoric Burgondar.
"By the year of Our Lord 496, these brave and ruthless tribes known as the Vascones wreaked havoc in the noble cities. They allied with thousands of dissidents from Thuringia and Saxonia, whose homelands were brutally conquered by the Franks. Those pagans broke into the poorly defended Gothic-Vasconian border. The first objective was Caesaraugusta the Great; although it was not as rich as under the Roman period, the city still had a well-preserved infrastructure and some of its former glory. Caesaraugustans offered strong resistance against the invaders, but in May, the raiders entered the city and ransacked it.
The raiders had no mercy and killed all the inhabitants. Osca, Turiasso, and Ilerda suffered the same fate. Once prosperous cities now become wastelands full of ruins and rubble. Finally, the Visigoths could execute the Thuringian and Saxonian army leaders while pushing the Vascones back to their lands. When Alaric II arrived, his forces plundered Calagurris and Pompaelo, but the damage was done.
It took almost two decades to reconstruct and repopulate the area. The Reconquest of Africa, and the Frankish conquest of Alamannia, caused two new waves of Germanic immigration to Northeastern Hispania. The Visigoths invited Vandal, Alamannic, and Alannic nobles to settle and became governors or military officers who helped with the resurgence of the cities."
Repopulation of Kaisarborg (Caesaraugusta).
In Western Rome, Nepos confiscated the barbaric soldiers' lands who died in battle against the Vandals. During the spring of 505, the Emperor banished the Ostrogoths of Theodoric the Amal, who tried to invade Northern Italy. The Peninsula continued its reconstruction from the wars, and cities began to reflourish. Unfortunately, Julius Nepos passed on due to tuberculosis. As he died childless, Rome had to appoint his successor. Later in the same year, Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius became the next Emperor of the West.