territory, including southwestern Gaul until 507, and much of the Iberian peninsula until 711. At the start, Jewish communities generally flourished under Visigothic rule in both Gaul and Spain. Visigoth Spain In 506, Alaric II decreed that Jews were to be considered Roman citizens and were to live under Roman law. They were given freedom to practice their religion, although efforts to convert pagans and Christians to Judaism were to be curtailed. Alaric also decreed that the judicial autonomy of the Jewish communities was to be respected. After Sisebut took the Visigothic throne in 612, these privileges were revoked, and suppression of the Jewish religion became policy, resulting in attempted forced conversion. There was a brief respite in 640, when Chindasuinth usurped the throne and pursued a pro-Jewish policy. His son Recceswinth, to the contrary, denounced Jews as "polluting the soil of Spain" in 653, and enacted a new code meant to make it impossible for Jews to remain in Spain. These laws proved to be unpopular, and were resisted by both Jews and Christians alike. Despite these persecutions, Jews were able to help Muslim invaders capture Spain, ending Visigothic rule. Activities The first historical testimonies on the activities of the Jews show that most were engaged in agriculture, and a minority were engaged in trade, as well as in handicrafts. In the South, "particularly in south Italy and Greece - the Jewish communities had almost a monopoly of dyeing and silk-weaving". Some were involved in qualified services such as interpreters, translators, and medical practitioners. In the high middle ages, many European Jews were specialized as merchants, money-lenders or artisans, as they were largely excluded from crafts guilds and barred from owning land. In contrast, Julie L. Mell insists on the fact that much of the Jewish population was left at the lower end of the urban economic scale. European Jews were involved in the intellectual and cultural spheres of Medieval society : "Jews contributed to medicine, astrology, mathematics as well as to the arts, literature and music." Germany Jewish migration from Roman Italy is considered the most likely source of the first Jews within German territory. While the date of the first settlement of Jews in the regions which the Romans called Germania Superior, Germania Inferior, and Magna Germania is not known, the first authentic documents relating to a large and well-organized Jewish community in these regions date from