The papers collected in this panel sought to address the key issue of communication in the Visigothic kingdom (and beyond), understanding “communication” in all cases as the transmission and exchange of information. With such a broadly-defined discussion topic, it was no surprise to see all five papers covering various aspects that relate to communication from very different perspectives: Chernin’s paper dealt with the three-way interaction between the Jewish and convert communities of the kingdom and the episcopal and royal legislators. Ferreiro’s article, similarly, discussed the direct lines of communication between pope Innocent I in Rome and the bishops of Hispania in the early fifth century. Osborne in his text focused on the role of the military as an element of cohesion for the Visigothic monarchy (sending internal and external messages of unity). Ruchesi’s focus was on the perception and dissemination of military events (looking at three particularly well-recorded examples). Lastly, in my paper I tried to present the collapse of civil engineering in the Visigothic period as a rupture in teaching and the transmission of knowledge. At first sight, this would appear to be an eclectic collection of papers, ranging from the early fifth into the late seventh century and varying from politics to religion, from group-definition and ethnogenesis to construction. And, while it is true that the articles do not appear to be addressing each other, it is perhaps in these response essays where any shared underlying issues can be put together