First of all, let me apologize if I say anything stupid or flat out wrong. It's just that when I was reading about post-Roman Europe it seems that after playing a huge role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Goths largely vanished after being conquered by the Moors in Spain and by the Byzantines in Italy. I never read about them in any point later, about a Gothic identity, people, kingdom, culture or anything like that.
However many things that appeared in the High and Late Middle Ages are called "Gothic". The Notre Dame is a hallmark of Gothic Architecture, the Gothic Plate Armor was developed during the 15th century. Why are these things considered "Gothic"?
I don't know if this question makes any sense, but it seems weird to me to have stuff originated from all over Europe be called Gothic while the Goths themselves were gone by the end of the Early Middle Ages.
This is not a dumb question: in fact the answer illustrates the history of history writing (historiography), particularly of the medieval period.
'Gothic' is a term we receive from the Italian renaissance and then further embellished as a pejorative in the subsequent two centuries. Gothic stems from the 'goths', or barbarians, which various renaissance and baroque historians used to refer to the 'dark ages': these historians were enamoured of classicism and Roman effects and as such viewed the entire middle ages as a dark age, as a negative moment, in creativity and learning; as an overtaking of progressive, higher culture by barbarians.
While to us now the term has lost its negative elements, when it was first used in the 16-18th century it was entirely a criticism of the deepest sort and which still lives with us in terms like 'dark ages'.