The Twelfth

Council of Toledo From the 5th century to the 7th century AD, about thirty synods, variously counted, were held at Toledo (''Concilia toletana'') in what would come to be part of Spain. The earliest, directed against Priscillianism, assembled in 400. The "thi ...

, held in

Toledo, Spain Toledo ( , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, capital of the province of Toledo and the ''de jure'' seat of the government and parliament of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. Toledo was declare ...

, was initiated on 9 January 681 by the

Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...

King

Erwig Erwig ( la, Flavius Ervigius; after 642 – 687) was a king of the Visigoths in Hispania (680–687). Parentage According to the 9th-century '' Chronicle of Alfonso III'', Erwig was the son of Ardabast, who had journeyed from the Byzantine Empire ...

, who was elected king in 680. One of its first actions was to release the population from the laws of Wamba and recognise Erwig,

anathema Anathema, in common usage, is something or someone detested or shunned. In its other main usage, it is a formal excommunication. The latter meaning, its ecclesiastical sense, is based on New Testament usage. In the Old Testament, anathema was a cr ...

tising all who opposed him. The Council was attended by thirty eight bishops, four abbots, and five palatine officials. It recognised the right of the metropolitan

archbishop of Toledo This is a list of Bishops and Archbishops of Toledo ( la, Archidioecesis Metropolitae Toletana).

to consecrate all bishops appointed by the king, even if they were outside his own

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

. Thus was born the

primacy Primacy may refer to: * an office of the Primate (bishop) * the supremacy of one bishop or archbishop over others, most notably: ** Primacy of Peter, ecclesiological doctrine on the primacy of Peter the Apostle ** Primacy of the Roman Pontiff, e ...

of the Toledan diocese over all

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The council implemented various measures against the Jews, enacting against them twenty-eight laws. The bishops ordered the reading in all the churches of the canons against the Jews and conserved all acts of abjuration and conversion of

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

s, prohibiting ''

converso A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert", () was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of his or her descendants. To safeguard the Old Christian po ...

s'' from returning to Judaism. The canons were first read in the church of Santa María in Toledo on 27 January. Otherwise, the persecution of Jews was isolated to confiscation of goods. The council, at the request of Erwig, revised the ''

Forum Iudicum The ''Visigothic Code'' ( la, Forum Iudicum, Liber Iudiciorum; es, Fuero Juzgo, ''Book of the Judgements''), also called ''Lex Visigothorum'' (English: ''Law of the Visigoths''), is a set of laws first promulgated by king Chindasuinth (642–653 ...

'' of

Reccesuinth Recceswinth (died 1 September 672) was the Visigothic King of Hispania, and Septimania in 649–672. He ruled jointly with his father Chindaswinth until his father's death in 653. Name His Gothic name is believed to have been *𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌺 ...

to right perceived injustices and contradictions. The revised law came into effect on 21 October. Laws against violence to slaves were suppressed. The general trend of all modifications and new legislation was in favour of the nobles and their privileges. In religious matters, the bishops dealt with

penance Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of Repentance (theology), repentance for Christian views on sin, sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic Church, Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox s ...

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

, the number of sees, the election of bishops, the

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

, and clerical discipline. The nomination of bishops by the kings was forbidden (despite tacit recognition of it in fact). The date of provincial synods was fixed on 1 November every year. The previous date had been in May, since the Fourth Council. The provinces were ordered to hold at least one synod each year. The church of Galicia was sanctioned in its treatment of slaves (see

Tenth Council of Toledo The Tenth Council of Toledo was summoned to meet in Toledo on 1 December 656 by King Reccesuinth of Hispania. In November 655, the bishops of Carthaginiensis had held a provincial synod in Toledo, the Ninth Council of Toledo. They scheduled a sec ...

) and the extant

paganism Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christianity, early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions ot ...

of the province condemned. The short council terminated on 25 January.

Sources

*Thompson, E. A. (1969) ''The Goths in Spain''. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Concilium Toletanum duodecimum
minutes from the ''Collectio Hispana Gallica Augustodunensis'' ( Vat. lat. 1341) {{DEFAULTSORT:Toledo12 Twelfth 681 7th century in the Visigothic Kingdom 7th-century church councils Christianity and Judaism History of slavery Slavery in Spain