The Seventh

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 ...

commenced on 18 November 646 and was attended by 41 bishops either personally or by delegation. It was the first of

Chindasuinth Chindasuinth (also spelled Chindaswinth, Chindaswind, Chindasuinto, Chindasvindo, or Khindaswinth ( Latin: Chintasvintus, Cindasvintus; 563 – 30 September 653) was Visigothic King of Hispania, from 642 until his death in 653. He succeeded Tul ...

's two councils. The law against

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

was strengthened with the addition of a penalty of

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 ...

on offenders. This was partially in response to the will of the king, who had recently taken vigorous actions against supposed traitors. The mass executions were upheld as just by the council. The punishments for treason were extended to clergy without distinction. It was also determined that if any clergyman, regardless of rank, travelled to a foreign land to support activities ''contra'' the king or the

Visigoth 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 kn ...

ic nobility, or to assist a layman in doing the same, he was to be disgraced and made a permanent penitent, receiving communion only on his deathbed.

Sources

*Thompson, E. A. (1969) ''The Goths in Spain''. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Synodus Toletana septima
minutes from the ''Collectio Hispana Gallica Augustodunensis'' ( Vat. lat. 1341) {{DEFAULTSORT:Toledo 7

Seventh Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"The Seventh", a second-season e ...

646 7th century in the Visigothic Kingdom 7th-century church councils