Christianity and Islam in Spain (756-1031) by Charles Reginald Haines
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page 16 of 246 (06%)
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and subsequently orthodox.
[1] See Milman, "Latin Christianity," vol. iii. p. 60. [2] Dozy, ii. 44, quotes in support of this the second canon of the Sixteenth Council of Toledo. [3] Mason, a bishop of Merida, was said to have baptized a Pagan as late as this. [4] Dunham's "Hist. of Spain," vol. i. p. 210. The Government, which began with being of a thoroughly military character, gradually tended to become a theocracy--a result due in great measure to the institution of national councils, which were called by the king, and attended by all the chief ecclesiastics of the realm. Many of the nobles and high dignitaries of the State also took part in these assemblies, though they might not vote on purely ecclesiastical matters. These councils, of which there were nineteen in all (seventeen held at Toledo, the Gothic capital, and two elsewhere), gradually assumed the power of ratifying the election of the king, and of dictating his religious policy. Thus by the Sixth Council of Toledo (canon three) it was enacted that all kings should swear "not to suffer the exercise of any other religion than the Catholic, and to vigorously enforce the law against all dissentients, especially against that accursed people the Jews." The fact of the monarchy becoming elective[1] no doubt contributed a good deal to throwing the power into the hands of the clergy. Dr Dunham remarks that these councils tended to make the bishops |
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