a, one of the last of the Gothic kings, seems even to
have authorized, or at least encouraged, the marriage of his clergy.[2]
The king could preside in cases of appeal in purely ecclesiastical
affairs; and we know that Recared I. (587-601) and Sisebert (612-621)
did in fact exercise this right. He also gained the power of nominating
and translating bishops; but it is not clear when this privilege was
first conceded to the king.[3] The Fourth Council of Toledo (633)
enacted that a bishop should be elected by the clergy and people of his
city, and that his election should be approved by the metropolitan and
synod of his province: while the Twelfth Council, held forty-eight years
later, evidently recognizes the validity of their appointment by royal
warrant alone. Some have referred this innovation back to the despotic
rule of Theodoric the Ostrogoth, at the beginning of the sixth century;
others to the sudden accumulation of vacant sees on the fall of Arianism
in Spain. Another important power possessed by the kings was that of
convoking these national councils, and confirming their acts.

[1] In 531 A.D.

[2] Monk of Silo, sec. 14, who follows Sebastian of Salamanca;
Robertson, iii. 6. We learn from the "Chron. Sil," sec. 27,
that Fruela (757-768) forbade the marriage of clergy. But these
accounts of Witiza's reign are all open to suspicion.

[3] Robertson, "Hist. of Christian Church," vol. iii. p. 183.

The sudden surrender of their Arianism by the Gothic king and nobles is
a noticeable phenomenon. All the barbarian races that invaded Spain at
the beginning of the fifth century were inoculated with the Arian
heresy. Of these the Vandals carried their Arianism, which proved to be
of a very persecuting type, into Africa. The Suevi, into which nation
the Alani, under the pressure of a common enemy, had soon been absorbed,
gave up their Arianism for the orthodox faith about 560. The Visigoths,
however, remained Arians until a somewhat later period--until 589
namely, when Recared I., the son of Leovigild, held a national council
and solemnly abjured the creed of his forefathers, his example being
followed by many of his nobles and bishops.

The Visigoths, while they remained Arian, were on the whole remarkably
tolerant[1] towards both Jews and Catholics, though we have instances
to the contrary in the cases of Euric and Leovigild, who are said to
have persecuted the orthodox party. The latter king