ine of the Church introduced peace, order, and stability into the
government of the State. From the reign of Rechared, the first Catholic
king, to that of Witiza, the immediate predecessor of the unfortunate
Roderic, sixteen national councils were successively convened. The six
metropolitans--Toledo, Seville, Merida, Braga, Tarragona, and
Narbonne--presided according to their respective seniority; the assembly
was composed of their suffragan bishops, who appeared in person or by
their proxies; and a place was assigned to the most holy or opulent of
the Spanish abbots. During the first three days of the convocation, as
long as they agitated the ecclesiastical questions of doctrine and
discipline, the profane laity was excluded from their debates, which were
conducted, however, with decent solemnity. But on the morning of the
fourth day the doors were thrown open for the entrance of the great
officers of the palace, the dukes and counts of the provinces, the judges
of the cities, and the Gothic nobles; and the decrees of heaven were
ratified by the consent of the people. The same rules were observed in
the provincial assemblies, the annual synods which were empowered to hear
complaints and to redress grievances; and a legal government was
supported by the prevailing influence of the Spanish clergy.... The
national councils of Toledo, in which the free spirit of the barbarians
was tempered and guided by episcopal policy, have established some
prudent laws for the common benefit of the king and people. The vacancy
of the throne was supplied by the choice of the bishops and palatines;
and after the failure of the line of Alaric, the regal dignity was still
limited to the pure and noble blood of the Goths. The clergy who anointed
their lawful prince always recommended the duty of allegiance; and the
spiritual censures were denounced on the heads of the impious subjects
who should resist his authority, conspire against his life, or violate by
an indecent union the chastity even of his widow. But the monarch
himself, when he ascended the throne, was bound by a reciprocal oath to
God and his people that he would faithfully execute his important trust.
The real or imaginary faults of his administration were subject to the
control of a powerful aristocracy; and the bishops and palatines were
guarded by a fundamental privilege that they should not be degraded,
imprisoned, tortured, nor punished with death, exile, or confiscation,
unl