Fifteenth Council of Toledo
The
Fifteenth Council of Toledo first met on
11 May 688 under King
Egica. It was the king's first of three councils.
In
680-
681, the sixth
ecumenical council, the
Third Council of Constantinople, had repudiated
monothelitism and affirmed the docrine of
dythelitism, that
Christ had two wills. The decision of the council had been went to Quiricus,
metropolitan of Toledo, who died before it reached him, and ended up in the hands of his successor
Julian. The response of the Spanish bishops to
Pope Benedict II's letter was not to the pope's liking, especially the phrase
voluntas genuit voluntatem, meaning "will engendered will". Nevertheless, Julian defended his propositions and it was the Fifteenth Council which adopted them. It has been theorised by some that a schism with the church of
Rome was imminent, but diverted by political events in both Spain and Italy, such as the
Moorish invasion of
711. This view, however, is not generally accepted.
Egica, besides the affirmation of Julian's theology, had but one reason to call the council. He had been obliged by his predecessor,
Erwig, to take two oaths before assuming the kingship. First, he was forced to swear never to harm Erwigs children when Erwig gave him his daughter in marriage. Second, he was forced, on Erwig's deathbed, to vow to uphold justice for the people. Egica claimed that, on account of Erwig's injustices, he could not protect his children if he wanted to do justice to the people. It is usually presumed that Erwig had unjustly confiscated property and this was in the hands of his children. Therefore, Egica would have to take back that property to return it to its rightful possessors. He wished the protection of Erwig's children to be removed from his hands. The bishops ordered him to love his in-laws, but released him from his oath. He wished them also to reverse the
Thirteenth Council's canon protecting Erwig's family, but the bishops refused saying that that canon did not protect them from just penalties.
*Thompson, E. A.
The Goths in Spain.
Clarendon Press:
Oxford,
1969.
