TOLEDO, CITY, BISHOPRIC, AND SYNODS OF.

TOLEDO, CITY, BISHOPRIC, AND SYNODS OF.

I. City and Bishopric.

History and Remains (§ 1). The Bishopric (§2). II. Synods.

The Three Ecclesiastical Synods (§ 1). The Semi-Political Synods (§ 2).

I. City and Bishopric: Toledo, one of the most

ancient and famous of the cities of Spain, is situated

in the central part, 41 m. s.s.w. of Madrid. It rises

on a bold promontory surrounded on three sides by

a deep gorge of the river Tagus. Under the name

Toletum it is mentioned by Livy in connection with

the year 192 b.c. as a " small town but

i. History strong in its situation." After the

and Roman time it fell to the Visigoths,

Remains, becoming their capital under King Leovigild (568-586)). Under the Moors (from 714) it was the center of Mohammedan power in Spain and enjoyed a long period of prosperity. On May 25, 1085, Alfonso VI. the Valiant, of Leon and Castile, wrested the city from the Mohammedans and gave the name of New Castile to the region. The city thenceforth was a favorite residence of the Castilian monarchs; it became the political and intellectual center of old Spain and no less important ecclesiastically. Its churches, convents, chapels, and hospitals occupied more than half of its area, while the archbishops of Toledo — with title of primate of all Spain — wielded a powerful influence. Their names are connected with the weightiest events in Spanish history; they commanded armies; with their immense wealth they built schools, hospitals, and public works; and, representing the best and highest civilization of their time, they fostered art and science. The cathedral of Toledo is an enormous structure occupying the site of a Christian church of the Visigothic period and dedicated to the Virgin by King Recared Apr. 12, 587. The Moors made this church their principal mosque. The foundation of the present structure was laid in 1227, and the work of building went on till 1492, when it was completed as at present: of the two projecting towers the southern is still unfinished. The style is

{Toledo

THE NEW SCHAFP-HERZOG

early Gothic with later features corresponding to the long period of building. The forty chapels, profusely decorated and rich in art treasures, are of later date than the main structure. In the chapel of the Holy Sacrament the Mozarabic Liturgy (q.v.) is still used, and the Capilla de la Virgen del Sagrario contains an ancient wooden statue of the Virgin overlaid with silver which is considered the palladium of the city. Many of the former churches and convents of Toledo are now in ruins; or, like the palace of the inquisition, have been converted to secular uses. The population, once estimated at 200,000, had fallen to 23,375 in 1900, but the city is rich in historical remains. Its surviving churches, not a few of them formerly Mohammedan mosques or Jewish synagogues, its hundred towers and lofty walls, its narrow tortuous streets with houses opening within on spacious courts and gardens, and the like, make it the most medieval city in modern Europe and the most Moorish city in present-day Spain. The provincial library of 70,000 volumes and numerous manuscripts is preserved in the archiepiscopal palace. The university, founded in 1490, was discontinued in 1845. The manufacture of ecclesiastical vestments is still, as formerly, one of the most important of the city's industries.

According to tradition the first bishop of Toledo was Eugenius, a disciple of Dionysius the Areopagite, by whom he was sent from Paris. The bishopric was certainly in existence in the early fourth century, since Bishop Melantius of Toledo was at the Synod of Elvira (300). Bishop Montanus (522-531) was

proclaimed metropolitan at the synod

2. The of 527 [or 531; see (3), below], not-

Bishopric. withstanding the claim of the bishop of

Carthagena to the dignity. Under Aurasius (603-615) the influence of Toledo began to increase owing to the residence of the Visigothic kings in the city. From 653 its archbishops presided at synods and were the first to sign their canons, and canon vi. of the synod of 681 [see (12), below] attests that the archbishop of Toledo had attained the primacy, triumphing over his rivals, the metropolitans of Seville and Tarragona. Ildephonsus (q.v.), archbishop 657-667, is honored in the Spanish church for his zeal for the veneration of Mary. Sindered (707-721) made little effort to check the corruption which found entrance among clergy as well as laity in the latter days of the Gothic rule and fled from his see to Rome before the Arabs. Elipandus (c. 783-808) became involved in the Adoptionist controversy (see Adoptionism, §§ 2-4). King Alfonso, after he had regained the city, exerted himself to increase its Christian population, and was ably seconded in the restoration of the diocese by Bernard, a French monk whom he caused to be chosen archbishop in 1086. Bernard received the pallium from Pope Urban II., and was declared primate of all the Spanish realm at Rome in 1088. Rodrigo Ximenes de Rada (1209^7) was one of the most learned and zealous of the archbishops of Toledo. He fought against the Moslems, won the affection of the poor by his benevolence, helped to found and build the new cathedral, stoutly defended his right to the primacy against the other archbishops, and wrote several historical works (col-

lected by A. Schott in Hispania illustrata, vol. ii., Frankfort, 1603-08). Cardinal Ximenes (see Ximenes de Cisneros, Francisco; 1495-1517), as archbishop and statesman, exerted a mighty influence; he was chief inquisitor and a promoter of science and art. Bartolome Carranza (q.v.) is said to have expended more than 1,000,000 ducats in charitable foundations. Fernandez de Cordova (1755-71), whose philanthropy was inexhaustible, was expelled from court because of sympathies with the Jesuits. The revenues of the archdiocese have greatly declined and its influence has been weakened. The suffragan bishoprics at present are Coria, Cuenca, Madrid, Plasencia, and Siguenza. The chapter consists of sixty-four members, the number of priests is 600, of parishes 445, and of souls, 508,250.

II. Synods: The usual official reckoning of eighteen synods of Toledo is incorrect and arbitrary; since, on the one hand, not all were Spanish- Visigothic national synods; and, on the other hand, two which

met in the city on the Tagus are not

i. The included. Naturally the Arian synod

Three discussed in connection with that of

Ecclesias- 589 [see (3) below] would be passed by

tical with silence. (1) Of a Spanish national

Synods, synod, of the year 400, twenty canons

and two documents concerning the reinstatement of Priscillianist bishops are preserved. Canons i., iii., iv., and viii. expressly contend for the celibacy of the priesthood. (2) The acts of the national synod of 447 contain eighteen anathemas against the Priscillianists and a symbol of faith (wrongly attributed to the first synod of Toledo), noteworthy since it first pronounces the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, and thus early emphasizes the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son (see Filioqtje Controversy). (3) The third synod in 527 or 531 is not included in the official list, being a provincial, not a national, synod. Two letters of Archbishop Montanus concerning the consecration of the chrism are an appendix to this synod. The third official synod, May 8, 589, was the most important of the synods of Toledo, since the religious policy of Leander and Recared I. (586-601) here reached its highest point. The disciplinary decrees (capitula) degraded the State to the position of mere beadle of the Church, exalted the hierarchy above the crown, made the higher clergy princes, and transformed the national synods into diets of the realm in which the bishops had the decisive voice. The synod was preceded by a conference of Arian and Catholic prelates, in the course of which Recared went over to the Catholics and induced a considerable part of his people to abjure Arianism. The first thirteen canons are condemnatory of Arianism. The third is noteworthy as the first decided repudiation by a great western synod of the Greek view of the procession of the Holy Spirit. Canon xiv., at least indirectly, disapproves of the semi-Arian doxology, gloria pain per filium in spiritu sancto. Canon xv. condemns the Arian practise of rebaptizing converts. Canon xvi. condemns the semi-Arianism adopted by the Arian synod of 580, namely, of receiving proselytes from the Roman Church by the laying on of hands,