1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Toledo, Councils of

TOLEDO, COUNCILS OF (Concilia toletana). From the 5th to the 16th century about thirty synods, variously counted, were held at Toledo in Spain. The earliest, directed against Priscillianism, assembled in 400. The “third” synod of 589 marked the epoch-making conversion of King Reccared from Arianism to Roman Catholicism. The “fourth,” in 633, probably under the presidency of the noted Isidore of Seville, regulated many matters of discipline, decreed uniformity of liturgy throughout the kingdom and took stringent measures against baptized Jews who had relapsed into their former faith. The “twelfth” council in 681 assured to the archbishop of Toledo the primacy of Spain. As nearly one hundred early canons of Toledo found a place in the Decretum Gratiani, they exerted an important influence on the development of ecclesiastical law. The synod of 1565 and 1566 concerned itself with the execution of the decrees of Trent; and the last council of Toledo, that of 1582 and 1583, was so guided in detail by Philip II. that the pope ordered the name of the royal commissioner to be expunged from the acts.

See Canones apostolorum et conciliorum saeculorum, iv., v., vi., vii., rec. H. T. Bruns, pars prior (Berlin, 1839), critical text of seventeen councils of Toledo (A.D. 400-694); P. B. Gams, Die Kirchengeschichte von Spanien (Regensburg, 1862-1879); E. H. Landon, A Manual of the Councils of the Holy Catholic Church, revised ed. (London, 1893), 151-169. These two summarize the chief canons. Neher, in Wetzer and Welte's Kirchenlexicon (1855-1857), vol. xi. (2nd ed. Freiburg, 1899), gives a list of 29 synods. (W. W. R.*)