CHA P. year, on the vigil of Eafter (130); and the miraculous XXXVII. fhrine of St. Martin of Tours, which had already converted the Suevic prince and people of Gallicia (131). The Catholic king encountered some difficulties on this important change of the national religion. A confpiracy, fecretly fomented by the queen-dowager, was formed against his life; and two counts excited a dangerous revolt in the Narbonnese Gaul. But Recared difarmed the confpirators, defeated the rebels, and executed fevere juftice; which the Arians, in their turn, might brand with the reproach of perfecution, Eight bifhops, whofe names betray their Barbaric origin, abjured their errors; and all the books of Arian theology were reduced to afhes, with the house in which they had been purposely collected. The whole body of the Vifigoths and Suevi were allured or driven into the pale of the Catholic communion; the faith, at least of the rifing generation, was fervent and fincere; and the devout liberality of the Barbarians enriched the churches and monafteries of Spain. Seventy bifhops, affembled in the council of Toledo, received the fubmiffion of their conquerors; and the zeal of the Spaniards improved the Nicene creed, by declaring the proceffion of the Holy Ghoft, from the Son, as well as from the Father; a weighty point of doctrine, which produced, long afterwards, the fchifm of the Greek and Latin churches (132). The royal profelyte immediately faluted and confulted pope Gregory, furnamed the Great, a learned and holy prelate, whofe reign was diftinguished by the converfion of heretics and infidels, The ambaffadors of Recared refpectfully offered on the threshold of the Vatican his rich prefents of gold and gems: they accepted, as a lucrative exchange, the hairs of St. John the Baptift; a cross, which inclosed a small piece of the true wood; and a key, that (130) This miracle was fkilfully performed. An Arian king fealed the doors, and dug a deep trench round the church, without being able to intercept the Eafter fupply, of baptismal water. (131) Ferreras (tom. ii. p. 168-175. A. D. 550.) has illuftrated the difficulties which regard the time and circumftances of the converfion of the Suevi. They had been recently united by Leovigild to the Gothic monarchy of Spain. (132) This addition to the Nicene, or rather the Conftantinopolitan creed, was first made in the eighth council of Toledo, A, D. 653; but it was expreffive of the popular doctrine (Gerard Voffius, tom, vi. p. 527. de tribus Symbolis.). that contained fome particles of iron which had been fcrap-CHA P. ed from the chains of St. Peter (133). XXXVII. A. D. 600, &C. The fame Gregory, the spiritual conqueror of Britain, en- Converfion couraged the pious Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards, to of the propagate the Nicene faith among the victorious favages, Lombards whofe recent Christianity was polluted by the Arian herefy. of Italy, Her devout labours still left room for the industry and fuccefs of future miffionaries; and many cities of Italy were still difputed by hoftile bishops. But the caufe of Arianism was gradually fuppreffed by the weight of truth, of interest, and of example; and the controverfy, which Egypt had derived from the Platonic school, was terminated, after a war of three hundred years, by the final converfion of the Lombards of Italy (134). The first miffionaries who preached the gospel to the Bar- Perfecution barians, appealed to the evidence of reafon, and claimed the of the Jews in Spain, benefit of toleration (135). But no fooner had they efta- A. D. 612 blifhed their fpiritual dominion, than they exhorted the-712. Christian kings to extirpate, without mercy, the remains of Roman or Barbaric fuperftition: The fucceffors of Clovis inflicted one hundred lafhes on the peasants who refused to destroy their idols; the crime of facrificing to the dæmons was punished by the Anglo-Saxon laws with the hea vier penalties of imprisonment and confiscation; and even the wife Alfred adopted, as an indifpenfable duty, the extreme rigour of the Mofaic inftitutions (136). But the punishment, and the crime, were gradually abolished among a Christian people: the theological disputes of the fchools were fufpended by propitious ignorance; and the intolerant fpirit, which could find neither idolaters nor heretics, was reduced to the perfecution of the Jews. That (133) See Gregor. Magn. I. vii, epift. 126. apud Baronium, Annal. Ecclef. A. D. 599. No. 25, 26. (134) Paul Warnefrid (de Geftis Langobard. I. iv. c. 44. P. 853. edit. Grot.) allows that Arianifm ftill prevailed under the reign of Rotharis (A. D. 636-652.). The pious Deacon does not attempt to mark the precife æra of the national converfion, which was accomplished, however, before the end of the feventh century. (135) Quorum fidei et converfioni ita congratulatus effe rex perhibetur, ut nullum tamen cogeret ad Chriftianifmum Didicerat enim a doctoribus auctoribufque fua falutis, fervitium Christi voluntarium non coactitium effe debere. Bedæ Hift. Ecclefiaftic. I. i. c. 26. p. 62. edit. Smith. (136) See the Hiftorians of France, tom. iv. p. 114.; and Wilkins, Leges Anglo-Saxonicæ, p. 11. 31. Siquis facrificium immolaverit præter Deo foli morte moriatur. CHAP. That exiled nation had founded fome fynagogues in XXXVII. the cities of Gaul; but Spain, fince the time of Hadrian, was filled with their numerous colonies (137). The wealth which they accumulated by trade, and the management of the finances, invited the pious avarice of their mafters; and they might be oppreffed without danger, as they had loft the ufe, and even the remembrance, of arms. Sifebut, a Gothic king, who reigned in the beginning of the feventh century, proceeded at once to the laft extremes of perfecution (138). Ninety thousand Jews were compelled to receive the facrament of baptifm; the fortunes of the obftinate infidels were confifcated, their bodies were tortured; and it feems doubtful whether they were permitted to abandon their native country. The exceffive zeal of the Catholic king was moderated, even by the clergy of Spain, who folemnly pronounced an inconfiftent sentence: that the facraments fhould not be forcibly impofed; but that the Jews who had been baptized should be conftrained, for the honour of the church, to perfevere in the external practice of a religion which they difbelieved, and detefted. Their frequent relapfes provoked one of the fucceffors of Sifebut to banish the whole nation from his dominions; and a council of Toledo publifhed a decree, that every Gothic king should fwear to maintain this falutary edict. But the tyrants were unwilling to difmifs the victims, whom they delighted to torture, or to deprive themselves of the industrious flaves, over whom they might exercise a lucrative oppreffion. The Jews ftill continued in Spain, under the weight of the civil and ecclefiaftical laws, which in the fame country have been faithfully transcribed in the Code of the Inquifition. The Gothic kings and bishops at length difcovered, that injuries will produce hatred, and that hatred will find the opportunity of revenge. A nation, the fecret or profeffed enemies of Christianity, ftill multiplied in fervi tude, (137) The Jews pretend that they were introduced into Spain by the fleets of Solomon, and the arms of Nebuchadnezzar; that Hadrian tranfported forty thousand families of the tribe of Judah, and ten thousand of the tribe of Benjamin, &c. Bafnage, Hift. des Juifs, tom, vii. c. 9. P. 240256. (138) Ifidore, at that time archbishop of Seville, mentions, disapproves, and congratulates, the zeal of Sifebut (Chron. Goth. p. 728.). Baronius (A. D. 614. N° 41.) affigns the number on the evidence of Aïmoin (1. iv. c. 22.): but the evidence is weak, and I have not been able to verify the quo ration (Hiftorians of France, tom. iii. p. 127.). tude, and diftrefs; and the intrigues of the Jews promoted C H A P. the rapid fuccefs of the Arabian conquerors (139). XXXVII. As foon as the Barbarians withdrew their powerful fup- Conclufion. port, the unpopular herefy of Arius funk into contempt and oblivion. But the Greeks ftill retained their fubtle and loquacious difpofition: the establishment of an obfcure doctrine fuggefted new questions, and new difputes; and it was always in the power of an ambitious prelate, or a fanatic monk, to violate the peace of the church, and, perhaps, of the empire. The hiftorian of the empire may overlook those difputes which were confined to the obfcurity of schools and fynods. The Manichæans, who laboured to reconcile the religions of Chrift and of Zoroafter, had fecretly introduced themselves into the provinces: but thefe foreign fectaries were involved in the common difgrace of the Gnoftics, and the Imperial laws were executed by the public hatred. The rational opinions of the Pelagians were propagated from Britain to Rome, Africa, and Palestine, and filently expired in a fuperftitious age. But the Eaft was distracted by the Neftorian and Eutychian controverfies; which attempted to explain the mystery of the incarnation, and haftened the ruin of Chriftianity in her native land. Thefe controverfies were first agitated under the reign of the younger Theodofius: but their important confequences extend far beyond the limits of the prefent volume. The metaphyfical chain of argument, the contests of ecclefiaftical ambition, and their political influence on the decline of the Byzantine empire, may afford an interesting and inftructive series of history, from the ge neral councils of Ephefus and Chalcedon, to the conqueft of the Eaft by the fucceffors of Mahomet. (139) Bafnage (tom. viii. c. 13. p. 388-400.) faithfully represents the ftate of the Jews: but he might have added from the canons of the Spanish councils, and the laws of the Vifigoths, many curious circumstances, effential to his subject, though they are foreign to mine, CHAP XXXVIII. The revolu tion of Gaul. CHA P. XXXVIII. Reign and Converfion of Clovis.-His victories over the Aleman- THE CHAP. HE Gauls (1), who impatiently supported the Roman yoke, received a memorable leffon from one of the lieutenants of Vefpafian, whose weighty fenfe has been refined and expreffed by the genius of Tacitus (2). "The "protection of the republic has delivered Gaul from inter"nal discord, and foreign invasions. By the lofs of national "independence, you have acquired the name and privileges "of Roman citizens. You enjoy, in common with our"felves, the permanent benefits of civil government; and "your remote fituation is lefs exposed to the accidental mis"chiefs of tyranny. Instead of exercising the rights of con"queft, we have been contented to impofe fuch tributes as "are requifite for your own prefervation. Peace cannot be "fecured without armies; and armies must be supported "at the expence of the people. It is for your fake, not for "our own, that we guard the barrier of the Rhine against "the ferocious Germans, who have fo often attempted, and "who will always defire, to exchange the folitude of their "woods and moraffes for the wealth and fertility of Gaul. "The fall of Rome would be fatal to the provinces ; and you would be buried in the ruins of that mighty fabric, "which (1) In this chapter I shall draw my quotations from the Recueil des Hiftoriens des Gaules et de la France, Paris, 1738-1767, in eleven volumes in folio. By the labour of Dom. Bouquet, and the other Benedictines, all the original testimonies, as far as A. D. 1060, are disposed in chronological order, and illuftrated with learned potes, Such a national work, which will be continued to the year 1500, might provoke our emulation. (2) Tacit. Hift. iv. 73, 74. in tom. i. p. 445. To abridge Tacitus, would indeed be prefumptuous; but I may select the general ideas which he applies to the present state and future revolutions of Gaul. |