Visigothic conversion to Catholicism

The History of Spain Podcast

This is episode 16 called Visigothic conversion to Catholicism and in this episode you will learn:
SHOW NOTES
- Why there was a religious conflict in Visigothic Spain between Catholics and Arians
- Why the reformed Arianism of Leovigild didn't work and why it was so difficult to make Catholicism the state religion of the Visigothic Kingdom
- What King Reccared did to reduce opposition following his conversion
- Details about the three attempts to overthrow Reccared between his personal conversion and the Third Council of Toledo and how the Visigoths repelled the Frankish invasion of Septimania
- Reccared's strategy to strengthen royal power using the Church
- Third Council of Toledo: Visigoths abdjure the Arian heresy and embrace Catholicism, alliance between the Visigothic state and the Church and firsts anti-Jewish policies
- Why Reccared's religious policy wasn't that different from that of Leovigild and the implications of the religious unity of Visigoths and Hispano-Romans
- Comparison of the Medieval and modern concept of nation and how Isidore of Seville blended the Visigoths and Hispano-Romans together in one nation
- The idea of mater Spania and the breakup with the ancient historiography to develop a national narrative
- Minor events of the reign of Reccared and the short reign of his son Liuva II
- The reigns of Witteric and Gundemar
- Reflection about the long-term consequences of the alliance between the Visigothic state and the Catholic Church and the unique mix of caesaropapism and theocracy that resulted from it