E02068: Canon 23 of the Third Council of Toledo, issued in Latin in 589, forbids dancing and the singing of filthy songs on saints' days, instead of participating in cult.

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posted on 2016-12-03, 00:00 authored by CSLA Admin

Third Council of Toledo (AD 589)

Canon 23

[Title in the recension Iuliana:] Vt in sanctorum nataliciis ballematiae prohibeantur
[Title in the recension Vulgata:] Vt ballematiae et turpes cantici prohibendi sint a sanctorum sollemnitatibus

Exterminanda omnino est irreligiosa consuetudo quam uulgus per sanctorum sollemnitatem agere consueuit, ut populi qui debent officia diuina attendere, saltationibus et turpibus inuigilent canticis, non solum sibi nocentes sed et religiosorum officiis praestrepentes. Hoc etenim ut ab omni Spania depellatur, sacerdotum et iudicum a concilio sancto curae commitittur.

Canon 23

'[Title in the Iuliana recension:] That dances on the saint's feasts (natalicia sanctorum) are prohibited
[Title in the Vulgata recension:] That dances and filthy songs on the saints' feasts shall be prohibited

The irreligious custom is wholly to be abolished, which the common people are used to practising on the festival of saints (sollemnitas sanctorum), that the people who should attend the divine office, instead keep vigils with dances and filthy songs, not only harming themselves but also disturbing the religious offices. The holy council entrusts to the care of priests and judges to eradicate this from all Spain.'

Text: Martinez Diez, Rodrigues 1992, 131-132. Translation: M. Szada.

History

Evidence ID

E02068

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

589

Evidence not after

589

Activity not before

589

Activity not after

589

Place of Evidence - Region

Iberian Peninsula

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Toledo

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Toledo Osset Osset Osen (castrum) Osser castrum

Cult activities - Liturgical Activity

Service for the Saint

Cult activities - Activities Accompanying Cult

Feasting (eating, drinking, dancing, singing, bathing)

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Vigils

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics – unspecified

Source

The Third Council of Toledo in 589 was a pivotal event that changed the religious allegiance of the Visigothic kingdom. The ruling elites of the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse (418-507), and later in the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, adhered to Arian (Homoian) Christianity, whereas the Roman population was predominantly Catholic (though the frontiers between the denominations were not impenetrable, as we know of Goths who converted to Nicene Christianity and Romans who were Homoian). In 587 King Reccared converted to Catholicism. This was followed by the decision to eliminate the religious division in the kingdom. The third council of Toledo assembled in May 589 to confirm the conversion of all the Gothic leaders and Arian clergy to Catholicism. The bibliography on the conversion of the Visigoths and the third council in Toledo is voluminous - only a few seminal books and papers are signalled below. The acts of the third council of Toledo were transmitted in the 7th century canonical collection from Spain, the so-called Hispana. Its authorship has been attributed to Isidore of Seville (as still accepted by Martinez Diez 1966; other scholars reject this attribution: Munier 1966; Gaudemet 1967, 122-124; Schaferdiek 1967, 144-148; Landau 1968, 406-418). This collection has several recensions: the primitive one, the so-called Isidoriana, is today lost; the Juliana, edited after 681 and attributed to Julian of Toledo, which adds to the previous recension the acts and canons of the councils from the Fifth to the Twelfth Council of Toledo (in 681); the Vulgata edited between 694-702, which adds the acts and canons of the councils from the Thirteenth to the Seventeenth Council of Toledo (in 694): this recension was the most widespread during the Middle Ages (for more bibliography, see Kéry 1999, 61-67). The Juliana and Vulgata give different titles to the canons of the Third Council of Toledo (Martinez Diez 1992, 17-20).

Bibliography

Edition: Martínez Díez, G., and Rodríguez, F., La colección canónica Hispana (Monumenta Hispaniae sacra. Serie canónica 5; Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto Enrique Flórez, 1992). Further reading: Collins, R., Visigothic Spain, 409-711 (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004). Gaudemet, J., "[Review of:] G. Martinez Diez, La coleccion canonica Hispana 1", Revue historique de droit français et étranger 4e ser. 45 (1967), 122-124. Gonzalvez, R. (ed.), El Concilio III de Toledo. XIV Centenario (Toledo: Arzobispado de Toledo, 1991). Hillgarth, J.N., "La conversión de los Visigodos. Notas criticas", Analecta Sacra Tarraconensia 34/1 (1961), 21-46. Kéry, L., Canonical Collections of the Early Middle Ages (ca. 400-1140): A Bibliographical Guide to the Manuscripts and Literature (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1999). M. Koch, Ethnische Identität im Entstehungsprozess des spanischen Westgotenreiches (Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2012). P. Landau, "[Review of:] G. Martinez Diez, La coleccion canonica Hispana 1", Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte Kanonistische Abteilung 54 (1968), 406-414. Martínez Díez, G., La Colección canónica Hispana, vol. 1 Estudio (Madrid 1966). Munier, C., "Saint Isidore de Séville est-il l’auteur de I’Hispana chronologique?", Sacris Erudiri 17 (1966), 230-241. Schäferdiek, K., "[Review of:] G. Martinez Diez, La coleccion canonica Hispana 1", Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 78 (1967), 144-148. Thompson, E.A., "The Conversion of the Visigoths to Catholicism," Nottingham Medieval Studies 4 (1960), 4-35.

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