Christianity and Islam in Spain | Page 3

the fall of the Western
Empire. But the Goths were as yet by no means in possession of the
whole of Spain. A large part of the south was held by imperialist troops;
for, though the Western Empire had been extinguished in 476, the
Eastern emperor had succeeded by inheritance to all the outlying
provinces, which had even nominally belonged to his rival in the West.
Among these was some portion of Spain.
It was not till 570, the year in which Mohammed was born, that a king
came to the Gothic throne strong enough to crush the Suevi and to
reduce the imperialist garrisons in the South; and it was not till 622, the
very year of the Flight from Mecca, that a Gothic king, Swintila, finally
drove out all the Emperor's troops, and became king in reality of all
Spain.
Scarcely had this been well done, when we perceive the first
indications of the advent of a far more terrible foe, the rumours of
whose irresistible prowess had marched before them. The dread, which
the Arabs aroused even in distant Spain as early as a century after the
birth of Mohammed, may be appreciated from the despairing lines of
Julian,[1] bishop of Toledo:--
"Hei mihi! quam timeo, ne nos malus implicet error, Demur et infandis
gentibus opprobrio! Africa plena viris bellacibus arma minatur, Inque
dies victrix gens Agarena furit."
Before giving an account of the Saracen invasion and its results, it will
be well to take a brief retrospect of the condition of Christianity in
Spain under the Gothic domination, and previous to the advent of the
Moslems.
[1] Migne's "Patrologie," vol. xcvi. p. 814.

There can be no doubt that Christianity was brought very early into
Spain by the preaching, as is supposed, of St Paul himself, who is said
to have made a missionary journey through Andalusia, Valencia, and
Aragon. On the other hand, there are no grounds whatever for
supposing that James, the brother of John, ever set foot in Spain. The
"invention" of his remains at Ira Flavia in the 9th century, together with
the story framed to account for their presence in a remote corner of
Spain so far from the scene of the Apostle's martyrdom, is a fable too
childish to need refutation.
The honour of first hearing the Gospel message has been claimed (but,
it seems, against probability) for Illiberis.[1] However that may be, the
early establishment of Christianity in Spain is attested by Irenæus, who
appeals to the Spanish Church as retaining the primitive doctrine.[2]
The long roll of Spanish martyrs begins in the persecution of Domitian
(95 A.D.) with the name of Eugenius, bishop of Toledo. In most of the
succeeding persecutions Spain furnished her full quota of martyrs, but
she suffered most under Diocletian (303). It was in this emperor's reign
that nearly all the inhabitants of Cæsar Augusta were treacherously
slaughtered on the sole ground of their being Christians; thus earning
for their native city from the Christian poet Prudentius,[3] the proud
title of "patria sanctorum martyrum."
[1] Florez, "España Sagrada," vol. iii. pp. 361 ff.
[2] Bk. I. ch. x. 2 (A.D. 186).
[3] 348-402 A.D.
The persecution of Diocletian, though the fiercest, was at the same time
the last, which afflicted the Church under the Roman Empire.
Diocletian indeed proclaimed that he had blotted out the very name of
Christian and abolished their hateful superstition. This even to the
Romans must have seemed an empty boast, and the result of
Diocletian's efforts only proved the truth of the old maxim--"the blood
of martyrs is the seed of the Church."
The Spanish Christians about this time[1] held the first ecclesiastical

council whose acts have come down to us. This Council of Illiberis, or
Elvira, was composed of nineteen bishops and thirty-six presbyters,
who passed eighty canons.
[1] The date is doubtful. Blunt, "Early Christianity," p. 209, places it
between 314 and 325, though in a hesitating manner. Other dates given
are 300 and 305.
The imperial edict of toleration was issued in 313, and in 325 was held
the first General Council of the Church under the presidency of the
emperor, Constantine, himself an avowed Christian. Within a quarter of
a century of the time when Diocletian had boasted that he had
extirpated the Christian name, it has been computed that nearly one half
of the inhabitants of his empire were Christians.
The toleration, so long clamoured for, so lately conceded, was in 341
put an end to by the Christians themselves, and Pagan sacrifices were
prohibited. So inconsistent is the conduct of a church militant and a
church triumphant! In 388, after a brief eclipse under Julian,
Christianity was formally declared by the Senate to be the established
religion of the Roman Empire.
But the security, or