The Life of John of Biclaro by Isidore of Seville (De Viris Illustribus 44)

I have never really found this text translated anywhere. The basic Latin text was taken from the Patrologia Latina. Here is my translation of the text.

John, bishop of the church of Gerona, a Goth by birth, was born in Scalabi (Santarem) in the province of Portugal.¹ When he was a teenager, he went on to Constantinople, and there, he was strengthened in the knowledge of Greek and Latin. After seventeen years, he returned to Spain, at that same time when the Arian madness was inflamed by the inciting King Leovigild. From there, since the aforementioned king forced towards the cruelty of this ignominious heresy, and Biclaro resisted wholeheartedly, he (Biclaro) was trust into exile and banished to Barcelona. For ten years, he endured to the fullest many plots and persecutions by Arians.

Afterwards, he founded a monastery, which was called Biclaro by name, where there congregated the society of monks. He wrote a rule, which will be [not only] useful to that monastery, but even quite vital to all fearing God. He wrote in a book, a Chronicle from the first year of the reign of the younger Justin, all the way to the eight year of Maurice, Prince of the Romans, and the fourth year of Reccared king. And with this historical discourse, greatly useful to history, having been composed, he is said to have written many other things, which did not reach our notice.

What I find particularly interesting is the continuous mention of Leovigild, a visigothic monarch who reigned from 572 to his death in 586, as a monarch who is burning with Arian madness. This reference is also present in the Life of the Fathers of Merida, as well as the Chronicle of Biclaro. In contrast, his son, Reccared, is the ideal christian monarch, who brought the Goths to the catholic faith.

This portrayal of Leovigild as the persecutor king, filled with Arian madness, does not echo modern interpretations. Modern scholars see Leovigild as the driving force behind the unification of Spain under Visigothic rule. Prior to Leovigild's coming, we find that Visigothic rulers commonly fall victim to plots and assassinations. Furthermore, Spain is divided politically: the Byzantine emperor Justin II controls part of the eastern coast of Spain, while the Suevi ruled over what is now Asturias and Gallicia. Under Leovigild, the Byzantine enclave is annexed, while the Suevi are defeated.

Only the reconciliation between Visigoths and Hispano-Romans stood in the way of complete unification. Leovigild attempted to find a middle ground at the council of Merida (582). There, Leovigild proposed a new creed, where the Father was equal to the Son, but the Holy Spirit remained inferior. We are told in the Lives of the Fathers of Merida, that most Arian bishops agreed, and Biclaro tells us that some catholic bishops had agreed to join this creed, but had done so out of greed rather than desire. Thus, only the depraved catholics seemed to want to join under this creed.

Thus Leovigild's unification remained incomplete. It is under his son, Reccared, that the Visigoths agree to come to the unadulterated catholic faith. Still, scholars argue, quite rightly, that Leovigild had set the groundworks for the possible reconciliation of the Arian Visigoths and the Nicene Hispano-Romans. Admittedly, as Dr. Koch pointed out, this reconciliation did not spell the end of insecurity in Spain, but relative peace prevailed until the death of Reccared in 601.

For Further Reading:

Collins, Roger. Visigothic Spain: 409-711. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004 (major authority on Visigothic Spain)

Heather, Peter. The Goths. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1996 (especially the later chapters)

Stocking, Rachel L. Bishops, Councils and the Consensus in the Visigothic Kingdom. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2000. (the introduction is particularly good)

Teillet, Suzanne. Des Goths à la Nation Gothique. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1984