Letter 30

A letter from a Visigothic council [636] addressed to the Visigothic ecclesiastical establishment on questions of church-state relations following the turbulent reigns of Swinthila and Sisenand [r.631-636]. The letter addresses proper procedures for royal succession, the church's role in legitimizing kingship, and episcopal responsibilities toward the crown — matters made urgent by the growing instability of Visigothic royal succession in the 630s. The Visigothic church's involvement in royal politics would increasingly shape the kingdom's fate as it moved toward its sudden end in the Muslim conquest of 711.