Julian of Toledo

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Julian of Toledo

Julian of Toledo (* around 642; † March 6, 690 in Toledo ) was Metropolitan of Toledo from 680 to 690 (see the list of Archbishops of Toledo ). He also emerged as an author.

Life

Little contemporary evidence is known about Julian's life. Apart from a few autobiographical references, his biography is based on the Vita seu elogium , which Julian's successor Felix of Toledo wrote three years after his death. The vita, which describes Julian with benevolence, is valued by historians as reliable in the facts, even if it gives only a few details. So she is silent about Julian's appearance, his parents and the social position of the family. The fact that Julian was often associated with the author Julianus Pomerinus, who also came from Toledo, was also detrimental to the factual structure of his biography until the historical groundwork of the 18th century.

Julian was probably born as the son of a Jewish Christian family in Toledo, which can be concluded from the statement in the Mozarabic Chronicle that Julian was "ex traduce Judaeorum". In addition, Julian himself claimed that distant ancestors had distanced themselves from the Jewish religion. The fact that there is no mention of his origin in the sources and that the prosopography of the Visigothic Empire showed that many converted Jews had become clerics is cited for this thesis. On the other hand, some historians object that the continuation is in some ways unreliable and that no direct Jewish origin was permitted for a position as high as that achieved by Julian at that time. Some even see Julian himself as a Converso . At that time Toledo was the capital of the Visigoth Empire .

The day, month and year of Julian's birth are not recorded; In general, the year of birth is given as 642, but the years 640, 644 and 654 are also given. He is said to have come from the center of Toledo and was baptized in the local cathedral church; instead of a Germanic name it was given a Romance. Tommaso Stancati sees this baptism as a sign that Julian came from a local family of urban nobility with ties to the bishop. His rise to the most important churchman in Spain also suggests that Julian's family belonged to the Hispanic-Roman nobility. It is certain that Julian was trained for a few years at the Cathedral School in Toledo under Metropolitan Eugenius II of Toledo . Also Ildefons of Toledo was a teacher Julian, before he himself taught at the cathedral school. Tommaso Stancati assumes that Julian became an oblate of the cathedral as a child because of the wealth of his parents . Julian later became a deacon and presbyter in Toledo.

On January 29, 680 Julian became Metropolitan of Toledo. In October of the same year King Wamba was overthrown by court intrigue; Julian performed the anointing of the king of Wamba's opponent and successor Erwig . During Wamba's reign, Julian was at least temporarily a supporter of this king, but recent research suggests that he welcomed Erwig's coup and even actively supported it. During his tenure, between 681 and 688, Julian presided over the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th Councils of Toledo ; apart from the 14th, a provincial synod , these were imperial councils. The 12th Council of Toledo approved Erwig's seizure of power and gave the Metropolitan of Toledo priority over the other Metropolitans; H. in fact, the dominant position of a primate of the empire. Julian probably played a key role in Erwig's anti-Jewish legislation.

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Julian was also important as a writer. In terms of church politics, he accepted the rejection of monotheletism in the Council of Constantinople of 680/681, but wrote a statement on the decisions of the council that was no longer preserved. When Pope Benedict II , for his part, expressed himself critically against the thesis expressed in this statement that the will has generated the will in God, he wrote the work Apologeticum de tribus capitulis to prove his orthodoxy. His other works had a not inconsiderable theological and spiritual historical significance. With his work Antikeimena or Anticemenon he anticipated the methodology of scholasticism when interpreting the Bible . With his Prognosticon futuri saeculi or Liber prognosticorum , he made the first attempt at a comprehensive, systematic eschatology in Christian literature.

As a historian, he worked with his Historia Wambae regis ("History of King Wambas"), in which he glorified Wamba as an exemplary Christian ruler. This work is a valuable source of history from an otherwise poor time. Julian emphasized the ruler's divine grace and the resulting duty of loyalty; For him, unfaithfulness to the king meant unfaithfulness to God. He expressed himself contemptuously about the "Gauls" (novels in Septimania ), to whom he assumed bad character traits. In particular, he resented a positive relationship with the Jews, against whom - regardless of his own Jewish ancestry - he turned against them with great severity.

Translations

  • The Story of Wamba: Julian of Toledo's "Historia Wambae Regis". Translated by Joaquin Martinez Pizarro. Washington, DC 2005.
  • Prognosticum futuri saeculi = Foreknowledge of the world to come (= Ancient Christian writers. No. 63). Ed., Translated and introduced by Tommaso Stancati. The Paulist Press / The Newman Press, New York 2010.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Julian von Toledo: Prognosticum futuri saeculi = Foreknowledge of the world to come (= Ancient Christian writers. No. 63). Ed., Translated and introduced by Tommaso Stancati. The Paulist Press / The Newman Press, New York 2010, pp. 33-39 .
  2. ↑ Julian von Toledo: Prognosticum futuri saeculi = Foreknowledge of the world to come (= Ancient Christian writers. No. 63). Ed., Translated and introduced by Tommaso Stancati. The Paulist Press / The Newman Press, New York 2010, pp. 35 f., 39 f.
  3. ↑ Julian von Toledo: Prognosticum futuri saeculi = Foreknowledge of the world to come (= Ancient Christian writers. No. 63). Ed., Translated and introduced by Tommaso Stancati. The Paulist Press / The Newman Press, New York 2010, pp. 38 f., 49.
  4. ↑ Julian von Toledo: Prognosticum futuri saeculi = Foreknowledge of the world to come (= Ancient Christian writers. No. 63). Ed., Translated and introduced by Tommaso Stancati. The Paulist Press / The Newman Press, New York 2010, pp. 40, 44 f., 47. There are both censuses (II./III.) For the same person who officiated as metropolitan from 647 onwards.
  5. ↑ Suzanne Teillet: La déposition de Wamba, un coup d'État au VIIe siècle , in: De Tertullien aux mozarabes , Vol. 2, Paris 1992, pp. 99-113; Alexander P. Bronisch: Wamba , in: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde Vol. 33, Berlin 2006, p. 166f.
  6. ↑ Alexander P. Bronisch: The Jewish legislation in the Catholic Visigoth Empire of Toledo. Hanover 2005, pp. 102-105.
  7. ^ Dietrich Claude : Adel, Kirche und Königum im Westgotenreich , Sigmaringen 1971, pp. 157–161.
  8. ↑ Julian von Toledo, Historia Wambae regis 5.
personal data
SURNAME Julian of Toledo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Julianus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archbishop of Toledo and theological writer
DATE OF BIRTH at 652
PLACE OF BIRTH unsure: Toledo , Spain
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 690
Place of death Toledo