120 EARLY MEDIEVAL SPAINforce. But Sisenand, the king under whose authority the council was
being held and at whose protection the canon aimed, had come to
power in just such a fashion three years previously, having conspired
against his predecessor and dethroned him by force.
This, however, was but a start. In the two councils held under his
successor Chintila, V Toledo (636) and VI Toledo (638), the greatest
part of all the canonical legislation relating to kingship was issued.
What relationship Chintila had to his predecessor, if any, is not known,
nor how he came to succeed him, but his position was insecure. V
Toledo, presided over by Eugenius I, was concerned exclusively with
matters pertaining to the king and to royal authority. The second
canon refers to the decree of IV Toledo relating to the defence of the
king, and goes on to promise protection for the ruler's heirs and
their descendants, and the preservation of their property. Further
canons again threaten excommunication for any who might seek to
obtain the throne by any means other than election, for attempting
to divine a future succession by fortune-telling, or for cursing a reign-
ing monarch. The king's jideles are also guaranteed undisturbed pos-
session of properties received from him.
Two years later another council, VI Toledo, was held, which, whilst
the range of its proceedings was wider than those of V Toledo, re-
peated virtually all of the enactments of the previous gathering, with
only some differences of expression. The explanation for this sub-
stantial repetition lies in the respective sizes ofthe councils. V Toledo
was attended by only twenty-four bishops, of whom only one was a
metropolitan, whereas VI Toledo attracted forty-eight bishops, includ-
ing all six metropolitans under the presidency of Bishop Sclua of
Narbonne. Clearly V Toledo was not held to be weighty enough
and a second meeting was required at which all of the metropolitans
had to be present. Chintila expected that the greatest possible eccle-
siastical sanction would strengthen his position and ensure the secu-
rity of his family and supporters should his reign be terminated
prematurely.
If this were his hope, he would have been posthumously disap-
pointed. He died in 639, and after a brief reign his infant son Tulga
was deposed by Chindasuinth and despatched to a monastery.
Chindasuinth had thus conspired against a recognised king, deposed
him, and as far as we know never submitted himself to an election.
To our eyes he had done almost everything forbidden by the canons
of V and VI Toledo. Yet the church never stirred. The threatened