76 EARLY MEDIEVAL SPAINlatter composed a number of masses, sermons and hymns. As some
of the masses in the surviving Visigothic Sacramentary are written in
this developed and very florid synonymous style peculiar t{) Ildefonsus,
it is not unreasonable to assume that these may be some of the pieces
referred to by Julian.^40 Unfortunately no sermons and hymns can now
be so safely ascribed to him, although the Toledan homiliary contains
a number of pseudo-Ildefonsine pieces.
Ildefonsus's greatest distinction lies in the impetus that he gave to
Marian devotion in the Spanish Church, and the influence of his
work may have some responsibility for its further spread into other
parts of the West in the seventh and succeeding centuries. His book,
in its unusual style, was couched in the form of a violent and indeed
abusive attack upon those who doubted the perpetual virginity of
Mary and the arguments on which they based their scepticism. The
popularity of his writing, both within and without the peninsula, is
confirmed by the survival of a substantial body of manuscripts.^41 His
other two surviving works were clearly less highly regarded. They are
both treatises on baptism, basically composed of selected extracts
from writings of Augustine, Gregory and Isidore. The second of them,
the Book of the Desert Journey, only survives in one manuscript. Other
works recorded in julian's account of Ildefonsus, such as his treatise
on the differences between the persons of the Trinity, have disap-
peared entirely.
Ildefonsus was succeeded by Quiricus (667-680), who, despite a
slightly longer than average pontificate, has left remarkably few traces
of himself. Neither he nor Ildefonsus before him were engaged in
much conciliar activity. During his pontificate the only synod to be
held in the capital was Xl Toledo of 675, attended only by bishops
from the province of Carthaginiensis. The reign of Wamba (672-
680) was, as we know from the complaints voiced at XII Toledo, a
trying time for the Church. One of the complaints then made was
that the king had erected a new bishopric in the suburbs of Toledo,
in defiance of canonical injunctions against having two bishops in
one city. How Quiricus reacted to this and other royal acts that con-
travened the canon law is unknown. It may be that his compliance
with royal wishes also explains his being omitted from the continua-
tions of the On Famous Men tradition. He died in 680, just prior to the
deposition of Wamba, which possibly might not have occurred if it
were he, rather than Julian, who had been the one faced with the
problem of a king in the state of canonical penance.