A CHURCH TRIUMPHANT^77Julian (680-690) is probably the most striking and most versatile of
the seventh-century bishops of Toledo. As is the case with his pred-
ecessors, we know all too little about his early life and antecedents,
but at least the account written of him by his successor Felix (693-
700) is fuller than any we have of the others. Interestingly he was of
Jewish descent but this is all that is revealed of his family. Some of
Julian's writings are now lost, including collections of hymns, masses,
poems and letters, although some of his compositions doubtless rest
undetected in the great anonymous corpus of the Visigothic or
'Mozarabic' liturgy. Of his extant works the Prognosticum Futuri Saeculi
(Sign of the Future Life), composed in 688, had the greatest impact,
at least in succeeding centuries. Its most recent editor lists one hun-
dred and eighty-six manuscripts of the work.42 This is a prodigious
rate of survival, matched, in early Spanish texts at least, only by cer-
tain writings of Isidore.
The contents of the book are not original in themselves, in that the
three sections in which the Prognosticum was composed are comprised
almost entirely of quotations from earlier patristic authors. However,
it was the selection and organisation of the material that gave Julian's
compilation its value. He treated themes of central importance to
Christian thought, but which in several cases had not previously
received full and coherent coverage. By combining the thoughts of
several writers, Julian produced a single treatise that dealt, in three
easily comprehended parts, with the questions of the origins of death,
the fate of souls after death and the final resurrection of the body.
Julian's main source was Augustine, whose treatment of these topics
in the City of God he principally drew on, but he also included pas-
sages from Jerome, Ambrose, Gregory the Great, Isidore and others.
Amongst Julian's other works are Antikeimenon or De Contrariis (On
Conflicts) which sought to reconcile apparently contradictory Biblical
texts, and his Liber de Sextae Aetatis Comprobatione (Book on the Prov-
ing of the Sixth Age), dedicated to King Ervig. Julian's lost Libellus de
Divinis Judiciis (On Divine Judgements) was dedicated to the same
monarch, possibly prior to his accession. The book on the 'Sixth Age'
was a work of anti:Jewish polemic, aimed at refuting their arguments
that the age of the Messiah had not yet arrived.
Julian is probably better known now for his activities as bishop
than for his writings. In particular his involvement in the mysterious
deposition of King Wamba in 680, and the succession of Julian's
friend Ervig, have earned him some harsh words from modern