THE IMPOSITION OF UNITY 55in Mauretania, where ultimately he came to a violent death.^48 Unfor-
tunately we know nothing about the fate of Arianism in Mauretania
in the 590s.
Another Arian bishop who refused to compromise was Athalocus
of Narbonne, who instead involved himself in an unsuccessful rebel-
lion.^49 It is notable that both Sunna and Athalocus were bishops of
metropolitan sees, and it is unlikely that the compromise worked out
by the Catholics would have envisaged these men retaining their special
authority, particularly over suffragan bishops who had been loyal
Catholics. Of other Arian bishops we know nothing. Apart from those
who formally renounced Arianism there, a number of other bishops
with Germanic names are found amongst the signatories of III To-
ledo, but whether, like Masona of Merida, they were Goths who had
always been Catholics, or whether they were recent Arians who had
made a more timely conversion than their fellows, cannot be ascer-
tained. The fate of the notorious apostate Vincent of Zaragoza is
unknown. His see was represented at III Toledo by a Bishop Simplicius,
but whether this was because Vincent was dead or had been deposed
is uncertain.
The acts of III Toledo say little about the mechanics of the tran-
sition from Arianism to Catholicism. It was more concerned with
correct definitions of faith. It reiterated the creeds of the councils
ofNicaea (324), II Constantinople (381), and Chalcedon (451), which
were then formally recited by King Reccared and Bado, his Queen,
and it went on to promulgate a creed of its own and issue a list of
twenty-three anathemas on points of Afian belief. It also produced an
impressive number of canons on matters of church discipline, but of
these only the eighth, which laid down that the churches of the
Arians should now pass into the control of the bishops in whose
dioceses they stood, related to the problems of the transition.
We do learn more about the process from the acts of a subsequent
provincial council, that of II Zaragoza, held under Bishop Artemius
of Tarragona in 592.50 There it was decreed that former Arian priests
and deacons who had converted to Catholicism and had led a blame-
less life should be reordained and maintained in their offices. It also
makes clear, which III Toledo had not, that former Arian bishops
were likewise to be reordained, as it decreed that Catholic churches
consecrated by those bishops who had not received the benediction
of a Catholic bishop were to be reconsecrated. It seems possible
that some of the episcopal converts from Arianism had resisted the