THE IMPOSITION OF UNITY 57mutilated and then murdered in 603, thus ending the dynasty of
Leovigild.
In 588, another plot was uncovered, involving a Bishop Uldila,
possibly of Toledo, and Reccared's stepmother the Arian Queen
Gosuintha, who had already had a mysterious hand in the rebellion
of Hermenigild back in 579. Uldila was exiled and Gosuintha conven-
iently died, from causes John of Biclar does not record. Another
Arian revolt that probably preceded III Toledo was that already re-
ferred to of the Bishop of Narbonne, Athalocus, in league with two
Gothic Counts, Granista and Vildigern. They applied to the Franks
for assistance and set about trying to massacre as many Catholics as
they could. Although Catholics themselves, the Franks were quick to
take advantage of the opportunities offered, and King Guntramn of
Burgundy (561-592) sent an army into Septimania under his duke
Boso. Claudius, the Duke of Lusitania, who had recently suppressed
Sunna and Seggo's conspiracy, was sent against the Franks by Reccared
and catching them besieging Carcassone, he routed them. Of the
fates of Athalocus and his friends we are not informed.
One final conspiracy that took place immediately after III Toledo
may have had Arian overtones, but no bishops are named as being
implicated in it. Instead it was headed by Argimund, Duke of an
unspecified province, and it proved as unsuccessful as the rest.
Argimund was scalped and had his right hand amputated at Toledo
in the aftermath. 51 With this, if they were even involved, all Arian
resistance appears to have come to an end. It used to be believed that
there was a short-lived Arian revival in the reign of Witte ric (603-
610), but this is merely based upon knowledge of his involvement in
the plot at Merida in 587/8, and there is no evidence that he at-
tempted to restore Arianism in any way when king. Certainly he was
not popular with some of his bishops, notably Isidore of Seville, but
this was for other reasons of personal and political character. Arianism
in Visigothic Spain, as in the Burgundian kingdom, but unlike
Lombard Italy, is notable for the relative ease with which it was re-
placed, and the rapidity with which it disappeared. In the 580s it was
more of a matter of party and of local power, and the events of 587
to 590 saw the elimination or the reconciliation of those who had
something to lose by the conversion of the kingdom from Arianism
to Catholicism.