Recaredo I was a Visigoth king . He succeeded his father, Leovigild, in April 586. Reccared knew from the experience of his father and his brother that there could be no peace in his kingdom nor would his throne be secure if it did not solve the religious problem; but it happened that, in his kingdom there were only about two hundred my Visigoths, they were Arians, while the Hispano-Romans, who were Catholics, constituted a population of about ten million, who, moreover, were surrounded by Catholics on all frontiers, and, with them, there was the entire Eastern Roman Empire, which was also Catholic.
Therefore, attempting religious unity in Arianism would not have any success, since his father already tried it without any positive result, nor could the situation continue as it was, because, at any moment, there could be a Catholic uprising against him, like the led by his brother Hermenegildo against his father with the idea of putting an end to amanism; then it would be difficult to stay on the throne with so few Visigoths against so many millions of Catholics willing to fight against him. Therefore, the solution of the problem was not difficult, at least it was preferable to face two hundred thousand Arians, having in their favor the help of all the millions of Catholics, including the Supreme Pontiff of Rome and the Byzantine emperor, than to do the opposite. Therefore, Recaredo I made a transcendental decision for the future of his kingdom.
Recaredo conversion
A year after his accession to the throne, he convened a council of Arian bishops and leading Visigoth nobles, and told them of his decision to become a Catholic. The reaction was immediate; the Arian bishop Ulpila, head of the palace, promoted a conspiracy, which was discovered, and Ulpila, banished; Sunna, Arian bishop of Mérida, with the counts Segga and Viterico, prepared another conspiracy; but, aborted this, the conspirators were banished and confiscated their property. The Arian bishop of Narbonne, Athaloco, and the counts Granista and Vildegemo, after carrying out serious disorders in which many Catholics were killed, offered the Septimania to the Frankish king Gontrán, who immediately sent an army that occupied it; but Recaredo went against him and defeated him. The following year, 589, Gontrán, wanting revenge for the disaster suffered, entered Septimania and seized Carcassonne; but Reccared sent a powerful army, which completely defeated the Franks. Once all these revolts were appeased, Recaredo carried out the change of religion of the Visigothic kingdom through III Council of Toledo , which began on May 4, 589; 73 bishops and 5 metropolitans (from the five provinces of the Visigoth kingdom) met; they decreed three days of fasting; they met again on the 7th of the same month; then, the king delivered, in writing, his profession of faith to the bishops, and they approved it; Next, they abjured Amanism:the monarch, his wife (Queen Bada), eight Arian bishops, the great ones of the kingdom and the servants of the court. From then on, the entire Iberian Peninsula was Catholic; Arianism was left dead in it (with its books and Bibles, which were burned), only to be resurrected again in the 8th and 20th centuries under other names. All the Arian nobles did not agree with what happened in this Council, so some led by Argimundo, who held a high position in the king's palace, promoted a plot to assassinate Recaredo, which was discovered and aborted. The monarch sent a letter to the Supreme Pontiff Gregorio I Magno, informing him of what happened in said Council; The letter was accompanied by a gift consisting of a gold chalice and precious stones. Gregory the Great responded with another letter accompanied by some relics, which consisted of a small piece (according to the Pope) of the lignun crucis , a key (according to the Pontiff) made with part of the iron from the chains put on the apostle Peter when he suffered martyrdom, and some hair (which Gregory I claimed were from John the Baptist); a perfect swap. Later, Reccared, through Gregory I the Great, negotiated a new treaty with the Byzantine Emperor Maurice, recognizing the Byzantine Emperor's possession of the Byzantine province of the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula, thus ending all disagreements with the Eastern Roman Empire. It is evident that Recaredo achieved the unity so desired by his father on religious matters; but not on the territorial issue, since he left the Byzantine province in the hands of the Eastern Roman Emperor. King Recadero I died in the year 601 .
