Actividad bélica y violencia del episcopado gallego(siglos VIII-X)

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is the study of military and violent activities concerning the Galician episcopate between the 8th and 10th centuries. From the early stages of Christianity, bishops were the superior clerics of a diocese and intervened in the elaboration of the doctrine. Canonically, ecclesiastics were under no circumstance permitted to brandish weapons in secular combat. Nevertheless, after the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire many prelates acquired temporal powers and responsibilities as administrators of the ciuitates. These powers –that could include military leadership and bloodshed– were perpetuated through the Germanic kingdoms such as Toledo.Following the period of the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, it is not known whether the occupations of the bishops in the new north-western kingdoms were modified. The Providentialistic ideology of the Reconquista showed a determination to amend the errors and sins of the Goths in order to guarantee Divine favour in the fight against the invading enemy. It, therefore, condemned episcopal association with activities involving bloodshed. However, it was not certain that the new mentalities were reflected in the reality of episcopal office, or that the socio-political context of the 8th-10th centuries contributed to perpetuating or promoting old vices...