711

In the years after the Fourth Council of Toledo the flaws in the contract were soon revealed and by January 681, and when the Twelfth Council assembled, quite gaping conceptual cracks were already apparent in a monarchy founded on an exchange of undertakings between king and people and rendered inviolate by the mystique of sacrality which only the bishops could supply. Ervig's accession was a demonstration of their infinite capacity for self-delusion and the bishops of the Twelfth Council showed themselves to be worthy successors of those of the Fourth. The scissors and paste were already in...

In the years after the Fourth Council of Toledo the flaws in the contract were soon revealed and by January 681, and when the Twelfth Council assembled, quite gaping conceptual cracks were already apparent in a monarchy founded on an exchange of undertakings between king and people and rendered inviolate by the mystique of sacrality which only the bishops could supply. Ervig's accession was a demonstration of their infinite capacity for self-delusion and the bishops of the Twelfth Council showed themselves to be worthy successors of those of the Fourth. The scissors and paste were already in use in the 7th century as early as the 660s Bishop Ildefonso was to be found patching up and making do, dispatching a task force to lay clairh to the early 5th century and plant Toledo's flag there.