The Council of Lugo was a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

synod called by the

Suevi file:1st century Germani.png, 300px, The approximate positions of some Germanic peoples reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 1st century. Suebian peoples in red, and other Irminones in purple. The Suebi (also spelled Suavi, Suevi or Suebians ...

c king

Theodemir Theodemir, Theodemar, Theudemer or Theudimer was a Germanic name common among the various Germanic peoples of early medieval Europe. According to Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel (9th century), the form ''Theudemar'' is Frankish and ''Theudemir'' is ...

in 569 in order to increase the number of dioceses within his kingdom. One possible reason for this restructuring was that some of the territory of the Suevic Kingdom was under the jurisdiction of

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

rics whose seats were in the

Visigothic Kingdom The Visigothic Kingdom, Visigothic Spain or Kingdom of the Goths () was a Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic people ...

, and this was an attempt to consolidate the kingdom politically. The extant record for the council is known as the '' Parochiale Suevorum''; it is not the minutes or the canons agreed upon in the

council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

, but a list of the new dioceses along with an introduction to the document. There is a question as to whether or not this document is authentic: certain earlier historians have declared the entire document to be spurious, while some more recent scholars have accepted the full document, since many of the new dioceses are represented in the

Second Council of Braga The Second Council of Braga, held in 572, presided over by Martin of Braga, was held to increase the number of bishops in Galaecia. Twelve bishops assisted at this council, and ten decrees were promulgated: (1) that the bishops should in their vis ...

of 572. It has also been proposed that the list of dioceses is correct, but that the introduction was added at a later date – some manuscripts even list the king who called the council as Miro, Theodemir's successor.David, 66-67. Regardless of the authenticity of the Council, the dioceses listed were created at some point between the First Council of Braga in 561 and the Second.

Notes

Sources

*Barlow, Claude W., ed. ''Martini Episcopi Bracarensis opera omnia''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1950. *David, Pierre. ''Études historiques sur la Galice et le Portugal du VIe au XIIe siècle''. Lisbon: Livraria Portugália Editora, 1947. *''Itineraria et alia geographia.'' Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 175. Turnholt: Brepols, 1965. *Thompson, E. A. "The Conversion of the Spanish Suevi to Catholicism." ''Visigothic Spain: New Approaches''. Edited by

Edward James Edward Frank Willis James (16 August 1907 – 2 December 1984) was a British poet known for his patronage of the surrealist art movement. Early life and marriage James was born on 16 August 1907, the only son of William James (who had inheri ...

. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980. Kingdom of the Suebi 6th-century church councils 569 6th century in Hispania

Lugo Lugo (, ) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 100,060 in 2024, ...

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