Athaloc was the Visigothic Arian

Arianism

Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...

 Archbishop of Narbonne at the time of the Third Council of Toledo

Third Council of Toledo

The Third Council of Toledo marks the entry of Catholic Christianity into the rule of Visigothic Spain, and the introduction into Western Christianity of the filioque clause...

 in 589. He was the metropolitan of his province in parallel with the Catholic hierarchy.

Early in 589, Reccared I sent word of his conversion to Catholicism to Septimania

Septimania

Septimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed under the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theodoric II. Under the Visigoths it was known as simply Gallia or Narbonensis. It corresponded roughly with the modern...

, where it incited a rebellion on behalf of Arianism by two prominent counts, Granista and Wildigern, and the bishop Athaloc. The rebels sought to overthrow Reccared and the Catholic faith and to this end they called in the aid of the Catholic and Frankish

Franks

The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...

 king of Burgundy

King of Burgundy

The following is a list of the Kings of the two Kingdoms of Burgundy, and a number of related political entities devolving from Carolingian machinations over family relations.- Kings of the Burgundians :...

, Guntram

Guntram

Saint Guntram was the king of Burgundy from 561 to 592. He was a son of Chlothar I and Ingunda...

. The Frankish army under Boso, however, was destroyed by Claudius, Duke of Lusitania

Claudius, Duke of Lusitania

Claudius was a Hispano-Roman Catholic dux of Lusitania in the late sixth century. He was one of the most successful generals of Reccared I....

. Many Catholics died in the process of the rebellion. Athaloc, however, was not deposed and died a natural death. He never converted to Catholicism.

Sources

• Thompson, E. A. The Goths in Spain. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.
• Collins, Roger. "King Leovigild and the Conversion of the Visigoths." Law, Regionalism and Culture in Early Medieval Spain. Variorum, 1992. ISBN 0-86078-308-1