Beatus of Liébana
Encyclopedia
Saint Beatus of Liébana was a monk
, theologian and geographer
from the Kingdom of Asturias
, in modern northern Spain, who worked and lived in the Picos de Europa
mountains of the region of Liébana
, in what is now Cantabria
and his feast day is February 19.
cultural and religious focal point during the 8th century. He corresponded with Alcuin, and took part in the Adoptionist controversy, criticizing the views of Felix of Urgel
and Elipandus of Toledo. As confessor
to Adosinda
, wife of Silo of Asturias
, and as the master of Alcuin and Etherius of Osma, Beatus exercised wide influence. He is best remembered today as the author of the Commentary on the Apocalypse
, written in 776, then revised in 784 and again in 786. This commentary was popular during the Middle Ages
and survives in at least 34 manuscripts (usually called a beatus) from the 10th through the 16th centuries. At least 26 of those manuscripts contain illuminations. Though Beatus may have written his commentaries as a response to Adoptionism in Hispania
of the late 700s, many believe that the book's popularity in monasteries stemmed from the presence in Iberia of Islam
, which the Christian religious believed to represent the Antichrist
. Not all of the manuscripts are complete, and some exist only in fragmentary form. Twenty-six of these manuscripts are lavishly decorated in the Mozarabic, Romanesque
, or Gothic
style of illumination
.
The Commentary also contains one of the oldest Christian world-maps, thought to represent the description given by Isidore of Seville
in his Etymologies. Although the original manuscript and map have disappeared, copies of the map survive in several of the extant manuscripts. For more information on Beatus of Liébana or on the Beatus Apocalypse manuscripts, see the studies carried out by John Williams, Mireille Mentre, José Camón Aznar, Wilhelm Neuss, Joaquín Yarza Luaces, among others.
To understand the important effect that this book had, one must understand the historical context, as well as the book's content and later interpretations of it.
, Theodosius I
, after he converted to Christianity
in 380, was the first to make Christianity the official religion of the Empire, forbidding Arian Christianity
, pagan
cults, and Manichaeism
. He was also the last Emperor of a united Empire; at his death, the empire was divided between his two sons in what turned out to be a final separation between East and West.
In December, 406, at a time when the Huns
had invaded what is now Germany, the Rhine froze over. On the 31st of December, tens of thousands of people of the Germanic tribes, fleeing the Huns, crossed the ice into Gaul, entering the Roman Empire. The Suebi
settled in Gallaecia
(modern Galicia and northern Portugal
), the Vandals
and the Alans
went south as far as Andalusia
.
During this time, Alaric
, chief of the Visigoths, seized Rome in 410. His successor, Ataulf
, married Galla Placidia
, daughter of Theodosius. But, pursued by the Roman government based now in Ravenna
, Ataulf went on to Hispania. From this time on, the wars between barbarian tribes intensified on the Iberian peninsula
.
But at the same time, these tribes were becoming Romanized, and some of them, like the Visigoths and the Franks
, joined with Roman imperial troops to stop Attila the Hun in 451 near Orléans
(the battle of Châlons
or the "Battle of the Catalaunian Fields"). The Visigoth King Theodoric
died in the battle.
Soon afterwards, his son Euric
, the king of the Visigoths, conquered most of Hispania
in two campaigns and became the first independent sovereign of this tribe from the Roman rule. The Roman empire no longer existed. Faithful to Arianism
, Euric forced the Suebian king of the Asturias to convert.
asked Emperor Constantine
to convoke the first ecumenical council
at Nicea
in order to condemn these subordinationist theses (Christ subordinate to God the Father). This proves that there must already have been a strong Arian
presence in Hispania before the Goths arrived.
The Visigoths, also Arians, anchored the belief even more strongly in the Iberian peninsula. Although they represented less than five percent of the population, the remainder of which was Catholic, the Visigoth kings made Arianism the state elite's religion of Hispania. The liturgy was said in their Gothic language
. The Arian archbishop of their capital, Toledo
, was Primate of Spain and because it, independent of Rome.
The Catholic clergy took refuge in the countryside. They built oratories, hermitages, and monasteries in the backcountry. The people stayed mostly faithful to Catholicism, the urban population thinned, and the towns began to be isolated.
In the last quarter of the 6th century, the Visigoth king Liuvigild
married Theodosia, the Catholic sister of Isidore of Seville
. Liuvigild tried to reconcile the Visigoths with the Hispano-Romans, and accepted the Nicene Creed
on the nature of Christ. One of his sons married a Catholic granddaughter of Clovis
. Another son, Reccared I, converted to Catholicism in 587 and officially abjured Arianism during the Council of Toledo of 589, bringing with him the queen, the court, and some formerly-Arian Visigothic bishops.
At this time, Liuvigild decided to integrate the remaining portions of Hispania independent still from the Kingdom of Toledo under his rule. He made punitive campaigns against the Basques, in 574 invaded and finished the Hispano-roman rule of the Senate of Cantabria
and in 586 finally conquered the Suebian Kingdom
of the Northwest Portugal and Galicia at a battle in Astorga.
The archbishop of Toledo remained Primate of Spain, and the Church was now upheld by the sovereigns. They named the bishops, who in turn exercised a certain control over the kingdom's administration.
But the Visigoths had to face epidemics, famines, and the incursions of the Franks
.
Wars of succession ravaged the country.
One pretender to the throne of Toledo, perhaps Achila or more accurately Oppa that escaped to Ceuta
(Morocco
), had the local count Uluoin
asking the troops of the Maghreb
to help him conquer his rival Roderic
. Thus, in 711, Tariq ibn-Ziyad
crossed the strait
whose name now comes from his (Gibraltar means "the Rock of Tariq") and after the battle turned against the pact and occupied most of central Spain, leaving the remaining Goths independently pacted or rebel at some territories in Catalonia, Narbonne, Valencia and Asturias
-Cantabria
.
(future kingdom of the Asturias
) in the northwest, where high mountains formed a sort of natural fortress. Very early on, rebellious Catholics came there from Toledo and elsewhere, fleeing the Muslim conquest. There, Pelayo of Asturias
was elected chief of the rebels and began to attack Berber garrisons.
Tranquilly settled in Córdoba
, or busy with raids in the south of France, the Muslim forces paid little heed to the rebellion at the beginning. Nevertheless, an expedition was sent to the Asturias. Pelayo, feigning retreat, drew Berbers and Arabs into the gorges of Covadonga, cut them to pieces, and ended up killing most of them near Liebana. The kingdom of the Asturias began to grow around Covadonga
where Pelayo became king, then around Pravia
, a few kilometers northwest of Oviedo,
In 788 the Visigoth king Bermudo I transferred his capital back to Oviedo, and in spite of the sack of that city in 794, the Reconquest
of Iberia began.
It is in this historical context, and in a region where refugees had brought a very rich, artistic culture with them, that Beatus (in Spanish, Beato), a monk in a Liebana valley monastery, wrote his commentary on the Book of Revelation
.
(Saint Augustine), Ambrose
of Milan (Saint Ambrose), Tyconius, Irenaeus of Lyon (Saint Irenaeus
), and Isidore of Seville
(Saint Isidore). He adds to this the commentary on the Book of Daniel
by Jerome of Stridon (Saint Jerome
).
The Apocalypse and its origins
The Book of Revelation
, also known as The Revelation or Apocalypse
of St. John, was written in the last part of the 1st century A.D., probably during the persecution of Christians carried out under either the Roman emperor Nero
or Domitian
. The concept of the Apocalypse, finds roots in the later books of the Old Testament
, most notably from the Book of Daniel
, and the Prophets as they speak of the Day of the Lord. Thus Revelation has a conceptual and contextual basis in prior Jewish literature.
The Revelation is apocalyptic literature, a vision of the future revealed to a person, written in a poetic prose encrypted in symbols and riddles. Thus Revelation is commonly interpreted as a prophecy
concerning the end of the world and last things
. The Book of Revelation
is also seen as a 'gospel of hope' since it tells the martyred masses that their past suffering on Earth has led them to eternal bliss.
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
, theologian and geographer
Geographer
A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...
from the Kingdom of Asturias
Kingdom of Asturias
The Kingdom of Asturias was a Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula founded in 718 by Visigothic nobles under the leadership of Pelagius of Asturias. It was the first Christian political entity established following the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom after Islamic conquest of Hispania...
, in modern northern Spain, who worked and lived in the Picos de Europa
Picos de Europa
The Picos de Europa is a range of mountains 20 km inland from the northern coast of Spain, located in the Autonomous Communities of Asturias, Cantabria and Castile and León, forming part of the Cantabrian Mountains...
mountains of the region of Liébana
Liébana
Liébana is a comarca of Cantabria .It covers 570 square kilometers and is located in the southwest of Cantabria, bordering Asturias, León and Palencia...
, in what is now Cantabria
Cantabria
Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
and his feast day is February 19.
Biography
He created an important ChristianChristian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
cultural and religious focal point during the 8th century. He corresponded with Alcuin, and took part in the Adoptionist controversy, criticizing the views of Felix of Urgel
Felix, Bishop of Urgel
Felix, Bishop of Urgel was a Christian bishop and theologian in the eighth century.Felix became Bishop at an unknown date and lived at the monastery Sant Sadurní de Tabernoles in the foothills of the Pyrenees....
and Elipandus of Toledo. As confessor
Confessor
-Confessor of the Faith:Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith, but not to the point of death. The term is still used in this way in the East. In Latin Christianity it has come to signify any saint, as well as those who have been declared...
to Adosinda
Adosinda
Adosinda was the queen of Asturias during the reign of her husband, Silo, from 774 to 783. She was a daughter of Alfonso I and Ermesinda, daughter of the first Asturian king, Pelayo. She was a sister of Fruela I....
, wife of Silo of Asturias
Silo of Asturias
Silo was the king of Asturias from 774 to 783. He succeeded Aurelius, having married Adosinda, daughter of Alfonso I.He transferred the capital from Cangas de Onís to the village of Pravia, which was closer to the centre of the kingdom. He was a local magnate of the region around Pravia...
, and as the master of Alcuin and Etherius of Osma, Beatus exercised wide influence. He is best remembered today as the author of the Commentary on the Apocalypse
Commentary on the Apocalypse
Commentary on the Apocalypse was originally an eighth century work by the Spanish monk and theologian Beatus of Liébana. Today, it refers to any of the extant manuscript copies of this work, especially any of the 26 illuminated copies that have survived. It is often referred to simply as the Beatus...
, written in 776, then revised in 784 and again in 786. This commentary was popular during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and survives in at least 34 manuscripts (usually called a beatus) from the 10th through the 16th centuries. At least 26 of those manuscripts contain illuminations. Though Beatus may have written his commentaries as a response to Adoptionism in Hispania
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
of the late 700s, many believe that the book's popularity in monasteries stemmed from the presence in Iberia of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, which the Christian religious believed to represent the Antichrist
Antichrist
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
. Not all of the manuscripts are complete, and some exist only in fragmentary form. Twenty-six of these manuscripts are lavishly decorated in the Mozarabic, Romanesque
Romanesque art
Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...
, or Gothic
Gothic art
Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...
style of illumination
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
.
The Commentary also contains one of the oldest Christian world-maps, thought to represent the description given by Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
in his Etymologies. Although the original manuscript and map have disappeared, copies of the map survive in several of the extant manuscripts. For more information on Beatus of Liébana or on the Beatus Apocalypse manuscripts, see the studies carried out by John Williams, Mireille Mentre, José Camón Aznar, Wilhelm Neuss, Joaquín Yarza Luaces, among others.
To understand the important effect that this book had, one must understand the historical context, as well as the book's content and later interpretations of it.
Romans and barbarians
Some decades after the first Christian Emperor, Constantine IConstantine I
Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...
, Theodosius I
Theodosius I
Theodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...
, after he converted to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
in 380, was the first to make Christianity the official religion of the Empire, forbidding Arian Christianity
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...
, pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
cults, and Manichaeism
Manichaeism
Manichaeism in Modern Persian Āyin e Māni; ) was one of the major Iranian Gnostic religions, originating in Sassanid Persia.Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived...
. He was also the last Emperor of a united Empire; at his death, the empire was divided between his two sons in what turned out to be a final separation between East and West.
In December, 406, at a time when the Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
had invaded what is now Germany, the Rhine froze over. On the 31st of December, tens of thousands of people of the Germanic tribes, fleeing the Huns, crossed the ice into Gaul, entering the Roman Empire. The Suebi
Suebi
The Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c...
settled in Gallaecia
Gallaecia
Gallaecia or Callaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province and an early Mediaeval kingdom that comprised a territory in the north-west of Hispania...
(modern Galicia and northern Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
), the Vandals
Vandals
The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
and the Alans
Alans
The Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
went south as far as Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
.
During this time, Alaric
Alaric I
Alaric I was the King of the Visigoths from 395–410. Alaric is most famous for his sack of Rome in 410, which marked a decisive event in the decline of the Roman Empire....
, chief of the Visigoths, seized Rome in 410. His successor, Ataulf
Ataulf
Ataulf was king of the Visigoths from 410 to 415...
, married Galla Placidia
Galla Placidia
Aelia Galla Placidia , daughter of the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, was the Regent for Emperor Valentinian III from 423 until his majority in 437, and a major force in Roman politics for most of her life...
, daughter of Theodosius. But, pursued by the Roman government based now in Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
, Ataulf went on to Hispania. From this time on, the wars between barbarian tribes intensified on the Iberian peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
.
But at the same time, these tribes were becoming Romanized, and some of them, like the Visigoths and the Franks
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...
, joined with Roman imperial troops to stop Attila the Hun in 451 near Orléans
Orléans
-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...
(the battle of Châlons
Battle of Chalons
The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains , also called the Battle of Châlons sur Marne, took place in AD 451 between a coalition led by the Visigothic king Theodoric I and the Roman general Flavius Aëtius, against the Huns and their allies commanded by their leader Attila...
or the "Battle of the Catalaunian Fields"). The Visigoth King Theodoric
Theodoric I
Theodoric I sometimes called Theodorid and in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian Teodorico, was the King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. An illegitimate son of Alaric, Theodoric is famous for defeating Attila at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, where he was mortally wounded.-Early...
died in the battle.
Soon afterwards, his son Euric
Euric
Euric, also known as Evaric, Erwig, or Eurico in Spanish and Portuguese , Son of Theodoric I and the younger brother of Theodoric II and ruled as king of the Visigoths, with his capital at Toulouse, from 466 until his death in 484.He inherited a large portion of the Visigothic possessions in the...
, the king of the Visigoths, conquered most of Hispania
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
in two campaigns and became the first independent sovereign of this tribe from the Roman rule. The Roman empire no longer existed. Faithful to Arianism
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...
, Euric forced the Suebian king of the Asturias to convert.
Spanish Arianism and the conversion to Catholicism
In 325, a bishop of CórdobaCórdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
asked Emperor Constantine
Constantine I
Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...
to convoke the first ecumenical council
Ecumenical council
An ecumenical council is a conference of ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological experts convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice....
at Nicea
First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...
in order to condemn these subordinationist theses (Christ subordinate to God the Father). This proves that there must already have been a strong 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...
presence in Hispania before the Goths arrived.
The Visigoths, also Arians, anchored the belief even more strongly in the Iberian peninsula. Although they represented less than five percent of the population, the remainder of which was Catholic, the Visigoth kings made Arianism the state elite's religion of Hispania. The liturgy was said in their Gothic language
Gothic language
Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable Text corpus...
. The Arian archbishop of their capital, Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
, was Primate of Spain and because it, independent of Rome.
The Catholic clergy took refuge in the countryside. They built oratories, hermitages, and monasteries in the backcountry. The people stayed mostly faithful to Catholicism, the urban population thinned, and the towns began to be isolated.
In the last quarter of the 6th century, the Visigoth king Liuvigild
Liuvigild
Liuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or Leogild was a Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania from 569 to April 21, 586. From 585 he was also king of Galicia. Known for his Codex Revisus or Code of Leovigild, a unifying law allowing equal rights between the Visigothic and Hispano-Roman population,...
married Theodosia, the Catholic sister of Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
. Liuvigild tried to reconcile the Visigoths with the Hispano-Romans, and accepted the Nicene Creed
Nicene Creed
The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325.The Nicene Creed has been normative to the...
on the nature of Christ. One of his sons married a Catholic granddaughter of Clovis
Clovis I
Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...
. Another son, Reccared I, converted to Catholicism in 587 and officially abjured Arianism during the Council of Toledo of 589, bringing with him the queen, the court, and some formerly-Arian Visigothic bishops.
At this time, Liuvigild decided to integrate the remaining portions of Hispania independent still from the Kingdom of Toledo under his rule. He made punitive campaigns against the Basques, in 574 invaded and finished the Hispano-roman rule of the Senate of Cantabria
Duchy of Cantabria
The Duchy of Cantabria was a march created by the Visigoths in northern Spain to watch their border with the Cantabrians and Basques. Its precise extension is unclear but seems likely that it included Cantabria, parts of Northern Castile and La Rioja....
and in 586 finally conquered the Suebian Kingdom
Suebi
The Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c...
of the Northwest Portugal and Galicia at a battle in Astorga.
The archbishop of Toledo remained Primate of Spain, and the Church was now upheld by the sovereigns. They named the bishops, who in turn exercised a certain control over the kingdom's administration.
But the Visigoths had to face epidemics, famines, and the incursions of the Franks
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...
.
Wars of succession ravaged the country.
One pretender to the throne of Toledo, perhaps Achila or more accurately Oppa that escaped to Ceuta
Ceuta
Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish...
(Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
), had the local count Uluoin
Julian, count of Ceuta
Julian, Count of Ceuta was a legendary Christian local ruler or subordinate ruler in North Africa who had a role in the Umayyad conquest of Hispania — a key event in the history of Islam, in which al-Andalus was to have a major role, and the subsequent history of what were to become Spain and...
asking the troops of the Maghreb
Maghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
to help him conquer his rival Roderic
Roderic
Ruderic was the Visigothic King of Hispania for a brief period between 710 and 712. He is famous in legend as "the last king of the Goths"...
. Thus, in 711, Tariq ibn-Ziyad
Tariq ibn-Ziyad
Tariq ibn Ziyad was a Muslim Berber general who led the Islamic conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711 A.D. He is considered to be one of the most important military commanders in Iberian history. Under the orders of the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I he led a large army from the north coast of...
crossed the strait
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
whose name now comes from his (Gibraltar means "the Rock of Tariq") and after the battle turned against the pact and occupied most of central Spain, leaving the remaining Goths independently pacted or rebel at some territories in Catalonia, Narbonne, Valencia and Asturias
Kingdom of Asturias
The Kingdom of Asturias was a Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula founded in 718 by Visigothic nobles under the leadership of Pelagius of Asturias. It was the first Christian political entity established following the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom after Islamic conquest of Hispania...
-Cantabria
Duchy of Cantabria
The Duchy of Cantabria was a march created by the Visigoths in northern Spain to watch their border with the Cantabrians and Basques. Its precise extension is unclear but seems likely that it included Cantabria, parts of Northern Castile and La Rioja....
.
Expansion of Islam and Catholic resistance
Umayyads has extended their Empire far east and west and reached modern day Spain and Portugal in the late 7th century,and within three years, the Iberian peninsula was occupied, with the exception of the Cantabrian MountainsCantabrian Mountains
The Cantabrian Mountains or Cantabrian Range are one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain.They extend for more than approximately 180 miles across northern Spain, from the western limit of the Pyrenees to the edges of the Galician Massif close to Galicia, along the coast of the...
(future kingdom of the Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
) in the northwest, where high mountains formed a sort of natural fortress. Very early on, rebellious Catholics came there from Toledo and elsewhere, fleeing the Muslim conquest. There, Pelayo of Asturias
Pelayo of Asturias
Pelagius was a Visigothic nobleman who founded the Kingdom of Asturias, ruling it from 718 until his death. Through his victory at the Battle of Covadonga, he is credited with beginning the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from the Moors, insofar as he established an...
was elected chief of the rebels and began to attack Berber garrisons.
Tranquilly settled in Córdoba
Córdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
, or busy with raids in the south of France, the Muslim forces paid little heed to the rebellion at the beginning. Nevertheless, an expedition was sent to the Asturias. Pelayo, feigning retreat, drew Berbers and Arabs into the gorges of Covadonga, cut them to pieces, and ended up killing most of them near Liebana. The kingdom of the Asturias began to grow around Covadonga
Covadonga
Covadonga is a village and one of 11 parishes in Cangas de Onís, a municipality within the province and autonomous community of Asturias, in northwestern Spain...
where Pelayo became king, then around Pravia
Pravia
Pravia is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias. It is bordered on the north by Cudillero and Muros de Nalón, on the east by Candamo and Soto del Barco, on the west by Cudillero and Salas, and on the south by Candamo and Salas.Since 774, when King Silo...
, a few kilometers northwest of Oviedo,
Arabs and Mozarabs
While the Asturias grew stronger and became more and more populous and powerful, Christians living under the Muslims found themselves in the same situation as under the yoke of the Visigoths. Subject to special taxes because of their religion, they had no right to build new churches or convents. As before, many took refuge in the countryside. New hermitages appeared in forsaken spots. Christians living in Muslim territory could practice their religion only if they pledged allegiance to a Moorish chief.In 788 the Visigoth king Bermudo I transferred his capital back to Oviedo, and in spite of the sack of that city in 794, the Reconquest
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
of Iberia began.
It is in this historical context, and in a region where refugees had brought a very rich, artistic culture with them, that Beatus (in Spanish, Beato), a monk in a Liebana valley monastery, wrote his commentary on the Book of Revelation
Apocalypse
An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
.
The Commentary on the Apocalypse (Commentaria In Apocalypsin)
It is a work of erudition but without great originality, made up principally of compilations. Beatus includes long extracts from the texts of the Fathers of the Church and Doctors of the Church, especially Augustine of HippoAugustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
(Saint Augustine), Ambrose
Ambrose
Aurelius Ambrosius, better known in English as Saint Ambrose , was a bishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century. He was one of the four original doctors of the Church.-Political career:Ambrose was born into a Roman Christian family between about...
of Milan (Saint Ambrose), Tyconius, Irenaeus of Lyon (Saint Irenaeus
Irenaeus
Saint Irenaeus , was Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire . He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology...
), and Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
(Saint Isidore). He adds to this the commentary on the Book of Daniel
Book of Daniel
The Book of Daniel is a book in the Hebrew Bible. The book tells of how Daniel, and his Judean companions, were inducted into Babylon during Jewish exile, and how their positions elevated in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. The court tales span events that occur during the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar,...
by Jerome of Stridon (Saint Jerome
Saint Jerome
Saint Jerome is a Christian church father, best known for translating the Bible into Latin.Saint Jerome may also refer to:*Jerome of Pavia , Bishop of Pavia...
).
The Apocalypse and its origins
The Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
, also known as The Revelation or Apocalypse
Apocalypse
An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
of St. John, was written in the last part of the 1st century A.D., probably during the persecution of Christians carried out under either the Roman emperor Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
or Domitian
Domitian
Domitian was Roman Emperor from 81 to 96. Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish-Roman War...
. The concept of the Apocalypse, finds roots in the later books of the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
, most notably from the Book of Daniel
Book of Daniel
The Book of Daniel is a book in the Hebrew Bible. The book tells of how Daniel, and his Judean companions, were inducted into Babylon during Jewish exile, and how their positions elevated in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. The court tales span events that occur during the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar,...
, and the Prophets as they speak of the Day of the Lord. Thus Revelation has a conceptual and contextual basis in prior Jewish literature.
The Revelation is apocalyptic literature, a vision of the future revealed to a person, written in a poetic prose encrypted in symbols and riddles. Thus Revelation is commonly interpreted as a prophecy
Prophecy
Prophecy is a process in which one or more messages that have been communicated to a prophet are then communicated to others. Such messages typically involve divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of conditioned events to come as well as testimonies or repeated revelations that the...
concerning the end of the world and last things
Eschatology
Eschatology is a part of theology, philosophy, and futurology concerned with what are believed to be the final events in history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity, commonly referred to as the end of the world or the World to Come...
. The Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
is also seen as a 'gospel of hope' since it tells the martyred masses that their past suffering on Earth has led them to eternal bliss.
Further reading
- Cancionero de Liébana 1977 ("Collection of verse of Liebana", 1977). Republished in 2006. Written by the Spanish poet from CantabriaCantabriaCantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
Matilde CamusMatilde CamusMatilde Camus is a Spanish poet who has written research works. She was born in Santander, Cantabria.-Research Works:*Vicenta García Miranda, una poetisa extremeña ....
.