The Council of Toul was a Frankish synod convoked by Theudebald, King of Austrasia, that convened in Toul on 1 June 550.[1] It is not known how many bishops attended. It extended to the ecclesiastical provinces of Reims and Trier and perhaps beyond.[2] The diocese of Toul was a suffragan of Trier.[3] The metropolitan bishop, Nicetius of Trier, was certainly in attendance.[4]
Theudebald apparently convoked the council because Nicetius had begun excommunicating Frankish aristocrats who contracted marriages within the prohibited degree of consanguinity. The king wished to obtain a judgement against the metropolitan and a reversal of the excommunications. [5]
The council is known from a letter of Bishop Mapinius of Reims in the Austrasian Letters collection. He had received an invitation to the council written in the king's name.[6] He had not attended and was writing to explain his absence to Nicetius. He claimed that he had not learned of the purpose of the council in time.[7]
Notes
- ↑ Halfond 2010, pp. 33 & 263.
- ↑ Halfond 2010, p. 227.
- ↑ Halfond 2010, pp. 265–266.
- ↑ Pohlsander 2000, p. 460.
- ↑ Dumézil 2007, p. 575.
- ↑ Halfond 2010, p. 67.
- ↑ Halfond 2010, p. 71.
Bibliography
- Dumézil, Bruno (2007). "Gogo et ses amis: écriture, échanges et ambitions dans un réseau aristocratique de la fin du VIe siècle". Revue Historique. 309 (643): 553–593. JSTOR 40958005.
- Halfond, Gregory I. (2010). Archaeology of Frankish Church Councils, AD 511–768. Brill.
- Pohlsander, H. A. (2000). "A Call to Repentance Bishop Nicetius of Trier to the Emperor Justinian". Byzantion. 70 (2): 456–473. JSTOR 44172526.