10 Facts About Reccared I

Reccared I was the king of the Visigoths, ruling in Hispania, Gallaecia and Septimania.

Reccared I's reign marked a climactic shift in history, with the king's renunciation of Arianism in favour of Nicene Christianity in 587.

Reccared I's army defeated the Arian insurgents and their Catholic allies with great slaughter, Desiderius himself being slain.

Reportedly Reccared I engaged in a vigorous policy against the Jews, pursuing zealous and fanatical policies limiting Jewish freedoms as promulgated in the canons of synods.

Pope Gregory I was convinced that Reccared I refused bribes from the Jewish community, which was large, well-connected throughout the Mediterranean and powerful, and Reccared I's laws provided that the offspring of a Christian and a Jew be baptised, which was of little moment to the Jewish community, as whether it was not born of a Jewish mother or was born of a Jewish woman outside her community, the child was not considered a Jew anyway.

The information for the rest of Reccared I's reign is scanty.

John of Biclaro, Reccared I's contemporary, ends his account with the Third Council of Toledo.

Reccared I returned various properties, even some private ones, that had been confiscated by his father, and founded many churches and monasteries.

Reccared I sent Reccared a piece of the True Cross, some fragments of the chains of St Peter, and some hairs of St John the Baptist.

Reccared I died a natural death at Toledo and was succeeded by his youthful son Liuva II.