Spains, Diocese of the
Years: 293 - 486
The Diocese of Gaul (Latin: Dioecesis Galliarum, "diocese of the Gaul [province]s") is a diocese of the later Roman Empire, under the praetorian prefecture of Gaul.
It encompasses northern and eastern Gaul, that is, modern France north and east of the Loire, including the Low Countries and modern Germany west of the Rhine.The diocese comprises the following provinces: Gallia Lugdunensis I, Gallia Lugdunensis II, Gallia Lugdunensis III, Gallia Lugdunensis IV (Senonia), Belgica I, Belgica II, Germania I, Germania II, Alpes Poenninae et Graiae and Maxima Sequanorum.
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Maximian, residing in Milan, continues to govern Italy, Sicily, Spain, and Africa.
Constantius, assigned to Maximian and residing in Trier, takes charge of Gaul, Spain and Britain as Maximian has failed to suppress the revolts in Gaul and Britain.
Constantius had in 289 repudiated his wife (or concubine) Helena, mother of his son Constantine (the future emperor), in order to marry Maximian's stepdaughter Theodora.
Constantius has also fought the Berber tribes in Africa in 296-298, triumphing at Carthage.
Maximian, who campaigns also in northern Africa against the local tribes in 297-299, attacks the Moors in Spain as well.
One of the earliest Christian councils, the Council of Elvira, probably held near or in the present city of Granada in 305 or 306, decrees that all priests and bishops, married or not, should abstain from sexual relations; it also forbids Christians from intermarriage and social interaction with Jews.
Constantine annexes Maxentius' Spanish territory in 310.
Constantine II, at twenty the eldest of Fausta's three sons, retains the West, becoming the ruler of Britain, Gaul, and Spain.
He is sympathetic to the Arian Christians.
Constans, abandoned by all except a handful of retainers, is slain shortly afterwards by a troop of light cavalry near the Pyrenees.
Magnentius quickly attracts the loyalty of the provinces in Britannia, Gaul, and Hispania, in part because he proves to be far more tolerant towards both Christians and Pagans.
He applies his control on Italia and Africa through the election of his men to the most important offices.
Valentinian's advisers are sentenced to death, including Theodosius the Elder, apparently the victim of political intrigues by enemies at court.
Arrested and taken to Carthage, he is executed in early 376.
The reasons for his execution are not clear, but it is thought to have resulted from a factional power struggle in Italy after the sudden death of Valentinian I.
His son Theodosius withdraws from Moesia to his Spanish estates.
Priscillian, a rigorous Spanish Christian ascetic apparently influenced by gnosticism and Manichaean dualism, espouses an unorthodox doctrine similar to both in its dualistic belief that matter is evil and the spirit good.
He teaches that angels and human souls emanate from the Godhead, that bodies are creations of the devil, and that human souls are joined to bodies as a punishment for sins.
Leading his followers in a quasi-secret society that aims for higher perfection through ascetic practices and proscribes all sensual pleasure, marriage, and the consumption of wine and meat, his movement, called Priscillianism, spreads throughout western and southern Spain and in southern Gaul.
Despite his unorthodox views, Priscillian had become bishop of Ávila in 380.
The Spanish church, led by bishops Hyginus of Mérida and Ithacius of Ossonoba, had soon opposed the movement.
A council of Spanish and Aquitanian bishops had adopted at Saragossa eight canons bearing more or less directly on the prevalent heresy of Priscillianism.
Priscillian’s enemies now persuade the devoutly Christian Gratian to exile the bishop and his primary disciples to Italy.
Damasus does not receive Priscillian and his key followers but they manage to gain absolution from civil authorities, who ultimately enable the Priscillians to force Ithacius from Spain.