(e.) One doubtful authority,[8] who tells us that Adrian ordered Cixila, Bishop of Toledo, to hold a council and condemn Egila for not fasting on Sundays, according to the decrees of previous popes.
[1] "Chron. Sil.," sec. 13, who says that in 1109 a legate was in Spain holding a council at Leon. "Chron. Sampiri," (Florez, xiv.), sec. 6 (a later addition), says that in 869 Alfonso IV. sent Severus and Sideric, asking the leave of Pope John VIII. to hold a council and consecrate a church. Cp. Mariana, vii. 8.
[2] Mariana, viii. 6.
[3] Isid. Pac, sec. 77. See Migne, vol. xcviii. pp. 339, 376, 451.
[4] See Victorius Aquitanus, quoted by Noris "de Paschali Latinorum Cyclo." (iii. 786), apud Migne.
[5] Dozy, ii. p. 355, note.
[6] Florez, "Esp. Sagr.," v. 514: Fleury, ii. 235.
[7] Adrian's Letter to the Spanish Bishops.
[8] The Pseudo-Luitprand, sec. 236—"Ex mandatis litterisque Adriani papae contra Egilanum ... nolentem Dei Sabbate a carnibus abstinere" (776 A.D.).
But though there was a strong party in Spain favouring the pretensions of the pope, yet many of the clergy and laity, headed by the venerable Elipandus, Bishop of Toledo (782-810), boldly resisted the encroachments of the Bishop of Rome. Elipandus himself, as Primate of all Spain, wrote to Migetius condemning him for certain heresies, and boasts of having completely refuted and silenced him;[1] but at the same time Elipandus shewed his independence of the Roman Pontiff by characterising those who abstained from pork and things strangled as foolish and ignorant men; though Migetius in this matter was in thorough accord with the pope,[2] and could justify his views by a reference to the decision of the Church of Jerusalem in the earliest days of Christianity.[3]