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CLAY, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. liEC: THE EXTINCTION OF THE CHKISTIAN CHURCHES cf .^^ 11 b^/' ;n NORTH AFRICA, o/-/!^* v^ HULSEAN PRIZE ESSAY, 1895 ■y BY L. R. HOLME, B.A, FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF JESU8 COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; LECTURER ON POLITICAL SCIENCE, ECONOMICS, ETC., IN THE UNIVERSITIf OF bishop's COLLEGE, LENNOXVILLE, P.Q. CANADA. ilouDon: C. J. CLAY AND SONS, CAMBEIDGE UNIVERSP^V PEESS WAREHOUS AVE MARIA LANE. 1898 [All Riffhts reserved.] I J in w ta D th be in gr la K( for of aiK PREFACE. TN breaking ground almost untrodden by modern writers I have met with many difficulties, especially in finding sources of information. In overcoming these I have to acknowledge much kind assistance, without which indeed this essay could never have been under- taken or brought to a conclusion. Mr Thomas Hodgkin, D.C.L., and the late Comte de Mas Latrie both shewed the utmost kindness in answering the letters of a beginner in the art of which they were masters. The Rev. H. B. Swete, D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity m the University of Cambridge, was kind enough to give much valuable advice and the Rev. W. Cunning- ham, D.D., of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Mr James Kennedy of the East India Club, referred me to in- formation I should not otherwise have obtained. The Rev. Professor Parrock, M.A., of the University of Bishop's College, Lennoxville, Province of Quebec, and my brother Mr T. W. Holme of New College, Oxford VI PREFACE. have also examined authorities which were beyond my reach. I must also especially thank the Rev. Abbe La- flamme, Rector of Laval University, Quebec, for allowing me the use of the University Library for an extended period during my residence in Quebec. But above all I have to thank the Rev. F. J. Foakes Jackson, M.A., Fellow and Dean of my own College. Without his kind encouragement I should never have entered upon this subject, and, when my absence from England prevented the proper consultation of authori- ties, he rendered me every assistance in his power. Finally he undertook the revision of the essay and at the cost of great labour to himself has most kindly prepared it for the press. Bishop's College, Lennoxville, P.Q., Canada, June, 1898. nd my i4 La- M c, fur 1 Ic!"' 1 CONTENTS. ^oakes 9 allege. fl have S i from fl Chapter I. Chapter II. Introduction The African Church to 398 a.d. . PAOK 1-21 22—53 thori- m 3o\ver. fl ^ and fl Chapter III. Chapter IV, The Golden Age of the African Church The Rise of the Vandals 5^ 76- 1-75 -118 cindly fl Chapter V. The Reign of Hunneric . 119- -147 fl Chapter VI. The Decline and Fall of the Vandals 148- -167 1 Chapter VII. From Justinian to the Saracens . 168- -210 1 Chapter VIII. The End of African Christianity . 211- -242 ■ Chapter IX. Conclusion , . 243- -255 1 Authors and Works Quoted .... 267- -259 1 Index 261- -263 Map 7(1 in(i fiiiiii I . T ^ 5 Y ^\ 1 .J/'' M.>l.iv;;i ('a
  • nl'< '(in /- ^•■K l( II < Urrrfr, •i- •. •• ■i .^ - n;is<" i»<' ■ '•>.'>; '' ;ii.Vbl^ll'iw:,,... V''""- Til 111 I (• 11, C< !i#'^ -ijiJ^ /- ll«!^ ^'^ ■ '•'"^"•".^k/:iM./,il::.. Xr^fv,' /*'<•.■'/""■ Xc- y T.oiifji v\'. oi' hcah (if l-iiali.sii Miles 1 fto 50 too ir.K THE EXTINCTION OF THE CHRISTTAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. CHAPTER X. Introduction. The problem presented by the decline and fall of the Churches of North Africa is at once most in- terestmg and most difficult. It is interesting because the Church of Carthage, formerly the most flourishing the most earnest, and the most enlightened of all the communions of the world, has to-day perished and hardly left a trace behind. Yet it met with no trials that other Churches did not successfully overcome Ihe Copts, the Abyssinians, the Armenians, the Spaniards were all subdued by the Saracens, and yet all preserved their faith, even though in a debased torm. Ihe Africans, also, at one time seemed to be tar more likely than these to withstand the attacks ot the mfidel. No one could accuse them of luke- warmness ; their earnestness was almost fanatical and led them into dangers unknown to the careless. On H. V «- 7(1 tilir /«/ r>o _j I hcuK «ri:iiiii:.'ji Miii-.s O 50 lOO li'iO wmnm VI ^i r.. '^/; ^^- 1.., I.I n 1' .' c . -a ^*a b <^'r^.. ^'■''^■:"- im ."^^ i: ' / I nil jiiiii L •'^^^ hl.r,ir * .- -■ J V '.'iiil<-lliii-iii I . 'Y —-h- 1 '.ISS. M'l> ('l<»/«t (l■,^■|^ - L>0 ,v TKH'OLI :,,',,lmli.s ' III J ^ ''jjV Ihlif^i _^ iiiniiii Mii.iliil ,,, , lit III I in 41 (■LMij.Lt.u... _. . ^ -.^ ' I'll- liiAivii , Itiiiitfiiluii AV'."". "Miiliirin fffT:-" 1 1 lltii ^ JflUlll'K . Knt..,-,,,., - ^•,„„,/„„. ySi/ lihiifittiyn El 'li.niijiiii J \i , 8 n-T/.f;')*.. 1, IV .''"' Si'iHu .^"'■ \/> Mi/.l.i li: }v ;,.//,: 7,, ///.,■/„/,■, i I 2 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. the other hand heresy never attracted the Africans. If Pelagianism for a time gained some foo^^^hold, St Angus- tine rooted it out ; if Manichaeism had its votaries, they did not get much power; and on the whole no Church was more orthodox than that of Carthage. In the fifth century the Pelagians, in the seventh the Monothelites were opposed by the great mass of the people, and when the controversy of the "Three Chapters" arose the doughtiest champions of the Council of Chalcedon came from North Africa. Schism was indeed the great foe of the African Christians ; but their prone- ness to schism attests the earnestness of their belief. Moreover not only did Carthage escape many of the dangers which beset other communions; it conferred many great benefits upon them. The effect of the work or writings of aich men as Tertullian, Cyprian, Lactantius and Amobius was not confined to the African church, but was coextensive with Christianity. Momm- sen and Milman both bear witness to the important part that the Church in Africa played in forming the received docrine of the Catholic Church. In his 'Roman Provinces,' the great German scholar says', " In the dev lopment of Christianity, Africa plays the first part ; if it arose in Syria, it was in and through Africa that it became the religion of the world." Dean Milman adds his testimony^ ;— '' Africa, not Rome, gave birth to Latin Christianity. Tertullian was the first Latin writer, at least the first who commanded the public ear; and there is strong ground for supposing that, since Tertullian quotes the sacred writings per- petually and copiously, the earliest of those many 1 Vol. II. p. 343 (Eng. Tram.). * Latin Christianity, i. 35. INTRODUCTION. 3 Latin versions noticed by Augustine and on which Jerome pounded his Vulgate were African. Cyprian kept up the tradition of ecclesiastical Latin. Arnobius too, was an African." Yet this Church has perished so completely that the very causes of its ruin have disappeared. For the great wave of the Mahommedan invasion of Africa swept away in its course every record of the last centuries of Roman rule, and after Procopius no contem- porary historian seems to have dealt expressly with the affairs of the Province. Only most careful research is able to discover the faintest indications as to the real state of the African Church after the re-conquest of the province under Justinian. The historian of to-day muse piece his story together from the most diverse sources ; he must find the few facts recorded by the Latin annalists; he must seek for chance references in contemporary literature ; and he must welcome as important evidence admonitions addressed by the Popes to this portion of their flock. The political events of the time, and especially the Arabic accounts of the Moslem victories, will throw some light on the fate of the l^hurch, and something may be learned from the monu- ments and inscriptions that remain. But when all has been found that can be found and every particle ot information has been collected, the result will be meagre in the extreme. It will be even impossible to draw up a complete list of the Primates of Carthage and only a guess at most can be hazarded at the true cause of the disappearance of African Christianity It will seem that the Church perished because it was the <^^hurch, not of the native population, but of the alien 1—2 ill !V' 4 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. conquerors. If it took deep root it was not amongst the indigenous peoples of N.-W. Africa, but amongst the foreign immigrants and Roman officials. In fact, if a Christian country can be defined as a country in which the natives are converted, Africa was not Chris- tian ; just as at the present day the Christianity of British India hardly extends beyond the European population, so in the Province th«^ number of converted Berbers, though proportionately larger, was still in- significant compared with the mass of their heathen kinsmen. Consequently it seems that the fortunes of African Christianity were bound up with those of the Roman domination; as that failed, the Church grew weaker, and when it perished, the Church too passed away. The political power of the Empire in Africa fell because the Roman population first dwindled, and then fled away ; and the Christianity of the Province was disintegrated and transplanted with it. Roman Africa consisted of the districts now known as Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria and Morocco. On the East the almost impassable desert of Cyrene cut it off from Egypt; on the west it reached the Atlantic; on the south, its boundaries were ill-defined, but Rome claimed at any rate a nominal suzerainty as far as the northern limits of the Sahara. The population of N. Africa has always been very heterogeneous and the Roman province fully shared this characteristic. The successive colonies, planted by Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans, though they mixed with each other, never united with the Moors or Ber- bers whom they displaced. Long before any authentic records were kept, a dark brown race appeared from INTRODUCTION. 5 the east and south and a people of a lighter brown from the north-west. These soon coalesced in the Moorish people and their common language with its written characters, which still exists, shews that in historical times they had become one nation. Neither the negroes of the Sahara nor the fair races of Europe bear any ethnological likeness to the Moors, and their nearest relations amongst other peoples seem to be the Iberians of Spain. The colonies, which lined the Mediterranean sea- board, introduced a much more complex population The northern districts of Africa have always attracted a curious mixture of peoples, and from the earliest times settlers of different nationalities took up their abode there. Amongst the earliest to arrive were the Greeks who founded several cities in Cyrene and Tripoli' However they left hardly any traces of their stay; their civilisation passed away, and the only relics of their former presence were the names of a few towns, such as Megalopolis, Aphrodisium and Neapolis. On the other hand the colonists from Phoenicia were of supreme importance and moulded the destinies of their adopted country for many centuries. Gades, their first settlement, seems to date from almost prehistoric times and was perhaps contemporaneous with the Fall <)f Troy. It is unlikely that they ever held much inland territory or at first united with the Berber population; in the days when the man, who came to the strong as the peaceful trader, became among weaker tribes the cruel slave-dealer, friendly intercourse between the new-comers and the old inhabitants was nearly un- known. On the other hand, as centuries went by the I ; i ( 6 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. coast and sea-board of Africa was so thickly studded with Phoenician settlements that in the Punic Wars it seemed to the Roman statesmen that the conquest of Carthage implied the subjugation of Africa; nor was it until the arms of Scipio were crowned with victory, that they perceived that in reality their work was just begun. The Phoenicians may not have been the only colonists from Syria. Procopius tells a tale of a pillar set up to commemorate the arrival of the Girgashites, fleeing before the "robber Joshua*," and Ibn Khaldoun, the Arabic historian, gives a long list of Berber tribes of Tripoli and Morocco, who observed the rites of the Jewish religion 2, Of course Jews were in Africa as they were in all the world, and an inscription records the presence of one of them in Mauritania Sitifiensis*. But even if their presence were actually proved, none of these peoples formed an important element in the African population. Tissot however sees reason to doubt the accuracy of Procopius ; and, as no writer but Ibn Khaldoun, who lived fi ve hundred years after the event, mentions the Jewish Moors, it seems probable that he has mistaken for Judaism some debased form of Christianity. Last and most important of all the great colonizing peoples were the Romans. Brought across the sea by their rivalry with Carthage, it was long before they conquered the whole territory which formed the Pro- vince of Africa. Like ourselves in India, they were led on from conquest to conquest and from annexation 1 de hello Vandalico, ii. 10. 3 C. I. L. 8499. 2 Slane's Translation, page 208. INTRODUCTION. 7 to armexation, until at length they reached what may be called the 'scientific frontier.' At first they only stepped in where Carthage had been before, and were willing to set up native states under their suzerainty ; but the civil wars at the rise of the Empire mark the practical absorption of the whole of N.-W. Africa with the provincial system. After that, one Roman general after another gradually drove the Moors back, until at the time of the Antonines, the Roman dominion stretched, in name at least, from Tripoli to the Atlantic, and from the Sahara to the Mediterranean. Practically! however, the actual territory ruled from Carthage did not extend further west than modern Algeria. There were many Roman cities in Mauritania Tingitana, which had been founded by Augustus and Claudius for military and commercial reasons; but the moun- tains that intervened practically cut them off altogether from the rest of Africa. There was no road° from Caesarea to Tingi,and the 200 miles between the latter and Russ-addir had to be travelled by sea. Consequently Tingitana plays no part in the history of Africa and mdeed at a later time was counted part of Spaing The population of the province in the early years of the fourth century when the Church first began to fail, falls naturally into two great divisions. The civilized Liby-Phoenicians inhabited the sea-coast from Leptis to Caesarea and reached as far inland as a rough hne drawn from Caesarea through Mount Aurasius to 1 This account of Africa is based on Tissot, Geographie comparee de la province roviaine d'Afrique, Vol. i. 2nd pt. Bk. i. ch. i. §§ 1 2- Gaston Boissier, UAfrique romaine, ch. i. ; Mommsen, Provincel from Caesar to Diocletian, ch. xiii. |t i] 8 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. 1 LeptiH. This triangle was shut in by the solid mass of the Moors. The mountains of Mauritania, the plateau of Aurasius, the deserts of Tripoli were in- habited by wild and terrible hordes, who liked nothing better than to burst forth and sweep far and wide over the cultivated and peaceful lowlands. For Rome was never secure in Africa ; at the very height of her power she had to hold her ground by main force, and modern researches have proved that the statements of the old historians to this effect are true. From the first to the last day of the Roman domination in Africa, the Moors of the frontiers presented the greatest difficulty. Wherever the French explorers of to-day penetrate they find ruins of Roman forts, and that every strategic position within the borders of the province was once guarded and garrisoned by a vigilant force of soldiers^ It is this which is the all-important fact in the history of the Romans in Africa. Gorgeous in their splendour, wonderful in their luxury, invincible i i their strength as the Roman Provinces seemed, their whole basis was affected by inherent rottenness. For centuries their foundation might seem firm; but sooner or later the earthquake was sure to come and utterly destroy their whole structure. If the power of Rome had not failed when it did, if the supremacy of her civilization had been extended for several centuries, her hold on the African plains might have been more secure. For in all probability the difference between the Moorish barbarian of the highlands and his half-civilized cousin of the lowlands was very slight. As the latter lost his savagery under 1 Boissier, L'Afriqtie Romaine, iii. § 1. INTRODUCTION. 9 the influences of Christianity and civilization, the former also would have been improved by the same agencies until he settled down into a more peaceful and settled condition. Unfortunately this was not to be. The strength of the Empire began to fail after the beginning of the fourth century, and its growing weakness was most disastrous to the province >rf-3tftic». Year by year the pressure of the Moors hei^^p^-m^^ ^ •severe, and the problem was no longer hovt^^ but how to preserve the dominions of civifSiitioi^ ^ P The danger would not have been so ^at, Sl^Ji. Moors, instead of being an essentially ba%j-ous race, possessed even the rudiments of civilizatioi^ ""trreH^gi^^ ent, however, to heat and cold, they wore thes^jt^tiel. cloaks the whole year round, dwelt both in winter and summer in stifling huts, and— except those few who were the fortunate possessors of a sheepskin rug- slept upon the bare ground. They ate only the coarsest kmds of food, and did not object to consuming the flesh and blood of animals which had died of disease. The Moors were quite ignorant of either bread or wine and devoured spelt and barley uncooked. Their moral degradation was equal to their physical ; they had no idea of the existence of a God, and they knew of the civilization of the plains only to. despise it. Even at the end of the eighth century Cahina the Berber queen ordered the destruction of all vines and olive trees, as having no value in the eyes of her barbarous subjects but only in those of the displaced Romans and advanc- ing Saracens ^ ' For account of Moors see Procopius, de bello Vandal, ii. 3 ; Eh Norvein, transl. by Slane, pp. 332, 340. ^{^l 10 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. In startling contraHt to this absolute barbarism was the luxury and effeminacy of the lowland population'. The richer classes and the townspeople enjoyed all the conveniences, and shared in all the vicious follies of perhaps the most corrupt and enervating civilization that the world has ever seen. They built for them- selves marvellous palaces the remains of which exist to this day, and one magnificent pile has reached us in sufficiently good preservation to show to what lengths their luxury would go. Far from the site of any town or village of the Roman period, on the road from S<^tif to Constantine, stand the ruins of enormous baths. They cover a plot 800 metres square and are lavishly ornamented with mosaics, marbles and statues. In size and magnificence they are worthy of a great city ; but no city is near them, and they were erected merely for the private use of the household of a great land- owner, called Pompeianus^. Building was one of the chief tastes of the Romans in Africa, every petty municipality seeking to prove its greatness by the pretentiousness of its public structures. In every town was to be seen a forum round which were ranged the statues of the Emperors, erected as a rule by the magistrates in return for the honour of their election. Round their country seats, the rich provir-ih! planted enormous parks. Procopius'^ tells us wicii ail the authority of an eye-witness, how the army of Belisarius passed the night in the "paradise" of the 1 For accoivai *1 Homar civilization see Procop., de hello Vand. ii. 3- Salvian, a j ;> Dei u. 65 ; Boiesier, L' A frique Roviaine, pamm. 2 Boissior, iv. 3 Procop. B. V. i. 17. INTRODUCTION. 11 1^1 kingV palace at Grassd Each soldier built a hut of boughs for himself and ate without stint of the fruit that grew there, yet, when the march was resumed, so thick and luxuriant was the foliage that it was impos- sible to tell that there had been the bivouac of more than 15,000 men. Such parks as these could not have been maintained in the dry soil of Africa without an immense system of irrigation. To extend this system was the favourite form of public benefactions. Carthage was supplied by two enormous cisterns, of which one is still used, while the other forms the site of a village. At Thysdnis the liberality of a magistrate provided water not only for the public fountains but also for private houses. At Tupusuctu, where supplies were stored for the Roman legions engaged in border warfare, the remains of a cistern 3000 metres square still exist.' The Roman colonist however, if not destitute of noble conceptions and a sense of public duty, was enervated by luxury. He dressed no longer in the toga, but wore loose robes of the most gorgeous materials after the Median fashion. He could eat only the most delicate food, and found life without his daily bath unbearable. The richer classes occupied themselves entirely in amusements. An inscription lately discovered in the Forum of Thamugadi (Timgad) expresses the ideal of the fashionable provincials. By the side of some " tabulae lusoriae " are engraved the words* : — VENARI LAVARI LTTDFRE RIDERE OCC EST VIVERE * Boissier, VAfrique Romaine, v. § 2. 12 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. — a summary which exactly tallies with the account of Procopius. In Africa, as in other parts of the Empire, chariot- racing led to great popular excesses. Indeed its hold on the tastes of the people was perhaps even stronger than at Constantinople. Every little country- town had its circus, and M. Boissier declares that " coachmen then were Africans, as to-day they are Englishmen \" Enormous salaries were paid to success- ful drivers. Crescens won in ten years 1,500,000 sesterces I St Augustine deplored the fascination of the theatre and the circus, and bewailed the fate of hundreds of raw young countrymen drawn by their glitter into the vortex of city-life from quiet homes. For the fascination exercised by the towns of Africa, especially Carthage, was a perpetual drain upon its re- sources. The capital of the province, which ranked as one of the great cities of the world, attracted settlers from the most distant parts. Here was the seat of the civil and military government, here dwelt the Proconsul, the Mag^ster Militum and numberless sub- ordinate officials of every grade and title, and each day justice, supported by the irresistible authority of arbitrary power, was administered in the Forum. It was moreover the intellectual and commercial centre of Africa ; its schools of languages, philosophy, and the liberal arts were thronged with pupils ; its magnificent harbour was alive with the ships of all the civilized world. Its buildings were worthy of its greatness, and no heavier indictment can be brought against the Vandals, than their destruction of some of its finest 1 Boissier, iv. § ,R. ^ a. I. L. 12504. et seq. INTRODUCTION. I3 edifices. For in their senseless rage the invaders defaced the Odeon or Concert Hall, the Theatre, the Temple of Memory, and the magnificent Via Caelestis, which with its decorated walls, nearly two miles in length, was adorned with mosaics, and priceless stones \ There was however a terrible reverse to the picture. The streets, if stately, were unsafe ; robbers and mur- derers lurked in the side alleys to seize the unwary passer by. Prostitution and still grosser vices were unblushmgly practised in the full light of day, and a man who kept himself pure did not seem to be an African 2. All this magnificence had to be paid for, and the biu'then fell on the country. As the chief export of Africa was corn and her wealth was derived from it alone, the harshest tyranny was used to keep up a proper supply. At one time most of the land had been held by a few great landowners, among whom Pompeianus was probably numbered^ and Nevo is said to have executed six men, whose estates included half the Province^. But after this the Emperors took care to keep the most fertile parts of the chief granary of Rome in their own hands, and we find Solomon refusing to grant the lands of the Vandals to his victorious army, on the express plea that they belonged as a matter of right to the Imperial Treasury". ^ Victor Vit. i. 3 ; Prosper, de Promissionibus, 11. 38. "ita enim geiierale in eis malum impuritatis est, ut quicumnue ex eis mipudicus desierit, Afer non esse videatur." Salvian, de Gub ^''' ^"- ^^- 3 Supra p. 10. ' Pliny. H, N, xviii. 35. « p,oeop. de bdlo Vand. ii. 14. r; 14 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. The system under which these estates were man- aged, like all the rest of the provincial governments, gave every opportunity for oppression. The people were bound to the soil and at the mercy of "con- ductores," who had the land at five year leases from the " procuratores." Rather better off were the "coloni," who held their farms direct from the Emperors in consideration of a certain proportion of the produce and various dues to the " conductores," as laid down in the Lex Hadriana or Forma Perpetua. But besides these payments in kind and money they were liable to forced labour, and the " conductores " could demand their unpaid services for two days in weeding time, two days in harvest, and two days at some other season of the year. It is evident that such a system was certain to be abused. Occasionally an appeal would be made directly to the Emperors^; but what chance had a poor colonus of getting justice from a govern- ment official, backed up by all the power of vested interests and class prejudices? From the time of Constantine, even the coloni were bound to the soil, and not until the time of Justinian was liberty granted to their children by a free woman 2. The glories of Carthage and other towns rested therefore upon a foundation of misery; while the city population rejoiced in chariot races and splendid buildings, the peasants, who ultimately paid for all, were ground down to the utmost poverty and distress ^ But even in the most prosperous times, the state of the agricultural population was a real source of weakness to the Province. Their misery made them 1 C. I. L. 10570. 2 Just. Cod. xi. 47, 24. » Boissier, iv. § 4. INTRODUCTION. 15 turbulent and deprived them of all interest in the maintenance of Roman rule. Oppressed by harsh land- owners robbed of their scanty gains by extortionate tax-gatherers, it might well appear to them that they had little concern in the quarrels of those who misused them. The Donatists, who had caused not only a religious schism but a social revolution, drew their chief strength from the country people ; and the conquests of the Vandals and Saracens would, in all probability have been far more difficult, if the peasantry had been more attached to the Imperial regime. This disaffection was a serious danger long before It was openly manifested, and then it became positively fatal. The hold of Rome upon Africa depended entirely upon her power of reconciling the Moors to her rule and of enrolling them among her civilized subjects. Her power, nay her very existence depended upon a successful solution of this difficult problem. Now the connecting link between the cultured inhabitants of the towns and the barbarian Moors of the mountains were the despised class of oppressed coloni. Living as they did right up to the boundaries of the Province they inevitably mixed with the old possessors of the land and the hybrid race of Liby-Phoenicians, thus • produced, formed an invaluable bridge between civili- zation and barbarism. Such a solution of racial problems was no new thing to Roman statesmen. In every province the policy of the imperial city was to train up the in- digenous inhabitants until they were fit to become citizens of herself, and to effect this purpose was far less difficult m Africa than elsewhere. Here there was if ft •if -A i Iff 1 ' - a in 16 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. no national resistance on the part of the numerous petty tribes, who, indignant as they were at then- own fate, felt a certain satisfaction in seeing then- domestic enemies in a plight similar to their own. Neither was any rivalry of diverse creeds to be feared. A marked feature of the Berber temperament is the essentially local character of its religion, whether nominally pagan. Christian, or Mahommedan. When the Moors were pagans, each village had its tutelary deity ; when they were Christians, each township had its own Bishop and its particular martyrs ; when they were Mahommedans, the local saint or marabout was as much revered as the Prophet himself. Rome on the other hand had by the end of the Republic few religious scruples. Her faith was an accommodating polytheism, which was as ready to recognise Saturnus Augustus in Baal-Hamman as it had been to identify Minerva with Athene ^ In a comparatively short time a real connection might have been established between the Moors and the people of the country districts, which would have grown steadily stronger until the civilization of Rome had been firmly established in the Province of Africa. For the natural tendency of two neighbouring races to amalgamate was assisted by the political necessities of the Empire. If the corn-supply of Rome had failed, the authority of the Emperors would have been severely shaken, and it was therefore their direct interest to maintain the agricultural population of Africa. In nearly all the provinces it had become a settled policy to introduce bodies of barbarians from 1 Boissier, vii. § 2. ' INTRODUCTION. j^ in ifrl' :i"r''^'"'"y the same plan was adopted in Africa and by its agency a sufficient number of peasants were provided to cultivate the euormou Imperial estates. At any rate the defence of the frontiers wa. entrusted to a Berber militia, who were con! tnved to play a double part. The " limi anei," as they were called, were expected to beat off the raids of IntT f f".' '"'f ■ ^'"^- ^ *-' P^y -n^isted ^ S ed aslhr t" *''^''-d-^' 'h^y -t the same time acted as the outposts of civilization. In other ways, too, the military forces of thp province helped to unite the Berbers tnd Liby! Phoenicians. Not only were the "limitanei" and the focderati" entirely Moorish by race, but the perma nent garrison of regulars, the Legio Tertia Au'gTs a had become argely so. For centuries it had been stationed at Lambaesa and there its ranks were re cruited, Its soldiers lived and its veterans d Id To jve m the ranks while able-bodied, to mai^y a woman o the neighbourhood, to retire to a farm as „ear"he od he,d.quarters as possible was the ordinary fate of the Roman legionary His place was taken by hi on born of a Moorish mother, or by a recruit from the uncivilized tribes of the hills. Every year saw more and more recruits of mixed blood entering thi ranks until at length the legion became JU>rZrlttl ■n name than in fact. Whether this was s^t^:^'.; ^ J^Fuslel de Coulanges, ii„fe„to »r ,uel,ue„roiUv.es a-kls,o,re, .^ ^Boi^ier, VAfrt,^ «„«,-,.,„, 4; cagnat. L'Arn^^e Mo^lne, H. I I J, al 1 I 18 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. from a military point of view or not, the continuous stream of veterans. Moors by race but Romans by training, was of the highest value as a means ot effecting a union between the diverse nations mhabit- ing Africa. . ,. By these three means then, the inevitable mingling of the Phoenician settlers and the African aborigines the actual planting of African "coloni" and the gradual Libyanizing of the Roman forces, the country popula- tion formed a connecting link between the over-civilized Carthaginian and the barbarous mountaineer. Un- fortunately for Africa this link never grew strong enough to bear a strain, and the Moors beyond the borders remained a standing menace to civilization. With such a heterogeneous population it is not surprising to find that there were three languages m common use in Africa, Latin, Punic and Libyan^ Greek had never gained much foothold ; it had only lingered as the speech of polite society, and by ^^J^ *"^^^/* Augustus the great mass of the people had forgot en its°very letters. Libyan on the other hand was the tongue of the country people and of the Moors of the highlands. It was never a literary language and none of the African historians have written m it ; tor Hiempsal used Punic, Juba Greek, and Ibn Khaldoun Arabic Nevertheless it existed and still exists; bt Augusiine mentions it, there are some inscriptions near Cirta in it and it is now taught m the French Government schools of Kabylia. It was m fact the vernacular of the less civilized parts of the Province. In the more civilized parts Punic took its place. 1 Boissier. vii. § 5. 5 INTRODUCTION. jn St Augustine says of the people near Hippo, "interro- guti rustic, nostri quid sint, Punice respondentes Chenani corrupta scilicet voce, sicut in talibus solet, quid almd respondent, quam 'Chenanaei"" and ,n establishing a fresh See at Fussala, he makes ■t the first importance that the new Bishop must speak Punicj. The " Circumcelliones " too could only speak to the Donatist priests "per Punicum inter- pretem. Still it was a failing language, for when f5t Augustine quotes a Punic proverb in one of his sermons, he adds the Latin translation with the words: — "Latine vobis dicam, quia Punice non omnes nostis." Of course Latin was not the natural language of Africa, and it probably never became universal. How far It may have won its way after the Vandal domination cannot be accurately determined, but the Byzantines said that the African provincials spoke it more fluently than the Romans themselves. Mr Hodgkin thinks that It was probably used with "an affected prettiness, and want of spontaneity and naturalness^" For it mned ground entirely through the learned classes. The Komans never insisted upon Latin as the official lan- guage of their provinces, and left so much of the local government to the hands of the old magistrates, that force them to carry on public affairs in a foreign tongue would have produced chaos. No doubt the Church helped to spread it widely, and it is to Latin versions of the Scriptures written in Africa that we ' Tissot, I. i. 2. 2 Aug. Ep. 209. 3. Hodgkin, Itahj and her Invaders, Vol. ii. 240. m 2—2 II 20 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. tl owe the basis of the modern VulgateK Yet the number of epitaphs which are to be found in Africa, which pay no attention to either scansion or metre, and St Augustine's remark • Afrae aures de correptione vocalium vel produc- tione non judicant"' prove that ap to a fairly late period, it was still a foreign language to the provincials. Yet, though it was almost universally known by all who pretended to any degree of culture or learning, St Augustine tells us that he picked it up by listening to others talking it 3, and Victor Vitensis is moved to the deepest indigna- tion at the declaration of the Arian Cyrila, who an- nounced at the Conference of Carthage 484, that he could not understand Latin*. Such then was the material on which the Church had to work. A province divided against itself by race, by language, by civilization, by wealth. In the cities a people, cultured and corrupt, rich and pleasure- loving, with the vices of the East and the power of the West. On the borders a nation of uncultivated barbarians, careless of even their own comfort, desirous only of plunder, ignorant of the very existence of a God. Between these two extremes lay the cultivators of the soil ; a mixed race, mainly composed of Phoe- nicians and Libyans, oppressed and ground down, they helped, though without success, to bridge over the great gulf between the cultured Roman, and the barbarian Moor. Their own miserable condition prevented them 1 Boissier, vi. 5. ^ de doctr. Christ, iv. 24. 3 Conf. i. 14, 23. ■* Victor Vitensis, ii. 18. INTRODUCTION. 21 from really uniting the two races; they stood too far apart from each and had too few common interests with either. As they failed to join conquerors and conquered together, some other body had to keep them apart; this other body was the army. The Roman domination seemed secure ; but it rested on a most unstable basis. Only the ceaseless vigilance of the military commanders and the untiring energy of the egionaries kept the fair plains of the lowlands and the rich streets of Carthage from the ruthless raids of the Moors. As the fertility of the province depended upon a gigantic system of irrigation, so its prosperity rehed on the efficient organization of its garrison ; and as in the fight with nature man in the long run must be beaten, so when civilization is as selfish as it was in Atrica, barbarism is sure to conquer. On the outside the Roman Province seemed pros- perous, but Its prosperity was only skin-deep The poor CO W toiled, but he did not reap; and the rich Carthaginian and the idle Roman grew fat upon his misery. The tiller of the soil cared little for a civiliza- tion he did not enjoy, and had no interest in trying to save it from the hands of the invader Meanwhile, ever watchful and ever ready to seize their opportunity, in their inaccessible mountains and pathless desert, stood the threatening Moors. I i I >i 1 CHAPTER 11 The African Church to 398 a.d. itii V. Although the African Church played so important a part in the history of Christianity, no definite in- formation has reached us as to the date at which the Gospel first was preached in the Province or by whose hand the earliest seeds were sown. TertuUian, the first great figure in the annals of this Church, appears sud- denly on the scene. Before him we know of no African Christians, and it is from his writings alone that we gather how numerous and influential they had already become. No mention however is made of the first preaching of the gospel in Africa, nor is any Apostle claimed as the founder of the local church. Probably the Church of Carthage was an offshoot of the Church of Rome and came into existence without any deliberate missionary efforts Between the capital of the Empire and the capital of the Province, there was continual communication. On Africa, Rome depended for her corn-supply; to Rome, Africa owed her government, her defence and her culture. The ' Miinter Primordia Ecclesiae Africanae, Chap. iv. THE AFRICAN CHURCH TO 398 A.D. 28 trade between Carthage and the Imperial City was constant and regular, and it would have been surprising if the growing Church of Rome had not seized the opportunity of extending the Gospel to Africa. It is easy to imagine that the first Christians in the Province were led to go there in pursuit of their ordinary ^^om- mercial avocations; or we may suppose that Nero and Trajan by their persecutions drove some believers to flee to Africa and thus, as was not uncommon, these emperors helped to spread the very Faith they were trying to crush. Gregory I. indeed in one of his letters ' asserts that the Apostolic Succession in Africa was derived from the Roman Church, and the great Pope's statement, if not conclusive, is at least probable. The date of the foundation of the African Church is as obscure as its origin. It is however generally put down as the end of the first or the beginning of the second century. Gibbon = says that it is impossible to find m the province "any assured traces either of faith or persecution that ascend higher than the reign of the Antonines." When once it was established the Church of Carth- age took a prominent place amongst the communions of the West. In character it resembled the Church at Rome and its relations with the Apostolic See were always close. In speaking of the Decian persecution, Dean Milman emphasizes the connection thus ^ :— " Rome, the recognised metropolis of the West, and h Ep. viii. 33. Ad Dominicum. 2 Chap xv 'Latin Christianity, i. 59, also Miinter, Primordia Ecelesiue AJricanae, ch. xiv. 24 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. i /' I' Carthage, the metropolia of the African Churches, now are in constant and regular intercourse. There is first a Punic league, afterwards at least a threatened Punic war. In the persecution, the churches are brought into close alliance by common sympathies, common perils, common sufferings, singularly enough by common schisms ; slowly, but no doubt at length, by their com- mon language." At first sight it seems probable that the Church of Africa would have close relations with the Church of Egypt. . But if the circumstances of the time are con- sidered, the deceptiveness of the geographical proximity of the two communions at once appears. Carthage and Alexandiia are, it is true, on the same continent, but there were many obstacles, both physical and political, to keep them apart. In the first place Egypt and Africa are very effectu- ally divided by the deserts of Cyrenaica. The settle- ments along the shores of the Syrtis, whether Roman, Greek or Phoenician, were a mere fringe along the coast and never reached far inland. Nearly all their com- munications with the rest of the world were carried on by sea, and such land routes as existed were tra- versed only by caravans, which were quite insufficient in number to maintain the constant intercourse neces- sary to keep up a close connection between two great societies. So difficult indeed was this overland travel- ling that even when the Saracens had taken Egypt, Africa with its desert frontier was thought secure from every attacks On the other hand the voyage from Morcelli, Africa Christiana, sub ami, 635. THE AFRICAN CHUIICH TO 398 A.D. 26 Oarthage to Alexandria was not an easy one. The perils of the sandy Syrtis have been sung by every Latm poet, and the ancients in their open ships did not care to trust themselves amongst the treacherous shoals and sudden squalls of the Bay of Tripoli The rivalry moreover between the Egyptian and African provmces was a bar to their inter-communica- ion Both exported corn ; both imported luxuries. In the natural course of trade the number of vessels plying between the two countries must have been much less than the number of those which carried the pro- duee of Carthage to Rome, and of Alexandria to Oonstantmople. Moreover the distance o." Africa from the Imperial City was only a third of that of Oarthaao from its great rival. ^ If the geographical isolation and commeioiai jealousy did not conduce to much intercourse between the two provinces, the characters of their populations did nothing to bring them nearer. They were essen- tially unlike one another. When Egypt was not il^gyptian, It was Greek ; when Africa was not Punic it was Roman. The civilization of Alexandria was Grek. and Greek was the common language; the civilization of Carthage was Latin, and Latin became more and more the tongue of the educated. As the Alexandrian prided himself on being more Hellenic than the of N'T'AT-'\^?r '^"^'^ '^' ^^"^^^ Phoenicians of North Africa held that in them alone was continued ^e true stock of Rome^ Hence whilst Alexandria has given us the Septuagint, it is to Africa that the Church ^ Finlay, Greece under the Eomaiis, p. 386. M ' ii I! - r if) .a 26 THK CTlIUMTkAN CirUHCirEH IN NOHTH AFRICA. ): owod tho first Latin VcrHJon of the Old and New TestainentH. Even in their theolou^ioal dinputeH the twoChurchen dit!'en>d ; thc^ class of ])roblenis which troubled the (•U>rgy of Carthage was not the sanje a.s the (jnestions which agitated the AU^xandriatis. The Eastern mind of the Copt was concerned about the mysteries of the 'IVinity, and of the nature of Christ; the African was more interested in tiie troubles which beset the Christ- ian in his earthly warfan\ Ct)uld a man live a perfect life without Divine help ? Did those baptized by heretics stand in need of further baptism ^ Was virginity a higlu'r state than that of an honourable marriage ^ Such were the (piestions which the less mystii'al inti^Uect of the Western Christians felt to be all imporlant. When, as in the days of the Monothelites, an attempt was made to interest the (Church of Africa in the ipiestions that rent asunder Eastern Chi istendom, the missionaries found that their wonis fell on unheed- ing, if not unintelligent ears. On the whole, then, it seems most unlikely that the relations of the Churches of (Carthage and Alexandria were at all cU>se. There was nothing to bring them together ; the distance between them was long and dirticult antl their theological interests were completely ditVerent. In fact so little communication between them w\vs there in later times that their independence had pnHlueed ignorance anil this ignorance absolute schism. During the Vandal rule Fulgentius had to seek in every direction, in order to arrive at information about Egypt, and was then warned that the monks of the Thebaid were no longer in communion with the THE AFRICAN CHURCH TO 398 A.I). 27 lionian Church, and that they would refuse to admit him to partake „f the .sacred mysteries with them'. Kven I thi,, statement went too far and exaggerated he feehngs of the bulk of the Coptic Church, there can he no doubt that it would have never been made if Ale.xandna, .and not Rome, had been the principal ex- ternal inHuence upon Carthage. I liave said that in all probability Christianity obtame,! its foothold in Africa at the end of the first or the begummg „f the seeon.l century, but it is with lertullmn that we first get any certain record.s of the ■state of the Church. Evidently in the first century of Its existerice it had at le,«,t numerically made very nip.. st.-,de.s. Gibbon' contrasts the • slow progress of the Uospel n, the cold clin.ate of Gaul" with the "eager- ness w,th which it seems to have been received on the b...n.ng sand.s of Africa": Tertullian» him.self taunts the |.aga,.s w.th the dilennna in which they wo.dd find Acnselves, were they successful i„ driving o,.t all the thnst.an,s. But this ..apid increase was by no means •■'" •""....xe.i good. Not only did their strength attract mo.-e per.sec.,tion than fell to the share of any other l.ra..ch of the Ch,„-ch, b.>t it meant a rapid falling off ... the stanict. ChrhUmiBwm-aphy, art. 'Cyprian.' - Councils of Carthage, 345, § lo ; 387, § 11 ■ Hinm 'va s o Caithagc, 397, § 1 , 401, §§ 9, 11. '■ 8 " • «'PPo, 393, § 2; ^ Canons, 31, 2. ' ' , q^ ' Canon, 4 ; 0-10 1 Cofa Canomm, §§ 32-3"' 3—2 r^ii / I'S M I' i1 ' fUf to < ! i HO THE CHUIHTIAN CHUHCIIEH IN NORTH AFRICA. Hippo DiarrhytUH was warned by tho two CouiicHh of Carthago, hold in 401, and was (h-privod by tho Council of 404'. Anton, Bishop of Fu.sHala, was guilty of the grossest fraud and extortion, and was punished in tho same way by the Nuniidian synod of 42:i". Even at tho beginning of the fourth century the conduct of the Douatistsand of Turpurius bishop of Liniata proves the utter lack of Christian virtue in tho less civilised parts of Africa, for the prelate feared not to boast in a provincial Hynod that he had slain his sister's son and threatened to treat in the same way all who opposed him''. In spite of all those failures the African Church in tho early part of the 5th century progressed, as indeed it could hardly fail to do under the guidance of the combined gi'uius and piety of St Augustine and of those who came under his powerful influence. Some of its clergy and even of its bishops might be unworthy ; the town population might scoff at its simplicity and purity; the country people might cling to their idols ; but for ail that the cause of Christ was steadily winning its way in the province until it met its tirst great trial in the Vandal persecution. The organization of the Church and its bold resistance to the evils of the day prove its vitality. In the thirty years before the coming of Gaiseric, the African Christians were able almost to annihilate Donatism, to cripple Manichaeism, and to cast out the Pelagians. They could appeal with con- fidence to the secular authorities for aid, ante many of the highest officials in the time of the Vandals were prepared to risk their all for their B\aith. Evidently 1 Hefele, Vol. ii. p. 440. 3 Optatus, de Schism. Donat. in. 8. a Ibid. p. 480. THE AFRICAN ClUJIiCII TO 398 A.D. 87 l^cn the Church, in spite of many.iifflcultiefl nnd much .l.»couragomont. had steadily gained gnmn.l ameugst the very classes w.th when, the luxury of the Reutu. vh,ch the canons were directed, bespeak the success of Chnstmnity, an,l ,na„y of the failings of the clergy are such as are almost inevitably engen.lered by prosperity. If the »y»te,n of celibacy caused abuses, its existence proves the Church's inHueuce. If some of the pric" and bishops were guilty of fraud, the riches to be embezzled must have been great to make men risk he>r emporal and spiritual positions for the sake of a -loubt ul gam. Moreover, whenever crimes were com- .m ted, they received a prompt reproof from the abutr "' *'''"'" ■"" '■'■'^'l"^""^ '0 coToct The synodical organization of the African Church was brought to a high state of efficiency by its fourfold ch,aracter: the d.ocese, the province, the episcopate, and he entire country having each its peculiar assembly I he clergy consulted with their bishop in the " con- ventus or "compresbyterium." The provincial bishops met every year in Lent and Autumn. Except Tripoli whose poverty forbade it to send more than one. evaT province elected two representative bishops to serve on a committee to be summoned for special business, whde a general council of the whole of Afrca was assembled at Carthage on August 23 in every year at which all the prelates were expected to be'prese' tt However. ,t was found that this annual gathering "Council of Hippo, 393, Can. 5, ConncU of CarthaKe 418 Can 1Q 2nd Council of Carthage, 401, Canon 8. ' '• ■ jl <] ' -it i I r j 1 b ^ ii '. k^^^^^M M m '. 1 I l.( H'l., 38 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AF'lICA. impoHcd too great a burden on the episcopate, and it was ordained that it was only to meet when there was real need for it, and that all provincial matters were to be settled as far as possible by the provincial synods'. In other matters the organization of the African Church was not so happy. The diocesan system was profoundly affected by a trait in the national character, which still finds its counterpart among the Berbers of Morocco and Tunis. When the province was first converted and as long as the persecutions lasted this local hero-worship exalted the martyrs and confessors to an unreasonable importance. In the time of Tertullian the reconciliation of excommunicated per- sons through the intercession of confessors had become a regular custom, and had already been abused by the wholesale pardoning of the worst criminals^ In the time of Cyprian the sutierers in the Decian persecution claimed even more power than the clergy. The lapsed, whether " libellatici " or " thurificati," asked their aid for readmission to the Church they had betrayed; while some of the confessors became so puffed up by adulation that they issued pardons to include not only the man mentioned but all his unnamed friends ^ Finally, the bishops were solemnly ordered in the name of all the confessors to reinstate at once all the lapsed. Later on we find that as in the third century this excessive reverence caused the schism of Felicissimus and Novatius, so at the 1 Council of Carthage, 409, Canon 1. For the whole question of African Synods see Dissertation by Garner in Migne's Patrologia. 2 Tertull. ad Martyres, %l; de Pudicitia, § 22. 3 Cypr. Ep. XX. "Communicet ille cum suis." THE AFRICAN CHURCH TO 398 A.D. S9 beginning of the fourth no small part of the bitterness of the Donatist party was excited by the well-meant effort of Mensurius and Caecilian to check the exaggerated importance given to the imprisoned confessors. The sixth Carthaginian synod, held on the 13th of Septem- ber. 401, had to protest against the multiplication of chapels to martyrs and decree that they should not be built except to contain relics or at anyplace intimately associated with the life of the 8aint>. The fantastic Ruicides of the Circumcelliones, and the caution exercised by the Vandal persecutors to check this tendency prove how truly characteristic and how fully recognised it was in the religious life of Africa". But this intense hero-worship had still more impor- tant consequences than the adulation of martyrs It profoundly affected the whole organization of the African Church. It led to the foundation of innumer- able small dioceses, each of which had sufficient piitriotism to resist strenuously any interference with their own autonomy, however well-meant or necessary Already in the days of St Cyprian it was possible to collect together nearly 90 bishops in council, but in later times the sees seem to have multiplied enor- mously. In 411, at the great Council of Carthage against the Donatists, 565 bishops were present, 286 being Catholics and 279 Donatists. Again, in A.D 483 when Hunneric summoned all the Catholic episcopate to plead their case against the Arians, 466 bishops appeared at Carthage^. It seems to have been the habit Eccl Canon 17. a victor Vitensis, i. 14, et passim. See Notitia appended to Victor Vitensis in the Corpus Scriptorum hli III ,'' »■■■ ■ t J f 1 1 hi i ii! ' H i^S 40 THK niuisTiAN cnuHciiKs in north afiuoa. to coni^ocnitc a hiHliop t.o any |>lac<' which contaiiuMl a <'onirn>gaii(>n of ovtMi inodnrat*^ jaoportioiiH, and in .S.S7 tho council hchl at Cart haufc ail.(Mn|>l»Hl to ch(><^k this ((MuliMicy hy onh'rini;;' tliat mo new n(>ch shouhl be croalcd'. It. wan iin|)osHihK> to stop th(» pnictico, and twenty y(»ars later juiothcr coinicil of (^uthji^i* passed a canon dtrlarini;^ tliat, before an ndditional diocest^ could be S(>t up, the consent of thi^ I'rinuit(\ of the Provincial Synod and of tiie bishop on whose jurisdic- tion tl u^ niMv see would (Mjcroach, nuist. be obtaincMl''. On tlu' other hand, to forbid all niultiplicit ion of work of the C'hurch; for tlu^ ne(>d of more bishops iucn>ased with the spread of Christianity. St. Aui^ustine himself established tlu* see of Fussala, in 42:?. 'Vhe Donatists had been esptvially stronuf there, but. his determined i^tVorts had ri\i;aiiu>d the district for Catholicism, and as it was t(H> far froni Hippo to permit, of his ptM'sonal supervision, he obtaiiu^l the l(\'vvi» i)( his Primate and carved the new diocese* out »>f the territory of his own see Although the supp«>rters oi' this systiMU could point to the exan\})le of t'ei^ great Hisho}) of Hippo, there can be no doubt that on the wholt^ the precinhMit was a ba(i ensure a pr«i})er standard o( mbication. probity and morality amongst so large an episcopate. The failings of the clergy, already noticed, were no doubt largely due to th is svstcm. and its bad et^'ects wimv increa.sod bv another peculiarity of the African Church. The ' Canon 5. =' ^^t Augustino, Kp. 20'.K * Canon i. THE AFIUCAN CHURCH TO 398 A.D. 41 Pnrnai(!H of th(* provirjccH wore appointed, not by ni(U'it but by H(!nioiity. In every province, except IVoeonHulariH, the Hc^nior rrumibcsr of the epi,scopatc, or "Sencix" as he waH ealh^d, h(>hl thH about the apjmintments of oth(!r Primates were to be brought", and by him the (Section of all bishops and their translation from one diocese to another had to be approved*. This uni(pu^ system had unique results. The most influ(>ntial bishop was by no means always the nominal Prnnate. St Augustine was never Primate of Nu- nn'dia; St Fulgentius was only Bishop of Ruspe ; yet both profoundly am>cted the course of African c'hris- t.iiirn'ty. In fact undei- this system the divorce between real and nonnnal power was often complete and great jealousies constantly arose. In the days of Gregory the Groat the influence of his friend " Columbus far exceeded that of the Primate, and his close relation with the Pope brought on him the greatest odium. If position and authority had coincided in his case much of ' BiiiKhnm, Autiquities of the. Christian Church, ii. xvi. 0. " A>;). i. 71, 77. ' Council of Hippo, -Mm, Canon 4 (1st Series). •' Council of Carthago, 397, Canon 7. ' ' I It If k\ I , :■ lUi 42 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. this would have been avoided ; but the system was at fault, and those who tried to provide a remedy only laid themselves open to misconception and failure. In later times a means of correcting the errors of a Church existed, which had not yet been fully established. In the fifth century the Pope had not obtained the great powers over all Catholics which he wielded later, and Africa in particular regarded his claims with suspicion. About the year 418 a case arose in the Proconsular province which clearly defined the relations between Carthage and Rome. Bishop Urban of Sicca had deposed a priest named Apiarius for very serious crimes; the accused appealed to Pope Zosimus and was reinstated by him. The General Council of Africa, which met on May 1st, 418, at once passed a canon forbidding any cleric below the rank of bishop to appeal across the sea. Zosimus despatched Bishop Faustinus of Potentina and two priests to protest against this decision and to demand that the Church of Africa should allow bishops, condemned by their provincial councils, to appeal to Rome, and priests and deacons condemned by their own diocesans, to appeal to the other prelates of the neighbourhood. These, said the legates, were canons passed by the Council of Nicaea. The African bishops were not convinced that these canons were genuine, and the Council of Carthage of 419 ordered an application to be made to the Churches of Constantinople, Alexandria and Antioch for authentic versions of the decrees of Nicaea. Meanwhile through reverence for Rome the canons were temporarily ac- cepted, and Apiarius was permitted to resume his priestly functions, although to avoid scandal he was not allowed THE AFRICAN CHURCH TO 398 A.D. 43 to minister again in Sicca. Unfortunately for the Pope the investigation shewed that Carthage was right and Rome was wrong; neither St Cyril of Alexandria nor Bishop Atticus of Constantinople admitted that these canons had been passed at Nicaea, and it was dis- covered that they were taken from the decrees of the Council of Sardica of 343. Moreover, the conduct of Faustinus and Apiarius was not calculated to soothe the Church of Africa into a yielding mood. The former angered the Carthaginian bishops by his insolence ; the latter asked the help of Boniface and Celestine. the successors of Zosimus, in his reinstatement at Sicca, though he had admitted the truth of the terrible accu- sations against him. Consequently the Council of Carthage of 424 wrote to Celestine asking the recall of Faustinus, repudiating the so-called Nicene Canons and declaring that appeals to Rome were an attack on the rights of the African Church. _ So ended the controversy. The last Council at which the affair was discussed was held only four years before the Vandal invasion, and while the influence of St Augustine was at its prime. Position and historical prestige might belong to the Bishop of Rome ; repu- tation and moral weight rested with the Bishop of Hippo. What result would have ensued if the circum- stances of the time and the influence of the two leaders had been different, it is impossible to say. Later on when the Arian invaders had destroyed the organization of the Catholics of Carthage, the advice and aid of the Pope was sought with much greater earnestness ; but at the beginning of the fifth century it is clear that the claims of Rome met with little encouragement in fiiiii m ;« f I i. i i I B ! Ill II 44 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. Africa. What the Pope could claim through the canons of the (Ecumenical Councils, he got ; and his advice was treated with respect ; but further than that Africa would not go, and it asserted the absolute right to manage its own affairs after its own fashion i. The African Church in thus repudiating all external interference, and with such a loose internal constitution, had ample scope to display the two qualities which particularly mark its early history. On the one hand it shewed the most intense conviction, on the other the wildest intolerance. Though closely connected, these characteristics produced the most different re- sults. The noble stedfastness which could support St Perpetua in the hour of her death, and the zealous faith which made hundreds prefer martyrdom to apostasy, rooted Christianity firmly in Africa ; but th narrow fanaticism, which made some condemn Cyprian and Caecilian, the mad zeal, which rent the Church by schisms, and provoked the fanatic violence of the Cir- cumcelliones, did incalculable harm. The intolerance of the Africans made their country the soil from which schism first sprang into being. The two first schisms arose in Carthage : the earliest during the episcopate of St Cyprian, which when trans- planted to Rome was known as Novatianism, and this was followed by the so-called Donatist schism, which arose on the question of the power of a bishop who had denied the Faith to confer the apostolical succession. The motives of the schismatics were not wholly unworthy and in judging their action allowance must be made for or 3 1 For this controversy, see Hefele, Vol. 11. pages 463—7, 476—8, and 128, 137, i 1 THE APHICAN CHtJHCH TO 398 A.D. 45 of the most cherished convictions of the Africans, who depended directly on the character and orthodoxy of the officiating minister. If the priest or bishop vvere excommunicate, all sacerdotal acts done by him were ^pso facto null and void; and the feeling of anxiety amongst the mass of the Christians of Africa, when they hearf grave charges brought against the Primate ot their Church was naturally intense. Undoubtedly such feeling animated the best of the followers of ^ovatIanandDonatus,but unfortunately, in both cases, other and less worthy motives seem to have been at work among the leaders of these schisms. If for example it was quite clear that Felicissimus had of ,rp.° Tl "rigorous enquiry into his trusteeship of the Church funds, his credit would be much higher for in his ca.e there was a real excuse for at least an examination of the conduct of the Bishop of Carthage. There is no doubt whatever that Cyprian acted wisely and prudently in fleeing from the heat of the persecution ; nor were there in the later affair of taecilian any certain proofs of the guilt of his con- secrators. But at the same time it is most important to remember the African point of view, and to realise that a man who thinks that the efficacy of the sacraments depends on the personal purity of the priest must have looked upon the charges against the aCm' "^ "'*'' "'^ "*■"»«' '>°'-™- ""d Novatianism and Donatism though springing from similar causes had very different endings ; Cyprian was soon able to suppress the former; the latter probably * il!i :ll an ii Tin I > \l 46 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. existed for four hundred years. For the stern discipline of Novatian found uncongenial soil in Africa, and Cyprian by his wise moderation and gradual restora- tion of the lapsed made the return to the Church as easy as he could for the followers of Felicissimus. Moreover, the actual state of affairs in Carthage afforded no excuse for the establishment of a new Church on the basis of no compromise with the pagan persecutors. Nearly all the Christians had complied in one way or another with the demands of the government, and in the time of peril it had been difficult to find enough priests to perform the daily services. It was absurd for such men to condemn Cyprian for his flight, and many of them viewed with the utmost anxiety the setting up of a rival episcopate. The mercy of Cyprian was therefore gladly received, and when in 258 the great bishop sealed his faith with his blood, the influ- ence of the sectarians was finally checked. In other countries Novatianism shewed much vitality, but in the land of its birth it was already dead. In sharp contrast to the rapid decline of ^ his schism is the history of the temporary success of Donatism. Perhaps the want of a great man to nip the revolt in the bud, perhaps the slackening of discipline as the Church grew in size was the cause of its rapid spread, but for one reason or another the followers of Donatiis became so numerous that they threatened to absorb altogether the orthodox Church. In tracing the causes of the extinction of African Christianity there is no need to go at length into the wearisome story of this great schism ; for it is a great but not uncommon error to pronounce it one of the chief THE APMCAN CHURCH TO 398 A.D. 47 reasons for the fall of the Church. Donatism was at Its full prosperity at the end of the fourth century: Atncan Christianity was not ruined till the end of the seventh century. The three hundred years that inter- vened were full of the most momentous events, which had far more influence upon the destruction of the Church than the progress of the schism or the crimes of Its supporters. Indeed the prosperity of Donatism was comparatively short-lived, and by the time of the V andals was nearly extinct ; the efforts of St Augustine and Its own excesses had crushed its strength, and the few remnants of the great party that survived in Numidia in the days of the first Gregory were too small to be of any account. '' The Donatist schism has however an interest quite distinct from its actual merits and its theological aspect. Viewed from the political standpoint it stands revealed as meaning much more than an ecclesiastical quarrel. It seems to be the expression of the antagon- ism of national interests and characters, which found an easier outlet in the loosely-knit fabric of the Church than It could ever have had in the political organization the Roman Empire. At the beginning of the fourth century the form of Christianity was not yet settled and It was even doubtful whether the state would abandon paganism; on th. other hand there was small hope of success for a people rebelling against the might 1 bin"""" ?: "'" °' '""'"'"^y ^« therefore the bat le-gi-ound of nations. Arianism was the creed o the a^,„tons ; Catholicism of Rome. The victory of the first would have implied not only a theological but a political change, and the success of the latter ill I Hi Jr 1 m I S 111 fill i i? Ill: 48 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. shewed that with all its spreading decay the Empire was still able to defeat its enemies. The rise of Donatism in such circumstances gave it its larger meaning. At first merely a protest against the irregular ordination of Caecilian as Bishop of Carthp^ge, closely akin to the history of Novatianism, it gradually widened out until it assumed the character of the partisan creed of all who harboured Moorish sentiments and dissatisfaction with the established regime. Even at its birth the schism drew its chief strength from Numidia, one of the least Romanized parts of Africa. The opposition to Mensurius and Caecilian was begun by the provincial council of Cirta, under the leadership of Secundus, Bishop of Tigisis, and the summons of the leaders of the Church of Carthage before this assembly was practically, if not as yet deliberately, an attempt to expose ecclesiastics of the ruling race to the censure of the provincials. In a few more years the Donatists had received very questionable allies. The Circum- celliones were Roman subjects only in name. They spoke Punic alone, and it was into that language that St Augustine proposed his discussion with Bishop Crispinus of Calama should be translated, when he wished to reach the ears of the rank and file of the party\ Their violence and blind fanaticism proclaims them largely Moorish in blood, and they were probably sprung from those semi-barbarian peasants and moun- taineers who formed the connecting link between the inhabitants of the sea-coast and the uncivilized Berbers of the frontiers. The Donatist party therefore included 1 Aug. Ef. 66. THE AFRICAN CHURCH TO 398 A.D. 49 a very large Moorish element, and its hatred of Catho- licism was bound up and strengthened by the national dislike of the Roman rule. It seems, moreover, to have gained great strength under the tyrannies of Firmus and Gildo, and had become so numerous that its members were estimated as more than the Catholics Probably the leaders of the national party found it to their interest to champion the cause of the Donatists against the Catholics, and at any rate the edict of Honorius, issued as soon as he recovered his power agamst the violators of the Catholics, proves that he regarded the defence of the orthodox as most im- portant to the State. But Donatism may be regarded from a social and economic as well as from a political aspect. Like the bociahsm and Anarchism of the present day it attracted all those discontented with their lot Bank rnpts, runaway slaves and fraudulent debtors swelled its ranks and tried to destroy the records against them- se ves by pillaging and ravaging in the sacred name of religion^ It became the gathering in which all that was unwholesome and corrupt in the State came to a head, and it embodied in its ranks every evil ^hing which the decaying social condition of the Empire had produced. Amongst such men, opposed to all law and order, the grossest immorality prevailed ; and in their company were found 'troops of homeless women who declined matrimony, that they might avoid restraintV ihe victory of Donatism would have implied not merely a religious but a social and political revolution » Aug., Ep. 185, iv. 15. H. Aug., I<:p. 35, § 2. 1 11 4 I ^ 50 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. ^ and it could expect no greater mercy from the Em- perors than it obtained. At its very beginning, before it had assumed more than a theological aspect, Constan- tine, perhaps thinking Christianity should be as much subject to the Emperor as Paganism, had punished the schismatics, like rebels, with death. Constans, angered at the excesses of the Circumcelliones, and their refusal of his clemency, drove them from the province. Valentinian; Gratian and Theodosius issued edict after edict against them and the whole machinery of the Roman power was employed to crush the turbu- lent sect which threatened the province with a reign of immorality and rapine. While the State attacked it in the name of social order, it now met its greatest opponent in the champion of theology and religious orthodoxy. In 391, St Augus- tine went to Hippo ; two years later he was chosen to preach the sermon before the Council of Hippo ; and in 395 was ordained bishop as coadjutor to the aged Valerius. He had already begun his long literary war- fare against the power of the Donatists with his " Psalmus contra partem Donati," and five years later he wrote his first book against Petilian. Yet though within a quarter of a century the Donatists were destined to be almost swept away, there seemud small hope at the death of Theodosius of the ultimate triumph of Catholicism. The failing power of the Empire, the rising strength of the Moors, the diminishing numbers of the orthodox seemed to fore- tell the rapidly approaching extinction of the Roman influence, secular and ecclesiastical, in the province of Africa. However this was not to be, and the Donatists THE iPRICAN CHURCH TO 398 A.D. 51 The oegac schism. In breaking away from the Catholic a precedent, the validity of which it was hard for them selves. Three secessions followed close upon each other and matenally weakened their numbers' In 370 the Rogatists. as the followers of Rogatus of Cartenna were called, separated from the main body. In 380 the excommunication of Tyconius. the solit'lry philosopher due to his high character and abilities, In 393 the action of Pnmian, Doiiatist bishop of Carthage 1 ed a serious quarrel, which resulted in the fon„;tion of th»; tlT T """''"' "''"'^y ""•»"&•» loss of numbers that these divisions harmed the Donatists. Far mor" 3L? o7" V ^- °PP-'-'«- '"^y afforded the athohcs of criticizing the mutual relations of the anous parties. In 394. at a great Donati t cound hUd .It Bagai, the Priniianists had solemnly excom Primtisrtr?: :«:: r ^■""1"^' ™'''^" "•" unmolested and evln tT'ref '^- """'^ '''"'^^ '° '<=-« of thp M„ recognise some of tho leaders ,t„ .. 'f'^T""'''''- '^''■^ opportunist policy put to the hands of St Augustine a Lble-edged weapon 111 r '" ""' ^'^"'•^'^ ^ dialectician^to Zlect fhf l:: of fo'" '^ "■".'"^"'^ °° "^^ inconsistelt of paity of no compromise in compromising with their 4—2 1 1 TH ' iiiL iii'F 62 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. ... opponents'; again and again he asks why the Primianists repudiate the Orders of the Catholics and acknowledge those of the Maxim ianists ; again and again he urges the State to mete out to the Donatists the same measure of persecution as they had measured to their enemies^ It was not without success that St Augustine threw himself heart and soul into the fray. His trenchant criticisms were unanswerable and he gained many converts. The sight of three separate sects, each bitterly hostile to the others and each boasting that they alone were free from guilt as " traditores," must have awakened disquieting thoughts amongst all the best of the Donatist party. The prestige of the schism was lost ; its political support was gone ; it had to rely solely on its own inherent merits in contending against th(3 policy of mingled severity and conciliation which St Augustine was now to organize. One further point about the Donatists is worth noticing ; they afford an illustration of the turning of evil into good by the Almighty Hand of God. Donatism was deeply tinged with those national and social sym- pathies which were peculiarly suited to the Moorish temperament. The violence and blind ferocity of the Circumcelliones stamp them as having within their ranks a large number of barbarians without a trace of civilization, and the sect seems to have been especially supported by Firmus and Gildo, the Moorish leaders. Moreover when it was crushed and driven from the more cultivated plains, it lingered on among the mountains of Numidia and Mauritania for nearly M \\ Epp. 61, 53, 70. 2 Ep. 93. THE AFRICAN CHURCH TO 398 A.D. 58 two centuries. With all its illogicality and all its ex- cesses here was something in Donatism which appealed especially to the Moor^. It attracted those whom the purer and more regulated teachings of Catholicism could not reach ; It spread the Gospel of Christ amongst tubes beyond the ken of civilization, and it was the hrst teacher of those who were to preserve their faith through centuries of Mahommedan persecution. Viewed m this way Donafi«ni would seem not the weakening of African Christianity, but the very means which under the guiding hand of God first spread and then strengthened for years of trial the Kingdom of Christ u )V CHAPTER III. The Golden Age of the African Church. The thirty years between the fall of Gildo and the Vandal invasion cover the most prosperous period in the history of the African Church and are inseparably bound up with the acts of one great man. St Augus- tine of Hippo, though bishop of a provincial town of the Roman Empire, by the sheer force of his character and intellect not only restored the supremacy to the Catholic Church in Africa, but exercised an almost unbounded influence upon Western Christendom. In Africa he was not only the fearless opponent of all schism and heresy, whether Donatism, Pelagianism or Manichaeism, but the patriotic inspirer of a strenuous resistance to both Moorish and Vandal attacks. His influence in the Church, unequalled in his own age, has hardly diminished in the course of centuries. While he lived his authority was admitted by all, and he stirred up the Church to resist the heresies of Pelagius ; after his death his writings retained their original value, and to this day are reckoned amongst the noblest contribu- tions to Christian literature. He was fortunate in the period in which he lived, but he used his opportunities THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE AFRICAN CHURCH. 55 thoroughly and well. He was consecrated a.d. 391 three years before the restoration of Roman authority m Africa, and he died two years after the arrival of the Vandals ; but, with the exception of these five years the days of his episcopate were on the whole a time of tranquillity for the province. But though the state of secular affairs was as quiet as could be expected under the failing emperors, there were many enemies for the ecclesiastical leaders to meet. Against all these St Augustine waged a bitter war, and the restoration alike ot orthodoxy and organization to the African Church in 428 was almost entirely due to his efforts. In 398 the tyranny of Gildo came to an end and a temporary prosperity was given to the province. Under Gildo and Firmus, its two Moorish leaders, Africa had been steadily falling into great disorder. For twelve years licentiousness and rapine had unbridled sway. To possess wealth or a beautiful wife was to be marked out for oppression; to refuse the tyrant's demands was to court certain and cruel death. False accusations or treacherous hospitalities removed all who opposed the despot, and their widows were forced to become his slaves and dancing-girls or to marry some Berber courtier. The very coloni were not safe in their obscurity, and the greed of Gildo and his favourites turned many out of their ancestral farms \ Meanwhile Donatism triumphed on every side, over Catholicism, enlisting in its ranks all the religious social and economic discontent of the province. At one' time the schismatics seemed destined to become the 1 Claudian, De Bella Qildonico, 166, etc. \m : ;. I'M! I ! ! II rll 1 'I .56 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. " only religious bodv in Africa. Their organization spread like a net over the whole province ; in evei^ village they had a priest, in every town a bishop, and in the uncivilized border districts they were exceptionally strong. Whole congregations with their priests deserted Catholicism and the new doctrines had a peculiar fascination for the young. There was even a real fear that it would be impossible to keep up the numbers of the orthodox priesthood, and an appeal was made tO Milan and Rome to fill the vacancies in the ranks of the higher clergy ^» However a change soon came. The power of Gildo crumbled into dust at the first touch and the supremacy of Rome in temporal matters was at once restored. To restore Catholic authority in spiritual affairs was much more difficult, and many years elapsed before the mass of the provincials returned to the bosom of the true Church. . The attack upon Donatism was twofold, and both the secular and ecclesiastical authorities did their best to stamp out the pestilent schism. For the Roman official regarded the followers of Donatus as much more than fanatical partisans in an obscure disciplinary dispute. He feared them as determined supporters of the national movement amongst the Moors. He saw that they were the opponents of established order, who were sometimes guilty of the wildest acts of anarchy and violence. Debtors and runaway slaves, half civilised Moors and dissolute women, wandered in bands through- out the country, exacting money and destroying Wi 1 Council of Carthage, 401. Aug., £p. 61, THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE AFRICAN CHURCH. 57 property wherever they went. The Catholics especially were the mark for their violence; and, where the Donatists were strong, neither life nor wealth was secure to those vvho differed from them. In some quiet spot, far removed from the protection of the soldiers, a wild horde of Circumcelliones would suddenly appear and all would be confusion and bloodshed. The granaries were burnt; the wine and vinegar were wasted; the farmers were forced with blows to grind their corn at the mill, and all who dared to resist were beaten to death with cudgels. Against the Catholics still greater outrages were committed. Their churches were de^ stroyed, their sacred vessels were profaned, and their clergy were blinded with lime or tortured and slain ^ No doubt the more respectable Donatists had no share in these brutalities and were unable to check them, but the civil officials were either unable or imwilling to distinguish between the two sections of the party, and classed both as enemies of the Empire. In truth the possession of Africa and the security of her fields were absolute necessities for the Imperial City, and no emperor could view with equanimity the growing anarchy of the province. As soon then as Gildo was crushed Honorius issued an edict proscribing the whole sect and ordaining death as the punishment of all who violated the churches or molested the priests of the Catholics. From this time onwards the policy of the State was firmly defined. Donatism and all Its followers were condemned, and were always liable to the most rigorous punishments at the hands of the secular authorities. ^ Aug., Ep. 185, et passim. - fc' f ; ! I 58 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. The theological attack upon the schismatics was just as determined ; and was directed and led by St Augus- tine. The success of the Catholics was practically complete, and the gradual defeat of the Donatists is clearly shewn by the changes in the policy adopted by the Church. At first St Augustine, though unshaken in his resolution to overcome the schism, evidently feels a marked respect for his opponents. He sees that he is dealing with a party as strong as his own, and that confidence in his own position and argumentative skill are his only weapons. He invites Proculeianus to a conference, and will, if his adversary prefers it, stand aside himself in favour of a less redoubtable Catholic', He actually held a discussion with the Donatist Bishop Fortu^ius at Tibursi, and contended by letters with Bishop Honoratus and the priest Crispinus ; more- over, when the latter was consecrated to the see of Calaraa, he shewed an eagerness to resume their long controversy'^. For St Augustine did not shut his eyes to obvious facts, and he saw that apart from all other considerations Donatism was a great power and must be treated accordingly. The influence of the sect was immense and on all neutral points its friendship was well worth gaining. He therefore complained bitterly of the damage done to religion and morality by the laxity with which the schismatics received men smarting under the censures of the Catholic Church, and quoted particular instances. A son who had beaten his mother, a sub-deacon and some nuns whom he had sentenced 1 Aug., Epp. 33—5. Aug., Ep. 51. THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE AFRICAN CHURCH. 59 to penance, were freely admitted to the ranks of the Donatists, and all order was thereby endangered. It would be far better, he urged, if some arrangement was adopted by the two parties and each agreed to carry out the just censures imposed by its opponents or any who came over to its side. He had himself always done so, and could cite cases in which he had protected Donatists in spite of insults and contumely. Thus he had saved the daughter of a catechumen from a beating by her angry father for joining the schis- matics, submitting to rebaptism, and becoming a nun; and on the other hand he had not sought to avenge the gross insults he had received from the Donatists \ This semi-recognition of his opponents was still preserved by St Augustine, even when the general drift of his policy towards them was completely changed. For as soon as the authority of the emperors was re-established in Africa, the tide turned and the Catholics began to rapidly recover power. As thej saw themselves growing steadily stronger they assumed a more triumphant tone, while they managed to keep the door open for the schismatics' return. The first intimation of their altered policy is given in the corre- spondence of St Augustine, probably written in 400. He has learned now that something more than moral suasion is necessary, and he urges Celer, an important official, who had himself come over from the Donatists, to use greater vigour against his old associates^ In the next year he wrote to Pammachius, a Numidian of senatorial rank, thanking him for compelling his tenants I ' i 1 Aug., Ep. 35. Epp. 56—7. 1 1 •1 t j i 'i f< 1 i 60 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. to see the error of their ways, and remarking that the most important matter for consideration was the manner in which the Donatist clergy were to be received ^ The great bishop contributed greatly to the solution of this problem by frankly acknowledging the eccle- siastical standing of his adversaries, and thereby smoothing the path of return. The policy adopted by the Council of Carthage in 401 followed certain broad lines. The Donatists were schismatics, not heretics, and there was no reason why the Orders and Baptism conferr^-d by them should not be acknowledged : in the same way, if any Donatist had taken vows of chastity or self-deijial, he should not be released on joining the Catholic communion-. St Augustine him- self received and recognized the schismatically-ordained deacons, but he sternly refused to palliate in any way the crime of those Catholic deacons who had left the true fold of the Church. These wise and salutary measures were too success- ful in winning Donatists to the Church to allow Catholics to dream of calling in the assistance of the secular arm. St Augustine proposed to alter the penalty of death decreed against all heretical and Donatist clergy to the infliction of a fine of ten pounds of gold, and urged a more rigorous enforcement of the law in the parts where the Circumcelliones were strong. His scheme was laid before the Emperor by the Council of 401, and might have been adopted, if further out- breaks, and one outrage in particular, had not occurred before the arrival of the deputation at Eome. Maxi- Ep. 58. Ep. 61. THE GOLDEN A«E OF THE AFRICAN CHURCH. 61 mianus Bishop of Bagai. had excited the anger of the Donatists by suceessfully claiming from them in the law-courts the basilica of Fundus Calvian,.s. He was set upon in the church itself, beaten with cudgels and brands torn from the altar, stabbed in the groin The Cathohcs found h>m and bore him away, but as the sad procession proceeded on its way singing psalms It was assaulted and the senseless prelate^once more seized by his enemies. He was then carried to the summi of a lofty tower an J thrown over, but luckily he fel softly (,„oH,fe.) upon ^ heap of refuse, where he lay until a ebince passer-by heard his groans and took him by n,ght to his friend.s. In spite of his wounds he re- covered, but the fresh scars, more in number than the members of his body', bore witness to the treatment he had received'. This outrage urged the Emperor to increased rigour, and the Church also soon saw the necessity of more severity, for the Council of Carthage of 404 requested the energetic enforcement of the law ot Iheodosms against heretics. St Augustine furnishes the best defence of this change of policy". He instances the horrible brutalities of the Circumcelhones, and roundly asserts that "perhaps the cruelties of the barbarians would be light in com- panson." He declares that these fanatics were pledged to subvert the social order of the province, that they repudiated just debts and released legal slaves Their conduct deprived them of all claim to the consideration clue to those who had honestly made a mistake. If they ■ "plures in ejus corpore doalrices quam membra numerantur " lUK.. £011. 88. IS."; mi OS .7 . „ _- _"""a"">r. f i !': Aug., Epp. 88, 185, vii. 25—7. Epf. 70, 51, 53, 106. m !( 62 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. were really conHcientious in their opposition to the Catholics, why did they tolerate the Maximianists? The alleged grievances against both were identical, yet the Donutists refused to acknowledge Catholic Orders and Sacraments whilst admitting the validity of those dispensed by the Maximianists. Such a policy shewed the real hollowness of the whole dispute from a theological standpoint, and made it impossible to avoid the conviction that party spirit had more to do with its persistence than love of truth. For if they were truly actuated by love of truth, why, urged Augustine, had they refused the offers of a friendly conference, which had been continually urged upon them previously, and even renewed so lately as 403' ? Then Possidius and Augustine had offered to meet in argument any champions whom their party might select, but Primian, the Donatist Bishop of Car- thage, had refused. Let things therefore take their course. Now the time for peaceful methods was past and the time for 'wholesome medicine' had begun 2. After all it was no more than the Donatists had wished to inflict on their own friends, the Maximianists =*; and not more than they had asked Constantino to enforce against their opponents the Catholics. Besides, the door of return was always held open to them and full recognition was granted to their baptism and orders. The downfall of Donatism now begins. It was impossible for the schismatics long to resist the persecution of the government, aided as it was by the noble and statesmanlike policy of the Church in offering 1 See also Epp. 87, 8. £p. 93. Ep. 88. THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE AFRICAIT CHURCH. 63 an easy way for the retraction of their errors. There IS no need to describe in detail the progress of the Church or to go fully into the mad outbreaks of the despairing Circumcelliones; it will be sufficient to men- tion briefly the chief landmarks of the great change In 40o, Honorius issued his new edict at the re- quest of the Council of Carthage of the preceding year. All those who ill-treated the Catholics were to be hned; the Donatist bishops and clergy were to be banished; rebaptism was forbidden, and those who sub- mitted to It were to lose their goods and their churches and were deprived of the right of testamentary dis- position Moreover, schismatics were now authorita- tively classed with heretics. The result was immediate Many waverers came over, and open union took place between the majority of the Donatists and the Catholics in many great cities, notably at Carthage. Of course there were outbreaks of violence amongst the Circum- celliones, and especially in the neighbourhood of Hippo and in Numidia ; and Augustine had to warn the new " magister officiorum " of the danger in which all the Catholics stood, and urged him to make it known that, the strong measures taken were initiated not bv' btihcho, but by the Emperor himself. In 411, a great Conference was held at Carthage. The bishops on each side were to attend in their full strength, and seven champions for each party aided by seven bishops were to argue the points in dispute. The speeches were to be officially taken down, and at the end of the third day the President, the Proconsul III * Aug., Ep. 97, _ 1 ( 1 1 ! I ', ' i I €4 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. Marcellinus, was to deliver his decision. However the Donatists, knowing the weakness of their cause, pre- vented any reasomible f^isr.ussion by their character- istic violence. The tirst two days were completely wasted through frivolous objections raised to the formal preliminaries. On the third day, after a stormy argu- ment on the question of the inclusion or exclusion ol sinners from the Church on earth, the President's authority forced the conference into the practical channel of the historical causes of the schism. Then at length Marcellinus was able to deliver judgment. He began by declaring first, that the official ' acta ' proved that Caecilian had not been guilty of giving up the Scriptures ; secondly that, even if he had, his sin would not, according to the Divine Law, involve all his followers in his own guilt. Therefore the Donatists were pronounced to have no justification whatever, either historical or theological. They must then break up their organization and seek readmission to the Church, which they had deserted and oppressed. At any rate, they must surrender their churches, and cease from their outrages, and, while anyone was at liberty to break up a Donatist meeting, the Catholics were not to be impeded in any way. An appeal to the Emperor on the part of the defeated faction was worse than useless, and only brought further penalties on their head. All Donatists were to lose their rights of citizeudhip, and in extreme cases, even their goods and lands. From this moment Donatism ceased to be a power in Africa and the rest of its history is the story of its death. Augustine by his sermons converted the people THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE AFRICAN OHUECH. 66 Of Cirta', and by a fresh edict, published in 414, even those churches, which the DonatistH still retained were forfe,ted, the schismatic priests were l,an.shed, th!' ZZ on all who renmined doubled, and the right to Z ev.dence .n the law-courts was taken away. In LI the Donatists were now reduced to the social position of the lowest class and were subjected to a slou ^-vllinir pei-secution. which was more effective from the fact that the 8,ifferers >vere denied the advantage of poking in public as maityrs. It is not surprising to fin,l that a specal Council hud to be sununonedlt CV.rthagrin 418, to put upon a sounder basis the policy of the Church towards tliese enforced recruits'. But though Donausm was now completely stamped ou m the greater part of the Province, son. remnants Ab„ut 408, St Augustu,.. had informed Vincentius he Rogatist Bishop of Cartenna. in justification of hi' harsh policy, that much „f Numidia had been won r ' "ir *f •'" '"'-^ ^""^ C-'-"- that h" Miccess had made it necessary to set up a separate bishopric at Fussala'. But for all that the conversTon uas never completed, and on the border, i„ the tu'^of ^h ''p'' *''f ''"'''^'' ''^^•-'^ "- -™t imit of the Roman frontiers, Donatism still lingered. In 4 7, Pope Bon.faee sought information about this troublesome sec. and St Augustine in I :. .-eply de- dared that if vast nun.bers of the population have returned to Catholicism, a tough and turbuKut minority remamed outside. Some had conformed through fear Collationem." Ep. 93, Ep. 209, r If ivi 5 ; I 66 THE CHRISTIAN CIIUllCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. of punishment, and some of those who had not con- formed had been convinced of their errors ; but there was still grave fear that the outrages would be renewed by those who had proved themselves more obstinate or more courageous*. But though there was this fear, and though indi- viduals might still suffer from the excesses of the wilder schismatics, Donatism as a dangerous force was dead. By the end of St Augustine's life nothing was left of this once powerful sect but a few followers in the deserts of Mauritania and Numidia. They existed for many centuries and gave some trouble in later times; but regarded as a factor in the extinction of African Christianity they are quite unimportant. Donatism was not the only trouble of the African Church at this period. Two heresies attacked the faith of the Catholics at the beginning of the fifth century and called for the most vigilant resistance. Happily Augustine of Hippo and Aurelius of Carthage were fully alive to the danger and were able to prevent the people of the Province from being led astray. Consequently these heresies had no influence upon the fall of the African Church and may be dismissed with a very few words. In 409, Pelagius, the author of the teaching which bears his name, landed in Africa and began to preach his erroneous doctrines about original sin and free-will. The peculiarities of the African national character promised to afford him a most favourable ground on which to sow his seed. For Pelagius, and still more his ^ Ep. 185, vii. 30. THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE AFRICAN CHURCH. 67 friend Caele8fciu«, taught the absolute self-sufficiency of the human will>. The Africans, in spite of their luxuriousneHS. paid to personal piety and ascetic austerity the most exa,ggerated honour, and it was he very ideal of self-denial which "contributed very largely to sustain and deepen that strong conviction of the freedom of the human will, which the Catholic L^nurch has always so strenuously upheld-." At first the new doctrines made rapid headway and gained many converts^, but the firm stand of the responsible heads of the Church quickly checked their spread The Council of Carthage of 412 condemned Caelestius and his tenets, and St Augustine argued and preached against all whom he had deceived With his personal charm, persuasive eloquence and dialectical skill the great bishop met the arguments of the heretics answered the doubts of the waverers, and proved how contrary to Scripture and experience the new doctrines were^ In 418, the Council of Carthage at which over 200 prelates were present, formulated nine canons against the Pelagians, and the censures of the Church were supported and enforced by the edicts issued in the same year by the Emperors Honorius and Theodosius'. When Pope Zosimus sent out against the heretics an " epistola tractaria," com- 1 Augustiiie, De Gestis Pelag., §§ 5—8. 2 Lecky, History of European Morals, ii. 123 Aug De Gestis Pelag., § 62, "cum plurimo decepisset et fra^r.« Z -" eceperat conturbaret." and the' same authorsi;; "7' S 'i^h nesciam quo sint erupturi," ' J See especially De Pecc. Meritis, De Spiritu Litteraque, De Gestis Pelam De Natura et Gratia, and Sernmis 170 174-5 Isidorus Hispal. Cbron.. Honorio et Theodesio Minore. 5—2 ■I I ! '■l V i l\ ]\ ill 68 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. nianding all bishops to sign it under pain of depriva- tion ', though in Italy no less than eighteen proved recalcitrant, in Africa hardly any were found tainted with the Pelagian errors. Indeed, so anxious was Aurelius that the orthodoxy of the Province might be proved, that he wrote to all his suffragans and begged them to subscribe the declaration, however excellent their reasons for refusing to do so might appear to them to bc=. But the Church of Carthage was not content with acting in solf- defence ; it pursued its enemy wherever he went. Both in Palestine and Italy Pelagius found the Africans his most bitter foes. It was Orosius, the friend, if not the envoy of Augustine, whose strictures of the new doctrine caused the assembling of the synods of Jerusalem .tnd Diospolis at which the accusers of Pelagius were inspired by tlxe writings of the great Bishop of Hippo. It was the Council of Carthage of 416 which urged on Pope Innocent I of to condemn Pelagianism, and it was the series Africa?) synods and especially the Carthaginian " obtes- tatio" of 418, which opened the eyes of Zosimus to the dangers of this errors As long as it seemed likely that the heresy would spread the African bishops opposed it might and main. They stamped it out in their own land ; they discredited it before the eyes of the world, and thanks to their efforts, its later history is to be found in the annals of the Churches of Gaul alone. ^ Apud August., Ep. 190, - Aurel. Carth., Ep. : Epistola Episcopis Provhic, Byzaceme, ^ Aug., Ep. 215, (■ ii • 1. i i THE GOLDEN AOE OF THE AFRICAN CHURCH. 09 The other heresy which now affeeted Africa was the far more subtle Manichaeism. It. converts dTd Z openly separate thenwelves from the orthodox but g..ve secret meanings to their acts while part^at' g number of votaries. Africa, indeed, .seemed to be from the fourth century the principal seat of the sect'- St Augustme himself had been won over as a young man and he had erred in company with great multit^d"- Don. t,stac^ Even when there was a reluctance to .10 n the sect, an uneasy feeling that its teaching might after all be true made many become •.auditois,'^in order to gam such help as the "electi" could gi™ in the life beyond the grave'. *^ disaSv^T'r ^'T' ■'""^'""' """^'^ '"" grievous rit.es whether Chnsfan or pagan. A grave suspicion ol the grossest dissoluteness, which hfs never en .lusffied as regards the sect consi.lered as a whl contmually hung over it and caused the i.s.sue of fre-' ill' 3T2 Th*' T""'- ''• '^"'''^*'™ '» 287, Vdentiman n 372, Theodosms m 382, proscribed all who adopted its tenets. The efforts of tho «i„f """pteu thnsp nf tv, nu """'*"' "><= ^""te were supported by those of the Church. St Augustine wrote and argued aga nst rt and was perhaps able to check its progress. were found there as long as the power of Rome was acknowledged m the Province. On the arrival of the ' NeanderIV.,497,e««,, > PosBidi™ p.v„ . 'AH..E,.yc,Bri.an. < pZI: vi " '°'- "' !/ ;/■ 70 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA, Vandals, many of its proselytes fled to Italy and caused Pope Leo the Great the utmost anxiety'. Hunneric found the Arian clergy tainted by its doctrines and ordered their exile or execution at the staked When Justinian reconquered the Province, a fresh edict was hurled against the heretics in 540, and even in the time of the Saracens many Africans believed in their teachings''. In fact from the fourth century onwards Hanichaeism was widely spread through the Churches of Africa; its secrecy saved it from extinction and it existed as long as the strictest orthodoxy itself. Although on the whole these thirty years seemed a period of T/rosperity, and although the position of the Church in 428 was far stronger than in 398, there was one danger which became more pressing every year as the time went on, It threatened, not only the Church, but the whole fabric of the Roman power^ and it was felt not only in Africa but wherever the Imperial eagles flew. On every frontier of the Empire the barbarians continually advanced, and it was during these years that the Berber forces began to make head^ way against the garrison of Africa. It was not indeed a new peril. It had always been there and was in- separable from the condition of affairs in Africa. As far back as the time of Cyprian, the Moors had proved their power. They had advanced as far as the range of Ferratus and fixed their permanent boundaries there. From the security of inaccessible mountain retreats, they issued to plunder and ravage the fertile plains The settlers were carried off and held to ransom i ^ Sermon, xv. » Greg. II., Ep.lU, * Victor Vit. ii. 1. THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE AFRICAN CHURCH. 71 travellers were stopped, robbed and sometimes mur- dered ; and the scattered Roman posts and the militia or "limitanei" could do little to make the border secure. At one time the Moors had seized Christians from eight different Sees, to rescue whom St Cyprian raised a subscription of eight hundred pounds of gold from the people of Carthage. The revolts of Firmus and Gildo had been national movements towards inde- pendence, and the Moors, foiled in these attempts, harassed the masters, whom they could not overcome. The circumstances of the time gave them many opportimities. The Empire of the West was tottering to its fall, and the great proconsuls of the provinces were impatient of their subjection to Rome. Heraclian, Count of Africa from 409 to 413, though he had re- sisted the temptations of Attalus, threw off his allegiance to Honorius and invaded Italy itself; when, as the chronicler tersely says, he lost his honour and his life. Ten years later another pretender arose in the Province. John claimed the throne left vacant by Honorius and tried to conquer Africa, which Boniface held in the interests of Valentinian III. and his mother, ■Galla riacidia. Finally Boniface himself revolted and defended himself successfully against the combii -d force and fraud of Mavortius, Galbio and Sinex. He had after this to wage war with Sigisvult and seems in •desperation to have summoned the aid of the Vandals from across the sea'. The Moorish tribes, always turbulent and hard to repress, must have been blind indeed, if they had not ' Prosper, s. a., 416, 427—8, 431, and article in English Historical Meview, JUl^, 1887, by Prof. Freeman. 72 THE CHKISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. 1 seen in the disloyalty and quarrels of the Counts of Africa exceptional opportunities for pillage and rapine. St Augustine's letters shew that they did not let their chances slip\ They made their usual incursions with more than their usual audacity and success. Thus in November, 409, they raided Sitifis and carried off a professed virgin, the daughter of Bishop Severus, Happily for her, her three captors were restored to health in answer to her prayers; and either through the national reverence for one endowed with super* natural powers or through sheer gratitude, they restored her unharmed to her friends". The history of the barbarian inroads is bound up with the story of one great man. Boniface, Count of Africa, had passed nearly the whole of his official life- in Africa and had gained his great position by his valour and skill. A friend of the Church, he had won the praise of St Augustine by finding time in the midst of his military duties to inquire concerning the character and origin of Donatism^ In an age of the utmost corruption, he was noted for his honesty; no bribe could move him, and he administered a rough but efficient justice. As a frontier officer he was un- rivalled ; with a few '■ foederati " he kept his district secure and he fearlessly attacked the Moors wherever he met them whether his forces were many or few, and even when he was alone". In fact for many years under his rule the Province was kept clear of barbarian foes. On the death of his wife Boniface seriously medi* > Ep. 109, § 7. 2 Aug., Ep. 111. * Olympiodorus, frag. 42, F. H. G. p. 67, '^ Aug., Ep. 185. THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE AFRICAN CHURCH. 73 tated resigning his milita,^ command and retiring % the remainder of his days into the holy calm rf a monastery; but St Augustine, whom he consulted disapproved of the scheme and persuaded him tha t^' to carry out the work he had so well begun. In 422 01 Vir Speetabihs.' Whether these new honours diZbeX I f """'. '"''"'^' "'"> «» Arian wife forward his lofrr '\™--'-". •">' f-» this time »Z t t ^^' "nderwent a great change. Led a tray by his new wife, the friend of St Augustine =ven allowed his daughter by this second marria|e to recerve heretical baptism. Moreover there were dark report! S; oft;*'"""^^.^" """'--- -'^^. he hadC guilty ot the grossest immorality. Such a falling away as this had its usual effects and not only Eoniiace but oil if /r , *'"'"'"'> crimps w , ""^^ ""' »" Afr'i^a suffered for his not? 1 f 'P'' ^'""" '»-™"y ^^ already been noticed, and now a strange sloth possessed him ffi" old vigour and courage were no more; he who a", ao nothmg to save the Province ; on every side thp Td'oSe':^^ "''' '-- "^^-^^ '-' - -^p^ - It is perhaps unfef, t„ put ^i, j^e blame for t»,e J^oniface. No doubt he was very slack in the perform-. ' Aug., E^,. 220. If i. ' n ^^1 ! E 74 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. ance of his duties and could have done much more to defend his charge if he had continued in his old life of virtue ; but at the same time the advance of the Moors was inevitable, and the military system of the Empire was not well fitted for a stout resistance. The climate of Africa is very unsuitable for Northern races and sooner or later the vigour of Europeans is always sapped and the strength enervated by its effect upon them. It was therefore a mistake to post one legion permanently in the Province, as the Legio Tertia Augusta had been for centuries. If they became in- efficient, the lowlands were left practically defenceless to the mercy of the Moors; for neither the Foederati nor the Limitaneii mere militia, could ever have been very formidable, while the moribund state of the West- em Empire prevented any help from other regions being sent to the distressed Africans. Still, as has been said, these thirty years were a time of prosperity for the Church, Though the Berbers were ever advancing, the Church as an organization was not affected, and if the frontiers were disturbed the heart of the Province was not yet attacked. In other ways the cause of the Catholics had distinctly progressed, Donatism, its great rival, had suffered a fall — as complete as it was sudden. Its property was confiscated, its ministers exiled, and its supporters out^ lawed; and the sect, that had seemed once about to crush out the Catholics altogether, had been reduced to the position of a small struggling remnant in the out- Ij ''ng districts of the less-civilized provinces. Against other dangers the Church had held its own. Pelagian- ism had lost what footing it had in Africa, and the THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE AFRICAN CHURCH. 75 subtle Manichaeism had been forced to hide itself from the eye of all authority. The Church might therefore look back with satis- Action on thirty years of advance since the fall of C^ildo Mercifully, perhaps, her great leaders were not allowed to foresee the fierce persecution with which it was to meet at the hands of a new and terrible foe I.' 1 . J, i CHAPTER IV. The Rise of the Vandals. The thirty years of peace through which the Church had just passed were in 428 brought to an abrupt close by the outbreak of a tremendous storm. Just as the triumphs of St Augustine seemed to have won for the Catholics the undisputed mastery of the Province, and to have secured a long and useful career for the triumphant Church, the sudden appearance of an un* expected danger reduced her once more to the position of a proscribed and persecuted society. In 428, the Vandals crossed from Spain and held Africa for more than a hundred years. To them, both as Arians, and as enemies of Rome, the Church was doubly obnoxious, and they treated her with as much harshness as their political circumstances and the smallness of their numbers permitted. Hardly at any time tolerated, she was at certain periods and in certain places subjected to the most barbarous persecution. The exact cause which brought about the invasion of Africa need concern the ecclesiastical historian but little. He may believe what Procopius says of the treacherous fraud of Aetius and the short-sighted folly i li i . THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. 77 Of Bomface^ or he may with the modern critic say that the Count of Africa added treachery to his other crimes, and, moved by a petty feeling of jealousy deliberately invited the enemies of his country and his faith to share with him the province entrusted to his care . However this may be. in 428" the Vandals and Alans crossed the Straits of Gibraltar with the evident intention of conquering Africa. Their leader Gaiseric was peculiarly fitted for the task before them He was a brave warrior and astute statesman, and was fully aware that a strong hand was needed to maint.^a his authority amongst the Vandals. Though of di mmutive stature and lame, owing to a fall from his horse, he was terrible in anger and proof against every fatigue. He loved war for its own sake, and to the end of his life kept the shores of the Medi- terranean in dread of his piratical expeditions. Great statesman as he proved himself, he affected reckless, ness enough when embarked on a marauding ex. pedition If his sailors asked him at the beginning of one of these cruises in what direction they were to steer, he would order them to sail before the wind agamst those "with whom God was angry." Yet iu his administration and diplomacy Gaiseric shewed that he could employ the utmost vigilance and caution, ihough an apostate from Catholicism, he tempered the hatred of the renegade with the wisdom of the ' Procopius, De Bello Vandalico, i. 3. 2 Freeman, Eng. Hist. Rev., July, 1887, « I have adopted in the main the chro'nology of Mr Hodekin for this period. The authorities on which it is founded arfcited'n a masterly note in Volume „. of hia ^^ Italy and her InvadersT i ^M ),■ ill 78 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. I < i ti; I I statesman. Though a barbarian conqueror, he was willing to keep the best part of Roman civilization. Silent and watchful., he was ready to seize every ad- vantage that diplomacy offered, and was practised in sowing the seeds of enmity amongst his opponents'. Under such a leader any foe would have been dangerous; the Vandals were almost irresistible. A tall, fair people, sprung from a race which had defeated the best legionaries of the youthful Empire, the degenerate colonists of the provinces were no match for them. Salvian may have exaggerated the luxury and vice of the provincials and the stem simplicity of the barbarians, but it is impossible entirely to reject his testimony that the collapse of the Roman power was due to the superior discipline and morality of the invaders*. The geographical features and political organiza- tion of the Province were in favour of the Vandals, The part of Africa where they landed was the ])lace best fitted strategically for an invading host. Mauri* tania Tingitana was never closely connected with the rest of the Province, and in later times it was found more convenient to administer it from Spain than Carthage. The barren mountain ranges prevented the formation of roads, and communications between Gades and Numidia were only possible by sea, But the very desolation and inaccessibility of the region fitted it for 1 For Gaiseric's character see Procop.; De Bell. Vand.t L 3j Jordanes, De Rehus Geticis, c. 33; Isidor. Hispal., Hist. Vand., c. 74. 2 Salviin, De Gubernatione Dei, v. 14, vii. 27 — 9, 65, etc. He speaks of the Vandals as "ignavissimi," which seems at least an exaggeration. THE UfSE OF THE VANDALS. 79 th( M. -poses of the Vandals, who needed at first no per nent home, out a ,ase of operations, where the^ uu'd safely 1, v. f ..r v s and children while ^hey then, selves overrai . fertile plains. From the Moorisii tribes there a.s lin.le to fear. Their one idea was hatrc^' of the Roman provincial and love of his goods and must have been easy for a skilled diplomatist like Gaiseric to gain their friendship by the promise of the plunder of the rich eastern lowlands. The complicated machinery of the provincial govern- ment prevented a prompt ^ack of (he invaders. Ac cording to the regular sys.cm of the Empire, all power should have been vested in the Vicarins Africae under the supervision of the Praetorian Prefect ; but by a curious exception his authority was limited to the Mauntania, Numidia, Byzacene and Tripoli, while Zeugi- tana, the most important district of all and the centre of the whole Province, was under the separate- rule of the Proconsul of Africa. Both these officials lived at Carthage, and as their authority continually clashed considerable jealousy and ill-feeling existed between them. To make confusion worse confounded, only the civil power was under this dual control ; the directioa of military affairs throughout Africa was vested in the Comes Africae, who took no orders except from the Praetorian Prefect of Italy \ With such a medley of authorities it would have been very wonderful if the defence of the Province had been well directed, and it may be supposed that the discords of the great Roman • officials had much to do with the rapid fall of the Imperial power. ^ Hodgkio, Ital^ and her Invaders, Vol. n. p. 242. ! m 1 ^i' I ^^ ^.r^%. %:«> rv X^ w IMAGE EVALUATION ^ TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4^ e V // /- ^j- W.r 2a t 1.0 tt^ 12.8 ^0 ™^ l.'£ IIM I.I 1.25 1.4 IIM 1.6 ^^ %. # ^>^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 '^•^ ,V ^ "^ \\ s^ i\^ >.^ 'n. "(j,^ -feT #, ^ ^^ &?/ t/u ^ HSaPM il ' f > % ! 80 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. For the Vandals became masters of Africa within a very short time. Landing in A.D. 428, they were practi- cally supreme throughout the Province by the fall of Carthage in 439. After this the war passed out of its acute stage and merely lingered on. In 442 a final peace was made and a partition of territory with Valentinian III. agreed upon, despite which the Vandals continued to increase their dominions until the capture of Rome in 455 gave them the opportunity of reaching their furthest limits by the gradual occupation of Tripoli. Within two years of the landing of the Vandals it is said that only three Churches were still in existence. Of these, the fate of Cirta is unknown; Hippo fell after a brave defence, and Carthage was captured by treachery \ Although Boniface soon discovered his mistake and tried with all his old courage to repair his errors, the invaders made rapid progress. In May^ 430, Hippo was besieged, and St Augustine and many other bishops were shut up within its walls, Boniface himself conducted the defence with the Gothic " foederati," and for fourteen months fought so bravely that the Vandals marched away in despair. But long before the retreat of the foe the great Bishop of Hippo had passed to his rest. He was stricken with fever three months after the beginning of the siege, and on the 28th of August, 430, the Church, not oi ly of Africa but of the whole world, suffered an irreparable loss by the death of the venerable prelate at the age of seventy- five ^ It was well perhaps that the champion of ortho- 1 Possidius, Yita Sti. Aug. Ep., cc. 28 — 30. 2 Victor Vit., I. 3. I ; THE RISE OP THE VANDALS. 81 and heretical fno w , ' °^ '* barbarian were cheered Iv « "'^^ ''•"P' "'^' ''''' ''»^' """"-"te •^or a time the Vandals were checked hnf ,h ■ period of inactivity was brief P5n!f ' ^"<^ ^^eir ».^- ^ i^iviuj/ was Diiet. tJoniface, encourap-pH hv re nforcemente from Rome and by the arrival, ff ^ mth help from the Eastern Empire tootTfiMr' was completely routed at the Crconnter^/rlm' tS t.vL:rr-dtr.t^;t:-tr r^f A f • • »"uuiu grant to the invaders a portion of Afaoa, m return lor which the Vandals shouW pay tribute and g,ve up Hunneric. the eldest son Tthe^r k.ng as a hostage for their good behaviour. PsX the d:stnct thus given up consisted of the thr f Mauntama. but of this there is no certainty It il Ca:. S tl^''^ "'''^"T ™d««»o>< not t'o attack the t^t ' ! I "■"^^Pected capture of this city caused ' Procopius, De Bello Vand., i. 4 «: pit Ccit-^rr:^,f- ^r-ct^-' r- -• Theodosius. ' •*• ^^^ ' Camiodnus, s.a. 12, H. 6 ii rr % J 82 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. For the next few years the Africans were permitted by the policy of a conqueror the enjoyment of a period of cessation of active hostilities. Soon, however, the court of Ravenna seems to have been sufficiently misguided to allow Gaiseric's son, Hunneric, to return home. A rude awakening soon came*. On October 19th, 439, while the attention of Aetius was taken up with the affairs of Gaul, Gaiseric appeared before the walls of Carthage, and obtaining admission on the pretext of peace treacherously seized the city. War at once broke out again and lasted for three years. Now, however, the Romans had no chance of success, and there is no record of any fighting in Africa. The Vandals on the contrary began their car ?er as the scourges of the Mediterranean by a descent on Sicily. In 440, Gaiseric invaded and ravaged the islands far and wide until recalled by the news of the arrival of Count Sebastian in Africa ^ He however turned out to be a fugitive from Rome and not a Roman general. In 441, Theodosius II. sent from Constantinople a great arma- ment of 1100 vessels under Areobindus, Anaxilla, Germanus and other leaders^ ; but this too ended in failure, and was the cause of more harm to Sicilv than to Africa, its only result being that an embassy was sent by Gaiseric to the Eastern Emperor. This was the last attempt to drive out the Vandals, In the following year Valentinian was forced to agree to one 1 Prosper, s.a. 443; Prosper Tyro, s.a. 445 (ed. Canis.), s.a. 439; Marcellinus Comes gives the date as 23 Oct. 439. 2 Prosper, s.a, 444; Prosper Tyro (ed. Canis.), s.a. 440; Idatius, s.a. 26th of Theodosius II. 3 Theorphanes, s.a. 441 ; Prosper, s.a. 445 ; Prosper Tyro, s.a. 441. THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. 83 more province being torn from his crumbling Empire and to sign a definite peace with Gaiseric. ' Africa was divided according to "certain limits" and perhaps 'ven Sicily was surrendered. Rouahl'v speakmg, the Vand.Is acquired Byzacene, Proconsularis and Numidia; the Empire kept the three Mauritanias and Tripoli . That is to say, the invaders obtained all the fertile parts of the province; the Romans retaining only the thinly populated districts which on the death ot Valentinian III. (in a.d. 455) were lost to the Empire ^. Unfortunately for Africa neither side was equal to the task of obtaining the mastery. The Vandals were not sufficiently numerous to hold their territories effectually; the Empire ^.s too weak to reconquer them. From this time therefore the Moors began to gain ground and to establish themselves in a position from which it proved impossible to dislodo-e them. ° Thus then was Africa conquered by the Vandals l:'utting aside their superiority in homogeneity, physique morality and recklessness, it is worth while to consider 1 Prosper, s.a. 446; Prosper Tyro. Canis. Ant. Led., s.a. 442- Cassiodorus. s.a. 19 Theodos. ; Victor Vit., i. 4. ' ^^""*^"^f "^"«* i'^ »^«^e at least have been kept by Valentinian. The Novels 23 (22 June, 445) and 37 Valentin, and Theodos. (13 July 4ol) apply to it. It was probably never colonized by the Vandals e^ilmT f T^'"'' ''■ '• ^^ ''''^ '^ *^^ ^-^ 44o'points to t' d vt^nn T?, ^"."^P"'-^"^^ 1"^^* tben. Dr Hodgkin places the division of the province recorded by Victor Vitensis (i. 4) in 435 I pre er to follow Papencordt in assigning it to the final peace of 442 • Victor mentions it after the Fall of Carthage in 439, and this sureW proves that It could not have been arranged in 435. Marcus (Histoire ZZ .t:\ T '^ '"' '"''''' ("• "• '' § 7) -^^« - additional tiuce in 432, but on no convincing evidence. 6—2 I I ill , 84 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. hxOW far they were aided by disaffection within the province itself. Neither Moors nor Donatists had much cause to love the Roman regime, and there is no prima facie improbability in assuming that they threw in their lot with Gaiaeric. Of these two possible allies, the part played by the latter is the more uncertain nd has caused much difference of opinion amongst modern historians \ From the time of St Augustine to the reign of Pope Gregory II, nothing is known of them, and at first sight it appears unlikely that a sect which had re- pudiated Arianism'* would side with the heretical Vandals. But the times were now altered and the Donatists of 428 were not the Donatists of 398. The wise policy of St Augustine, supported by the per- secuting policy of the Roman government, had nearly destroyed the schismatical party. All the more re- spectable, all the enlightened and reasonable members of the sect had by this time rejoined the Catholic Church. The Circumcelliones alone remained obdu- rate, and it is easy to suppose that with them theo- logical scruples were easily overcome by fanatical hate. Indeed as early as 417, the more violent Donatists had negociated with the Goths and professed i.he» elves Arians for political reasons, though they were dis- owned by their more respectable brethren ; and now, driven to despair by harsh treatment and with all their social grievances unredressed, they probably found no difficulty in once more proving complaisant and in sacrificing their creed for the sake of their revenge. 1 Papencordt (pp. 284, 6) argues that they did not help the Vandals ; Gibbon (chap, xiii.), Marcus (iii. 1), and Fournel (i. 2), maintain thpt they did. ^ ^ug., Ep. 186, § 1. THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. 85 No contemporary historian, it is true, says that the Vandals were aided by the schismatics ; on the other hand we have no remarks on either the persecution or the immunity of the Donatists. Probably they had by this time dropped out of sight, and though the few surviving Circumcelliones helped Gaiseric, they were confounded with the Moors, to whom they were so closely allied. For there is little doubt that the barbarian tribes >^ided with the invaders. They had from the first hated the Romans, and the events of the last fifty years had made them despise them. They loved plunder for its own sake and were ever on the watch for opportunities to ravage the province. The appear- ance of the Vandals gave them a splendid chance, and they were far too valuable as allies to be overlooked by a skilled diplomatist like Gaiseric. A few years later Moorish contingents formed part of the piratical crews which ravaged the Mediterranean \ and in all probability the presence of Berber and Vandal in the same army dates from the beginning of the conquest of Africa. The ten years' war and the triumph of barbarism over civilization wrought havoc among the Roman settlements'. On all sides the advance of the invaders was marked by burning houses, ruined farms and reckless devastation. When Carthage fell, the senseless rage of the conquerors was turned against the mag- ^ Victor Vit., i. 8. - The autLorities for the ravages of the Vandals are:— Victor Vitensis, i. 1-4 ; Possidius, Vita S. Augusti, c. 28 ; Procopius, De Bello Vandalico, i. 3 — 4. I ' I f - ' ' J i m Eff'l ■I 86 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. nificent public buildings, and the peculiar hatrea of the beautiful, which has given to the Vandals their evil reputation, now especially found vent. The Odeon, the theatre, and the temple of Memory perished utterly, nor did the Via Caelestis with its magnificent pavement and its carven pillars escape the hands of the destroyers ^ The invaders knew no mercy, as long as the con- quest was incomplete, and neither age nor sex protected the miserable provincials from their enemies. The very babes were snatched from their mothers' arms and hurled to the ground, and the only safety was in flight. The country districts were almost depopulated, and the wretched inhabitants hid in the caves and chasms of the mountains, only in many cases to meet a lingering death by hunger and thirst. When Carthage was taken, the fury of the Vandals had somewhat spent itself and less barbarity was shewn. There were not so many massacres, and the invaders sought rather to enrich themselves than to slay the citizens. To this end large numbers of the senators were imprisoned and tortured and compelled to give up all their gold, silver and precious stones. Many others, amongst whom were the grandparents of Bishop Fulgentius of Ruspe^ fled, and if they left their property behind them, no obstacles seem to have been put in their way. But the Vandals were more than mere barbarians, filled with insensate rage against the noblest works of civilization ; Arians as they were, they were firmly at- tached to Christianity and deeply imbued with that stern military puritanism which so often appears in the Teu- 1 See Prosper, De Promissionibus, ii. 38, for a description of the Via. ^ Vita S. Fidgentii, c. 1. THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. 87 tonic race. Perhaps even the destruction of the splendid buildings of Carthage was caused by their real or fancied connection with old pagan gods. At any rate the Catholic clergy provoked the worst feelings in the minds of the Arian invaders, who, regarding the vices of the orthodox provincials with loathing, especially marked them out for insult and massacre. They were bclioved to be the possessors of vast stores of concealed wealth, and fearful tortures were used to cause them to reveal it. Their mouths were held open with sticks and filled with loathsome filth; vile compounds of salt water, vinegar and the lees of wine were forced down their throats ; cords twisted round their foreheads and legs cut into their flesh ; and some, loaded with baggage like camels, were goaded on until they fell dead with exhaustion. If overcome by their miseries, they did give up their possessions, they were tormented afresh to make them produce their hidden stores. Vast numbers were thus tortured, and Panpinian, a priest, and Mansuetus, Bishop of Urci, were burned to death. In all directions the clergy were driven out or slain; religious communities were broken up and many of the devout women were exposed to the grossest out- rage and infamy. When the Vandals had done their worst to the Catholic clergy, they turned their at- tention to the churches. Every building set apart for the orthodox worship, the monasteries and burying places, v;ere ravaged and laid waste without respect to their sacred character. Sacramental vessels and ecclesiastical vestments were taken and destroyed ; the churches were set on fire, and if their strength defied the hosts of the despoilers, the doors were broken open. I : 1 ^ ill' ■ ; 11 1 w 1 J fp f. mmmmmm 1)1 Ifi I fl y . 88 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. the roofs were stripped off, the walls were defaced and only a desolate ruin was left. In Carthage the Arians took possession of the Church property, and either devoted it to their own worship or turned it into dwelling-houses for their priests'. In fact for a time the Catholics were entirely dis- organized. In the first throes of their distress the clergy appealed to St Augustine through Bishop Hono- ratus to know whether they would be justified in leaving their flocks and flying to places of greuter security. The great bishop replied that they must not shrink from any personal danger; if all were in peril, let clergy and laity flee together ; but if the clergy alone were threatened, they must not desert their posts to seek their own safety". But with all her devotion it was impossible for the Church to maintain her efficiency. In 431 Capreolus had to refuse an invitation to send delegates to the Third General Council at Ephesus, on the ground that the terrible devastations of the Vandals and their pressure on every side made it im- practicable to summon a general synod in Africa^ Such is the picture drawn by the historians of the ravages of the Vandal invaders. But it is not clear that some of the colours are not unduly heightened by religious and national resentment. No Vandal writer ever arose to give a second account of the war, and there is much in the statements of Victor and Possidius to shew the need of caution in accepting their facts as literally true. ^ Isodorus, Hispalensis, Hist. Vand., c. 75 ; Prosper, s.a. 443. - Possidius, Vita S. Augusti., c. 28. 3 Ruinart, Hist. Persecu. Vand., iii. 2. I THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. 89 Though Victor asserts that the number of the clergy who were tortured wa^ too great to be told, he mentions only two by name. Fuller particulars of the massacres related would be more convincing than vague denunci- ations; and besides, two or three statements of the same writer are almost incredible. In the first place he declares that the Vandals uprooted all the fruit-trees m order to prevent the fugitives obtaining food from them'. Now Gaiseric, as a statesman, who had come to Africa to provide a home for his people, cannot be believed to have allowed one of the chief sources of the wealth of the province to be destroyed in order to gratify a momentary passion. Probably at the first onset he sanctioned extensive ravages from motives of policy and with the idea of striking terror into the hearts of the Liby-Phoenician inhabitants. But when the marvellous remains of the Roman power are con- sidered, and the rapid enervation of the Vandals through unaccustomed luxuries is remembered, it seems evident that the amount of devastation has been greatly ex- aggerated. It is further asserted that the invaders were in the habit of hastening the surrender of well-defended towns, by slaying the prisoners and piling their putrefying bodies against the walls to cause disease amongst the garrison I If resort was ever had to this device, its ingenuity was certainly admirable ; but it is difficult to understand how it did not recoil upon its authors and involve besieged and besiegers alike in one dread infection. Perhaps, however, this statement may be due to Victor's uncritical mind, for if the ^ Victor Vit., i. 1. 2 Victor Vit., i. 3. .J 1 1\ 'TP' ii I 90 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. bodies of the .slain around the town cauaed pestilenco, it does not follow that the Vandals deliberately neg- lected all sanitary precautions out of a fiendish policy of spreading disease. But there is a curious anti-climnx in Victors complaints. After narrating the terrible devastation of the country, the wrecking of the churches, tho massacre of the population and the tortures of the clergy, after telling of the fall of Carthage, the exile of its bishop and the confiscation of the basilicas, he asks how anyone can endure to relate without tears that the Catholics were forced to carry their dear ones in silence to the grave without the consolation of hymns'. From this it certainly seems probable that after the capture of Carthage at any rate the active persecution of the Church was not great. The settlement of Africa by the Vandals confirms the impression — our facts justify nothing more — that the barbarity of the invaders has been painted in too glaring a hue. There was of course much individual hardship and much confiscation of property, but if the half-civilized state of the conquerors and the nature of the work they had to do are considered, it is evident that their measures were most politic and not unduly harsh. Gaiseric aimed at establishing his people in their new home, at securing them against domestic risings and assuring their enjoyment of all that was best of the land's produce. He did not wish to oppress the old inhabitants unnecessarily, and, once the settlement was complete, both in religious and m 1 Victor Vit., i. 5. THE Bi^L OF THE VANDALS. 91 eecular matters only prominent opponents suffered at his hands. There was no attempt at depopulation. Indeed the numbers of the Vandals prevented any such scheme. Never a numerous people, when the conquest was over they mustered barely fifty thousand able-bodied soldiers.' When they landed they had only eighty thousand males, and this mcluded not only the Alani but old men, infants and alaves*; nor did they reacheven this nominal strength of eighty chiliarchies until they had intermarried with the Moors'^ The utmost Gaiseric could hope to do was to make his people the dominant race in Africa, and in order to effect this the Berbers' encroachments had to be restrained and the old inhabitants held in sub- jection. As long as the great conqueror lived the first difficulty was easily met; the border tribes were forced or cajoled into alliance and it was only under his suc- cessors that the raids of the Moors gave any trouble. The second danger was the greater. For the con- quered race were indispensable to their conquerors. They tilled the soil and paid the taxes ; they introduced their masters to comforts as yet unknown co them; their habits of business made them even necessary for the carrying on of the administration. The Vandals seemed to conquer Africa; Africa really conquered the Vandals, and the history of the invaders during the next hundred years is the story of their gradual assimilation by those whom they had defeated. For not even Rome could surpass the de- lights of Carthage, and the seductive luxuries of the ^ Victor Vit., i. 1. Procop., De Bello Vand., i. 5. ■'•' ■ ill 1 j;P 1 M BAB.f Iri ^^^1 M 1 ^H { . ' i'l 'i '■ H 1 ' n 'f bI i . iH Ifflf' ''fl^^^l 1 J IH I I 1 ii ' 11^ Vi: 92 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. hot climate of Africa combined to overcome the stern simplicity of the northern barbarians. But for every luxury, which under the burning rays of the Libyan sun became a necessity of life, the Vandals were dependent upon the despised provincials, and had therefore to treat them with moderation and con- siderateness. In the matter of government also the Africans had much to teach the Vandals. They had for centuries lived under the highly elaborated system of the Empire, which, with all its faults, was the best the world had yet experienced. The Vandals on the other hand had nothing more than the rude tribal organization common to all Teutonic peoples. Gaiseric, too able a statesman to destroy an instrument he could not replace, decided to continue the local administration on the lines laid down by Roman experience. To do this he needed trained officials, and his own warriors were quite un- able to take the place of the Imperial staff. He was forced to employ the old officials, and had to trust to the aid of provincials to oppress their unfortunate fellow- countrymen. Many of the victims of Arian oppression were men occupying high positions in the civil service \ and the decree of Hunneric against the Catholics keeps exactly the same list of officials and rank as it had when it was first drawn up a century before by Theodosius^. Still though the Vandals did not try to exterminate the old population, they provided themselves with estates from the conquered territories. A division of the provinces between the king and his followers 1 Victor Vit., i. 14—18, etc. '^ Compare Victor Vit., v. 12, and Theodos., Cod., xvi. v. 48. THE "JSE OF THE VANDALS. y3 formed the basis of the settlement'. The greater part of Zeugitana, a small but very productive district round Carthage, known henceforth as the "Sortes Vanda- lorum," was granted to the two sons of Gaiseric and to the Vandals. Byzacene, Abaritana and Getulia, kept by the king as the royal demesne, were still inhabited by the old population. As the conquerors were un- able to occupy all the lands, only the best estates were actually seized by them ; but the former owners of these received no compensation and were reduced to the utmost poverty. Still they were not enslaved, but were free to depart to any place they wished,' and were perhaps not much worse off than those who still kept their estates in the Sortes Vanda- lorum. For as the lands of the king and the Vandals paid no taxes, the whole expenses of government fell upon the old inhabitants. Nearly all the produce of the poorer farms was seized by the conquerors, and, as the wretched cultivators had barely enough to keep body and soul together, many of them fled in despair of making a living, and others were arrested on the charge of concealing wealth and put to death. After a time these exactions became less, and at length the whole land-tax fell into abeyance, for when Africa had been reconquered and an attempt was made to impose the old dues on the land, all record of the former assessment had disappeared, and great dis- satisfaction was felt at what was thought a novel and tyrannical exaction 2. 1 For accouut of this settlement, cf. Fvocopius, De Bell. Vcnid i 5 and Victor Vit., i. 5. ' ' ' Procop., De Bella Vand., ii. 8. I ' , ii If 5 I 1 !) 1 94 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. The greatest crime in the eyes of the Vandals was the ownership, especially the secret ownership, of portable wealth. When the first settlement was made the country magnates had been especially singled out for oppression, and if anyone was conspicuous for wealth or good birth he was at once enslaved and given to Hunneric and Genzo, the two surviving sons of Gaiseric. No doubt the precariousness of the position of the Vandals dictated this policy. Surrounded as they were by an alien population, dreading fresh attempts at reconquest, and by no means entirely united amongst themselves*, it was all important for them to secure against internal risings the great danger of a conquer- ing race. The disaffected of their own race it was easy to crush ; to check the muttering discontent of the old inhabitants was a far more difficult task. The simplest and most effectual means was to deprive the Africans of their natural leaders. As long as those remained who had the means, or were qualified to head a rising, the Vandals could never be secure, and every expedition of the Eastern or Western Emperors was ten times more dangerous. But when once the important men had been exiled or enslaved, the fear of domestic insurrection well- nigh passed away. Gaiseric was, however, led by this feeling of in- security to measures of more doubtful policy. In his anxiety to deprive any rebels of a base of operations he forgot the dominating feature of the political situation of the province. He overlooked the ever- threatening attitude of the Moors, and, trusting too ^ Prosper, s.a., 4-46; Prosper Tyro, s.a., 442, THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. 95 much in his own powers of keeping them quiet, destroyed the walls of all the towns, even of those on the border. The defences of Carthage alone were spared, and the rest of the province was left at the mercy of any attacking force. As long as Gaiseric lived little harm came of this policy; but in the days of his weaker successors, and even after the restoration ot the Roman power, the borders were harried bv the Moors at their own pleasure, and the miserabfe inhabitants of the province had to trust to barricades rom house to house and such crazy defences as they had the means to throw up\ Although the Africans were greatly oppressed for the first few years of the Vandal occupation, it seems that as soon as the new-comers felt themselves secure their lot was considerably ameliorated, and perhaps did not compare unfavourably with the position of the lower classes within the Roman Empire. No doubt the taxation of the lands unappropriated by the Vandals was very heavy ; but it can hardly have been heavier than that imposed by the imperial government^ and the discontent aroused by Justinian's demands seems to shew that as time went on it vvas remitted". More- over Gaiseric allowed no one to plunder the old inhabitants but himself. The grandparents of St Fulgentius had fled from Africa during the invasion and abandoned all their property. On their death their two sons decided to return and try to regain their patrimony. Their house at Carthage had been ' Procop., De Bell. Vandal., i. 5 ; De JEdiJiciis, vl. §§ 5, 6. Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, ii. 264. ^ Procop., De Bell. Vand., ii. 8. I .i * ii i-rl: lb- 96 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. assigned to the Arian priests and was of course irre- coverable, but their estates in By-^acene were success- fully claimed through the authority of the king himself \ There could not have been much serious oppression at this time if two fugitives were willing and able to return, and the whole incident bespeaks an orderly and comparatively juSt government. The stories of the martyrs point to the same conclusion. Saturus, the procurator of the household of Hunneric, was a man of considerable wealthy and the master of Marcella, Martinianus and Saturianus evidently valued them and tried to make them contented ^ There was no hindrance placed upon free communication, and St Fulgentius was able to found monasteries with far more security than might have been expected in a bitterly Arian stale. In fact under the Vandal rule the position of the African peasantry was not exception- ally hard. One great reform was left to the shame of the Catholics to the heretical conquerors to carry out. It has been said that Carthage was the most immoral of cities; prostitution and still viler vices were rife, and son of the clergy even were contaminated. Against all this the Vandals, at any rate at the com- mencement of their rule, set their faces. The brothels were closed ; the courtesans were forced to marry ; the catamites were expelled, and the strictest laws were made against all immorality*. Unfortunately in the end the northern invaders relaxed their severe code. i i 1 Vita, Sti. Fulgent. § 1. 3 Victor Vit., i. 11. * Salvian, De Gubeiiiatione Dei, viii. 85 — 100. a Victor Vit., i. 16. THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. 97 They could not preserve their purity in the hot climate ot Africa, and soon became the slaves of every form of luxury and vice. Gaiseric however found that his work did not end with the subjection of the Roman inhabitants He was at the head of a warrior race, flushed with success and demoralized by fifteen years of pillage and rapine and he experienced the difficulties of all leaders of conquering hordes. As long as his followers were employed they were easy to rule, as soon as their success was assured discontent broke out amongst them. Probably Gaiseric undertook his piratical voy- ages as much to secure his own throne as to harass the Empire. On the other hand, the Vandal nobility felt that the increased authority^ assumed by the king if necessary in war, was intolerable in peace ; and now that they were the undisputed masters of Africa and the time had come to lay aside their swords and settle quietly down, they remembered that there were ugly tales about the manner of his accession. In 442 their discontent nearly came to a head and the miserable province was not far from the horrors of civil war rhe conspiracy was discovered and promptly put down With such ruthlessness were tortures and death meted out to all suspected of plotting against the king, that It was said that more died through this revolt than would have perished in an unsuccessful war^ Alarmed by this narrow escape, Gaiseric determined to settle once for all the rule of the succession. In 2 Prosper Tyro, Dioscitro et Eudoxio Coss, s.a. 442. Mm I H •/ !,;■ 98 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. :!.! his will he declared that in future the crown should always belong to the eldest male of the royal stock*. Into the rest of the secular history of Gaiseric's reign there is no need to go at length. It was passed on his part in predatory expeditions against the islands of the Mediterranean, and on the part of the Empei'ors of the East and West in fruitless expeditions to recover the Roman province. Even before the conquest of Africa, was complete, the terrible galleys of the Vandals sallied forth from Carthage and before many years were over they became the undisputed masters of the Mediterranean. In 440 Sicily was ravaged, Panormus was besieged for some months, and the Catholics felt the rage of the invaders^ No country was safe, and Spain, Italy and Greece^ in turn had cause to regret the impotence of the Emperors. On the death of Valentinian, the Vandals were strong enough to extend their conquests, and Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily and the Balearic Isles'' fell into their hands. Sicily was how- ever recovered by Marcellinus^ in 463, only to be exposed to fresh attacks until the final peace with Zeno in 476 gave the Empire a brief respited The supremacy of Gaiseric was however shewn by a still greater exhibition of power. After the murder of Valentin ian III., the Empress Eudoxia, who had been forced into a union with Maximus, the assassin of her husband, saw no escape save in seeking help from , ^ 1 . , i 1 JordaneB, De Rebus Geticis, c. 33; Procop.,Z)e Bello Vand., i. 7. 2 Idatius, 15th year of Theodosius II. 3 Victor Vit., i. 17. * Victor Vit. i. 4. ^ Idatius, 2nd year of Severus. fi Procop., De Bello Vand., i. 17. I THE RISE OF THF VANDALS. 99 Carthage\ So in 455 the Vandal fleet appeared off Ostia and found the city defenceless before them. In hope of securing some sort of mercy Pope Leo the Great advanced to meet them and besought them to abstain from ravages. The best terms he could obtain was that for fourteen days Rome should be given up to plunder. The Empress, her two daughters, Eudocia and Placidia, Gaudentius the son of Actus and hundreds ot lesser prisoners were carried off. Gold, silver and brass "the riches of many kings." were seized; the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was destroyed to get at Its golden and brazen roof; and richly jewelled chalices, ecclesiastical robes, the furniture of the Imperial palace, the spoils of the Temple brought by Titus from Jerusalem, became the prey of the Vandals On the return to Africa, one of the ships containing the captured statues was lost, but the rest of the spoil and the prisoners were divided amongst the Vandals and their Moorish allies. The Empress Eudoxia and her daughter Placidia were sent to Constantinople possibly ransomed by the Emperor Leo^; but Eudocia was married to Hunneric, Gaiseric's eldest son. With him sLo passed sixteen years of married life and became the mother of Hilderic; in 471, she fled to Jerusalem and died there*. Gaiseric however was not left to pursue his piracies undisturbed; for both the Western and Eastern Em- porors made futile attempts to remove the scourge ' For account of Vandal capture of Rome, vide Prosper, s.a. 455 • Theophanes. B.a. 447-8 ; Victor Vit.. i. 8 ; Procop., d/^.^o Vand.: 2 Chron. Paschale, s.a. 445. a TheophanoB, s.a. 464. ! I ! ; >. 'k m i ; ;l 100 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. of the Mediterranean, The abortive expedition of Theodosius in 441 has already been mentioned. In 458', Majorian threatened an attack by the Straits of Gibraltar and again Gaiseric entered into negotiations ; but the boats, prepared for the expedition, were stolen by the Vandals, so that the Emperor had effected nothing before his death of dysentery. In 463, as has been already stated, Marcellinus recovered Sicily for the Western Empire, and the next few years saw Gaiseric threatened by three other expeditions. In 467 and 469 ^ Anthemius is said to have prepared to attack him ; but the political situation and the difficulties of navigation foiled his first attempt, and of the second expedition nothing is known, except its conception and the appointment of Marcellinus and Richimer as leaders. Far more dangerous was the great armament despatched by Leo, the Emperor of the West, in 468 ^ It was commonly said that no fewer than 100,000 men were sent under the command of Basiliscus to reconquer Africa. At the same time Marcellinus conquered Sardinia and Heraclius ravaged Tripoli. Gaiseric, dismayed at the strength of the enemy, felt that resistance was hopeless. However where force failed, guile succeeded ; during a five days' truce which the crafty barbarian had obtained from Basiliscus, he sent fire-ships amongst the unguarded fleet of the Romans. A sudden attack completed the 1 Isid., Hispal. Hist. Vandal, § 76 ; Idatius, 4tliyearof Majoriau; Procop., Be Bello Vandal., i. 7. 2 Idatius, 2nd year of Severus ; 1st year of Anthemius ; 3rd year of Anthemius. 3 Procop., Be Bello Vand., i. 6 ; Thecphanes, s.a. 463. THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. 101 work of the flames and Leo's Armada was utterly destroyed. The failure of this enterprise brought quiet to the Vandals. The Western Emperors were soon in no position to harass them, and Odoacer. when he had gained the mastery of Italy feeling little inclination to attack a fellow barbarian, concluded a peace ^ with Gaiseric, by which all Sicily except a small portion was ceded to him in return for a yearly tribute. The Eastern Emperors found enough to do near home and abandoned expeditions to Africa as too costly and precarious. Gaiseric was left to resume his ravages unchecked until in 476 he made a treaty with Zeno^ and pledged himself to leave the Imperial domimons unmolested on condition of undisturbed possession of his conquests. This treaty was observed on the part of the Romans until the days of Justinian. The policy pursued by Gaiseric towards the Catholic Church resembled in many ways his treatment of the old landowners. He neither tried to exterminate it nor did he persecute it with fanatical bigotry, and was willing to leave it alone when he could. But he did his best to depress it, to deprive it of its old authority and above all he permitted no proselytism amongst the Vandals. Indeed he seems to have accepted it as a factor of the situation, and to have realized that as long as there was a Roman population, so long would there be an anti-Arian Church. But as he would not suffer the old inhabitants to own great wealth or to hold ^ Victor Vit., i. 4. ^^ Procop., De Bella Vand., i. 7 ; Isidorus, Hisyalensi, Hist. Vand. i' ' It i: ' $1 102 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. prominent positions, so he was determined not to grant any official importance to the Catholics. Such a policy necessitated much severity at first. Influential clergy had to bo removed ; the possessions of the Church were confiscated, and the public services discontinued. Moreover the national creed of the Vandals needed support, and whence was it more fitting to endow the Arian hierarchy than from the rich coffers of their defeated rivals ? Therefore from the first the churches and estates of the Catholics were transferred to their conquerors and they were subjected to galling restrictions. But as soon as the Vandals were firmly seated in their new homes and their Church seemed sufficiently established, there was less need to persecute the Catholics and the regulations were relaxed. Though the persecution was renewed from time to time, some- times by the king, more often by the unauthorized outbreaks of the Vandals, it was rather dictated by political motives and national jealousy than by hatred for theological opponents. In fact under Gaiseric, the Catholic Church in Africa though disestablished and disendowed was not persecuted. This treatment is sur- prisingly moderate. The Vandals were Arians, and at this time the lines of division in doctrine and secular affairs were almost coincident. Nearly all the invaders of the Empire were Arians, and Rome herself was now entirely Athanasian; the contest between barbarian and Roman seemed therefore to involve not only the fate of the masters of the world but the creed of all mankind. Under these circumstances there would have been nothing extraordinary if the Vandals had tried to THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. 103 utterly stamp out African Catholicism; to tolerate or at least shut their eyes to it as they did proves the great political wisdom of their king, and this wisdom was all the greater, if Gaiseric, as has been alleged, was really an apostate from the Catholic Faith ». Still though it is fair to praise the moderation of the Vandals, it does not follow that there is no need to pity those under their sway. The mercy of barbarian conquerors and the chances of war are at best cruel, and the African Church had to pass through a very fiery trial before it reached the com- parative quiet that marked the close of Gaiseric's reign. The ravages of the invasion and the special damage done to the churches and clergy have already been described, and there is no need to repeat the catalogue of horrors. There can be no doubt that until peace was declared the ecclesiastical organization of the distracted province was completely broken up, and even before the death of St Augustine, the Churches of Carthage, Hippo and Cirta alone survived I When order was restored, Leo the Great wrote to the bishops of Mauritania Caesariensis^ and rebuked them for the state of their province ; and this letter, though addressed to a part always more unruly than the rest of Africa, betrays the extent to which the life of the Church had suffered. All decency and order had broken down ; the epis- copate had become the prize of ambitious men and was sought rather for the sake of power than for the oppor- ^ Isidor., Hispal. Hist. Vaiid., § 74. 2 Possidius, Vita S. Augustini, i. 28. 11' il !i I i * Leo I., Ep. 12. In 1^ il i ' "I I' 1 (. t > I. 104 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFHICA. iiinity of doing good. Elections of bishops wero made with violence and confusion ; laymen were suddenly consecrated without becoming priests or deacons, and small sees were multiplied. The inferior orders were in no better condition, and mere boys and neophytes were ordained without adequate instruction. The rules of the Church and of morality were disregarded; priests were married for the second time, even though in some cases their first wives were alive, and others were united to widows. Such men could not be allowed to exercise their sacred functions ; but to other otJendera less severity was to be shewn. The hasty consecration of bishops was to be regarded as valid, and the insignifi- cant sees which had survived were permitted to re- main ; but in future hands were not to be laid upon candidates for Holy Orders without due consideration, and the small dioceses were to be united as vacancies arose. The letter bears further witness to the violence of the times by its decision as to the treatment of those consecrated virgins who had suffered violence at the hands of the invaders and their allies. The deliberate harm done to the Catholics by Gaiseric was actuated by two motives ; the establish- ment of Arianism and the preservation of the Vandals from conversion. To accomplish his first object, he confiscated many of the churches and handtJ them over to the heretical clergy. The basilica of St Celerina or the Martyrs of Scillitana, where the holy bodies of St Perpetua and St Felicitas reposed ^ was thus taken possession of by the Arian priests. At Carthage', v!c<«v V'i, 1. 3. 2 Victor Vit., i. 5. THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. 105 all the churche.s within the walls, notably one called Kestituta, were lost to ^he Catholics, and some of those in the suburbs, and especially two dedicated to the memory of St Cyprian, the great champion of ortho«loxy, shared the same fate. Some of the ontiscated build- ings were used for the Aiian woi-ship, but others were turned into houses for the Vandal priests'. As the Church of Carthage had owned great wealth, Gaiseric was able to endow his national hierarchy without any difficulty from its funds. In spite of these confiscations the Catholics were in the vast majority. A good many indeed tried to buy the favour of the conquerors by renouncing the Faith and becoming Arians^ but the deflection of these did not materially weaken the Church, and Gaiseric saw that rigorous measures were necessary to protect his own people from conversion. The problem before him m ecclesiastical matters was identical with that pre- sented by secular aflf-iirs. Once again he had to pre- vent the undoing by sheer weight of numbers of the work accomplished by force of arms ; and he adopted the same wise and moderate policy to effect his object. The defeated Catholics were deprived of their leaders and were to be cut off from any opportunities of gaining mfJuence. Many of the clergy and bishops had been kdled and driven away during the conquest; now niany more were exiled. Quodvultdeus, Bishop of Carthage, and a large number of his clergy were placed upon a ship, described by the prejudiced Victor as ' Prosper Tyro, s.a. 439 ; Isidor., Hispal. Hist. Vand., 75. Prosper, De Promissionibus Dei, iv. 5. i i i I '■ , t !l ? ii l^l 1 ! ^^^1 .^^H 'i^l i ^^^1 1 il'fl lii: ij . I ( i ( i 106 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. unsea worthy, and bidden go whithersoever they would; providentially they succeeded in reaching Italy and landed in safety at Neapolis'. P'rom the seat of govern- ment at any rate all the Catholic clergy were to be expelled, and three priests, who for a time escaped the vigilance of the Vandals, were afterwards captured and exiled. Moreover in Carthage the public worship of the Arians was alone allowed and the Catholics were even forbidden to practise their own funeral rites'. Outside the city, in the country districts of the Sortes Vandalorum, much the same measures were ordained, but never effectually carried out. All Ca- tholic worship was forbidden, but the clergy were not expelled but simply ordered to abstain from their ministrations, and the vacancies in their ranks, caused by death or exile, were not to be refill ed^ Probably Gaiseric realized that a rigorous persecution would be both dangerous and futile and hoped to slowly strangle the Church, which he could not actively repress. In the parts belonging to the king and inhabited almost entirely by the Roman provincials, there was much less persecution. For here there was no Arian hier- archy to maintain and no Vandal population to save from conversion; and so, though isolated cases of Catholics suffering for their faith may be found, and though the clergy were exposed to vexatious accusa- tions, the Church, harassed as it was, was never in danger of actual extinction. Even within the Sortes Vandalorum there was much unavowed toleration, and as long as the Catholic 1 Victor Vit., i. 5. 2 Victor Vit., i. 5. 3 Victor Vit.,i. 7. THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. 107 priests did not force themselves upon the notice of the conquerors, little heed was paid to the quiet work that they were accomplishing. Their zeal however often outran their discretion and they were too brave or too fanatical to conform to the necessities of the time. As soon as the decrees against Catholic worship in the Sortes Vandalorum had gone forth, a deputation of clergy and leading men waited upon Gaiseric at Li- gula, a place on the sea-shore, and asked his permission to live in peace amongst the Vandals and console their afflicted people. Though no doubt they promised not to interfere with the Arians, but one answer could have been expected, and that was given with barbarian ferocity. "I have decreed to grant nothing to your name and race, and you dare to ask such things!" thundered the angry king and ordered them to be taken and drowned in the sea. But owing to ^he remonstrances of the royal advisers the delegates were permitted to depart \ In spite of this repulse the Catholic clergy con- tinued their ministrations in secret and as a rule unmolested. But sometimes, perhaps galled by their own position and the open victory of the heretics, an incautious preacher would call to mind the glorious deeds of the Jewish race and stigmatizing the Vandal monarch as Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, or Holofernes, would pray for a national deliverer. At once the fear of the Vandals was aroused and the rash speaker paid for his words by his exile. Six bishops were in this way driven from their sees or otherwise punished, but » Victor Vit., i. 5, flffi r 1 'f '• 'Mi i ty i m II It fl ■,l ^.'1 ii. « ul 108 THK CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. the offence of only one of them has been recorded. Felix of Adrumetuni, in Byzacene, received a monk named John from across the seas, and thus no doubt seemed to be in political communication with the Empire. He was banished, but of the other five, Eustratius of Snfes, in Byzacene, Urbanus of Girba and Habetdeus of Theudales, in Zeugitana, Crescens of Aquae, the Metropolitan of Mauritania Caesariensis, Vices of Sabrata and Cresconius of Oea, in Tripoli ; not even their punishment is known'. Probably they had offended by indiscreet boldness or had excited the anger of some capricious official. They do not seem to have been killed or tortured, and their distance from one another makes it most unlikely that their sufferings were due to definite policy. Their places were not refilled ; but yet in spite of the disabilities of the Church and the harassing of the Vandals the number of the Catholics continually increased. As time went on and the conquest of Africa became recognized by all the world as the established order of things, the restrictions on the Church were gradually relaxed. In 452, the names of certain African bishops occur amongst the signatories of the canons of the Council of Chalcedon'^; probably these were merely exiles, but if they were delegates it shews that the ecclesiastical organ'zation of Africa was already restored and that the Vandal king had begun the policy of toleration on which he was formally to enter in a few years. For Gaiseric, as he saw the steady growth of his prestige beyond his dominions and the absence of i Victor Vit., i. 7. - Ruinart, Hist. Persec. Vandal, vi. 4. THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. 109 all domestic revolts, was more disposed to look with contemptuous indifference than fear upon the Church of his defeated subjects, and so, when Valentinian interceded for the Catholics of Carthage, he was ready to consider his requests. It was a proud moment for the Vandal king. As the Emperor of the West, the former master of Africa, was now a suppliant for bare justice to his old people at the throne of a barbarian conqueror, It may be fairly supposed that gratified vanity as much as change of policy brought about Gaiseric's short-lived toleration of the Church. But whatever his motive may have been, on Sunday, the 25th of October, 454, the king allowed ])eogratias to be consecrated in the Basilica of St Faustus, as Catholic Bishop of Carthage\ Two churches at least, and perhaps a still larger number, were restored to the Church and her ecclesias- tical organization was once more permitted. In bringing this about, Valentinian III. was ini- consciously preparing the greatest benefits for the citizens of Rome herself. The year after the consecra- tion of Deogratias saw the fall of the Imperial City and the carrying off of thousands of her inhabitants. The miserable captives were carried to Carthage and kept there until thoy could be divided and sold to the Vandals and their Moorish allies. The sea-voyage in crowded ships and the violence of their captors had broken down the health of many, and now they found themselves face to face with all the horrors of slavery m the hot climate of Africa. To them in their awful plight the restored Church held out a helping hand ; » Victoi- Vit, i. 8 ; Prospei- Tyro, mio ^t Studio Coss, III li It :| } ■#f 110 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. the Basilicas of St Faustus and Novae were fitted up for the care oi the sick, money was freely spent and the gold and silver vessels of the altar were melted down to prevent the breaking up of families or other more terrible effects of bondage. Deogratias earned by his devotion and self-sacrifice both the respect and hatred of his enemies. They could not deny his virtues, but they feared his example would turn many from Arianism. They made him the mark of continual accusations and insults, but he was too popular to be safely attacked and for three years he was able to continue his good works and ministration. In 457 the saintly bishop passed away, and so great was the veneration in which he was held, that it was necessary to keep secret the place of his burial, in order to preserve his body from the too zealous hands of those who sought for relics of their beloved pastor \ Gaiseric refused to allow the consecration of a suc- cessor to Deogratias, and perhaps alarmed by his popularity and the devotion his holy life had aroused, once more revived the persecution. He renewed the decree against the filling of vacant sees in the Procon- sular province and visited the ordination of priests with the severest penalties. If the life of the Church had solely depended upon its overseers, it would have been now nearly stamped out. Where once there had been one hundred and sixty-four bishops, only three were left ; Vincent of Gigga and PauP of Sinna still occupied their dioceses, but the third, Quintian, was 1 Victor Vit., i. 8. " This bishop is described by Victor (i. 9), as "vere merito et nomine Paulus." THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. HI in exile at Edessa, a town in Macedonia. The tenets ot Catholicism, however, were far too deeply rooted in the hearts of the Africans to be easily destroyed and the severity of the Arians only evoked still further proof of the Church's sincerity. Many Catholics now earned the crown of martyrdom, and a still larger number suffered grievously rather than renounce their laith. The story of Martiniaii, Saturian, their two brothers and Maxima shews the inefficacy of the Vandal perse- cution. These five were the household slaves of a member of Gaiseric's bodyguard, Martinian being his armourer and Maxima his housekeeper. The Vandal treated them kindly, and, seeing that Maxima was as beautiful as she was good, thought that if he gave her to Martinian as his wife he would make them both contented in his service. But Maxima had devoted herself to a life of continence and persuaded her husband to respect her vows. Moreover she induced hmi to lead a religious life and urged him to win over his brothers also. They all now deserted their Vandal master and betook themselves to Tabraca, a village on the borders of Zeugitana and Numidia, where the four men entered a monastery, and Maxima joined a convent hard by. As soon as their escape was known a vigorous hue and cry was raised, but it was only after many en- quiries had been made and many bribes had been given that their retreat was discovered. They were recaptured imprisoned and scourged; but though their faith was un- shaken, a curse seemed to fall on all who oppressed them All appeal was made to Gaiseric and he released Maxima and directed that the men should be sent to Capsur the W^' ill! m ff'f 112 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. Moor in the desert of Capra Picta. Their exile affected them as little as their former sufferings and they set themselves to spread the Gospel among their captors with extraordinary success. A great multitude of Moors were baptized, a bishop was summoned from the Roman province and a church was built. The rapid growth of Christianity alarmed the Moorish king — he asked the help of Gaiseric. The Vandal monarch saw that nothing could put a stop to the zeal of the exiles but death. His advice was taken and they were all com- pelled to lay down their lives for their faiths The story of these martyrs throws great light upon the condition of Africa at this time ; it illustrates the relations of conquerors and conquered, and shews how far the persecution of the Arians had been a success. The treatment of the five slaves was evidently far from unkind. Two of them at any rate occupied positions of great importance and trust, and their master realized their value and did his best to make them happy. There was none of the barbaric tyranny which the conquest seemed to foreshadow, and the Vandals once firmly settled in Africa seem to have indulged in no unnecessary severity. When the slaves fled, they were able to effect their escape, and it was only with considerable trouble that their refuge was discovered. No doubt their hiding-place was some- what inaccessible ; but it is very remarkable that in this persecuted land any place should be found safe enough for two religious communities. So far the Arians had accomplished little, and even in the Procon- il i 3 1 Victor Vit., i. 10—11. THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. U3 VardaHTnH^'K-''' '"'r* especially given up to th. tiTn of h! r'ff' 'r "'tS'"^'''^^' oppression, the posi- tion of the Cathohc Church was still but little impaLd Ga.se„c recognized his failure and the escLe of attrCath , "'■"r^^^'' •^"" *° ^^-^-"'^ ^'^ 'ffo-- ' tana with orders to use h,s utn.ost efforts to stamp out the fa,th of Nicaea. The new attack was aimed rathe hoped L S " T!r'^ "' '"^ <"^^^^' -" '' -- noped m this manner to disarm the Catholics. Their churches w<^e ravaged, the sacred vessels were de stroked the Scriptures were seized, and the altlrcloths" .alia, by the soldiers. If any priest tried to protect ht church he was imprisoned and tortured. For refuswt convply with the demands of the spoilers Bishop Vaela of Abensa, though over eighty years of age, was drive away from his see. and so strict were thetiie,^ aZst shewing him any hospitality that for a long time^h as long as it lasted was very terrible, but it speedily came to a close. Proculus was seized with a loarhsome ':rt;^^:lt'j^''^^ ''- -^' -^ ">^ •>— - Gaiseric's attempt to expel all Catholics from the ml service may be perhaps ascribed to this period f It was ever intended to be more than a declaration of policy It cannot have taken place early in his vZn- as until the Church had been persecute/for somHfme' he rigid enforcement of the decree would have meant the disorganization of the whole administration. As * Victor Vit., i. 12. i LS It H. jj 8 114 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. $\ m s ■ » was, the order, like other measures of Arian intolerance, was not thoroughly enforced. Probably if a Government einployd forced his views upon the notice of his superiors he suffered for his imprudence ; but as long as the Catholics kept silence as to their creed, no question was asked\ Outside the Sortes much the same religious policy was pursued as within it ; but here the numbers of the Arians were much smaller and there was far less risk in clinging to Catholicism. The Church, as long as it was unobtrusive, was safe ; as soon as it made too open advances, it was persecuted. At Tunuzuda, Gales and Vicus Ammoniae, Arian mobs attacked the orthodox as they celebrated the Lord's Supper, and mingled the blood of martyrs with the consecrated elements. At Regia, in Numidia, the Catholics reopened their church one Easter-Day, but in the midst of their worship the Arians, led by Anderit, a priest, burst in, slew the lector as he sang the Alleluia (alleluiaticum melos) in the pulpit, massacred a large number of the congregation where they were, and afterwards led out many others to tortured Such atrocities as these no doubt occurred from time to time, but it would be wrong to see in them any settled policy; they were rather the spasmodic and spontaneous outbursts of religious fanaticism and racial hate, and were quite ineffectual in hindering the spread of the Catholic faith. In fact the names of very few martyrs have been recorded at all, and it is very noticeable that all those persecuted by Gaiseric himself were men of prominent position. He seems to have passed over in contempt « Victor Vit.. i. 14. - Ibid., r. 13. I !iM THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. 116 the Catholics of minor rank, and noticed only those whose stedfastness was an encouragement and whose suflfermgs would be a warning to their fellow-believers As early as 437, four Spaniards. Arcadius, Probus Paschasius and Eutychius, had suffered for their faith'.' They were distinguished amongst the servants of the king for their wisdom and fidelity and every effort was made to turn them to Arianism. However they stood firm ; and first proscribed, then exiled and tortured, they at length won their martyrs' crowns. Paschillus' the young brother of Paschasius and Eutychius, followed their example and bore scourgings and slavery rather than change his faith. In the case of Sebastian, Gaiseric used religious differences as a mere pretext to get rid of a dangerous guest. In 440, the son-in-law of Boniface took refuge in Africa during the absence of its conqueror in Sicily (Jaiseric felt the danger of allowing so distinguished a soldier and statesman to be at Carthage, and feared that he would head the discontented Vandals and seize the kingdom for himself, or would try to recover Africa in order to make his peace with Valentinian III. The Sicilian expedition was therefore abandoned, and re- turning quickly home Gaiseric got rid of his unwelcome guest on the plea of his Catholicism ^ The three other sufferers, whose names are recorded were all well-known men, and one at least had incurred the wrath of the king by his missionary zeal. Armo- gasta was in the service of the king's son Theoderic, 1 Prosper, s.a. 441 ; Prosper Tyro, s.a. 437 \ol. IV., p. 612 ; Suidas, p. 194. 8—2 iJlli ill d III m\ \ \} \i 116 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. Mascula was the Arch-mime at Carthago ; Saturus was the procurator of the household of Huniieric pnd a very rich man. To have such distinguished men professing the Catholic creed bespoke the weakness of the State religion ; but it was most important that their punishment should not roubL the zeal of their fellow-believers. Theoderic, after putting Annogasta to the torture, wished to behead him, but was stayed by Jucundus, an Arian priest, who maintained that if a Catholic was deliberately slain, the enthusiasm aroused by his constancy would more than counter- balance the fear caused by his death ; if on the other hand he was ill-treated and killed by inches, it would be far more difficult for the Church to bestow on him the veneration of a martyr. This diabolical advice was followed; Armogasta was put to the roughest field labour and slowly done to deaths The same policy was adopted in the case of Mascula. As he would not be bribed to embrace Arianism he was condemned to death, but peculiar instructions were given to the executioners. If the prisoner shewed the least signs of fear at the sight of the uplifted sword he was to be slain at once; a troublesome subject would be punished and the Catholics could not claim a martyr. But if he stood firm he was to be spared ; for to add a witness to the truth of Catholicism would only hurt the Arian cause. Even when face to face with death Mascula refused to quail and was only able t(. earn the confessor's crown-. Saturus brought upon himself the wrath of tht' Vandals by preaching against their heresies. He was » Victor Vit., 1. 14. 2 Ibid., I. 15. THE RISE OF THE VANDALS. 117 oflfered great riches, if he would keep silence, but was threatened with the loss of all his fortune and separation from his children, and, w.,rse than all, was told that his wife would be forced into a loathsome union with a camel-driver, if he persisted. But nothing could turn him from his course; despite the tears and pathetic entreaties of his family, Saturus chose poverty and bereavement rather than detile his baptismal robe by becoming a convert to Arianism'. The proscription of the Catholics seemed likely to last until the end of Gaisoric's reign, but a change in the political situation afforded them relief The year before he died the Vandal conqueror arranged a peace with the emperor Zeno, by which he bound himself to grant religious toleration to his subjects. The Catholics were therefore allowed to reopen their churches, and the bishops and clergy were recalled from exiled Gaiseric did not long survive this concession ; in 477 he died, after a reign of 37 years, 3 months and (3 days, and was succeeded by Hunneric his son'. During all these years the Catholic Church had been liable to persecution, and if the contemptuous indifference of the Vandals left it occasionally unmo- lested, the least exhibition of its power, the slightest imprudence of its priests, or the mere caprice of its enemies were enough at any time to subject it to the direst perils. It had lost its officers, its buildings and Its wealth. It had seen some of its members fall away and others seal their faith with their blood; but it had ' Victor Vit., i. 16. - Ibid., I. 17 : Cassiodorus Chron., s.a. last year of Zeno. 3 Prosper Tyro, vii., Theodosio et Festo, Coss. mi li'ifJ! !'■:■ !1' \i 111 iiil I . i I :!; 118 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. not lost ground. Indeed it oven grew in real power ftnd authority. The Gospel had been spread among the Moors; some of the Arians had been converted, and the persecution itself was the best proof of the genuine dread felt by the Vandals, even in theii day of triumph, of its influence and strength. Gaiseric had tried to drive all Catholics from the civil service ; but he failed. Armogasta, in the hour of his death, could appeal to Felix, procurator of the house of the king's son, as a fellow-Catholic*; and in the next reign the edict against the employment of Catholics by the State had to be renewed. The in- scriptions that have survived the wear and tear of fourteen centuries shew that even in this reign the Church enjoyed some peace. The epitaphs erected to the priest Boniface at Tiaret in Mauritania Caesariensis in 461 and to Januarus iii 440" arc evidence that the Catholics were able to pay the last rites to their de- parted brethren. In the more inaccessible parts of Africa Catholic monasteries still existed in security. In fact the Arians had failed, and they knew it. They could not do without the Catholics, and they dared not rouse their zeal. The utmost they could do was to drive the Church into hiding and to prevent it from making open profession of its creed. Gaiseric himself was half-hearted in religious questions and did not scruple to alter his attitude toward the Catholics if policy required him to do so. As long as the Arians feared to risk a final conflict, as long as the Catholics were true to themselves, the Church of Carthage could suffer no irreparable loss. 1 Victor Vit., i. 14. - C. /. L., vol. viii. 9731, 9271. t h CHAPTER V. The Reign of Huknekic. With the accession of Hunneiic the decay of the Vandals began. When they crossed the Straitn of C^ibraltar they were inured to fatigue aad war ard v^-ere a terrible fighting machine, but for fifty years they had lived in the hot climate of Africa and had enjoyed the fruits ol others' toil and were already losing their former energy. No longer did they ravage the shores of the Mediterranean, being hardly able to maintain their hold on the lands their fathers had won. Consequently this reign presents few prominent features, and the relations of Hunneric with other nations can be very briefly described by saying that with the Eastern Empire he was at peace, and Odoacer, king of Italy, agreed to pay him tribute for Sicily. His position was indeed not such as to invite an active foreign policy. He was secure from attacks from abroad and was continually exposed to them at home. For now that Gaiseric was dead, the Moors of the border again resumed their raids on the Province. Hunneric, it may be, cared little about the miseries of his non- Vandal subjects, but at any rate the folly of i| ■I w^F"' " * *»■ ■ U 120 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. Gaiseric in denuding the frontier towns of their de- fences now became manifest owing to conquests of the utmost importance being made by the barbarians in this reign. They overran Numidia and made it practi- cally their own, carrying their raids into the very heart of the Province. But far more important than any number of phmdering expeditions was the capture of Mount Aurasius. This rocky tableland raises its precipitous sides on the southern borders of Numidia and is one of the chief strategic positions in all Africa. It is only thirteen days' march from Car- tnage, and includes within its limits a large tract of fruitful and well-watered land. An enemy established there could form his head-quarters on the summit in almost perfect security, and descend at will to ravage the plains in every direction. Once fortified it was extremely hard to take, and the steep approaches were the despair of an attacking foice. It remained impregnable to the Vandals, and even the soldiers of Belisarius under the brave and skilful Solomon had the utmost difficulty in recapturing it*. From this time for over fifty years the Moors from this strong position were able almost entirely to cut off Numidia and Mauritania from the other parts of Africa^ The Catholics under Hunneric underwent strange vicissitudes. At first they were barely tolerated ; then for a few years they enjoyed practical freedom of wor- ship; finally they had to face a persecution terrible alike for its relentless vigour and its systematic organi- zation. Such extraordinary changes as these would have been impossible if the king had had any real ' Procop. De Bell. Vniid., ii. 19. 2 Ibid, 1.7. Slii / THE REIGN OF HUNNERIC. 121 religious convictions ; but having none, he appears to have considered that to the adroit statesman all sects and all theological disputes were equally useful He attempted to employ the religious quarrels of his subjects for Ins own advantage, and tried alternately toleration and persecution to bend the Catholics to his own political ends. Of course he was nominally an Arian, and was quite prepared to insist upon the supremacy of his theological views when it suited his turn, but he did not see in the prevalence of Catholicism any reason for oppressing the greater part of his subjects and was quite willing to grant them toleration as the' pnce of domestic peace. The Catholics, on their side, had to keep to the tacit agreement under which they enjoyed toleration by remembering that as a conquered race they were bound to defer to their master's wishes. If they made no attempts to convert the Vandals and were prepared to blindly support the royal policy they might hope for permission to practise their religion. But as the con- sciences of the Catholics would not suffer them to observe the first condition, their attempts to propagate their opinions drew down upon them the royal displeasure 1 he whole machinery of the State and the bitter fanati- cism of the Arians were turned against them, and so grinding and relentless were the trials of the Church that it may well be supposed that only the death of the king saved Catholicism in Africa from total extinction The last year of Gaiseric had seen some sort of toleration granted to the Church in Carthage, and the new king left things as they were, for a time neither extending nor curtailing the privileges of the Oatholics ? n m ■ n Ml if ■ '■J ' ■ I'i- U: !'■ Mi; i r Mm fl! »' la ■ ■■■( I |M:i: 122 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. In this Victor sees the "craft of barbarians," and declares that Hunneric wished to entice the orthodox into indis- cretions for which they might have to atone with heavy penalties*. There can be no doubt that the Vandal monarch was quite capable of such a policy, but a simpler and far less discreditable explanation of his actions is perfectly possible. To a small military aristocracy like the Vandals the existence of the indigenous population was indis- pensable, nor was Hunnerin likely to estrange the great majority of his subjects by deliberately insulting their religious convictions without sufficiently urgent provo- cation. While the Catholics were unmolested, Hunneric devoted his energies to the suppression of heresy. Manichaeism had always found many supporters in Africa, and, despite the efforts of St Augustine, was now more firmly seated at Carthage than in any other part of the world. If we are to believe the Catholic historian this fatal heresy attracted chiefly those whose creed gave them a less firm grip of Cliristian principles than that of Nicaea, nor were the Arian clergy un- affected by its baneful doctrines. The king, regarding the spread of Manichaean teaching as a social danger, attacked the whole sect, without respect to nationality or religion. A few Manichaeans were burnt and many were exiled, and so severe were Hunneric's measures against this dreaded sect that in Africa we hear no more of its influence, though it had yet many centuries of vitality in other parts of Christendom''*. 1 Victor Vit., ii. 1. ^ Vii'tor Vit., II. 1 ; Neander, vol. iv. p. 447. THE REIGN OF HUNNERIC. 123 In 479, when Hunneric had been two years on the throne, the Catholics received still further privileges and experienced once more a brief period of sunshine. Placidia, the widow of Olybrius, one of the short- lived emperors of the West, the sister-in-law of the king, united with the emperor Zeno in beseeching leave for the Church of Carthage to elect a bishop of their own. The required permission was given, on condition that Zeno should extend a similar toleration to the Arians in his dominions; but if the emperor broke this bargain, all the orthodox bishops of Africa were liable to be driven into exile among the Moors. But although Zeno accepted the proffered terms it was a far harder matter to induce the ecclesiastical authorities of the Church of Carthage to do the same. For since, as they plausibly argued, any violation of the treaty on the part of the emperor was liable to draw down upon their innocent heads an unmerited punishment, it was better to be content with Christ as their only Head, than to exchange their peaceful obscurity for a dangerous privilege. However their fears were overruled. The Imperial legate Alexander attended their consultations and would receive no answer but an acceptance of the ten. s ; and as the Catholic laity were clamouring for a visible head with all the enthusiasm of the Afri(-an character and were in no temper to brook a refusal, the ecclesiastical authorities had no alternative but to yield, and on June 18, 479, elected Eugenius to the long vacant see\ It was twenty-three years since the last Bishop of Carthage had died and during that time the Church » Victor Vit., ii. 1—3. m w i HIi ^^1 iv- I i 124 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. had been without a head. Many young men testified that they had never known what it was to have a bishop over them, and welcomed the consecration of Eugenius with tlie utmost joy and thankfuhiess. He was well worthy of their respect and love, and set himself at once to give a noble example of good works. The organization of the Church was restored by him ; vacant sees and livings were refilled, and the com- munities of women consecrated to a life of charity were once more established. All that he had Eugenius gave to the poor, only keeping for himself the bare necessaries of life, and by his self-sacrifice he aroused the enthusiasm of his flock. Large sums of money were given him to distribute, and it was a wonder how a Church, so often plundered and so terribly oppressed, could afford such vast amounts for charitable purposes. Still no fear of poverty disturbed the bishop, and with a noble faith that the supply would not cease, he gave away daily all the money as soon as it was given to him*. In spite of his holy life he could not escape the malignity and false accusations of the Arian clergy. At first Cyrila, their patriarch, tried to arouse the anger of Hunneric by declaring that Eugenius was not worthy of his position and refused to preach the Word of God to his people. Such a statement as this was palpably false, and the Arians prepared a much more subtle attack by affirmiu'f that admission to the Catholic churches was refused to all in Vandal costume. If Eugenius admitted this, it would be easy to infer that the Church was organizing at its services a » Victor Vit., i. 3. THE REIGN OF HUNNERIC. 125 rebellion against its persecutors ; if he denied it, it was clear that the Vandals were dangerously attracted by the orthodox creed. However but one reply could be truthfully given,-no man was excluded" from the (.athohc services, however he was dressed. It could not be otherwise ; the House of God was open to all and, as many of the orthodox wore the Vandal costume as household servants of the king, to shut out all those who appeared to be Vandals would cause the exclusion ofmany of the faithful. But by one accusation or another the Arian clergy had achieved their object and had aroused the fears of the king. He determined to stamp out Catholicism at any rate amongst his personal entourage, and issued peculiarly cruel orders. Soldiers were stationed at the Catholic churches armed with combs with long, sharp teeth. When any man in Vandal dress tried to enter they were to cast these terrible instruments into their hair and drag them from the doors. This brutal order was brutally carried out. Such violence was used that the scalps of some were torn away ; some lost their eyesight, others died of pain, and the women were dragged in derision through the streets. In spite of all, not one Catholic changed his faith, and Hunneric had to alter his policy and try less violent but more effectual remedies. He deprived the officials who refused to conform to Arianism of their pay and allowance and condemned some of them to the roughest field labour in the plains of Utica K The persecution soon became general; but the anger of Hunneric was excited against the Church, * Victor Vit., ii. 3, 4. M •J' f i '1 \ .1 ! II "t 126 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. less by its success than by the political situation of the time. The king found himself growing old. He must have been nearly a man when Valentinian re- ceived him as a hostage in 435, and he cannot now have been less than sixty. By the rules for the suc- cession devised by Gaiseric the Vi-ordom wao always to belong to the eldest male of the ?•• v; stock, and would pass to Theoderic and the chile -.u of Genzo before Hunneric's own son could succeed. The king therefore planned to remove those who stood between Hilderic and the throne. To do so meant wholesale murder, but from this he did not shrink. Theoderic, his wife and children, and Godagis, son of Genzo, were either banished or slain ; Jucundus, the Arian priest, and many of the Vandal nobility suffered death or condem- nation to slavery. Such cruelties as these needed a strong king, and to whom was Hunneric to look for support ? The Vandal nobility which formed the back- bone of the Arian party were already estranged by the cruelty with which Hunneric had treated the royal house. On the other hand, the oppressed Catholics had experienced comparative kindness, and as a subject people they had little reason to care if their conquerors exterminated each other. To the Catholics therefore Hunneric appealed and offered complete freedom of worship in return for their support. As however it was impossible for them to buy toleration at the price of murder and robbery, their refusal exasperated the king. He saw his plans checkmated and his own people alienated without advantage to himself. The despised race, whom he had meant to help, scorned his favours, thwarted his THE REIGN OF IIUNNERIC. 127 hopoH and left him without support in his perilous position. Policy and revenge urged him in the same direction ; by persecuting the Catholics he would at once convince the Catholics of the folly of spurning his offers and regain the loyalty of the Arians'. Still Hunneric's ambition had led him into an awkward situation and there was a danger of ariving the provincials to despair before the confidence of the Vandals had been restored. For a time he had need of great caution and decided to adopt the old policy of Gaiseric rather than rush at once into wholesale massacres and deportations. With this purpose it was again decreed that all Catholics in the army, civil service and royal household must become Arians or take the consequences of contumacy. Those who refused were exiled, and many were driven to Sicily and Sardinia, or were forced to live as hermits in the Numidian deserts near Sicca, Veneria, and Lares. For a short time the organization of the Catholics was not directly attacked and the king was satisfied with trying to cripple and impoverish it. As long as a bishop lived, he was left in peace; but when a see fell vacant, the treasury seized its estates and exacted a fine of 500 solidi before a new prelate could be consecrated. Comparatively mild as this persecution was, it alarmed the royal advisers, and they pointed out how greatly it endangered the position of the Arian clergy m Thrace and the rest of the Imperial dominions. But they could not turn Hunneric from his course, and he sought in every direction an excuse for an avowed persecution throughout the Province. The communities 1 Victor Vit.,n. 5. ';i 1 11 I ill) I ii_ ' , * « X ' X Ji:i :; m g !.- ^1 .^.-m«,;i-s 128 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. lU I' of women devoted to the service of the Church attracted his attention and he determined to cast suspicion upon them. The Vandals seem to have paid no reverence to the ascetic virtues, and eagerly sought for proofs that the nuns had proved faithless to their vows of chastity, and that their priests had been guilty of incontinence. The consecrated virgins were seized and subjected to an examination of the grossest and most painful character. Some died of shame and torture, others were crippled for life ; but this atrocity revealed no scandals, and the morality of the clergy was triumphantly vindicated against all defamers'. Hunneric, undaunted by his failure, was still de- termined upon persecution, and decided to try to root out the Catholics altogether by one drastic measure. Still following his father's tactics, he devoted all his energies to exterminating the clergy, trusting that the laity would be compliant when deprived of their spiritual advisers. On one day nearly five thousand ecclesiastics- of all ranks were torn from their homes and in one mournful procession were driven into exile and misery. The weight of years or of sickness gave no protection ; all alike were forced to face the terrors of the desert and the barbarities of the Moors. Some could hardly walk through infirmity, others were blind through old age. Felix, the venerable Bishop of Abbir Major, stricken with paralysis and no longer able to speak or feel, was bound like a log of wood upon a mule and carried far away from his home and friends. 1 Victor Vit. , ii. 7. " The exact number given by Victor (ii. 8) varies according to the reading from 4776 to 4976. THE llEIGN OF HUNNEHIC. 129 The long march fn,m Zougitana through Sicca and Lares to the desert caused the most terrible privations. Worn out by the rough road and exhausted by the burnnig sun, the miserable travellers found little rest even by night; for, forced into narrow prisons of in- describable filth, they were packed like "locusts or grams of corn," and found sleep an impossibility. Many famted by the way or were too weak to go on; but their Moorish guards tied their feet together and dragged them along like the carcases of dead animals ovj the rough mountain roads. The terrible injuries inflicted by the " sharp swords of the rocks" put an end to all their sufferings. Even in their direst need this noble band of martyrs were not without comfort. The Catholics along their route came out to give what help they could, and the knowledge that it was their faith for which they bled supported the minds of all. A few, it is true, fell away but mos% cheered by their fellow-sufferer, Cyprian, the saintly Bishop of Unuzibira, endured to the end The ^^urvivors at length reached the deserts, only to face new hardships. At first their persecutors had allowed them a miserable ration of barley, the food of brute beasts ; but even this was soon taken from them Yet ni spite of the peril of starvation and in spite of the scorpions and poisonous insects, with which the land of their exile abounded, the Hand of God sheltered them still and they were preserved from every danger^ The ultimate fate of these confessors is not known, and there are no records to tell whether they gradually tound their way back to their homes or continued to ' Victor Vit., II. 8-12; Victor of Tuuuo, s. a. 475. . f : i|: > I ,. m H. 9 i '■ I'lV, i; i 130 THE CHIIISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. drag on a miserablo existence amongst the barbarianH of the mountains. Hunneric was by no means satisfied with the simple crippling of the Church's activity, and set himself to organize a systematic persecution throughout Africa. He went far beyond Gaiseric's methods and determined to turn the whole machinery of the State against the Catholics. But to be successful in so thorough a scheme it was necessary to win the sympathy of all his officials and to make sure that none of them would favour the oppressed Church. He was, moreover, as yet unwilling to throw over his friendship with Zeno and he therefore made a great show of 'inquiring into the theological disputes of the Catholics and Arians. On May 20, 483, in the presence of Reginus, the Imperial ambassador, a letter was drawn up and de- spatched by fleet horses to Eugenius and his fellow bishops. In this it was stated that, contrary to edicts, often reissued, the Catholics had held meetings and celebrated the Eucharist in the Sortes Vandalorum. As therefore Hunneric wished the provinces committed by God to his care to be free from any causes of offence, he summoned all the Catholic bishops to a conference with the Arian prelates on the subject of the Homo- ousion of the Son with the Father, promising them a safe conduct and considerate treatment \ This letter spread the utmost consternation amongst the Catholics, and they at once foresaw that the con- ference was only the prelude of a tenible persecution. Eugenius feared that freedom of speech would not be allowed, and was convinced that the only hope of fair 1 Victor Vit., n. 13. THE REIGN OF HUNNKHIC. 181 treatment lay in the presence of foreigners, who could report throngliout the civilized world the sufferings they were soon to endure. He begged Obadus. the chief minister of Hunneric. to allow representatives to attend fron. the other Christian countries, and especially from Rome, "which is the head of all Churches," in order that a matter, which concerned all Christendom, should be discussed by the delegates of all Christendom His request was refused, and with fear and trembling the Catholic bishops prepared to assemble at Carthage \ In the meantime the action of the king did not tend to allay their apprehensions. The persecutions continued, and were aimed especially at those who were the chief pillars of the Church. Secundianus bishop of Mimiana, was beaten with 150 stripes and driven from the country. Praesidius, bishop of Su- tetula, was exiled. Mansuetus, Germanus, Fusculus and many others were scourged. The Arians were for bidden to meet the Catholics in social intercourse, and just before the conference met, Laetiis, bishop of Nepte who had been in prison for some time, was burned to' death But, whatever were their forebodings, the Catholics were bound to obey the royal commands, and on the appointed day four hundred and sixty-one orthodox bishops from every part of Africa and even from the islands subject to the Vandals met together in Carthage 2. ° The conference was postponed a few days to give the Catholics every convenience for assembling, but when H, met the surroundings were not such as to restore their confidence. They found Cyrila, their chief enemy with 1 Victor Vit., ii. 14, 15. - Ibid., II. 16—18. 9-2 ^\ l\ ii > 132 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. liiH folhnvers gathered Yoxmd him, seated upon a lofty throne, while they were expected to humbly stand at its base. This augured no good, and their position seemed that of suppliants, not of parties to a free debate. Still they decided to make the best of matters and at^reed to choose ten spokesmen from their ranks, lest it should be said that they tried to win by sheer weight of numbers'. An impartial judge was evidently the first thing to secure and the Catholics at once raised the i)oint. They were always glad, they said, to meet their opponents in fair fight, but who was to be the assessor of this dis- cussion? The royal secretary replied, "The Patriarch Cyrila," and the impossibility of an impartial con- ference was at once revealed. Such an ai)pointment was palpably unfair ; it implied the entrusting of the final award to one of the parties to the dispute, and it was absurd to say that the Arian patriarch would give the victory to anyone but his own followers. It was natural enough that the Catholics should object most strongly to such an arrangement, but it cannot be said they acted wisely in this crisis. They ought to have entered a dignified protest and demanded another judge, or they might have withdrawn from the con- ference altogether. Instead of this they obscured the main point -^t issue, raised the whole controversy at once and roused all the passions of the audience, by enquiring with what authority Cyrila claimed the title of " Patriarch." At once a tumult arose and all argu- ment was impossible. Victor declares that the Arians themselves were responsible for the confusion, Cyrila 1 For this conference see Victor Vit., ii. 15 j iv. 2 ; Hefele, iv. 35. i'llICA. n a lofty stand at position a free f mattoiH iir ranks, by sheer ; thing to nt. They (oni'uts in this dis- Patriarch ftial con- Dointuient ng of the ite, and it ^'onld give ,, It was )jeot most ot be said it to have i another 1 the con- sciired the roversy at dience, by i the title d all argu- the Arians ion, Cyrila 3efele, iv. 35. THE UEION OF HUNNEitlC. 133 blamed the Catholic spectators.and as he was in authority thu latter view prevailed. Every Catholic present was scourged with 100 strokes, and in spite of Eugenius' protesting cry, "May God see the violence we suffer; may He know the persecution which we undergo from the persecutors!" the body of the hall was cleared] of all but Arians. When (juiet was restored the Catholics set them- selves to the business in hand, and addressing the President in Latin, begged him to state the subjects for discussion. Cyrila answered. "I do not know Latin," and again the anger of the orthodox rose. The reply was evidently a subterfuge to prevent any definite decision; and they declared that before now they had heard the self-styled Patriarch use the Roman tongue, and that he ought not thus to excuse himself when such a burning question was awaiting settlement. For two days the rival parties wrangled without approaching any nearer to an agreement. Victor of course lays all the blame on the Arians, but if any Vandal account had been written, it is quite possible that the Catholics would not seem altogether free from fault. Their champion himself admits that they found their opponents unexpectedly prepared for the theo- logical debate, and it was undoubtedly their action which brought the conference to a premature close. For the Catholics withdrew after the second day, protesting that their arguments were always met by quibbles and that no justice could be expected from such an assembly, and presented their defence in written form to the king*. ' This defence constitutes Book iii. of the history of Victor Vitensia. ill. 1 ■ " i i I i 1 ■i k ^ iiiiii ? I ■! 1:J4 the CHllISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. So ended the groat conference of 4(S4 and with it the chief hopes of toleration in Africa. No doubt it had never been seriously int(;nded to help the Catholics, but at the same time it cannot be denied that Eugenius did not prove himself a prudent leader. The meeting was forced on him and he ought to have made the best of it. He could not hope to (ierive any great benefit from its decision, but he might have won the sympathy of all but his most viokiut opponents. In this he failed by giving vent to his righteous indignation at the appointment of a partisan president and Cyrila's pro- fessed ignorance of Latin, instead of accepting the ad- verse conditions with a dignified protest. Whether the Catholics shewed sufficient dialectical skill in main- taining their doctrines cannot be ascertained, but, as their opponents evidently supported their cause with firmness and ability, their hasty withdrawal was an undoubted blunder. Even if Hunneric had been sin- cere in calling a conference, their action must have seemed to him self condemnatory; if he was only seek- ing a pretext for persecution, it exactly suited his turn. In the world at large, its condemnation by a biassed iudi'-e wouki have done the Catholics no harm, but by their withdrawal from the Council they abandoned their sole chance of vindication in Africa. Though Eugenius was forced as he was to appear at a conference from which no justice could be expected, he should have realised the necessity of going on to the end, and have borne with dignity what he could not avoid. The Arians of course made the most of their victory, and alleged that the Catholics had been onm.nletelv routed in argument and had declined to THE REIGN OF HUNNERIC, 135 continue the debate. Such a report as this was most welcome to Hnnneric, for it gave him a free hand. He had not yet decided to exterminate the orthodox, whose support he still hoped to secure for his political schemes. The abortive conference could be used for whichever purpose he desired. If he wished to apply more pressure, he could quote the failure of the orthodox ; if he wished to hold his hand, he could profess to entertain honest doubts as to the truth of the Arian creed. At the present juncture it was his policy to persecute in accordance with the wishes of -his Arian subjects on the chance of overcoming the Catholics' scruples. So once more religious oppression swept over Africa. All the Catholic bishops who had not come to the conference and all who had hastened home again were sunmioned to Carthage. On February 7 the churches throughout the land had been closed and their jwoperty handed over to the Arians; and as Victor of Vite says "the Vandals did not blush to issue against us the law, which formerly our Christian emperors had passed against them and other heretics for the honour of the Catholic Church, adding many things of their own as it pleased their tyrannical power*." In fact with grim humour Hunneric turned against the Catholics the very weapons they had used against the Donatists. He reissued the Theodosian edict of 392, as one of the most terrible measures ever yet employed against a religious body. For not only were the Catholic priesthood proscribed, their churches and property con- fiscated, their services and especially their baptisms and 1 Victor Vit., iv= L 'i'J .11 i il ISl i ii I- k w h 136 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. ordinations forbidden, but they themselves were banished from every town or inhabited place, were deprived of their places if in the service of the Crown, lost the power of be^ quest and gift, and even in the end of holding property., Every religious and civil right was taken from them and they were at the mercy of every informer. The most stringent regulations were made for the execution of this edict ; every official was to fulfil its provisions to the best of his power, and severe penalties were enacted against those who did not rigidly enforce the edict. In iact it was almost safer to be a Catholic than to be a judge lenient towards them ; the Catholic could at, most be reduced to poverty and exile, while the judge was to be proscribed and put to death. A short period of grace was however allowed to the Catholics. The edict was issued on February 25th, 484, and was not to come into force until June 1st, but after that date all who had not become Arians were exposed to the full fury of the storm*. The Catholics seemed indeed beaten, Such a per- secution as this had never before overtaken them, either under pagan emperors or heretical kings. Now for the first time did they realize the irre- sistible power of the State, when applied to religious matters with all the vigour of semi-civilised fanaticism. . However before these edicts, " feralia veneno toxi- cato transversa'^," came into force, Hunneric shewed how little he cared about the theological dispute. His own projects alone urged him on, and the persecu- tion of the Catholics was the outcome of political revenge, not of religious hate. The orthodox bishops, 1 Victor Vit., iv. 2. . " Ibid., i\. 3. 5li ' THE REIGN OF HUNNEllIC. 137 who wp-e still detained at Carthage, were suddenly expelled from the city. Without any warning they were ordered out of their temporary homes, leaving all their property behind them ; and were refused permission to use beasts of burden or to take as much as a change of clothing with them. No one was to give them shelter or help, and if anyone dared to relieve their distress, he did so at the peril of his life and goods. The bishops were in a terrible dilemma. If they stayed near Cartha^i^e, the miseries of exposure and slow starvation stared them in the face. If they returned home, not only would they involve their churches and their friends in their own ruin, but they themselves would be haled violently back, and charged with a cowardly shrinking from a hopeless contest. In their extremity they adopted a desperate course and in a body waited on the king to plead their cause. Hunneri. met them at the fishponds and for a time listened to their prayers. They pointed out that they had done no harm, but had assembled for the con- ference according to his orders and they asked why they were thus robbed and calumniated and driven in hunger and nakedness away from their sees and homes. However their words were of no avail ; the king as soon as he was tired of their complaints ordered his escort to charge, and his horse-soldiers dispersed the defenceless company of saintly old men. The majority escaped their pursuers, but many, and especially the Infirm and aged, were knocked down and slain ^ Such treatment as this appeared to the king certain to break the resolution of the oppressed bishops, 1 Victor Vit,,iv. 3. §1 ■•Vi Hi ill m ' fi •■■ i J I J T! i> (.' i 138 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. and once more he endeavoured to gain an advantage in the politics, for which he cared, at the expense of the religion, with which he toyed. His victims were bidden meet at the Temple of Memory to receive his final offers. They were no longer to be required to accept the Arian faith and they were to return in safety to their sees, if only they would swear to obey a folded charter, now presented to them. Some wished to accept these terms; but two of their number, Hortula- nus and Florentianus, stood firm, and pointed out the impossibility of accepting "like irrational animals," a document, the contents of which were hidden. Defeated in his first attempt, Hunneric threw off all disguise and set forth his demands plainly in a letter which revealed his utter insincerity. Let them swear, said he, to acknowledge his son Hilderic as his heir, or at least let them promise not to write to the Emperc j at Con- stantinople nor to advise him to make any attempts to recover Africa, in case of civil troubles. Such proposals as these, divorced as they were from all theological points, imposed a severe temptation upon the bishops. Their opinion was divided ; some wished to accept the king's proposals, the more prudent^ to refuse. One party feared the reproaches of posterity and the accusation that they had lost their churches by their own folly ; the other urged the want of all guarantee for the king's good faith, and added the curious argument that the required oath would be a contravention of our Lord's command, " Swear not at all." Seeing that there was no hope of a definite agree- ment, the royal officials took down the ..ames and 1 " astutiores," Victor Vit, THE REIGN OF HUNNERIC. 139 sees of each of the two parties and imprisoned all alike. Unfortunately the long period of anxiety and privation had done its work, and this new division of opinion added mutual bitterness to the trials of the Catholics. Those who had accepted the king's terms declared that secular politics and not religion had inspired the refusal of the others ; and they would find time enough to repent when banished to Corsica to cut wood for the fleet. The others replied that even if compliance had brought restoration to their sees, they would never have been allowed to resume their eccle- siastical functions, but would have been degraded to the condition of agricultural serfs'. In spite however of these unfortunate but very natural disputes, nearly all the bishops met the same fate. Of the 466 prelates who assembled at the conference, 302 were banished to the African deserts, 46 to Corsica, 88 perished under the weight of their hardships, and 28 managed to escape from their oppressors. Two are specially distin- guished as having attained to the crown of martyrdom and the glory of confessorship^. The trials of Eugenius" have been recorded in fuller detail than those of his fellow-sufferers. Tripoli was the place of his exile where he became the mark of the enmity of the Arian clergy. Antonius, the heretical bishop of the district, proved himself a wwse foe than even Hunneric and rejoiced to witness the miseries of the aged saint. The condition of Eugenius was bad enough without any added hardship. He was allowed only the coarsest food, and though delirious with fever 1 Victor Vit., IV. 3—5. 8 Notitia at end of Victor Vitensis. 3 Victor Vit., v. 11. 1 ' Mii'l m iii'l I n V \ 140 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. and threatened by paralysis was forced to stretch himself on the bare ground. Hearing of his illness Antonius hastened to see him, and, forcing him to drink the bitterest vinegar, laughed to hear his sense- less wanderings. However, in spite of his enemies, the health of Eugenius was restored and he lived to return to his see under the milder rule of Gunthamund. But the persecution was now no longer confined to the Catholic bishops. Hunneric had tried to deal with them all at once by collecting them at Carthage ; and though a few of them seem to have been absent from the conference or to have managed to return home afterwards, these too were soon driven into exile or obliged to flee. Thus Faustus was forced to leave his see and dwell in the utmost poverty near his old church, in order that his sufferings might be increased by the scoffs of those who knew him in prosperity. For a time he was allowed to live the self-denying life of a monk ; but as the fame of his virtues gathered followers round him, the Arians once more drove him forth to find a safer hiding-place \ Rufinian, a bishop of Byzacene, was more fortunate, for he escaped to Sicily and there founded a monastery, the reputation of which drew St Fulgentius across the sea-. There is no need to go in detail through the horrors of the general persecution. The last pages of Victor's narrative are filled with atrocities, only relieved by the heroism they called forth. Neither age nor sex was spared ; ladies of noble rank were indeed the especial objects of violence. Mutilations, shameful indignities, tortures, murders were perpetrated on every side. Some 1 Vita Sit. Fulgentii, §§ 4, 8. ^ n^i^^^ § 13. i|i ' ' I THE REIGN OF HUNNERIC. 141 of the Catholics fled to the mountains and deserts, only to find a death of slow starvation^ Others, roused to desperation, cursed their persecutors and courted certain doom ; but most were content to await in quiet the sufferings which were too surely to be their lot''. Two places stand out as the scene of the most syste- matic oppression. At Tipasa, in Mauritania Caesariensis there were a large number of Catholics, who had probably been protected by their remoteness from Carthage and had never known the meaning of persecution. But now an Arian bishop was sent out, and all the orthodox who could fled to Spain. The few who remained refused to hide their belief and openly continued to celebrate the divme service, unmoved by either the threats or the promises of the heretical prelate. He applied to the king for aid, and a count was sent with directions to gather the Catholics from all the province of Caesariensis together and force them into submission, and even to resort to the mutilation of the right hands and tongues of those who remained obstinate. The savage orders were carried out to the letter, and some of those who suffered fled to Constantinople, where they astonished and edified all by speaking plainly though without their tongues ^ At Carthage, the head-quarters of both Arianism 1 Victor Vitensis, v. 15. 2 ii^iii^ v, 1—8, ■' This celebrated phenomenon evidently created a great sensation at the time and has led to many discussions since. All the old historians record it; cf. Victor Vit., v. 6; Procopius, Be Belh Vand I. 7; Marcellmus Comes, s.a.. 484 ; Theophanes, s.a. 526, etc For r "'?o'o"n^''v'''"*^ '°"'"^* ^' ^'^^"^ ^^^°' "^ ^i« Philomythus (pp. 19, 20), discusses the claim Cardinal Newman makes to give the event a miraculous character. >l I \- M\ I \i m Mi % 1 II : l'' ' I m ii\ A |i I ; I; 142 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. and Catholicism, the persecution was particularly severe. Eugenius had been already exiled and many of the clergy had been slain, but once more Hunneric decided to sanction that thoroughness of persecution which distinguishes his policy from that of the other Vandal kings. All the Catholic clergy of the city, to the number of five hundred, were ordered into exile, and so determined were the Arians to finally crush their rivals, that not even the boy " readers " were allowed to remain behind. At the same time the inmates of Catholic monasteries and many of the laity were persecuted. Seven monks from Capsa were brought to Carthage to suffer martyrdom, and two merchants, who were both called Frumentius, were put to death. But despite all these barbarities the Catholics of the city were not overawed. Some, it is true, apostatised, and some of these were distinguished as persecutors, but the great majority of the Catholics were moved to enthusiasm by the sufferings of the martyrs. The seven monks were visited in prison by crowds of sympathizers, and the exiled clergy were sustained on their weary march by friends, to whose ministrations the Vandals finally put an end. However, the Arians adopted measures far more likely to be effective than mere persecution, when they tried to get hold of the children of Catholics in order to bring them up in the unorthodox faith. The choristers, who were going into exile with the clergy of Carthage, were fetched back to prevent their education as Catholics, and the abduction of children became the regular practice of the Arians K There were, for all the fanaticism of the Vandals, 1 Victor Vit.,v. 9, 10, 14. ' THE KEION OF HUNNERIC. 143 country district., where the overwhelming numbers of the Cathohcs made the effectual establishment of heresy impossible. The wildest extravagance was shewn in the Arian attempts to gain a footing here For, ignormg altogether the necessity of converting the people to their tenets, and unable to force them to attend their churches, they devoted all their attention to baptizing according to the heretical rite. Led by a bishop or p.iest, the Arians would surround a village by night and arouse the inhabitants to be re-baptized Certificates of Arian baptism were required of all travellers, or they were detained to submit to the rite and even men sleeping by the roadside were awakened by consecrated water falling on their faces and an Arian formula hurriedly muttered over them. While s(nne of the Catholics treated these tactics with the contempt they deserved, the remorse of others and their strange self-mflicted penances proved how accurately the \ andals had estimated the great importance ascribed by the majority of Africans to mere external ceremonies'. Though nothing can palliate the indifference of Hunneric to the atrocities committed in his kingdom he must not be classed among those misguided if honest bigots, who have caused suffering for what they believed to be the truth. In religious matters he was a Gallio and let things take their own course, because the Catholics, whose support he had sought at the risk of offending his own race, had spurned his offers and thwarted his policy. He considered that their sufferings might well regain for him the allegiance of the Vandals. For all his callousness, the Catholics 1 Victor Vit., v. 13. ! ilil. I 11 J il x ; hi, ^ | "8 ' i» ' "». * ii>iLi i jj: ' I m . 144 THE CHllISTlAX CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. did not regard him as their bitterest foe. Habetileiis, bishop of Tamalla, oppressed by Antonius, the chief persecutor of Eiigenius, appealed to the king directly for protection for the Church. Hunneric, in reply, did not justify the persecution, but simply disclaimed responsibility and referred his petitioner to the Arian hierarchy. From them of coiirse Habctdeus got no satisfiiction and in despair returned to exile, while Antonius redoubled his persecutions, secure of the indifference if not of the favour of the king'. Once indeed Hunneric took an open part in the atrocities. The emperor Zeno sent a legate, Uranius, to remonstrate with the tyrant, and the king ordered worse tortures to be prepared and publicly exhibited to the ambassador as he passed along to the royal palr.ce^ But this barbarity was evidently for a political purpose and was dictated by desire to Hout the emperor rather than by any feeling of bigotry. The cruelties of his reign have for ever branded Hunneric with the name of a heartless tyrant, and Victor of Vite did not go beyond the truth when he called him "ilia bestia^" Most happily for the Catholic Church the days of its trials were as short as they were terrible, and its special sufferings were perhaps alleviated by a fearful calamity that befell all the land. In tho last year of Hunneric no rain fell and day after day the pitiless sun beat down upon the hard-baked earth. Even the rivers ceased to flow and all the grass was burnt up. The harvests of corn, hay, and fruit alike failed, and 1 Victor Vit., v. 16. 2 Ibid., V. 7. 3 lbicl.,v. 1. rP IICA. )et(lonH, e chief directly ply, (lid claimed e Arian got Tio 3, while of the in the [Jranius, ordered ibited to palr.ce^ purpose ir rather alties of vith the ^"ite did im "ilia days of and its a fearful THE REIGN OF HUNNERIC. 145 year of pitiless Sven the )urnt up. iled, and id.,v. 1. man and bjast were exposed to starvation. The whole structure of society fell to pieces, agriculture and commerce were neglected, and the country was scoured m every direction in the vain search for food. Families were scattered, slaves left their masters, and the richest Vandals were reduced to the utmost want. And now pestilence followed in the footsteps of famine The heaps of dead, neglected by the weakened survivors, lay unburied and corrupted the air, and multitudes fell sick and died on every side. In their despair the starving people fled to Carthage, but Hunneric fearing the infection of pestilence ordered the gates to be shut and fugitives refused admission fell dead by the road- side on their way homo The two scourges of famine and plague wrought such havoc, that populous villages were swept away, and a deep silence pervaded the untenanted houses*. The horrors of this autumn must have distracted the attention of the most virulent Arians from the Catholics, and the sudden death'' of the king, on 13 December, 484, secured them against the revival of the persecution in its full vigour. This respite was most opportune. Not even the African Church with all its national earnestness could have for long with- stood the terrible weapons brought against it. Not only were the Catholics threatened with the most barbarous tortures, they were also deprived of their spiritual guides and exposed to every civil disability. ' Victor Vit., v. 17. " Prosper Tyro (Theodosio et Fe.to Coxs) says he was eaten by worms ; Isidorus Hispalensis (Hist. Vand. § 79) and Victor Tunnunensis {a.a. 478) say that he died the death of Arius. H. T^ .-'II I* In m\ •^ifmntmi 1 1 I i . i ■ .V 't ri 146 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. Active persecution alone might have revived their enthusiasm, but the Vandals had now long realized that it was dangerous to put a martyr to death. Hunneric had directed against them the terrible grind- ing oppression of the State, devised by the gi-eat Theodosius, and it is almost impossible to believe that any Church could have resisted such pressure for long through respect for a doctrinal point however important. Even if those Catholics, most distinguished for their life and learning, had held to their faith, the great mass of the laity would have drifted away. Indeed many had already done so, and the Synod at the Lateran of 487 or 488 was entirely concerned with the terms upon which the lapsed should be allowed to return'. These weaker brethren were of every rank, and included bishops, priests and laymen vowed to a religious life ; and two of the most bitter of the Arian persecutors are said to have been renegades from Catholicism'^. On the other hand it is evident that the persecu- tion ended too soon to do any serious harm to the Church. The enthusiasm of the people of Carthage has already been mentioned, and it was not altogether confined to the native Africans. Two Vandals left all their wealth and accompanied the clergy of Carthage into exile*, and in the days of Thrasamund there is additional evidence that the Catholics had won the admiration and respect of the more thoughtful of their conquerors. Once more, too, the social and civil importance of the orthodox comes out; though the 1 Hefele, History of Councils of Church, vol. iv. § 215. « Victor Vit., v. 9, 10. ^ Ibid., v. 10. THE REIGN OF HUNNERIC. 147 victims of Hunneric were not picked out like those of GaLseric. on account of thoir prominence and notoriety Two were connected with the king's own service. Dagila the wife of the royal butler, and Victorian the inti- mate friend and trusted adviser of Hunneric himself who held the responsible post of Proconsul of Carthage'.' With Catholics in such a position as this the Arians must have realized that they were far indeed from the time when the Church of Carthage would be no more. 'ill''! * Victor Vit., v. 8, 4. iv — 2 A Jf IJI CHAPTER VI. The Decline and Fall of the Vandals. I 'I "1 The keynote of the policy of Hunneric was the desire to secure the succession of his son. For this he had toiled, for this he had estranged the Vandals, and for this he had persecuted the Catholics. But the rules of inheritance, laid down by Gaiseric and approved by the customs of the Teutonic race, prevailed and all his efforts came to naught. Gunthamund, the son of Genzo, was the eldest male of the royal stock, and to him, as a matter of right, the throne belonged. For twelve inglorious years the new king reigned, but did little worth recording. He was not the man to stem the tide of decay or to restore the prestige of his people. The Moors steadily pressed forward, gaining power in the southern frontiers, until even the heart of Byzacene was not safe from their marauding expedi- tions. St Fulgentius found Telepte, on the borders of Byzacene and Numidia, exposed to their raids, and Ididi, in Mauritania Caesariensis, regularly under their controP. A bishop from the latter district was slain by one of their plundering parties^ With such difficulties is. 'til i I 152 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. shores of the Mediterranean dwindled under the com- bined influences of security and luxury, nor did the Vandals in losing the virtues of barbarous warriors gain the arts of peace. Under a veneer of civilization they were as cruel as ever, but fraud was employed m pursuit of their desires in the place of the ferocious bravery of their ancestors. The policy of Thrasamund shewed none of the straightforwardness for which his race had once been celebrated. He tried to convert the Catholics by promises rather than by violence ; and proved himself incapable of recognising that advantages gained by a treaty ought to carry with them their attendant obligations. Thrasamund indeed was the first Vandal monarch to pay much attention to foreign alliances. Gaiseric had occasionally urged the other invaders of the Empire on to effect a diversion when he was in danger, and both he and Hunneric, whilst never suffering outside dictation, had permitted Imperial ambassadors to visit Carthage. But now almost cordial relations were set up with the court of Constantinople, and a matrimonial alliance was contracted with the master of Italy. The Eastern Emperor Anastasius negotiated several treaties with Thrasamund, and doubtless Procopius is only reflecting the popular feeling of the time when he praises the Vandal king for his dignity and good looks and the prudence and magnanimity of his rule*. But, whatever were the relations between Con- stantinople and Carthage, they had far less effect upon the fortunes of Africa than the marriage of Thrasamund to Amalafrida, the sister of Theoderic, who broughi 1 Procop., De Bello Vand., i. 7. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE VANDALS. 153 with her a body-guard of 5000 men, of whom 1000 were picked Goths, whilst her dowry of Lilybseum gave the Vandals a foothold once more in Sicily^ Thrasamund proved an unsatisfactory ally, and received Gesalic, the natural son of Alaric II., who was fleeing from his brother-in-law. A vigorous protest reminded him of his breach of faith and he was compelled to make ample apologies'. In spite of the claim now advanced by the Vandals to a position in the community of states, they were really growing daily weaker. No foreign alliances, no royal interchange of presents could make up for the drain on their strength in the south. The Moors still pressed on, and in Tripoli the army defending the frontiers did more harm to the Catholics than to the enemy. Wherever they went they made the churches of the orthodox stables for their flocks and herds, beat the priests and forced them to perform menial services; but when they met Cabao, the local Berber- chief, they experienced a crushing defeat. Their conduct had not been unobserved and their conqueror sent men to follow on their track, with orders to try and repair the damage they had done by cleaning the churches, re- lighting the lamps, and distributing alms. Cabao was not a Christian; but, connecting the defeat of the Vandals with their sacrilege, he hoped to gain the favour of the God rejected by his enemies^ Still more menacing to the Vandal power than occasional border raids was the kingdom set up on » Procop., loc. cit. ; Theophanes, s.a., 526. 2 Cassiodorus, Var., v. 43, 4. 5 Procopius, loc. cit. I i : ti; \ 1 I' ! ■ '( }l I *• i( 154 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. their frontiers by Moors and disaffected coloni. In 508, Masuna, a Berber chief, established an independent state with a curious medley of institutions. The in- fluence of Rome prevailed so far that the language and Imperial style were officially adopted, but the two races composing the population of the state were to live side by side under their own laws and magistrates. Masgivin, praefect of Sufar, ruled the Moors, Maximus, procurator of Altava, governed the Romans \ Of the later history of this curious federation nothing is known, but it ran^^t have come to an end with the reconquest of Africa by Justinian. However, this circumstance is equally a testimony to the gradual decay of the Vandal power. In his religious as well as in his foreign policy Thrasamund shewed the same divergence from the ideas of his predecessors. The Vandal king no longer sought to inspire fear by persecution, but preferred to work on other motives. Little actual violence mars his reign, his policy being to convert his Catholic subjects by making Arianism a condition of worldly success. With profound knowledge of men, Thrasamund determined to ignore the existence of the Church and to shut all avenues of promotion to those who clung to the orthodox faith. If a Catholic for- swore his creed, he was sure of large rewards and rich offices, and if anyone incurred his displeasure, adoption of Arianism extenuated every crime. But for a time at least the Church was left unmolested^ As, however, Thrasamund found this method of 1 C. I. L., VIII. 9835 ; Boissier, VAfrique liomaine, vii. § 5. '•^ Procopius, I.e. . THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE VANDALS. 155 conversion abortive he ultimately reverted to the tra- ditional policy of his predecessors. About 504' he issued a decree that as bishops died their places were not to be refilled. For a time the Church acquiesced in the royal command ; but as its sees were one after another left vacant its position became intolerable and a general feeling of desperation arose. It was felt more advisable to risk the outburst of royal fury by dis- obedience than to permit the Church to die out by acquiescence in his < ommands. The surviving bishops of Byzacene according y met together, about the year 508, and decided to fill up at once all empty sees; considering that in any case the Catholics would be benefited by a bold policy. If Thrasamund's wrath was by this time appeased, the organization would be safely restored; if the persecution was renewed, they would gladly endure it, secure in their knowledge of the bracing effect of adversity. The resolution once taken was promptly carried out. No diocese and no parish wished in such a matter to seem to lag behind, and sometimes more haste than discretion was shewn. Soon all Byzacene was filled with newly ordained clergy and very few sees remained vacant^. But one diocese was still pastorless and for a most unusual cause. The men of Ruspe'' had elected the saintly Fulgentius as their bishop, but could not i: 1 ■/ i 1 ■ ■ I i \ 1 " P f: ' For the dates of the decree and the exile .of the bishops I follow the chronology of Euinart, History of the Persecution of the Vandals, XI. 3, and Hcfele, Hist, of the Councils of the Church, iv. 221, but at best they are very uncertain. 2 Vita S. Fulgentii, § 16. 3 Ruspe, not far from Syrtis Parva, .35" 1' lat. N., 11° 1' long. E. 1 1'' ^ 156 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. find him when the ight consecrate him, for he, preferring a life of monastic self-devotion to any office however important, managed to escape their importu- nities and hide himself away. Meanwhile an eager candidate appeared on the scene. Felix, a deacon, had none of the scruples of the great monk and did not hesitate to try to secure consecration by the influence of the procurator of the district, who was a friend of his fomily. His efforts were unsuccessful, and as soon as the retreat of Fulgentius was found he was forced to become bishop, by the representations of Victor, the primate of the province himself \ At such a time as this consecration brought as much danger as honour, and before long the new pre- lates had to pay a heavy price for their elevation. Thrasamund was not the man to tamely submit to open disobedience, and as soon as the general con- secration had taken place Victor was summoned to Carthage to explain the action of the Church. No defence that he could give satisfied the king, and a decree of exile went forth against the new episcopate. From Byzacene 60 bishops and many monks and clergy were conveyed to Sardinia 2, and there they were joined by others from the rest of Africa, until 120 prelates altogether were banished ^ Though exiled they were not otherwise ill-treated. They v*- re not indeed supplied 1 Vita S. Fulfj., § 17. " Vita S. Fidg., §§ 16, 20. 3 The authorities are not agreed on the numbers of the exiles. The author of the Vita Sancti Fulgentii gives the number from Byzacene as above. Victor of Tunno (s. a. 497) and Isidorus Hispal- eusis (Hist. Vand. § 81) say 120, without mentioning their provinces. Other authorities give 22.5 or 230, but 120 has the beat support. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE VANDALS. 157 with food, and had to depend on the charity of Pope Symmachus, but they were left to employ thel selves as they chose. With two of his fellow-sufferers i^ulgentius founded a monastery, and occupied himself in answering the questions and dissolving the doubts of many correspondents on theological points'. Besides the exiles to Sardinia some may have been driven to other places ; Eugenius was perhaps one of them. He died m 505, soon after the active persecution began'^ and is said to have ended his days at Vienne in Gaul' ' Towards the end of his reign Thrasamund's policy towards the Catholics underwent another change Per- haps the needs of his foreign or domestic policy, perhaps a sincere desire to ascertain the truth, impelled him to summon Fulgentius, the most eminent of the exiles to Carthage to argue the doctrines of Catholicism with the Arian divines. The conference did no good; and though according to his biographer the great bishop evaded all the traps laid for him by the king, he could not con. vert his opponents and was sent back to Sardinia, btill the account of the visit of Fulgentius to the capital of the Vandals is very remarkable. He was treated well and allowed to live in his own lodgings No restriction was placed on his preaching, and he is said* to have not only comforted the Catholics but to have won over many of the unbelievers. When the time of his departure came round Thrasamund, fearing a popular demonstration, arranged that he should sail by night However, the elements defeated the royal plans, for the wind veered round and carried the vessel back to land 1 1 il If' Vita S. Fulgentii, §§ 20, 26. Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc, ii. 2. 2 Victor Tunn.,s.a., 505. m 158 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. where great crowds had assembled to bid Fulgentius Gcd-speed\ No d.ubt the narrative is one-sided and overcoloiired ; but .m^Ms the whole story is rejected a** incredible, the remarkable fact stands out that in the stronghold of the Vandals, under the eyes of an Arian king, great multitudes of Catholics dared to collect and defy the whole power of the State Thrasamund ried to defeat, not to suppress, 'heir enthusiasm, and is clear that even eighty years of spasmodic persecution had not made it safe for the Vandal mouarchs to openly brave the wrath of the Catholics, when roused. Such is not the record of a declining Church. On 25th of May, 523, died Thrasamund after a reign of 26 years, 8 months and 6 days^. On his death- bed he was full of misgiving for the fate of his kingdom, as his successor Hilderi( son of Hunneric, no doubt in- fluenced by the teachings of his mother Eudocia, was known to favour the Catholics. To try to tie the hands of his successor was therefore the last care of the dying Thrasamund, and he made Hilderic swear a solemn oath that when king he would not recall the exiles or reopen their churches. As soon as he was dead his plans came to nought. Hilderic, with the subterfuge that formed n great part of his nature, devised a means to break the spirit, while he kept the letter of his oath. There was a short interval be- tween the death of one king and the formal acknow- ledgement of the next, during which the king elect would have the supreme authority de facto but not de jure. In this Hilderic saw his opportunity; while he wielded 1 VitaS.Fulg.,%%2\—b. » Prosper Tyro, vii., Theodosio et Festo Coss, THE DECLINE AND FALI. OF THE VANDALS. 159 the power of the king, but was not yet king, he insued an edict restoring the banished clergy, proclaiming rehgiouH toleration, and nmk-ng Boniface bishop of Carthage*. Throughout his reign Hilderic continued to favour tlie Catholies and the Church enjoy(.d i>erfect rest, lic.niface was consecrated in the Church ..^ St Agileus the historic cathedral of Carthage, and the ecclesiastical organizafion was restored. There was indeed urgent need for reform after nigh a century of persecution durmg which period the Church had st .iggled for bare existence, with her clergy exiled or slain, her monasteries harried, and her prelates driven far away from their sees. Much of the old organization had bet n destroyed and some perhaps forgotten; the ruK of ecclesiastical gov, , nment were disordered, and two points in par- ticular called lor settlement. The boundaries of dioceses and the respective rank of the diocesans needed regu- lation, and the extent to which the episcopate could claim authoritv over monks was a question fruitful of many disputes. No doubt while the persecution lasted, nice dis- tinctions as to the districts under th- charge of a bishop had not been made, and the Cath lies had been willing to accept the ministrations of any prelate without enquiring the exact limits of his diocese. But now brigh' days had dawned and such questions assumed a reai ' iportanee. At a provincial synod at Junca, in Byzacene, in 523 or 524, Liberatus, the primate of the province, complained of the encroach- ments of Vincentius, bishop of Girba, in Tiipoli; while » Victor Tnnn., s.a., J23 ; Isidor. Hispal, Hi>>t. Vand., § 82. |( nj; '■\ ill »■ ' i ' 1 f • I; , . '• 1 ^: ! ^ 1 "'' ' ^ 1 • 160 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. at the conference of all the African bishops at Carthage in 525, Liberatus himself was rebuked for claiming part of the proconsular province. At Junca, the precedence of individual bishops was also considered. Fulgentius was placed before a certain Quodvultdeus ; but as this seriously annoyed the latter, the Bishop of Ruspe got the decree altered at the synod held at Sufes in the following year*. More important was the decision of the precedence of the episcopate of the various provinces made at the great council of Carthage already mentioned. On February 5, 525, sixty bishops from every part of Africa met in the sacristy of the Church of St Agileus under the presidency of Boniface. The claims of Carthage to be the premier see were first enforced, and it was then decided that the bishops of the other provinces should rank in the following order: Proconsularis, Numidia, Byzacene. The omission of the names of Tripoli, Caesariensis and Sitifensis, though representatives were present from them, perhaps bears witness to the encroachments of the Moors, and the loss of these provinces to civilization and Christianity. The second problem calling for solution was the position of religious commimities with regard to their diocesan. The exile of so many clergy to the deserts, and the resort of fugitives to inaccessible spots, had no doubt caused a considerable development of African monasticism, and the restored bishops wished to have control of the monasteries within their dioceses. Liberatus had thus come into collision with a certain 1 Vita S. Fulg., § 29. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE VANDALS. 161 Abbat Peter, and the matter was (li«cussed both at Junca and Carthage. The claims of the Primate of Byzacene were defeated on geographical grounds alone ; the monastery was not in Byzacene, and the appeal for aid from that bishop was only due to the fact that the see of Carthage was at that time vacant. But the conference was not content with the decision of the particular case, but passing on to consider the whole (piestion decreed that, as the religious communities were composed of men from all parts of Africa, and even of foreigners, the local diocesan was not to have any right whatever to interfere in monastic affairs K While the Church thus was able to set its house in order, the reign of Hilderic was the most inglorious the Vandals had yet seen. Their king proved by his character how hard it is for even the most vigorous race of barbarians to withstand the enervating effects of a too luxurious civilization. His treatment of the Catholics, the one meritorious act recorded of Hilderic, revealed a lack of moral courage, apparent alike in his foreign and domestic policy. As treacherous as he was timid, the king, who dreaded the very name of war, had no scruples to hinder him from resorting to acts of secret violence. The defence of the kingdom was handed over to Hoamer, the "Achilles of the Vandals," but with no success. Antalas defeated the frontier armies, and the Leucathae captured Leptis Magna and Sabrata in Tripoli, and again invaded Byzacene^ 526. ^ For these two Councils, see Hefele, Vol. iv. §§ 236 238 2 Procopius, D. BeH. Vand.,i.9; DeAedif.,yi.3; Th'eophanes, s.a. INI II m 11 f 'II ^m *'j i HHH B Hi 162 TKE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. The Vandals viewed their humiliation with disgust. Even if policy was in favour of cultivating the friend- ship of Justinian, nothing could excuse in their eyes the partiality shewn to the Catholics and the neglect to guard the frontiers of the kingdom. Amalafrida, the spirited widow of Thrasamund, took advantage of their discontent, and headed a revolt soon after her husband's death. Beaten at the battle of Capsa, she was thrown into prison and, in 526, on the death of her powerful brother, Theoderic, foully murdered. His successor, Athalaric, the new king of the Goths in Italy, was not the r.'ian to see his royal house insulted without protest, and wrote to remonstrate with Hilderic. As Africa was still thought to be too strong to be safely attacked, no action followed the letter ; but the position of the Vandal monarch was materially weakened and he could expect no help from the Goths in the hour of need^, which was soon destined to come upon him. When he had reigned eight years and a few days, Oelimer, the nephew of Thrasamund, tired of his mild and cowardly rule, raised an insurrection and made himself king, Hilderic, with Hoamer and his brother. Evagees, were cast into prison, and a reign of terror ensued. . Many of the great Vandal nobles were slain, many lost their property, and the tyrant's rage included even the members of his own family^. Although it is nowhere recorded that Gelimer ill- treated the Catholics, it is more than likely that he ' Cassiodorus, Var. ep., ix. ; cf. Hodgkin'a edition and notes. 2 Isidor. Hispal., HL^t. Vmul. , § 83 ; Prosper Tyro, loc. cit. ; Procop,, De Bell Vand., i. 9, RICA. disgust. friend- eir eyes neglect ida, the of their isband's thrown )owerful iccessor, ily, was without ric. As >e safely position [led and he hour e upon ew days, his mild d made brother, di terror sre slain, included imer ill- that he lotes. ;.; Procop,; THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE VANDALS. 163 did. He had attracted many Vandals to his side by condemning Hilderic's friendship with Constantinople, and an easy and popular means of proving his sincerity would be a new persecution. The usurper was not left long to enjoy his new kmgdom. Justinian, the great Emperor of the East on the pretext of avenging his ally, seized the op- portunity to recover the important province of Africa for the Empire. Twice he sent embassies to expostulate with Gelimer, and as their only results were further hardships for the prisoners, Belisarins was despatched to conquer the land. He landed at Caput Vada in September 533, captured Carthage within a fortnight, and before the next spring was master of all Africa.' The Vandal domination had passed away for ever and the Church had emerged from her days of bitter trial. For over a century Africa, cut off from the Roman Empire, had been under tlie sway of barbarians, whose Arianism made them doubly odious. Catholicism as the creed of the conquered was proscribed as much for political as for theological reasons. To be a Catholic was to be the opponent of the Vandal regime, to be an Arian to acquiesce at least in the power of the conquerors. Yet although for a century the schemes of statesmen and the hatred of theologians had sought to destroy the Church, the resolution of the Catholics had withstood all attacks and had completely foiled the hopes of the heretics. The Catholics were not uprooted and the Arians had not gained a foothold. Again and again had wholesale proscriptions been ordered, again and again had edicts been issued to degrade the Catholics, 11-2 J-| I!' I m m w I t ■ m \><^ W' 164 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. exile their clergy, close their churches, and confiscate their property. The very frequency of the orders proves their futility. Few of the Vandals themselves wished for their execution. For what had they to gain by a systematic persecution of the orthodox ? The vast mass of the population were Catholics, and on Catholics therefore the Vandals depended for their wealth, their amusements, and even their administration. To a bar- barian race, the complicated system of Roman govern* ment was entirely new, and Gaiseric shewed himself a true statesman by leaving the Civil Service in the hands of the conquered Africans, The destruction of the Catholics, therefore, meant the disruption of the whole order of society, and could only have been accomplished by the help of the Catholics themselves. No doubt the Arian clergy as a whole hated the orthodox, not, it must be confessed, unnaturally, if the treatment of heretics within the Empire is remembered But even amongst them there were exceptions, and all the efforts of the Vandal hierarchy were more fertile in isolated barbarities than effectual proscriptions. Most of the Vandal kings looked upon the rival sects as mere pawns in the political game. Leaning on the whole towards Arianism, none of them shewed any deep theological conviction. Gaiseric saw the inherent connection of Catholicism and Imperialism, and knew that if the Vandals were to remain masters of Africa, Arianism must be the dominant religion. But he was content with that ; as long as the orthodox Church did not try to make converts, or to assert its power, he did not wish to destroy it. In fact as long as it existed, it was a convenient hostage for the safety of his kingdom ; and, * RICA. nfiscrtte 5 proves wished in by a ist mass atholics ih, theif a bar- govern* mself a in the ction of 1 of the e been mselves. ted the y, if the smbered, , and all iertile in he rival ining on wed any inherent [id knew )f Africa, t he was urch did e did not id, it was om ; and, THE,' DECLINE AND FALL OF THE VANDALS. 165 when he did persecute, Gaiseric preferred to alarm the Byzantine court by the execution of a single courtier, rather than to weaken the Church by an indiscriminate persecution of Catholic bishops. Hunneric alternately favoured and persecuted Catholicism, as his policy de- manded. Gunthamund recalled the exiles. Thrasamund tried persuasion before violence, Hilderic was weakly in fevour of the Church and Gelimen if he persecuted orthodoxy, persecuted all Africa. In no case does it appear that a Vandal king was filled with fanaticism oi' perhaps any real religious conviction, In fact the only period during which the Catholics were in danger of extermination was the last few months of Hunneric's reign, They had crossed his policy and had to pay the penalty by being exposed to the full fury of Arian hate and systematic proscription. However, mercifully for the Church, the days of their enemy were suddenly cut short and Gunthamund befriended them as soon as he could. From his acces- sion onwards the lot of the Church was much improved; not indeed because it had made much progress in the' favour of the Vandals, but because the whole attitude of conquerors and conquered had altered. The genera- tion which had driven out Boniface had lonf passed away, and to the contemporaries of Gunthamund and Thrasamund the ravagings of the Mediterranean were already a tradition. Luxury and civilization were doing their work, and making tortures and exile more and more repugnant to the indolent Vandals. From the very first the conquerors had treated their domestic slaves with some consideration, and as time went on Vandal and African no doubt regarded each ether as ''\ ;, i 1 f I 166 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. necessary to their own existence. With improved social relations, religious toleration must have increased, and the methods of the last great persecutor Thrasamund betray a desire to avoid violence as much as possible, The Vandal persecution had therefore failed, m perhaps in any case it must have done, owing to the immense majority of the Catholics over the Arians. But still its effects were great. A Church cannot be harassed for more than a century and be deprived again and again of its leaders without suffering greatly from disorganization and disorder. As has already been said, the very boundaries of sees and the precedence of bishops had been confused and some friction occurred before they could be ar- ranged. But of vital harm the Church had received absolutely none. Some of its insincere members had indeed fallen away and some of the faithful had been forcibly rebaptized. On the other hand it had gained some recruits from the ranks of its enemies. But far more important was the spirit of enthusiastic loyalty aroused by its sufferings and the determination to keep unimpaired the Creed which had cost so dear. In the height of the persecution crowds of Catholics liad dared to defy the Vandal kings, and with the same devotion the Church of Africa henceforth with- stood every unorthodox assault. As far as our scanty records tell, from the time of the reconquest of the Province no suspicion of heresy ever lighted on the Carthaginian Church. This unique boast is no doubt due to its century of resistance to the Arian attack. Although the Catholics emerged from the Vandal domination untainted by heresy, the Church did not lie A. n proved icreasedj Lsamund ssible, iled, as ^ving to ver the Church and he without disorder, aries of confused I be ar>- received n embers faithful hand it enemies, husiastie minatioil ; so dear. OatholicB with the [•th with- ir scanty jt of the d on the no doubt ttack. e Vandal I did not THE DECLINE ANn pALL OF THE VANDALS. 167 escape the damage done to all the Province by a very diflferent foe. Never again did the Emperors rule over all the old boundaries of Africa, Church and Province alike lost ground by the resistless advance of the ter- rible Moors. mi i ;■; i K « I CHAPTEB VIT. From Justinian to the Saracens. Though the success of Belisarius was as decisive as it was sudden, the capture of Carthage did not end the troubles of A frica. The Vandals, it is true, disappeared, but they left their legacy of mischief behind. For a time Carthage recovered a sembla,nce of its past glories, and again saw its harbour crowded with the navies of the world. For a time too the whole Province seemed to shew marvellous recuperative powers, and with the to> ns rebuilt under a reorganized government, seemed destined to enjoy its old prosperity. However, despite appearances, neither the efforts of the Emperors nor the valour of their soldiers could for long postpone the inevitable decay. The stability of a country depends after all upon its internal resources and its capital should be the apex and not the basis of its power. With Roman Africa the reverse was the case. All depended on the external resources of the Empire and all places looked to Carthage as the source of their prosperity. Had the body politic really been sound, every village and hamlet in Africa would have helped to swell the glories of the great city ; but a- FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. 169 things were, it was Carthage that had to provide government and security for every part of the Province; and its luxury and magnificence hardly extended be- yond its own gates. The country districts contributed nothing to its real stability, but merely supplied it With riches to squander. But though year by year the Romans were driven back by the Moors and less and less territory was held by the imperial forces, to outsiders Africa seemed strong, for Carthage was still magnificent. Nor was it till the city itself was actually destroyed that men recognized that no effective resistance could be offered to a determined foe by a province dependent on a decadent empire, and trusting only in its stores of accumulated wealth. ^ Although Africa had been regained for the Empire with surprising ease, a period of the most terrible trial ensued. For twelve years the struggle between Moor and Roman, barbarism and civilization, paganism and Christianity went on, and it was only in 546 that the internecine strife sank into a chronic state of border warfare. The Vandals indeed gave little trouble after the capture of Gelimer. Of the men ! 60,000 were slain in the two grout victories of Belisai ^'^ and the rest were either drafted into the imperial army as auxiliaries, or seeking refuge amongst the Moors ceased to exist as a separate people. The women were still left and were taken in marriage by the conquering soldiers, but the Arian ecclesiastics were not easily got rid of. But though ihese survivors at first caused some disturb^ ances, it was not long before they were swallowed up ' Procopius, Anecdota, xviii. fit \ s .^ ' ' li ' li ■ I! ^- If! Ill 170 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. in the mass of the provincials and within a generation all trace of the former masters of Africa had completely passed away. The twelve years, which were to pass before the Province was at rest, fall naturally into four well-marked periods. In the first, from 534 to 535, the reconquest of Africa is continued ; in the second, from 53(5 to 539, the revolts of the army and the pacification of Numidia call for all the energies of the provincial government ; in the third, from 539 to 543, the work of reorganization went rapidly forward under the strong rule of Solomon ; while the fourth period, to 546, saw Africa given up to desolation and tyranny \ In Byzacene Solomon, who vigorously set himself to drive back the Moors, met with complete success though not without considerable loss, and on two occasions the barbarians ravaged the entire province. Within a year, however, of the recapture of Carthage the only Berbers within the boundaries of the Eastern part of this province were the friendly tribes of Antalas. In Numidia, the imperial forces had a more chequered career, A chief called labdas had securely established himself upon the almost impregnable Aurasius, and from there raided the plains at his pleasure, and in particular destroyed Timgad, At his first attempt, Solomon failed to capture this natural citadel and wast disabled from renewing his attack by a revolt in his rear. For in 536, the imperial army stiddenly rose in mutiny, The Roman iegionaries had long been '^ The authority for this period' of misrule la Procopiue, Dc Bello Vandalico, ii. 8-28. , : FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. 171 the drawn from every nation within and even beyond the borders of the Empire. Some had married Vandal Women and were stirred up by their wives, disgusted at the loss of the estates which their countrymen had long occupied in security; some were Arians and were discontented at the proscription of their creed j and the sudden appearance of 400 Vandals, who had deserted from the imperial forces, in the mountains of Aurasius and Mauritania, brought the disaffection to a head. Two-thirds of the army threw off their allegi- ance, drovj Solomon from Africa, pillaged Carthage, and retired to Numidia under a leader called iL,iutza, Here they were joined by the Moors and the whole country was once more ravaged, till Germanus attacked and put the confederates to rout. In 539, Solomon returned and at once set about the capture of Aurasius, and this time attained his objects The Moors were driven out ; a permanent garrison was established and Kumidia at length had peace. During the next four years the whole province was left tinharassed by raids, and Solomon undertook the much needed work of reorganization, During the century of Vandal domination much had been done which had now to be altered and the Province had fallen into a defenceless condition. As soon as the conquest was complete, steps were taken to reimpose the land-tax, I ' '^iji ' 1 \\l '>U 1 Procop., m IMlo Vand., ii. IS— 21 ; see also C, T, Z., vol. vnr. 9738, in the toountains of Caesarea EL MaMsour found this inscrip- tion : " I am Solomon the Serdeghos {(TTparvy6s)> The people of the town having revolted, the King sent me against them ; and God having permitted me to conquer them, I have had this monument erected to perpetuate my memory." Ibn Khaldoun (Slane), 1, 234 ; ii. 539. 1 « [ll }l *\ 172 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHEH IN NORTH AFRICA. and the lands given by Gaiscric to his followers v ore seized for the im])erial treasury, Both these measures caused great discontent; for th(; tax had been so long remitted that its assessment was forgotten and the army of Belisarius thought that the estates of th^j Vandals ought to be their perquisite. Moreover, the levying of such taxes was the occasicai of the greatest oppression, and it may tairly be (piestioned whether the African coloni were not in all but religious affairs better off under the Vandal than the Imperial ride. Far more beneficial to the whole Province were the measures taken to secure its defence, The Vandals had been nnable to keep back the Moors, and, ^vith extreme shortsightedness, Gaiseric had prevented his subjects fron^ defending themselves by destroying the fortifications of every town but Carthage, Conse- quently, when the Moors overran the land, the wretched border-towns had had to resist as best they could with hasty barricades thrown up across the .streets. Justi- nian was however a mighty builder, and he set to work at once to refortify his frontiers. The actual date of his works is unrecorded, but it is unlikely that so good a soldier as Solomon allowed this time of respite to slip by without beginning at any rate fortifications against the Moors, In Tripoli, Leptis Magna and Sabrata were surrounded with a wall. In Proconsularis the defences of Carthage were improved, Baga was refortified, and the castle of Tucca was built. In Byzacene walls were built at the capital Hadrumetum, Caputvada, Telepte, Mamma and Cululis on the frontier, and the armed camp of Aumetera was formed. In Numidia, Mount Aurasius was strongly occupied^ and Timgad and other « 1 IICA. rs V ere loasures so long .11(1 the of th^ ver, the [greatest uher the s better verc the Vandals id, with ited his Mng the Conse- frutclied aid with Justi- to work date of so good ,e to slip ; against ata were defences [ied, and alls were Telepte, e armed I,, Mount nd other FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SAUACENS. 17' nei' ^ 'ourii .,' cities were rebuilt; while in far-off Hades, t le fiastle of Sopta was constructed. Besides these U htary works many churches were erected in these c. 38. At Cartiiuge onhh" ,aths and the Maritime Colonn.de of the F.a . ouilt, while the monastery t Miuidiacium, w hich Lowor, d above the harbour with the stn ngtl f u fortress, bespoke the lordly ideas of the emperoi Ko doubt such enormous buihh'ngs as these were the work of many years, and they cannot have been hnished, when the peace of Africa was once more broken. For four yer the Moors had seemed to accept the Imperial domination in con narative quiet. If Solomon had been able to govc -u personally the* whole Province, all might have been well ; but in 54:i the treachery of the young governor of Tripoli alienated the friendly tribes. In a moment the south- eastern districts were in a blaze, and all the dis- contented united in one last effort to throw off the Imperial yoke, Stutza and the few surviving Vandals reappeared; even the Antalas turned against the emperor, and many of the country people, disgusted with the tyranny and extortion of the new rule, were willing to aid the insurgents. Byzacene was ravaged far and wide, and Solomon was defeated and slain by this formidable coalition. All Africa seemed about to share the fate of the south-east, and in despair those who could fled to Sicily or Constantinople. How- ever, division soon sprang up amongst the rebels. One upstart after another seized the supreme power, was attacked and fell, and for three years the utmost ^ Procopius, De dedif,, vl 3-6, '! Iil'il I ® IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ,> y 1.0 !S I.I L25 i 1.4 I ^ ilia I i- ilia UUl- 1.6 ^r <^ /a ^•y ^-^ *^y ^ pJiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^ '--'- This was never done, and the mountainous region ' Italy ami Her Invaders, iv. 46. 2 Probably Tingi was a part of Africa only by ReocraDliical accident. The mountains of Atlas shut it off from CarthaT!iTt was really governed from Spain. l^arthage, and it ^ Cod. Justinian, i. 27, 1-2. I i ! i^ : i| :| iff ) ^nN H i 1 • -jj i a .* 1 i ' • i J fl! w i ■■ 1 I j IPUpiUJWJii 176 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. between Sitifiensis and Gades was henceforth left to the barbarian rule. In Caesariensis only the town of Caesarea owned the Imperial sway and its communica- tions with Carthage had to be carried on by sea; outside its walls an independent Berber chief, Mastigas, defied the power of Solomon \ and his successors were never reduced to submission. On the other hand the influence if not the arms of Rome made some pro- gress in Tripoli. Certain Moorish tribes adopted Christianity and were content to live at peace with the Province; but their name "Pacati" betrays how rare it was for the Africans to find the Berbers well dis- posed towards them''*. Though the whole of Africa was never reconquered, most of the best lands were recovered. Proconsularis, Byzacene, Numidia and parts of Tripoli and Sitifiensis once more belonged to the Roman Empire; but Tingi- tana and Caesariensis were cut off for ever from the rule of Carthage. Still what had been reconquered was held securely; its borders were comparatively safe and the new fortifications and the strong frontier forces kept the Province free from all but occasional maraud- ing raids. It had taken twelve years of hard work and con- tinual war to set up the civil authority of the Empire, but long before the Province had settled down to enjoy the "Pax Romana," the Church had adjusted its own affairs. As soon as the Vandal power had fallen, its liberty of action had returned, and in spite of the wars and rumours of wars that beset all Africa, as long as 1 Procop., De Bell. Vand., ii. 20. ^ Procop., De Aedif., vi. 3. ■I LFRICA. h left to > town of nmunica- by sea ; Mastigas, ssors were hand the lome pro- adopted ) with the how rare well dis- lonquered, 3onsularis, Sitifiensis Dut Tingi- from the ^uered was y safe and ;ier forces l1 maraud- : and con- le Emph'e, 11 to enjoy id its own fallen, its f the wars as long as FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. Carthage was in the hands of the Imperial forces, the Catholic bishops could go on with their task of reor- ganization. For much needed attention in order to restore the old order of things, and new problems caused by the centuo of persecution were clamouring for solu- tion. On the other hand the restoration of Catholicism was less sudden than the restoration of Imperialism. Al hough the Church could not recover its property until Carthage and the Vandals had fallen, its lot had n /.. . l'^'''''''''' ^^d it may therefore be sup- posed that by 534 its organization, in all its essential branches, was fairly efficient h On the death of Boniface, bi^I.^p of Carthage, Repa- ratus was elected, perhaps in 535^ The new Primate at once set about the settlement of the two great questions, to which the events of the last hundred years had given rise. The proscription of Catholicism had caused many Africans to embrace Arianism and had driven others to nionasteries and convents to escape the wrath of the Vandals Many of those who had joined the heretics now wished to return to the ranks of the orthodox and some of the Arian clergy desired permission to retain their cures on renouncing their errors. The reli^ous communities had during the days of persecution been allowed to conduct their own affairs unchecked by any episcopal supervision, and they now resisted the claims ot their diocesans to exert the same authority over them as they had over the other Catholics within their dioceses. It was most important to set these problems 2 S^' ,^°"""^' °*' J°^«a, Sufes and Carthage in Chap. VI 2 Victor Tunu. s.a. 535. f y ±. 12 Kl ill 'I H. (» ■] *; ■ ih: 178 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. at rest. The ecclesiastical peace of Africa could never be restored until some rule for the reception of Arian penitents had been established, and until the relations of the episcopate to the monasteries were finally ar- ranged a constant source of friction must continue to exist. In order, therefore, to find a solution of the present difficulties, Reparatus summoned a great council of bishops to meet in the Basilica of Faustus in his cathedral city'. Two hundred and seventeen prelates assembled and decided to submit the question of the restoration of the Arians to Pope John II. A letter was drawn up and despatched asking guidance in this matter.; Was, for example, every Arian to be excluded as long as he lived from ordination to the sacred offices ? Were the heretical clergy, even if sincerely convinced of their errors, to be expelled from their cures ? A much-needed warning was at the same time sent to the Roman Church against indiscriminate charity to fugitives from Africa, among whom were many of the provincial clergy who preferred to live on the charity of the Romans instead of facing the hard work necessary to be done in Africa. u would be far better for both Italy and Africa if only those travellers who could shew letters of recommendation from their bishop were received as sufferers for the orthodox faith and that all others should be treated as heretics. This letter deserves the highest praise. It proves that the Church of Carthage had learnt much in its time of trial. Too often had the African Christians in their fanaticism done serious, if unintentional harm. 1 Morcelli, Africa Christiana, s.a. 535 ; Hefele, iv. § 245. ■I FRICA. uld never of Arian relations inally ar- ntinue to 18 present jouncil of LIS in his n prelates Lon of the A letter idance in i;in to be nation to gy, even if felled from b the same scrim inate horn were to live on f the hard ould be far 3 travellers from their ! orthodox 1 heretics. It proves mch in its hnstians in onal harm. V. § 245. FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. But here we see the unexpectedly victorious behaving with almost exaggerated kindliness towards their de feated foe. Carthage had fallen in .533 and Belisarius was able safely to leave Africa in the following year hand thr "1' *'" f '^^' ^^^ ^^^^^1^- *-k in hand the question of the converted Arian clergy For nearly two years the latter must have been allowed to enjoy their usurped positions and revenues, and no undue haste can be laid to the charge of the Church the utmost charity was shewn. With a kindly con- fidence m the reality of their conversions, worthy eceive the heretics into the true fold on as easy most Christian forgiveness, and with perhaps as much pc^itica wisdom the Pope is asked to countenance ttir posr"" " '""'^' '' *'^ ^^^"^ ^'^'^y - dead^-^Tn/v """""^ """"'^'^ ^^^"^ J^h" II- was ^ead , but his successor Agapetus I. answered the letter of the Council. No converted Arian mijh aspire to any ecclesiastical office, even if he had been spotted with that plague" merely as a child; and he could not allow heretical priests after reconciliation to the Church to still hold their sacerdotal office. If however, the bishops wished to support these dispos-' sessed converts from the funds of the Church the Pope made no objection. With regard to the warning against ecclesiastical travellers from Africa, he would take care ' 27 May, 535. !i !i ■• i 12—2 I if, I 180 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. that the words of the Council were respected. Ten years before the claim of the bishops to exercise control over the monasteries within their dioceses had caused some difficulty, and the Council held at Car- thage in 525 had decided in favour of the independence of r°eligious houses. Once more now the question was raised. Felician, the successor of the saintly Ful- gentius in the see of Ruspe, desired to have a definition of his rights over the monastery founded by his pre- decessor, who though a bishop, had never ceased to be a monk. Bishop Felix of Zaotera in Numidia quoted the decision of 525, and said that it still held good. The local diocesan was not entitled to interfere or have his cathedral within the walls of a monastery. He must not ordain any monk without his superior's con- sent, but if an abbat asked him to lay hands on one of his monks, or to consecrate the chapel of a monastery, he must not refuse him. Moreover, the monastic priests were to be fully recognized, and their names must be read out of the diptychs by the bishop at divine service in the list of clergy ordained by him. The diocesan too had no voice in the election of abbats. In the first instance they were to be chosen by the votes of all the community, but if there was a dispute, an appeal was to be made, not to the local bishop, but to other abbats, and from them to the primate of the Province. Whether this was the final decision of the Council or only the private opinion of Felix is not known; but in all probability, as the Church of Africa felt the greatest veneration for personal sanctity, the religious communities were allowed com- plete freedom from episcopal authority. LFRICA. ^ed. Ten exercise ceses had d at Car- jpendence jstion was ntly Ful- definitioa jr his pre- ased to be iia quoted leld good, re or have stery. He trior's con- on one of monastery, monastic leir names bishop at ;d by him. election of be chosen here was a 3 the local em to the is the final ite opinion ity, as the for personal [owed com- FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. 181 The only other business that the Council is recorded to have undertaken was the despatch of an embassy to Justinian, claiming the restoration of all rights and property taken from the Church by the Vandals. Their petition met with a prompt response • the emperor ordered that all who could prove that the lands of themselves or their ancestors to the third generation had been taken from them by the invaders should receive them back, and on August 1, 535 issued a special edict to settle the position of the Church All the property of the Catholics seized by the Arians was to be restored. No Arian, Donatist, or other heretic was to celebrate the sacraments, or choose and <^rdain bishops and clergy, and none but the orthodox were to be employed by the State. Jews were forbidden to have Christian slaves, to circumcise a catechumen or to set up synagogues. The Church of Carthage was confirmed in its metropolitan rank and was allowed the right of sanctuary for all save ravishers murderers, or the enemies of Christianity, and every' tiling dedicated to God was declared to be sacrosanct^ This edict contained little that was new and restored what was practically the state of things before the Vandal Invasion. As before, the Arians and Donatists were oppressed. The Catholics recovered their former property, and the bishop of Carthage was once more recognized as the Primate of the African Church. As Byzacene had suffered most severely from the ravages of the Moors, it was necessary for the primate Datius to make use of the brief respite ^ Hefele, iv. § 248. ^ Justinian, Nov. 36, 37; Morcelli, Africa Christiana, s.a. 535. • J.' 182 THE CHBISTIAN CHURCHES XN NORTH AFRICA. afforded by the success of Solomon in his second term of office to reorganize the provincial Church. In 541, and possibly in 540, councils were held for the restoration of discipline. A letter was sent to Justinian asking him to support the Church, to which a favourable response was given, followed probably by a further interchange of correspondence. Thus, in 542, Datius wrote an- other letter, declaring that his efforts were directed to the enforcement of the ancient ecclesiastical discipline alone, and that he was not trying to increase its stringency*. The extremely meagre records do not narrate the measures of the primate of Byzacene or their success ; but there cannot be any doubt that in the terrible confusion that was so soon to overtake this district the Church suffered very greatly, not only by disorganization and want of discipline, but by an actual loss of members. The only mention by contemporary writers of the attitude of the clergy towards the tyrants who ruled Africa between 543 and 546, relates an unfortunate incident concerning Reparatus, the bishop of Carthage. The Primate hastened to meet Gontharis, on his cap- turing the city, in order to make the peace of the Church with him. The despot used the presence of the bishop to induce Areobindus, the Magister Militum, to come to the palace under pledge of safety, and then had him treacherously slain^. To accuse Reparatus of any conscious part in the murder is absurd, and he had to pay, later on, the full price for his indiscretion in having any dealings at all with a barbarous usurper. Nothing else is known of the condition of the 1 Morcelli, s.a. 540—2. '^ Procop., De Bell. Vand., ii. 28. AFRICA. )nd term of n 541, and restoration asking him ,e respoHHo iiterchange wrote an- directed to ,1 discipline ncrease its 'ds do not 5yzacene or ibt that in /^ertake this J, not onl}- but by an iters of the who ruled unfortunate >f Carthage, on his cap- jace of the sence of the Militum, to nd then had •atus of any d he had to on in having r. tion of the md., II. 28. FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. 183 Church during this terrible time of civil strife It was not directly endangered and onlv suffered with the rest of the Province; but if Pro^opius does not exaggerate, both Africa and the Church had now to submit to a loss of numbers which nothing could repair A great crisis was overhanging the whole of Christen- dom, and the action of the African Christians seems to shew that, though for a time they were too busy with their own affairs to attend to the troubles of other communions, yet when they were at peace neither their organization nor their orthodoxy had been hurt by the twelve years of civil confusion. The famous dispute about the Three Chapters began in 543; the Church of Carthage could pay little attention until 549, but when It did the Council of Chalcedon had no more fervent champion. Justinian, in his old age, had trespassed on the domains of theology, and tried to amend the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon (452), by anathematizing three hishops, whom that assembly had declared orthodox Theoretically the emperor was perhaps right, but it was dangerous to admit that there could be no finality in theological disputes. Moreover, the clerg, of the West feared that any attack on the provisions of the Council was really aimed at the creed of the Council itself and prepared to resist with might and main the decree of the emperor. Vigilius, the pope, led the opposition to the Imperial decrees, and from the first had the sympathy of the Church of Carthage. Legates from Africa, in 544 strengthened his hand, and two of their number Fa- cundus, bishop of Hermiana, and Ferrandus, a deacon H Ij 1 ' 184 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. of Carthage, diHtinguiahod themselves as authors of attacks upon Justinian'. Five years later, when the struggle was growing more acute all over the West, a council, held at Carthage, urged the Chiirch to resist the unjustifiable demands of the secular power and argued that the whole authority of the Council of Chalcedon was impugned, from a pedantic desire to remedy one-third of its deciees". In 550, another Council of Carthage excommunicated Vigilius for yield- ing to the Imperial commands. In 551 the quarrel came to a head, and the pope, for opposing Justinian, was banished to Chalcedon. It is interesting to note that the august exile was accuin- panied in his exile by two African bishops, Verecundus of Junca and Primasius of Adrumetum. Meanwhile the primates of Proconsularis and Numidia, Reparatus and Firmus, had been summoned to Constantinople to represent Africa. At the Fifth General Council both worthily maintained the validity of the Three Chapters, but afterwards Firmus was won over by the presents of the emperor and was allowed to return home, only to fall ill and die before he reached Africa. Reparatus steadily resisted the Imperial arguments and bribes, and it was determined to send him too into exile. On an accusation, invented for the occasion, that he was responsible for the murder of Areobindus six years before, he was banished to the island of Euchaita, where he died on the 7th of January, 563. In his place, Primasius, his deacon apocrisiarius, who must be distinguished from his namesake, the bishop of Adrumetum, was, in reward for his compli- 1 Morcelli, e.a. 544. ^ Ihid. s.a. 549. «■ FRICA. nthors of when the he West, to resist ower and loimcil of desire to , another for yield - the pope, :edon. It as accuin- erecundus Meanwhile Reparatus tinople to incil both Chapters. J presents orne, only Reparatus id bribes, nto exile. I, that he indus six Euchaita, )crisiarius, isake, the is compli- 1. 549. FROy JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. 185 ancy, sent to Carthago by the emperor, as bishop. This appointment was as uncanonical as it was nnjust. and was for a time repudiated by the other African bishops. However, after some disturbances and bloodshed, in 554, the force of circumstances caused the African clergy to reconsider their position, and a council as- senibled at Carthage consented to receive Primasius as then- primate, and to repeal the former decisions against Vigilius. For the next twelve years Africa was torn by this senseless schism. For a time it seemed as though Justinian would .soon be victorious; the clergy of the Proconsular Province had accepted his views in 554, and their brethren of Numidia followed their example in the following year. However, Byza- cene was not yet convinced, and the diatribes of Facundus of Hermiana raised a sturdy spirit of resist- ance. To overcome this Justinian appointed, in 555, Primasius of Adrumetum primate of the Province in succession to Boethius, who had just died. Nothing could be more unpopular amongst clergy and laity alike than this choice. Not only was it an usurpation of the selection of the Primate, but Primasius had secured his appointment by unworthy means. First he had supported Vigilius and had even been exiled to the monastery of AcaetmetaeS but now he bought his elevation by his apostasy. His conduct as primate justified the worst fears of his old friends. He per- secuted the opinion which he formerly upheld and plundered those whom he oppressed. In the end he ' Morcelli, s.a. 553. .i^i .1 11 I'M * . ! [A,: At M t *"' • •< 1: 1 • ! s 1 186 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. was found guilty of extortion, ynd made to disgorge his ill-gotten gains and died a miserable death. Meanwhile, the other Primasius, bishop of Carthage, had been doing his best to win over all Africa to the opinions of the emperor. He exiled Victor of Tunno and Theodore of Cabarsussum, and, according to the former, oppressed other opponents with scourges, im- prisonments and exile. After eight years of confine- ment these two champions of the Three Chapters were summoned with bishops Musicus, Brumasius, Donatus, and Chrysonius to Constantinople, to defend their views befc^ 3 the emperor. Theodore died on the same day as Justinian in the year 565. With the death of the author of the famous edicts the meaningless dispute of the Three Chapters came to a fitting end. His successor, Justinus, never clearly defined his views on the subject, and the opponents of Justinian claimed that the victory lay with them. As a matter of fact both sides had some cause to rejoice. The emperor was able to point to the delegates from Africa, who had signed the resolutions of the Fifth (Ecumenical Synod at Constantinople, in May 553; and the African supporters of the Chapters could urge that they had prevented the Church of Spain from accepting the Imperial edicts. But by 500 the whole quarrel had sunk to its proper proportions, and no breach in communion was caused, because Rome had, and Africa and Spain had not, condemned the Three Chapters \ It is by no means clear that this uninteresting 1 For the whole of the quarrel see Victor of Tunno, s.a. 550-566 ; Hefele, iv. §§ 200, 202 b, 267, 275, 277. FRICA. disgorge L. Carthage, ca to the of Tunno ig to the irges, im- \' confine- )ters were Donatus, beir views me day as ous edicts •s came to er clearly )onents of hem. As bo rejoice. ;ates from the Fifth May 553; jould urge pain from the whole s, and no iome had, the Three nteresting s.a. 550-566; FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. 187 II quarrel had any permanent effect upon the destinies of the Church in Africa. Victor of Tunno's evidence about the persecutions of Frimasius must be received with a good deal of caution. He was himself a sufferer, and undoubtedly, in one instance, party passion has so' overridden his judg.nent that he is able to praise a certain Abbat Felix, of Gillitan, because he was an opponent of Justinian, although he had been banished to Sinope for his scandalous conduct, which had ruined his monastery^ Moreover this period seems to have been one of great literary activity in Africa; Primasius of Adrumetum, Junillus of Utica, Victor of Matera, Eugipius, abbat of the monastery of Lucullanae, and Verecundus of Junca, all were noted authors. Most of the subjects they chose were theological, but Victor of Matera was a critic as well as a divine''. Foreigners, as we are informed, began once more to look to Africa as a seat of learning; Cassiodorus, a Spanish abbat sent to the superior of a monastery in Tripoli for com- mentaries on the Epistles of St Paul, collected from St Augustine's works, by Paul^ and later on we find that the monks of Africa were held in such estimation, that they were even summoned to preside over monasteries at Rome. Thus Quoddeusvult was made abbat of the Greater Monastery of the Blessed Apostle Peter^ and Adrian was sent to England, with Theodore of Tarsus". This superiority was also maintained on doctrinal points ; in no part of the West were the clergy and people so orthodox as in Africa. 1 Hefele, iv. § 260; Victor Tunn,, s.a. 553; Morcelli, s.a. 557. 2 Morcelli, s.a. 556. 3 m^^ g a. 561. * Ibid. s.a. 583. ^ Bede, Eccl. Hist., iv. 1. w i .11 u i ' 188 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. In the thirty years that followed the fall of the Vandal power the African Church shewed no signs within itself of approaching dissolution. In fact it seemed to have recovered even more than it had lost. Its organization enabled it to act at once with the utmost decision. It had the courage of its opinions. It dared to brave the anger of the emperor, and if it yielded at last, it might have fairly pleaded that there was nothing to be gained compared with the losses it must sustain by holding out. A too rigid opposition to pedantry even though in the right may itself become pedantic in the end. Such persecutions as there were, grievous as they may have been to the sufferers, in no way affected the vita ity of the Church. At the end of the reign of Justinian, the African Christians could with justice look forward to a long and useful existence for the orthodox and well-organized body of which they were members. It is to secular, not religious matters that the historian must turn to discover the reason of the extinction of the African Church. At this period two Imperial edicts were published of vital importance alike to the social as to the political welfare of the Province. The first affected the numbers of the population, and especially of the agricultural population. If Rome wished to retain her hold upon Afrijd, it was all-important to maintain sufficient people in the country districts to keep out the en- croaching Moors. The Vandal occupation, the terrible pestilence of the time of Hunneric, the years of disorder after the reconquest had, as has been said, reduced the population to an alarming extent, and 'RICA. 1 of the no signs In fact 1 it had nee with e of its emperor, ' pleaded with the ioo rigid ght may secutions n to the Church. African 3 a long trganized > secular, turn to African )ublished political numbers 'icultural old upon sufficient the en- 3 terrible years of len said, ent, and FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. 189 now a law of Justinian bid fair to extinguish it alto- gether. By this edict the children of a freewoman and a man bound to the soil were no longer to be serfs themselves, but, taking their condition from their mothers, were free to go where they pleased^ The result was most prejudicial to agriculture, and Theo- dorus, the new prefect of Africa, was continually warned of the impossibility of keeping any population on the land. Farms were falling vacant in every direction and It was mevitable that all who could would flock to' the gay life of the towns rather than stay in the country to glean such miserable existence as the tax- gatherer left them. Justinus saw the truth of this and m o68 he altered the lav in the same way as its author had himself changed it in the case of Illyria^ The children of an alliance between a freewoman and slave should be personally free, but should be forbidden to leave their native villages to seek work elsewhere Another edict of Justinus was of a much more question- able character. By a law published on September 14 566, marriages were made dissoluble by mutual con- sent. When the fearfully lax state of the morals of the Provmce is considered, it seems that this edict must have had a most serious effect upon the sanctity of the marriage vow. Yet strangely enough there is no mention of any episcopal protests against the new law^ It is, however, possible that a protest was made and that all mention of it has been lost. The history of the African province for the last two centuries before the Saracen conquest has to be compiled from records 1 Justinian, Cod. xi. tit. 47, 1. 24; in Morcelli, s.a. 567. 2 Cod. de fil. liberarum ; in Morcelli, s.a. 568. ! ! 'I i ■ I i i ■ 'I! 5 i ll. ', I ! j T' ■A 1 t ! I 1.! , ;?* s : : ; : 1 I 1 ■j 1 i 1 : ■ ) '1 r - ( i , 1 : - .!_ . : il ^ rj i £ ^) ' ' 1 1 it 1 i 'i t ' ' i r 190 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. of the scantiest description. The tide of Mohammedan invasion swept away nearly all that the Moorish raids had left and the greater part of the history of the decline of the Roman power is irrevocably lost. Still the little that remains makes it clear that year by year the boundaries of the Province continued to shrink. More and more of Africa lapsed into barbarism, and when civilization drew back the Church could no longer retain its foothold. For a time, indeed, the Roman prefects were able to keep back the Moors, but the weakness of the legions forced them to stoop to the payment of tribute. An annual sum had to be given to Cutzinas, the chief of a great Berber confederation, and as long as this blackmail was paid the province enjoyed peace. But in 563, with the most foolish treachery, the chief was murdered as he came for his subsidy, and at once his followers rose in revenge. All Africa was devastated, and Marcian, the emperor's nephew, had to be hastily sent to save the wretched Province*. For a time he secured peace, but from 568 to 570 the Moors were again able to ravage unchecked. In 568, they slew the ^ ofect Theodore, in 569, Theoctistes, the Magister Militum, and in 570 his successor Amabilis^ Moreover, an independent kingdom, under Gasmulas, flourished to the west of the Roman dominions. Africa was at this time rescued from decay by the arrival of a capable general and the publication of a wise law. Gennadius, the new Magister Militum, slew ^ Morcelli, s.a. 566. " Theophanes, s.a. 555. 3 John Biclar. Chron., s.a. 3, 4, 5; Justin II. rRICA. ,mmedan ish raids e decline the little y^ear the k. More nd when o longer 7ere able s of the f tribute, the chief y as this ^ce. But chief was once his jvastated, )e hastily , time he >ors were ■ slew the Magister Moreover, Nourished ay by the ttion of a turn, slew FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. 191 Gasmulas in 578, and drove the Moors back to their old territories'; while at the same time the gulf between civilization and barbarism was partly bridged over by an Imperial edict. Justinus had decreed as has already been said, that the children of a freewoman, by a servile husband, should be free in condition but bound to their native villages, and now bishop Pubhanus of Carthage, induced Tiberius II to see that it was carried out. In consequence, there grew up within the provincial borders a larae population. semi-Berber in blood, who formed a link between the civilized Roman of the towns and the wild barbarians of the hills. Though this new element was not calculated to permanently strengthen the Pro- vince It staved off for a time the pressure of invasion and for the next 14 years Africa seems to have been at peace''. Of course all this anarchy, it has been our painful task to relate, wrought harm to the Church The few records that are left speak of ruined monasteries and im- poverished mouKs. Religious communities were broken "P, the pursuit of learning hindered, and a life of peaceful devotion made an impossibility. In such cir cumstances, the exodus from Africa, which had begun under the Vandals, still went on. Nunctus, with his whole community, crossed to Spain, and won the favour of even the Arian king, Leovigild, by his good works and was soon followed there by Donatus, with his seventy monks^ Meanwhile, the authority of the Church steadily ' Ihid., 8.a. 2 ; Tiberius 11. 2 Morcelli, s.a. 568. ^ Morcelli, s.a. 567, 569. :lli S 1 1^ il I > I I III ill 1 r 11 ffcniiHiP 192 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. increased, while the number of its members as steadily declined. The Primate of Byzacene obtained the sole right to try criminous clerks, and was promised that all his petitions should be considered by the emperor himself Moreover, no clerk was to sail for Constantinople without the permission of the Primate of his province \ Too little is known of the ecclesiastical history of this time to invest these privileges with much meaning, though it may be conjectured that they point to some internal troubles, which the Primate desired to allay by his own methods. In the same way it is only possible to record the following events; the circumstances which gave them life have been completely forgotten. About 566, Primasius, of Carthage, died and was succeeded by Publianus. This prelate was followed by Dominicus, whose consecration Morcelli puts in 584, but on purely conjectural grounds. In 570, a Council was held at Suffetula, of which we know nothing, save that it dealt with questions of discipline ^. Once again for a few years it is possible to form some idea of the condition of the African Church. The light that is now thrown on the great Province is not, it is true, very bright, and it but half illumines much that is most interesting. Moreover, from its very nature it is but a half light liable to distort while it illuminates. Still it is a light, and in the utter darkness that threatens to engulf the Church of Carthage any illumination, however imperfect, is of the utmost value. The correspondence of the great Pope Gregory I. contains many letters on the ecclesiastical 1 Morcelli, s.a. 568. 2 Diet. Christian Antiquities, Art. ' African Councils.' RICA. steadily the sole [ that all • himself. ) without :e\ Too }his time <;, though internal ' his own bo record ich gave and was lowed by 5 in 584, , Council ling, save to form Church, ovince is illumines 1 its very Drt while :he utter hurch of is of the •eat Pope lesiastical ils.' FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. 193 affairs of Africa, which are the greatest help in esti- mating the state of the Province. They must, how- ever, be read with caution and with due remembrance of the essential conditions of a Papal correspondence. It IS only fair to keep in mind the very one-sided nature of any communications passing between the Pope and any one of the semi-independent communions under his charge. In the ordinary course of events as long indeed as affairs were proceeding with custo- uiary smoothness, the letters between the Roman and the other Churches would be confined to the courtesies and formalities of everyday life. Only when there was anything that called for reproof, when matters needed the strong hand of correction and authority, would the Pope be called to interfere. It is then only natural that nearly all Gregory's correspondence with Africa should be of the nature of reproofs. All commonplace virtue, all regular daily self-sacrifice and holiness would call forth no commendation from the supreme Pontiff. For It was not his business to commend that which he had the right to expect to be, and in all probability was, the regular rule of existence of the African Church To reprove when there was need, to leave praises and reward to his Master, was the duty of the Pope. To infer that the state of African Christianity was wholly bad, because nearly all Gregory's letters deal with grave dangers and abuses, would be as unreasonable as It would be to judge of the state of a Church by a few disciplinary enactments. It is far more important to notice the confidence with which the distant Pope can appeal to the organization of the African Church to correct those abuses which demanded his care. 13 H. ili It, lit TfT t I H. I ^ ■!.H '£ 1 194 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. There was, indeed, great need of external authority to criticize the African Church at this time. Not only was there a dangerous outburst of Donatism, but the morality of the episcopate and clergy left much to be desired. To the mind of the great ecclesiastical statesman the cause of these evils was a dangerous lack of discipline, and Gregory attempted to reform the internal organization of the Church by making the Papal authority to be more directly felt. The principal crimes attributed to the African Church were simony and avarice. Mere boys were admitted to the lower ranks of the clergy, and bribes were offered to procure the ordination of men of loose morals. The peculiar diocesan system of Africa had been always liable to abuse, and once more complaints were heard of the encroachments of a bishop upon the see of another. In Numidia, Valentio had seized certain parishes belonging to Crisconius, and had refused to restore them for fifteen years'. In all this Gregory saw the need of a stricter dis- cipline. He .vas especially suspicious of the traditional mode by which bishops reached the Provincial Primacy. It seemed to his practical mind absurd to entrust the exacting and responsible duties of an archbishop to whichever prelate happened to have been consecrated for the greatest length of time. Such a prelate would almost certainly be advanced in years ; he might often hold an unimportant or inaccessible see; and mere seniority was no guarantee of his moral or intellectual fitness. Gennadius, the Praetorian Prefect, was there- fore asked to see that the Primate of Numidia should J Gregory I., Ep. viii. 28. FllICA. authority ne. Not tism, but eft much iesiastical langeroiis ;o reform iking the ; African toys were nd bribes 1 of loose .frica had omplaints upon the ad seized and had rioter dis- ,raditional I Primacy, itrust the bishop to )nsecrated ate would ight often and mere itellectual was there- dia should FROM JUSTINI\N TO THE SARACENS. 195 be selected solely according to the requirements of the ottice. An archbishop ought to be distinguished for personal holiness and intellectual force, and his diocese <'Ught to be in a place convenient for resisting the Donatists. Practical as this advice was, it found small favour m the eyes of the Numidian bishops; their conservative instincts rebelled against an alteration of an immemorial custom, and they at once despatched a vigorous protest to Gregory. The Pope yielded to this unanimous expression of opinion on the part of the local Church. In a letter addressed to all the bishops of the Province he withdrew his opposition to all Nvel -established customs, permitting the appointment of the Primates and all other matters to continue as before, as long as it was clearly understood that no Donatist should benefit through the blind working of an illogical principled Foiled in his attempt to reorganize the African Church on a more satisfactory basis, Gregory did his best to keep it in order by the despatch of confidential agents and the cooperation of the secular officers In (.ennadms, the Praetorian Prefect, and Innocent, his successor, the Pope found invaluable assistants. To the former he expressed his desires concerning the appointment of primates, and commended Hilarus, one ot his deputies =^; he was moreover invited to help the Council of Numidia to suppress heresy^ and took some part in the accusation of Bishop Paullus^ Innocent md been the friend of Gregory before he went to Carthage and joined with the bishop of that city in Ep. I. 74, 77. ^ Ep. IV. 7. - Ep. I. 74. ■* Ep. VI. 63. 13—2 i I i f^' i ¥\ ;.i i lilt ^.t: Ml If II i.|t| 196 THE CirillSTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. calling the attention of the Pope to the condition of the Sardinians '. More important, however, than these Roman officials were the two ecclesiastics, who acted almost as though they were the Papal legates in Africa. Hilarus was sent from Italy to be the overseer of the estates or patri- mony of the Church, and to regulate the distribution of alms to the poor^. Columbus was a bishop of Nu- midia, who seems to have derived his im})ortance rather from Gregory's confidence and esteem than from holding any particular official position ; it may well be that the Pope had this prelate in his mind when he attempted to change the method of appointing to the Primacy. These two men were in truth the pillars of the influence of Rome in Africa. Again and again does Gregory refer difficult questions to their decision. If a bishop is ac- cused of heinous crime, if there is a suspicion of heresy, if anyone is charged with simony, these men are bidden call a council and bring the matter to an end. Columbus especially acted as the papal representative, and he was associated with Victor, Primate of Numidia, in the cases of Bishop Paullus, of Bishop Valentio and of Paullinus, bishop of Tigisis. He was asked, too, to take the initiative in settling the dispute between Bishop Victor and his deacon Donadeus, and he was recommended to Adeodatus, another Primate of Nu- midia, as an adviser whose words should carry as much weight as those of the Pope himself I Unfortunately there were grave objections to this method of exercising control. Carthage had always 1 Ep. X. 37—8. - Ep. I. 75—6. 3 Ep. IV. 34—5; viii. 28; xii. 28—9; xii. 8; in. 49. ^.FRTCA. ndition of in officials as though ilarus was BS or patri- istribiition )p of Nu- nce rather )in holding >e that the attempted i Primacy. e influence egory refer shop is ac- \ of heresy, are bidden Columbus ire, and he idia, in the bio and of ed, too, to ;e between nd he was ate of Nu- ■ry as much .ons to this had always FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. 197 been jealous of the interference of Rome, and in the time of AureliuH the twentieth synod of Carthage had declared that the Pope had no jurisdiction over the African Church'. Since then circumstances had weak- ened its independence. The long years of bondage under the Vandals had both disorganized the Church in Africa, and had prevented it from finding remedies for the needs of the time. The help of Rome was therefore gladly accepted without any constitutional questions being raised. Leo the Great addressed a letter of reproof to the bishops of Mauritania. Felix in 4cS7 or 488, assembled a synod at the Lateran about the return of Catholics, guilty of having lapsed into Arianism, at which hardly a tenth of those present had come from Africa. The synod of Carthage in o3o, appealed to John II. upon the same point. But now circumstances were altered and the African epis- copate seemed inclined to resist outside interference. Gregory's criticism of the appointment of primates had already caused irritation, casting, as it did, a slur upon the zeal and organization of the African episcopate and this irritation was still further increased by the means adopted by the Pope to ensure good govern- ment. It cannot, for instance, have been pleasant for Adeodatus to be advised to follow the counsel of Columbus; and no doubt the other bishops looked askance at the man who was continually called upon to hear the complaints against his colleagues I Gregory's own views on the matter are clear enough As the successor of St Peter, he thought himself ^ Hefele, § 120-2-5, vol. ii. p. 462, etc.. 2 Gregory I., Ep. vii. 2. ir' ' -i m If w 198 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. entitled to interfere whenever he saw the necessity, and to hear the appeals of all who had reasonable grounds for applying to him. For a time these claims bred some ill-feeling with Dominiciis of Carthage; but peace was soon restored, and the Pope won his point. Rome was, he asserted, the mother-church of Africa, and was therefore entitled to the utmost respect*. Columbus he tried to comfort for his unpopularity by urging the duty of a bishop to support the Papal authority, and by claiming that no man, however exalted, can escap*/ the strictures of Rome if he breaks the laws of God and His Church ^ To maintain a position like this, and to enforce the right of intervention, required a man of exceptional strength. But Gregory was exceptionally strong, and he was able not only to exercise, but even to increase the power of the Papal See. He appears to have encouraged and welcomed the frequent appeals made to Rome, and bade Gennadius to take care that any bishops who were dissatisfied with the Numidiau Synod of 591 should be allowed to proceed freely to Rome'', and in half-a-dozen other cases matters were referred to Gregory's decision. The deacons Vincentius and Feli- cissimus accuse Bishop Argentius of Lamiga, of Dona- tism and simony ^ the clergy of Pudentia are alarmed in the like tendencies in Bishop 'fi inr.lanus'; the priest Adeodatus, and the deacon Doduc! us, declare themselves wrongly deprived of their offices"; all alike carry their complaints to Gregory, who remits their 1 Ep. viii. ,33. 8 En. VII. 2 ; ix. 58- ' S.p. n. 48. 3 Ep. I. 74. ■* Ep. I. 84. « Ep. IV. 13 ; XII. 8. lit .FUICA. jsaity, and e grounds litnH broil but peace it. Rome I, and wuH ColunibuH U'ging the lority, and an escap*' vs of God tiforce the xceptional brong, and increase 5 to have eals made 1 that any .ian Synod to Rome'', referred to 1 and Feli- ,, of Dona- re alarmed mus'; the IS, declare '; all alike mits their •» Ep. I. 84. [1.8. FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. 199 causes to his agents, Columbus or Hilarus, for investi- gation and redress. The most interesting of all these appeals is that of the Abbat Cumquodeus, who reported a complete col- lapse of monastic discipline. All over Africa monks were leaving their cells and wandering through the country, regardless of their vows and rules. Aa the bishop.s,' who had always regarded the monasteries with jealousy,' rather aided than checked this laxity, much harm was done to religion and good order. In any country such a state of affairs must have caused grave scandal ; but through the peculiarities of the national character it was especially dangerous in Africa. From the first individuals were honoured there for their asceticism and personal piety at the expense of the authority of the entire Church, and consequently ambition instead of a true vocation had led many to assume the monastic vows. Some through an evanescent disgust with the things of this world had forsworn for ever not only its pleasures but its duties; others through a desire for n)ere temporal advantages had entered the cloister; and it was these who now seized the opportunity to desert their monasteries and wander about the Province. Too frequently the monastic garb was assumed as a cloak for secret vice, and the liberty of the saints claimed as an excuse for a licentious life. The danger was at once appreciated by Gregory, and he urged Dominicus of Carthage to save such an important part of the Church's system from the discredit which had fallen upon it'. .1 Ep. vn. 35^ I I i II I i:].: If _ , IK. ^ ! ii H 200 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. The circumstances of the time made it most neces- sary to check any outburst of popular fanaticism. In the western and less civilized districts of Africa Dona- tism had reappeared. Nothing seems to have been heard of it from the invasion of the Vandals till the days of Gregory, and there is some difficulty in explain- ing its sudden activity after a slumber of a hundred and seventy years. Evidently the measures of St Augustine had not done more than break the power of the schism in Proconsularis and Byzacene, for the storm of the Vandal invasion had burst on the Province before he could drive it out from all Africa. It has been shewn that there is some reason to suppose that Dona- tism appealed more to the Libyan than the Roman population, and it is probable that when the schismatics of the plains were coerced or induced to return to the Catholic fold, the less civilized members of the sect had retreated to the inaccessible mountain ranges of Numi- dia and Mauritania. Here, out of reach of either the Arian invaders or the restored Catholics, they had lingered for nearly two hundred years, maintaining their own orders, and professing their peculiar tenets. In their increased strength at the close of the sixth century may perhaps be seen a sign of the growing feebleness of the Roman hold upon the interior of the Province. As the Imperial influence diminished, that of the Moors increased, until at length the form of faith which appealed most to the Libyan mind began to undermine the pov:er of the Catholic Church. For, as far as can be judged from the letters' of 1 The letters of Gregory dealing with Donatism are : i. 74, 77, 8i ; 11. 48, 37; IV. 7, 34—5; v. 5; vi. 37, 63—5; vii. 2. Ml A.FRICA. nost neces- ,icism. In rica Dona- have been lis till the in explain - a hundred res of St the power le, for the le Province [t has been that Dona- he Roman schismatics burn to the le sect had s of Numi- either the they had laintaining liar tenets. the sixth le growing rior of the ished, that he form of liud began rch. letters' of I. 74, 77, 84 ; FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. 201 Gregory, the impulse towards Donatism came rather from the laity than the clergy. The schism in the beginning had arisen on a question of the ordination of bishops ; now it is revived by the forcing or bribing of the Numidian and Mauritanian prelates to ordain clergy, acceptable to the people. The movement was a popular one and the ecclesiastical authorities were unable or unwilling to resist it. As it gathered strength, it increased in violence, and in spite of their proscription by the laws of both Church and State, the Donatists steadily drove out the Catholics. Bishops were bribed to consecrate schismatics ; ortho- dox clergy were expelled from their cures ; rebaptism became a common practice, and even men, who had taken the vows of religion, allowed their sons, their slaves and dependents to be contaminated by a repe- tition of this sacrament. Argentius, bishop of Lamiga' and Maximianus of Pudentia^, were accused of accepting bribes in favour of the Donatist clergy. Bishop Paullus •* was said to be slack in opposing the schismatics, and even the secular governors Geiinadius and Pantaleon * were suspectec of feeling no great desire to see them crushed out. In truth, Numidia and Mauritania seemed to be slipping f-om the grasp of the Catholics. Far away from Carthage and with a Libyan population, there was real fear that they would follow their own course, and perhaps desert the doctrines as they had the practice of the main body of the Church. The brighter services of the Donatists^ and their excessive veneration for 1 Ep. I. 84. 2 Ep. II. 48. ■» Ep. IV. 34—5. 3 Ep. VI. 63—5 ; vii. 2. » Ep. I. 119. .'i' if i ' I >1 :Uil rT* I ' m n II If \ 1:1 ;i :\- - 1 1 ; 1 1 1 i 1 i % '. 202 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. personal piety powerfully attracted the half-civilised mountaineers of the borders. Moreover, there was little to check them, and their changed attitude towards the Catholics made them the more dangerous foes. In the fourth and fifth centuries the Donatists had set up a distinct organization, and Donatist and Catholic bishops existed side by side in the same city. In the sixth century the Donatists remained in the Church, and tried to mould the existing machinery to their own pattern. Where once they would have formed a separate body, they were now content to be a party, and unfortunately they were the party which possessed the popular support. Gregory hardly knew where to look for help. The danger was, it is true, confined to the west, but the very freedom of Proconsularis and Byzacene from con- tamination had perils of its own. Dominicus, of Carthage, was inclined to too vigorous measures. Ai a synod, held in 594 \ the council of Proconsularis declared that all who were lukewarm in resisting the schism must lose their goods and their offices, and even included bishops in their decree. Gregory was alarmed at this severity, and felt that it was unjust and impolitic. The other P/imates would think a slur was cast on their zeal and might be inclined to resent the attitude of Proconsularis, and thus the decree might do more to perpetuate than to abate the schism. But, if the eastern prelates were too eager, the western were too slack. The Council of Numidia was not to be trusted. Bitter quarrels divided it, and its decisions on many points were contrary to the canons 1 Ep. V. 5. FRICA. f-civilised was little kvards the 1. Ill the ,d set up Catholic . In the } Church, to their e formed 3 a party, possessed elp. The I, but the from con- inicus, of ures. A t consularis isting the ffices, and 3gory was as unjust ink a slur to resent iree might 3ager, the midia was it, and its he canons FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. 203 of the Church and the traditions of the Fathers^ It was, moreover, with the best intentions hard to get to the truth of the business. If Paullus was accused of Donatism, he replied it was because of his zeal for the Church. If Gennadius accused Paullus, it was said that he did it to shield himself. On all sides were recriminations, and it was clear that the Church was full of internal divisions. In this crisis Gregory could rely on Columbus alone, and it was to him that he always turned. He urged him again and again to make vigorous enquiries, and he bade him resist the evil with all his might, while it was yet small and could be comparatively easily put down. It is impossible to estimate how far the efforts of Gregory and Columbus met with success. It is most unlikely that they really crushed the Donatists, but they perhaps checked them for the time. The Pope's later letters contain no reference to them at all, and no more is heard of them in Africa; but when more than a century later the Saracens drove the Christians of the Province to seek refuge in Europe, Gregory II. had to warn the bishops of Germany against African fugitives, tainted with Donatism and Manichaeism^. It is probable then that the schismatics still lingered on in their moun- tain homes, and while Procc^nsularis and Byzacene, and e^ven the more fertile parts of Numidia, were altogether Catholic, in the frontier districts Donatism only dis- appeared with African Christianity itself From other ecclesiastical troubles Africa -eems to have been almost free. Morcelli, indeed, supposes that the Arians, expelled from Spain by the edicts of 1 Gregory I., Ep. iv. 7. 2 Gregory II., Ep. 124. o \'4 fi m !li ■V 204 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. Reccaredus, came to Africa'; but of this there is no evidence, and the difficulties of the land journey from Tingitana to Carthage would counteract the actual geographical nearness of the Province to Spain. On the other hand, Gregory's letter to John of Scyllace shews that Manichaeism still lurked in Africa^ and a scandal connected with the Primate Crementius, of which no details are extant, threatened a schism in Byzacene'. Still, with the exception of Numidia and Mauritania, ecclesiastical Africa seems to have been in a flourishing condition in the days of Gregory the Great. The Church indeed, was even able to extend her boundaries ; for Gennadius, when he conquered a Berber tribe, did his best to convert it as well. He also shewed his interest in the Church by trying to repopulate some of its lands, which had suffered through the raids of the Moors*. For, whatever might be the ecclesiastical condition of the Province, its political state was growing steadily worse. In 593, the Moors once more devastated all Proconsularis. They drove Gennadius into Carthage and forced him to promise all the gold of the city as a ransom. They celebrated their victory by a feast, thus giving the Romans their opportunity. As they lay, overcome with wine and sleep, the garrison opened the gates by night, sallied forth, and inflicted enormous loss upon the besieging forced Though the Province was thus for a time secure from the Moors, it had now to meet with a more terrible and resistless foe. 1 Morcelli, s.a. 589. a Epp. IX. 58—9; xii. 32. 5 Morcelli, s.a. 593. ^ Ep. II. 37. •» Ep. I. 75. M ^llICA. 3re is no ney from le actual ain. On Scyllace ica^ and entius, of chism in nidia and 3 been in gory the stend her a Berber 50 shewed late some i raids of condition g steadily stated all Carthage lie city as y a feast, As they garrison 1 inflicted lough the Moors, it istless foe. FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SAIUCENS. 205 In 599 and 600 the whole western world was visited by a fearful pestilence, and Africa had to bear its full share of the calamity'. Moreover, to the horrors of war and pestilence, the horrors of misgovernment were added. In many places the Roman officials, protected by unjust judges, were guilty of the greatest violence and in particular aroused the anger of Gregory by extorting the tribute twice from the heavily t^xed peopled Dark though the condition of Africa was, it would be wrong to suppose that at this time it was worse off than the rest of the remains of the Roman Empire. All through the civilized world horrors had become the commonplaces of life. Misgovern- ment and barbarian invasions, wars, pestilence and famine united to make this epoch one of the most miserable in human history. To the eyes of contem- poraries the Province of Africa appeared one of the most favoured districts of the earth, and, in truth, it really played no unimportant part in the seventh century. In 600, the Emperor Maurice called upon Africa for help for Italy against the Lombards with a fleet='. In 609, Heraclius, the Prefect of the Province, rose against Phocas the usurper, and at the earnest request of the Senate seized tlie throne of Constantinople in his stead ^ But the Persians were now attacking the Imperial city and had even advanced to within sight 1 Gregory I., Ep. ix. 123 ; x. 63. 2 gp. xi. 5. ^ Morcelli, s.a. GOO. * Theophanes, s.a. GOO-1 ; Nicephorus in Brev. iuit.; Zonares, Ann. XIV. 14. :'■;■ ki til i I u 206 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. of its walls. Heraclius looked round for a refuge, and none seemed to him so safe as the province over which he had ruled. Outwardly, at least, it appeared to flourish and its desert frontiers promised to protect it from all attack from the east. Heraclius therefore decided to remove his seat of government to Carthage and was only prevented from doing so by the force of circumstances. Twice he tried to go, and once he had even embarked his regalia; but the entreaties, and perhaps the threats of the people of Constantinople compelled him to abandon his scheme \ At this time in fact Africa, reduced as it was in size, exposed to barbarian raids, subject to terrible pestilences, was the safest part of the Roman Empire. In 619, it was the only province not overrun by barbarian hordes \ One more glimpse of the African Church is vouch- safed to us before its records close for ever. Already the list of the bishops of Carthage has failed. It is not likely that Dominicus long outlived Gregory, but the date of his death is unknown, and there is no mention of any other Primates until the rise of Mono- thelitism. The history of this heresy shews that, in ()39, a certain Fortunatus was bishop of Carthage, and that he was succeeded by Victor, on 16th July, 646. The attitude of Africa towards the Monothelites ^ proves that the Church maintained her organization, and could act with vigour until a very few years before 1 Morcelli, s.a. 015, 617 ; Nieephorus Cbron. Biev. s.a. 017 : Chron. Paschale, s.a. 6-15. 2 Morcelli, s.a. 019. 3 For attitude of Africa towards Mnuothelitism, see Hefele, g§ 303—4 ; Theophanes, s.a. 621. 'RICA. uge, and er which 3ared to rotect it jherefore I!arthage force of ) he had ties, and mtinople this time posed to was the was the 2 • is vouch- Already d. It is gory, but jre is no of Mono- that, in hage, and ^ 646. :)thelites ^ xnization, irs before . s.a. 017: see Hefele, FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SARACENS. 207 its end finally came. The celebrated Ecthesis of the Patriarch Sergius was published in 639, and despatched to all the Churches. From the very first Africa repu- diated the heresy, for as the Prefect Gregory was shewing the Monothelite manifesto to Fortunatus of Carthage and the other bishops, Maximus, abbat of Chrysopolis, arrived and warned them against the doctrines therein enunciated. His efforts were success- ful, and none of the African prelates were convinced by the Ecthesis with one notable exception; Fortunatus himself accepted the new teaching and declared him- self a Monothelite^ His influence prevented Procon- sularis from taking any steps against the heresy; but in all the other provinces the Church formally repudiated the false doctrines. Columbus, Primate of Numidia, Stephen of Byzacene, and Reparatus of Mauritania called together their synods and condemned the Ecthe- sis and its supporters; and a common letter was drawn up and sent to Paul of Constantinople, expressing the detestation in which the African Churches held the heresy. It is interesting to notice that this letter was not sent direct, because " Africa had been brought into a certain suspicion at Constantinople by certain ma- levolent people," and that it expressed submission to the Papal See. Stephen of Byzacene also wrote to the Emperor Constans II. in the name of'cuncti Africae sacerdotes' urging him on to stronger measures against the heretics, and a second letter to Paul of Constantinople set forth the sm-prise of the Churches that he had not yet ' Morcelli, s.a. 639. A (I 208 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. annulled the Ecthesis, and declared the orthodoxy of Africa. Meanwhile the heresiarch Pyrrhus visited Africa and tried to make converts there\ He was confronted by the Abbat Maximus and met with no success. A public disputation between the two champions was held before the Prefect Gregory, prybably in the year 645. The Monothelites were completely defeated, and forced to confess their errors ; conqueror and conquered went to Rome, where Pyrrhus made a public recantation, only to return in a few weeks to his errors-'. Once more the provincial synods anathematized Monothelitism, with the exception of Proconsularis, where Fortunatus was still Primate. Even here the Church was orthodox, and Gulosus, bishop of Pupit, on his own responsibility summoned a convention of his sixty-seven colleagues to join the other provinces in their condemnation of heresy. However, the days of Fortu- natus were numbered ; on July 16, 646, he was deposed, and Victor was consecrated to the see of Carthage in his place'. The new Primate wrote to the emperor Theodore I. to vindicate his own orthodoxy and to urge the adoption of vigorous measures against the heretics. Whatever the cloud between Constantinople and Car- thage was, it had not yet been dissipated ; Victor gives it as his reason for not writing directly to the Patriarch and asks that his letter may be forwarded through the Papal responsaHi. Movcelli, s.a. 642. Morcelli, s.a. 645. 3 Morcelli, s.a. 646. FROM JUSTINIAN TO THE SAllACENS. 209 ) So ends all that we know of the assault of Mono- hehtism upon Africa. It clearly was not successful, but whether it gained a foothold at all, whether any boHides Fortunatus were deceived by it, how far the orthodox bishops were able to stamp it out. there IS nothing to shew. But it is plain that the heart ot African Christianity is still sound. The oroani- zation IS still complete and can even bear an unusual strain. Ihe convention under Gulosus was no doubt uiiconstitutional but very necessary, and the deposition ot the Primate was an act requiring both courage and unanimity. As far as can now be seen, the career of Monothehtisin in Africa betrayed no weakness in the armour of the Church. With the consecration of Victor the ecclesiastical history ot the Province practically closes. Two more facts can indeed be gleaned, but they are isolated and unimportant At a council against the Monothelites held at the Lateran in 648, one African bishop, Victori- anus of Uzahs in Proconsularis, was present '. A letter of Pope Alartin I. in 650, addressed <^ Electa spirituali comensu Catholicae Carthaginiensimn Ecdesiae " etc seems to shew that Victor was dead, and his successor not yet appointed'. From this time onwards until the Saracen conquest was complete, the records of the Church in Africa are a blank. It has been said that the fate of Monotheli- tism in the Province is uncertain; and there is nothing to tell of the future of the Donatists or the state of the monks, lor fifty years before the fall of Carthaoe Morcelli, s.a. 648. - Morcelli, s.a. 650. 14 I - 1 u t M Jl IIP 210 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. unfathomable darkness overspreads the church life of Africa, and the ecclesiastical historian cpn only try to piece together from the scanty secular history of the times the probable fate that befell the Church during the miseries of the Saracen conquest. ill if i\ \ \k 11 FWCA. 'ch life of iiily try to :)vy of the ■ch during CHAPTER VIII. The end of African Christianity. The stand of the African Church against the Mono- thehtes IS to all mtents and purposes the last thing we know about its history. It is true that the Churlh as an organization existed for another century, and that for nearly nine hundred years after the Saiacen conquest there were still Christians i„ Africa, who professed to represent the Church of St Cyprian and St Augustme, but for all that hardly anything is now known of these la.t thousand years, and it is plain that, though the Church of Carthage was not dead, it was no longer able to take an active share in the life of Western Christendom, or to extend its influence in Its own country. In fact from the beginning of the seventh century the African Churches were in a mori- bund condition, and though they managed to cling to life until nearly the end of the sixteenth century it was with so feeble a hold that from the fall of Carthage ■n 698, no one would have reckoned them amongst the' number of living communions. Still the story of these last centuries would be most interesting, and an account of the failure of the 14—2 III (' J I t f ! It !l! 212 THE CHKISTIAN CHURCHES IN NOllTH AKIUCA. ecclesiastical organization, and an explanation of the marvellouH vitality of the Faith, would he of the utmost iniportance, if it wore possible to supply thoni. Nothing is known of the fortunes of the Church during the Saracen concpiest, and the glinipaea we get of the African Christians afterwards are sufficient only to record, not to explain their survival. The ecclesiastical historian can indeed merely examine the secular events of the Mohammedan invasion, and try to see how they influenced the Church, and then rest content with collecting the isolated facts that tell of the struggling existence of Christianity under Moslem rule. In 046 the Roman power in Africa entered upon the last stage of its history. The Province, once the fairest and most fertile of all the imperial dominions, was for more than half a century to be given up to every form of misery and desolation, and then to pass away from the influence of Christianity and civilization into a bondage from which it is even now not entirely freed. The story of these dismal fifty years opens appro- priately with the treachery of the governor of Africa. For some time the Prefect Gregory had been planning a revolt against the Emperor Constans II.; but per- haps dread of the Saracens, who had conquered Alex- andria in 641, made him pause before cutting himself off from his most powerful protector. However, m 046 the standard of rebellion was raised, and Gregory declared himself the independent ruler of Africa \ Little is known of the nature of this revolt. Carthage was, indeed, still held for the emperors by 1 Theophanes, s.a. 638. I-'UICA. >n of the I' of tho ply thi'iu. ( Church upaoa we .sufficient val. The inline the I, and try then rest lat tell ol ;r Moslem n-ed upon , once the loniinions, '^en up to jn to pass ivilization )t entirely ens appro- of Africa. I planning ; but per- ered Alex- iig himself owever, in id Gregory Prica^ ;his revolt, nperors by THE END OF AFUICAN CHRISTIANITY. 218 a small rnunber of Christians, and tho usurper esta- bhsho ' '1 I I] 1 1 ■, III 216 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. nominated Governor of Africa and despatched with 10,000 Mussulmans and some converted Berbers to establish himself in Byzacene. The Djerba, or the southern frontier districts of the Province, were again overrun, Gaf^a and other towns were taken, and the Christians treated with the utmost barbarity. But the most important achievement of this expedition was the building of a town, called Kairouan, right in the heart of Byzacene. Such an outpost as this gave the Saracens an excellent base from which to push forward future invasions, and served to overawe the inhabitants and prevent the Mohammedan Berbers from reverting to their former religions. Okba was not allowed to enjoy the fruits of his victory, for the new governor of Egypt, who had a kind of suzerainty over the Saracens in Africa, sent in A.D. 672 Abou-el-Mohadjir to supersede him. The new general shewed his childish petulance in objecting to his predecessor having the honour and glory of founding Kairouan, and actually pulled it down and erected another town, a few miles distant from the old site. The Moors under their chief Ko(;eila de- termined to test whether the new governor was able to hold his own, and rose against him, but were how- ever defeated at Tlem(jen and were forced to profess Mohammedanism. This trouble disposed of, El Mo- hadjir turned his arms against the Christians of the north-east, and captured the peninsula of Cherik (Cape Bon). From thence he marched to attack Carthage itself, but met with a vigorous resistance. A fierce battle raged all day, and at nightfall the Saracens drew off and encamped on a mountain in the south of FRICA. bed with erbers to a, or the ere again , and the But the n was the the heart ! Saracens Lrd future tants and /■erting to its of his lad a kind ,, sent in lim. The objecting 1 glory of down and from the o^eila de- ■ was able were how- to profess f, El Mo- ms of the erik (Cape Carthage A fierce J Saracens e south of THE END OF AFEICAN CHRISTIANITY. 217 Tunis. The attack was not renewed, a treaty was made, and for a time the Christians had peaces _ What was now the position of the wretched pro- vmce ? Already it seems that the power of Rome had passed away, and in Jess than thirty years from the first onslaught upon the outskirts of Africa the Sara- cens had overrun all its most fertile parts. Already the Christians seemed no longer formidable, though still perchance strong enough to defend themselves and the invaders decided to leave them alone until the situation demanded their overthrow. The weakness of the Christians was shewn alike in their impotence to even threaten the foundation of Kairouan, or to make a defensive alliance with the Moors ; and the Saracens shewed their contempt by leaving them on their flank while they pressed forward into the heart of the province. Meanwhile as the power of the Cross grew less, that of the Crescent rapidly increased. In Kairouan the Mohammedans had a base of operations right in tlie heart of Byzacene, and only three days' march from Carthage ^ which acted as a wedge to split up the country before them. The Moors remained as ever disumted ; some of them, like the people of Koyeila were compulsorily converted. Even the independent tribes could offer no resistance, and the invaders were able to push their expeditions as far as Tlem^en, the extreme limit of the Roman power as restored by Behsarius. Africa indeed lay at the feet of the Saracens, who could choose their own time to complete their conquest. Such a fate as this necessarily implied much 1 Meicier, n. ii. 11_12. 2 Fournel, Les Berbers, p. 163. ! i I' i r - I 111 i 218 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. suffering. The Greek historians declare that eighty tliousand provincials were reduced to slavery ; and though this may be an exaggeration, the very greatness of the exaggeration reveals the effect produced on the minds of contemporaries\ In 681 Okba returned to the scene of his old triumphs and at once proceeded to hasten the conquest of Africa, He performed the wonderful feat, worthy of the Roman army in its prime, of marching across the wild and mountainous interior until he reached the Atlantic Ocean. His first steps on coming back to Africa were to throw El Mohadjir into chains, to demolish New Kairouan and rebuild the old city ; and then setting out on his march, he took the important position of Mount Aurasius and captured Baghaia and Lambaesa, towns on the North and North-east of this table-land. Next turning South, he passed through the whole of the Zab and went by Tiharet to Ceuta, the town facing the Straits of Gibraltar, and from there marched right through the heart of the Atlas mountains till he reached the sea at Sous, not far from the southern boundary of modern Morocco. A few interesting events happened on this long, daring march. At Lambaesa the Saracens had to over- come a fierce resistance on the part of the garrison of Moors and Christians, one of the few instances in which there is any record of an alliance of these peoples, without which it was hopeless to try to cut off the invaders. Tiharet, too, was defended by Moors and Franks, but the latter returned home on the foil of the place. At Ceuta, Okba was received with politic * Theophanes, s.a. (561 ; Cedieuus, Hist. Com. i. 704. ^RICA. b eighty ry ; and jreatness id on the triumphs )f Africa. e Roman wild and Atlantic rica were ish New 1 setting )sition of ambaesa, tble-land. )le of the icing the ed right 3 reached indary of his long, I to over- arrison of )ances in B peoples, .t off the .oors and le foil of th politic '134. THE END OF AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY. 219 friendliness by Julian, the semi-independent governor, and was informed that the Moors of the district were the' grossest barbarians, and were practically subject to no authority whatever. At Nafis in Morocco, he was nearly defeated by the Masmoudah tribes, but was rescued in his peril by the "Zeneti" or "converted"; probably this is another instance of the jealousy which ruined Africa, and tribal hate rather than religious zeal seems likely to have inspired the rescue of these so-called converts. On his return march Okba regarded his conquest as so secure that he could safely split his army into detachments, but unfortunately he forgot that in his insolent folly he had insisted upon Ko9eila, the Berber chief, performing menial duties. He paid dearly for this impolitic arrogance. Suddenly, when he had reached Tobna in Numidia with only a few cavalry, he found the country in arms, and the gates of Badis shut agamst him. However he made a gallant attempt to capture Tehouda, and there, with his rival El Mohadjir and all his small force, he met a soldier's death at the hands of a large force of Christians and Moors. His fall was the signal for a general rising of the Ber- bers, and Zoheir-ben-Kais, his successor, was forced to abandon Kairouan and Africa, and betake himself to strong encampments in Barca\ Once more Africa enjoyed a brief period of repose. The Saracens with as little wisdom as their foes, but with far less danger to themselves, indulged in the luxury of civil war. But after five years of strife the * On Okba'8 expedition, see Mercier, iii. ii. 13-14; Pournel; Ibn Khaldoun, i. 22, etc., i. 287, etc.; En Nowein, p. 322. etc.'- El 'Airouam, § 13. J II i ii t '! 220 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. Kharedjites won the day, and set themselves to de- liberately exterminate the Unbelievers, root and branch. In 688, Zohdir advanced into Africa and drove Ko^ei'la from Kairouan to Mems, a town on the eastern branch of the Medjerda river. Here a bloody battle was fought ; on the one side blind fanaticism and proselytizing zeal, on the other the love ( i ) 'n' zy and the power of despair animated the combata.' -, in the end the invaders carried all before them, and the Berbers with their Christian allies were routed with awful slaughter. El K'Airouani declares the fugitives were butchered like sheep ; and Ibn Khaldoun dates the fall of the Latin power from this battle. The Moors suffered as much as their allies and the Cloureba tribe was almost entirely destroyed ^ In spite of this signal triumph Zohdir decided to evacuate Africa. Of his reasons, the most potent was the smallness of his force and the turbulence of the enemy, the most curious the fear lest possession of too much wealth should injure his soul. In his retreat he shewed the faults and shared the fate of his great pre- decessor Okba. He travelled with too small an escort, through over-confidence, and was defeated and slain by a few Greeks who had landed at Barca. For seven years, from 690 . j 697, Africa was free from the Saracens, but rent with civil war. Ko9eila was now no more, and on his death all the petty chiefs, who had been his dependents, struggled to succeed to his power; perhaps, the Christians also tried to re- cover their lost dominions. The internal dissensions of the Mohammedans however prevented them from 1 Mercier, ii. ii. 17 — 18. THE END OF AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY, 221 taking advantage of the divisions of Africa, and before they were ready to renew their invasion a great power had arisen out of the confusion of the Province The government of Africa had been seized by the virile hands ot Dihia or Damia, Queen of the Djero nana, com- monly known by her title of Cahina or the Diviner' In 697 the fifth expedition of the onracens started trom t.gypt. Hassan-ibn-en-Noman-el-Ghassani was despatched to Africa with 40.000 men and occupied Kan-ouani without resistance. His first step was to dis- cover the most dangerous of his Toes, who were still too divided to be considered as one force. The Christians of Carthage enjoyed this dangerous distinction, and against them Hassan immediately marched. He seems to have taken the city completely by surprise. The inhabitants of the suburbs were put to the sword, the aqueducts were unguarded and immediately cut, and the people within the walls were forced to enter into negotiations. 1 he baracens were promised supplies for all their needs it they would undertake not to enter the city. Whether these terms were accepted is not clear ; probably there was no time to effect any settlement, for the same night all who were able to flee stole away by sea, some to bicily, others to Spain. Next day Hassan entered the almost deserted city. None but the meanest inhabit- ants were left, and much of the most valuable booty had doubtless disappeared. In their rage at being thus cheated, the conquerors pillaged and burnt on every side, and all who had not succeeded in getting away had to pay the penalty of their countrymen's escape. The neighbouring Berbers hastened to seize ^ Mercier, ii. ii. 19—21. I 1 ■H-: [ \ ■•!!< i 222 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. Carthage when Hassan was gone, and continued the work of destruction begun by him; but they were soon driven out by the Saracens, the buildings were razed to the ground, and a small Mohammedan garrison was left to hold the site of the once glorious city. The Christians made one last struggle to regain Africa. The weakness of the Moslem force did not escape the Emperor Leo (The Isaurian), and John the Patrician was despatched to retake Carthage. The principal defence of the harbour was a chain stretched across its mouth, but the fleet broke this and the city at once fell. The Saracen garrison was put to the sword, and once more for a few months the Roman Empire could count Carthage amongst its dominions. John did not rest content with the capture of the city, but went on to free the towns in the neighbourhood which still resisted the Moham.medans, and, leaving a small force behind for the winter, sailed away home. The Christians' success was very short-lived. In the spring of 698 Hassan once more marched against the deserted city and easily drove out its Greek defenders. The Caliph Abd-el-Melik-ben-Merouan had heard with the utmost consternation of the success of John, and he now bade Abd-el-Aziz, the governor of Egypt, send a thousand Coptic families to form a strong colony at Carthage. Hassan also improved the port by a canal at Rades, and built a naval arsenal, so that the modern Tunis became one of the chief bulwarks of the Saracen domination of Africa \ 1 For the capture of Carthage, see Mercier, ii. ii. 22 ; Fournel ; En Noweiri, p. 339 ; El K'Airouani, § 22 ; Bk. i. p. 12 ; Theophanes, s.a. 690; Zonar. A)m. in. 76—7. THE END OF AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY. 223 With Carthage fell the last vestiges of the power of the Empire over the old province; and the rest of the story of the Saracen conquest of Africa is concerned with the subjection of the Moors alone. But these were destined to give a great deal of trouble before they were finally conquered, and the struggle was sufficiently protracted to complete the devastation of the once fertile province. For at length the Berber tribes were united, and their Queen Cahina was prepared to resist the invaders to the utmost. Hassan, as soon as Carthage was recovered, turned agamst her and was severely defeated at Ouad-Nini near the Mishiana River, not far from Baghaia and Mount Aurasius ; and so strong indeed did the Moors seem that he once more retreated to Barca, and remained there for five years in an entrenched camp. ^ Cahina turned this respite to the best advantage oy the policy of a true barbarian. She argued that the mvaders were attracted merely by the fertile plains and the luxurious remains of the old Roman civilization, and that, were the lowlands to become as barren as the mountains, there would be little fear of further attack. As for herself and her people, they cared nothing for these things; the bare living afforded by the uplands more than satisfied their simple wants. She therefore determined to make Africa as unat- tractive as possible and to put an end to the invasions by removing the cause. The whole province was to be laid waste ; from east to west fire and destruction were to reduce everything to desolation, and the plains were to be made as sterile as the hills. Her orders 224 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. were obeyed with too great thoroughness, and she did not foreHee the inevitable conHC(iucnce. Her barbarity alienated the lowland population, and the small farmers and the few Christians who remained now looked for the advent of the Mohammedans as their salvation from the Moors ^ In 703 the last act of the tragedy begins. Hassan again advanced, and defeated and slew Cahina in the district of Kastiliya, not far from Mt Aurasius. With her fell the independence of Africa, and the next few years saw the Saracen power finally established from Tripoli to Oeuta. The conquest was not, however, due to the might of the Mussulman arm alone. Like India, Africa could only be conquered by the help of the native tribes. Hassan saw the hopelessness of attempting to subdue the mountainous districts of Mauritania with his own men, and he raised a large number of auxiliaries from the Berber tribes. The sons of Cahina were put at the head of 12,000 Moorish warriors, and by their aid the Saracen dominions were rapidly enlarged. However, Hassan was not to finish the work he had begun ; in 705 he was superseded by Mou^a-ben-Noceir, who was the first governor of Africa independent of the province of Egypt. The new leader completed the subjection of the west ; frequent expedi- tions established the Mohammedan rule in Mauritania, and even Julian, the semi-independent governor of Ceuta, was at length induced, possibly for private rea- sons, to form an alliance with the victorious invaders. 1 For Queen Cahina, see Mercier, ii. ii. 23—4 ; El K'Aivouani, §§ 23-4; Ibn Khaldoun, i. 207, etc., m. 173, etc.; En Noweiri, p. 339, etc. RICA. 1 she did )arbarity I fjinners okcd for •salvation Hassan a in the s. With next few led from ever, due e. Like 3 help of ssness of itricts of 1 a large )es. The ) Moorish ions were to finish :seded by of Africa .ew leader it expedi- auritania, vernor of ivate rea- invaders. K'Aivouani, En Noweiri, THE END OF AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY. 225 In 708 Noceir returned to Kairouan, and the conquest of Africa was at last complete'. ^ But what had become of the Roman and Christian populationj In the first place it must be reniembe ^ at Ion, before the Saracen invasions the do^ of the Romans had begun to contract. The Moors had encroached on every side, and the bound irL" ems of the seventh century they included little more than Proconsulans, part of Byzacene, some of Numidil and the eastern districts of Mauritania Sitifiensr As' tted. Ibn Khaldoun= distinctly says that "the Franks driven f..ni their African possessions, returned to hei i county beyond the sea,'' and again, "the debris of th fnd st n ' T r"^^^^^^ ^'^^^ ^^^"^^^ "' Sicil, fould'lL. h " f" P^"^ '^ *^"« "« ^-^ Noceir found Af ica changed to a vast solitude," and that the Berbers alone continued to resist. En Noweiri' oo recor s ,he flight of the people of Carth ^T;: h Mediterranean Isles. For the Province made no re attempt to unite the Moors and Romans against the nvaders and only in a very few instances do we find hem fighting side by side. At Lambaesa and Tih.r^ the garnsons were of mixed race, at the battles o Tehouda and Mems an allied force fought; but the Christians never took the lead in defending he Province, and after the victory of Zoheir :.f 66s ^^ Mercier, ii. ii. §§ 25—26. 2 Ibn Khaldoun, m. lyi, 193 . i_ 215 ^ En Now6in, p. 339. w 15 t i » Hi t I 226 THE CHUISTIAN CHintfJIIKS IN NoUTIf AFllIOA. a united front was not agiiiii prtwntod to tlio MohiunnuMiuiM. There was besi(U'H a gn-at dimTeiu'e in the; ways that the two nations n-isted. 'IMie PhmIxts fought bravely for their native land, and under Koceila and Cahina managed to check for a tiini^ the Saracen advance. Their success might have been permanent if they had been united ; but internal differences were their ruin, and their lack of cohesion and the attraction of the sensual Moslem religion stood in the way of a prolongi>d resistance. In fact the defence of the Moors faded, not because they lacked vigour, but bi;- causc their vigour was niisapi)liod and misdirected. On the other hand, the Christians seemed incapable of self-preservation, and their whoU^ i^olicy betrays the utter feebleness of a worn-out race. After the fall of Gregory the story of the defence of Africa consists in a catalogue of ineffectual attempts at succour by the Emperors, and inglorious truces and retreats on the part of the provincials. That their strength was still not to be despised is proved by the reluctance of the Saracens to attack them directly, but, instead of opposing the invaders whenever possible, the degene- rate Romans stood ignobly on the defensive. As soon as Gregory was slain the Christians of Carthage bought ZouJir off. The expedition of Nicephorus fled at the first approach of the enemy. Kai'rouan was founded without any interference from Carthage, and the Chris- tians of Numidia were content with the peninsula of Cherik. On th(> first attack of Carthage the in- habitants fled, and the temporary success of John the Patrician only proves how unequal the Empire was to FUIOA. 1 to tln! th(! ways TH fought, jcoi'la and 3 Saracen XTinauont •ncos wen- attraction 10 way of ice of the ir, but bt!- lisdirected. ic'a[)able of otrays the the fall of consists in )ur by the ats on tlie ;h was still nice of the instead of he degene- 3. As soon age bouglit fled at the ^as founded ] the Chris- )eninsula of go the in- L)f John the ipire was to THE END OF AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY. 227 the task of recon(,uering Africa. In fact, as the Sara- cenH advanced the power of the old mastc-rs of the Pn.vmce dwindled away. The Roman population of Africa seems rather to have decayed of its own hope- oss unsounoness than to have been destroyed by direct violence on the i)art of the Saracens. Of course largo numbers of Christians wore reduced to slavery by the Mohammedans, for Hight was not possible to the poorer of the Romans. Theophanes says that 80.000 were carried off by Okba'. and En iNoweiri puts the pris.mers of Hassan at ;J5,000- but thcvse very numbers shew that the Saracens might have been met by a bolder resistance. But for the most part the Christians fled, and the once masters of Africa were s^cattered over the face of the earth. In 084. the 14th Council of Toledo in Spain invited Potentinus, Bishop of Utica. to attend, and Gregory II. had to warn the German episcopate against African fugitives tainted with Donatist and Manichaean heresies". The concpiest of the Province seems to have followed hese lines. At the beginning the Roman inhabitants held the north-east districts and were hemmed in on all sides by Moors, over whom they had little more than a nominal suzerainty. Both for geographical and strategic reasons the firPt Saracen attacks were directed against the Berbers, for the prestige of the Empire and Its command of the sea made the invaders un- willing to provoke its resistance until they had secured a firm basis for their power in the fircfc countries that they reached west of the terrible deserts of Barca i i Theophanes, s. a., G61, ^ Morcelli, s. a. G09 ; Greg. II. Ep. 124. En Nowfiiri, p. 341. 15—2 ' II m 228 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. When this was done and the Saracens could feel secure in a proper centre of operations with a regularly estab- lished line of communication with Egypt, they were ready to press on against the Christian portions of Africa. But their rapid advance in the south and west and their extensive depredations had frightened the remains of the old Roman population, and all who could had fled, long before the first march on Carthage, to Europe and the Mediterranean isles. The mere reputation of the Saracens was enough; before their steady progress the power of the Christians crumbled to dust, and when the time came for the invaders to make their final attack the remnants of the Roman Empire were capable of only the feeblest resistance. The people who had ruled the Province for more than seven hundred years were gone; not because they were conquered or slain, but because, enervated by centuries of luxury, wasted by endless conflicts with a remorseless border-foe, when they were ex- posed to the attack of a new and terrible enemy they had preferred flight to a hard and doubtful conflict. As soon as the Saracens were firmly established in their new dominions they set about organizing the government and began to oppress the few Christians that remained. Hassan had imposed the Kharedj, a tax of one-third on all their possessions, upon Christians and Berbers alike, and this was now still more strictl} exacted by Noceh-i. " x\\ the Christian churches were made mosques," says the author of the Baian, and m Ibu Khaldoun, § 25. FRICA. 3el secure rly estab- hcy were )rtions of outh and rightened id all who Carthage, riie mere fore their crumbled Lvaders to le Roman resistance. for more t because enervated 3 conflicts were ex- )le enemy doubtful iblished in aizing the Christians Kharedj, a Christians ore strictl} irches were Baian, and THE END OF AFRICAN CKRISTIANITY. 229 though this was not literally true, all who refused to accept Islam were subjected to the greatest hardships' JNo doubt the remorseless weight of the Moslem rule played havoc with the weaker Christians. The advantages to be derived from being ranked with their conquerors, safety from religious persecution and the seductions of the simple and sensual Mohammedan creed, must have been powerful arguments to the rude Berber mmds and probably the great majority of the Christians who remained had more Moorish than R.oman blood in their veins. If, moreover, it is re" membered that Africa, though conquered, was not at peace and that civil wars with all their attendant massacres and destruction continued for nearly forty years, it will not seem to have been a great exaggeii tion on the part of Abd-el-Rahman when in 74I he said he could send no more Christian slaves to the Cahph because all Africa had now become Moham- medan^: for many of those who had for a time hi rue to their Faith had doubtless fallen away, and others must have been slain, while those who remained would not obtrude their creed on their conquerors or would flee away to inaccessible mountain fastnesses It IS perhaps possible that certain Berber tribes whose customs still shew some traces of Christian morality such as the practice of monogamy, and of Christian institutions, such as Baptism and the use of cruciC ornaments, may trace their origin to the semi-Christian ized tribes who fled before the power of Islam^ ; Mercier „. iL 26. ^ Gibbon, ch. 61. Mas Latne, ndatio. et Connnerce de VAfri.ue Septentrional. t"^l Hi I t it * 230 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. From this time onwards N. Africa ceases to be reckoned as a Christian country. Christians were indeed still to be found within the limits of the old Roman province, but taken as a whole the religion of Africa was now Mohammedan and the survival of a few followers of Christ can only be accounted for by the fewness of the numbers. No longer has the historian to record the development and power of a great organization ; he can now merely watch the few remnants that remain, until they too at the end of nine hundred years are swept away. When the rule of the Saracens had been firmly established their bitterness against the Christians seems to have been much diminished. Just as in Toledo, Sardinia, and Sicily the Moslem conquerors through caution or carelessness allowed their subjects freedom of religion, so in Africa Christianity was tole- rated. The churches were not destroyed, but mosques were built opposite to them. The mosques flourished, the churches fell into decay, and the social and political strength of Islam was a more dangerous foe to Chris- tianity than direct religious persecution i. It was not long before the number of the Christians had so far diminished that the Apostolic succession was in danger, for the African bishops were too few in number to consecrate successors according to canonical rule. An appeal was made to the Jacobite patriarch of Alexandria, and he sent in 837 a mission of five bishops to foster the last remnants of Christianity in Africa. This recourse to foreign help proves how near the great 1 El Tidjaui, in Mas Latrie, p. 7. il THE END OF AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY. 231 communion of Carthage was to utter extinction'. But even the few Christians who remained were not united; m 893 a schism arose among them, which caused an appeal to Pope Formosus, and was referred to Arch- bishop Fulc of Rheims^. For 150 years no more is heard of the African Church. None of its bishops attended the seventh General Council at Nicaea in 787, or the Council of Constantinople in 869, and yet the next record of it shews its political power was not to be despised. Indeed a meteor-like flash of glory brightens up its history. In 1048, El Moezy, the Ziride, set up as an independent ruler in Africa and tried to form a Berber kingdom. The Caliph El Mostancer sent the Hilaliens, or pre- datory Arabs from higher Egypt, to recover his do- mmions, and for three years, 1052-5, all Africa was given up to plunder and violence. In this disorder the Christians were not directly attacked, but of course suffered as much as the rest of their neighbours. As a measure of self-defence they organized themselves under the leadership of a certain Mornak, and took up a position at Hamman el Lif, a town five leagues west of Tunis. Here they beat off all enemies and became so strong that the Emir of Carthage left them alone, and even granted them a strip of fertile land whereon they could live an independent life. This territory was called Mornak until almost our own time, and contains the ruins of a synagogue and of another building which may have been a basilica l i 1 Gibbon, ch. 51. 2 Mas Latrie, 19. ^ Mas Latrie, 26—9. 232 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. ►ill I'- ll ■ il|;| !l If ill'"' k" i The prospects of the Christians evidently improved for a time and it may be to this period that a docu- ment of great importfiuce relates. A Notitia of the bishops of Africa, the Balearic Isles, and Sardinia, has come down to us, of which unfortunately both the origin and date are unknown. For it declares that at the time of its compilation there were no less than 47 sees existing in these countries. In Byzacene there were 14, amongst which the most prominent were Carthage, Carthago Proconsularis, Gafsa, and Adrumetum ; in Numidia 15, including Calama, Hippo, and Constantine ; in Mauritania Sitifiensis one, Rhinocucurum, and in Tingitana and the isles 17, of which the chief were Ceuta, Majorca, Minorca and Sardinia. Of these bishops four held archiepiscopal rank^ From this Notitia it seems that the two provinces of Proconsularis and Byzacene were now united, and that the distribution of the Christians of this period — if this document can indeed be attributed to this period — corresponds closely with the dominion of the Church in its prosperity. In the eastern parts of Africa there are now 14 sees, in Numidia 15, but in the first Mauri- tania, there is only one, while of the 17 recorded under the second Mauritania, several are not African at all. It seems then that in the eleventh, as in the fifth century, the Gospel of Christ had made few converts amongst the wild barbarians of the mountains of Mauritania^ * Mas Latrie, p. 28. '- The Notitia as given in Bp Beveridge's Fandectac Canonuvi (Oxford, 1672), Vol. ii., note to p. 142, is THE END OF AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY. 233 There is one curious omission in this Notitia The Bishopric of Gummi is not mentioned. Where it was IS uncertain ; M. de Mas Latrie identifies it with Mornak, but on merely conjectural grounds. But of the importance of Gummi in the eleventh century there Sub (jloriosissimo Eparcho Africae. Cartagena Proconsularis 8. Castellae Sybiba Campsia Cileos 5. Junces 6. Talepteo 7. Cascala 9. Pezana 10. Mamida 11. Madasuba 12. Colules 13. Capses 14. Adramytto 1. Calama 2. Tebete. 3. Hippon 4. Nuzidias 5. Castramagae 6. Bades 7. Meleum 8. Leradus 1. Septum 2. Septum, ad partem Thenessi 3. Spanias 4. Mesopotameni ad partem Spaniae 5. Najurica, insula 6. Menyca, insula 7. Insula Sardow 8. CaralluSj metropolis Provincia Numidiae. 9. Castrum Bedere 10. Scele 11. Egerinesium 12. Titessin 13. Bages 14. Constantine 15. Sitiphnos Provincia Mauritaniae Primuc. 1. Rhinocucurum. Provincia Mauntauiae Secundae. 9. lures 10. Sanaphas 11. Sines 12. Sulces 13. Pliaesiana 14. Chrysopolis 15. Aristianes 16. Limne 17. Castrum Tutar. ii" i; i.l:! m ■\ it ^•1 234 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. is no doubt. In fact so much did its bishop take upon himself that he aroused the anger of three of his brethren, Thomas, Peter, and John, who appealed against him to Kome. In 1053, Leo IX. issued two decretals in their favour censuring the presumptuous prelate. He praised Peter and John for trying to call a council according to the ecclesiastical rule ; he ordered annual synods to be held when possible ; and he declared the Bishop of Carthage to be the Metropolitan of all Africa, who was alone to receive the pallium, because St Cyprian had by his piety bestow^ed everlasting honour on the see. Whether the decision of the Pope closed the dispute is not recorded, but probably the see of Gummi gave way. It is however noticeable that five bishops are mentioned as being concerned in this quarreP. This number was dangerously small, and great diffi- culty was once more found in carrying on the Apostolic succession according to the conditions of the canons. The bishops, too, found the other clergy and laity unwilling to respect their authority. In 1073 Cyriac, Bishop of Carthage, was urg. d by some of his clergy to lay hands upon a man^ unfitted for his sacred calling, either through his age, ignorance, or morals. The bishop refused, and so great a disturbance was caused that the Mussulman Emir interfered and tried to induce Cyriac to accept the people's choice in order that peace might be preserved. Cyriac however stood firm in his resolution, and even when haled to prison, 1 Mas Latrie, 29—31; Gibbon, ch. 51. 2 It is not clear whether the people wished this man to be made a nriest or a bishop. I i i THE END OF AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY. 235 publicly insulted, disrobed and scourged, he still per- sisted. In this crisis Gregory VII. wrote two letters, one of admonition to the people of Carthage, the other of exhortation to Cyriac. Once more our records fail without telling us how the matter ended. Gregory soon had occasion to interfere again in the affiiirs of Africa. The number of bishops had still further fallen, so that only two were left where once there had been 400 ; and the Pope was asked to consecrate an African priest to ensure the presence of the canonical three. But no sooner had the new prelate returned to his native land than the Bishop of Hippo died, and the Church was in the same danger as before. Not only was it impossible to carry on the succession with only two bishops, but the number of Christians and the size of the area over which they were scattered demanded the services of at least three prelates. Gregory therefore wrote again to Cyriac and bade him choose, in consultation with his lately consecrated colleague, a priest worthy of the episcopate, on whom he would himself lay hands, if ho came to Rome. Cyriac sent Servandus, with the assent of En-Nayer or Anzir, King of Mauritania. How- ever the people of Hippo did not approve of his choice ; for inhabiting as they did a city near the heart of the Moorish power, they were no doubt unwilling to submit to the dictation of the bishop of a place the importance of which was now based entirely upon historical grounds. Gregory therefore wrote to them to point out the obedience they owed to their bishop ». 1 Mas Latrie, 38—41; Gibbon, loc. cit.; areg= VJI. Epp. 1<}_: -21. 236 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. These few glimpses, scanty though they are, shew that in the eleventh century the position of the Christians amongst the Moors was not entirely unbearable. The establishment of Mornak shewed the strength of the Christians and the toleration of the Moors. The Emir of Carthage and the King of Mauritt .nia both shewed a not unkindly interest in the selection of the Christian clergy. But more remarkable still are the letters which passed between Pope Gregory and the King En- Na9er. The Moors in allowing Servandus to go to Konie sent presents and friendly messages by him, and released many Christian prisoners. The Pope wrote and thanked him for this gracious act, reminded him of his promise to release yet more, and declared that such deeds were prompted by the hand of God, for both Christian and Mohammedan worshipped the same God, and both, though in different ways, daily praised and adored the Creator of the ages and the Ruler of the worlds Although the chief men among the Moors seem to have been disposed to tolerate the Church, it yet suffered great losses between 1053 and 1073. M. de Mas Latrie attributes the circumstance either to the stress of civil war, or to the possible apostasy of the Bishop of Gummi after the victory of Carthage, or to the gathering of the Christians to El Cala, the new capital of the Ham- madites. However that may be, El Bekir writing in 1068 declares that Christianity has disappeared in Algeria, the Djerid, and Byzacene, but that at Tlem9en there still remains a Christian church and a Christian congregation ^ 1 Greg. VII. Ep. 21. " Mas Latrie, B8— 41, THE END OF AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY. 237 The toleration of the Church may have been due to the political events of the time. Africa was in disorder, and the strength of the Christian community of Mornak, with their relations to the steadily recover- ing power of Rome, made them a factor in the political situation. In 1007 Hammad, the son of Bologgiun founded El Cala, between Msilah and Setif, and peopled it with men collected from all parts, including many Christians. In 1014-5 he threw off the yoke of the Zirides, the local chiefs, declared himself directly under the Abassides of Egypt, and managed to secure the rule of all Numidia and Sitifiensis and of part of Caesariensis. In 1062 En-Na^er succeeded him, and five years later founded Bougie, to the west of El Cala, on the coast of Mauritania Caesariensis, near Saldae.' To this new city El Mansour transferred the seat of government in 1090-1'. However, the Christians of El Cala still stayed there and kept up a regular organization after most of the population had migrated to Bougie. Their church was consecrated to the Virgin Mary and was served by Calife, the last of the African bishops of whom any records have endured. Round this church a few legends have gathered. The monks of Moxit Cassim were cap- tured by the Moors as they sailed from Sardinia to Africa and were sent to El Cala until they were ransomed by Count Roger. Before they were released Azzar, the eldest, died and was buried before the high altar. One night, a month after his death, a Mo- hammedan Berber saw him sitting and reading his Bible at the entrance to the church. Startled at this * Mas Latrie, 32—4. ^•li k 1 w !:)■ 238 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. apparition the Moor ran and called his neighbours with the words, "Come, run! you know the priest of the Christians, who is dead this month past. Come and see him sitting on the threshold of the church ! " But by the time the neighbours had answered his summons the vision had disappeared. Moreover the lamp before Azzar's tomb was lighted by no human hands. It^was vain to fill it with water instead of oil; an Arab Emir himself watched from Calife's house and saw a star descend from heaven and set the wick alight'. However, neither miracles nor sanctity could protect the Christians for ever. In 1152 Abd-el-Moumon took El Cala and dispersed the inhabitants. The foreign Christian merchants took refuge in Bougie, but the fate of the native Churches is unknown. The Almo- hades subdued all Africa and their conquests inevitably implied great sufferings to the conquered. In particular we hear that Abd-el-Moumon forcibly converted all the Jews and Christians of Tunis in 1159. Still in 1192, the name of the Archbishop of Carthage appears in the Liber Censuum, but this does not prove that the holder of the title had anything more than a nommal authority. Perhaps he was in exile or in hiding, and it is not impossible that, like the bishops in partibus infideliuni of a later date, the nominal oc* cupant of the see had never been near it at all-^. In fact by the end of the twelfth century the native Christians had become a very insignificant body. Inter- national politics however were in their favour. The masters of Africa were forced to practise some sort of toleration and some Christian settlers were allowed the 1 Pierre Diacre in Mas Latrie, 124-B. '^ Mas Latrie, 121-8. THE END OF AFRICAN CHRISTIANITV. 239 u'ee exerci.0 of their religion. At least two Christian colonies were thus established. At Serdania near Kairouan and Djeloula the Sardinians had a settlement and at Castdia near Touzer other foreigners, perhaps' Simmards, dwelt. Bnt the presence of these Europeans did little to help the African Christians. For some adopted the habits and religion of their neighbours and the others, busy with their own concerns and apprehensive of their own dangers, were indifferent to their needs. On the other hand some good indirectly accrued to them through the number of Christian slaves in Africa; for their natural anxiety to escape from their captivity brought about a regular system of ex- change of prisoners between the Europeans and the Moors. No doubt it was a very profitable business for the latter, and they therefore allowed the Christians to carry it on in their own way. For the Church regarding the ransom of slaves as an act of piety' organized their restoration on a regular religious basis and entrusted it to the Fnuiciscan and Dominican orders and to the Monks of the Redeemer, who were instituted for this special work. In 1180, Pope Inno cent III. announced the foundation of this order to th<. bultan Almanzor in a very impolitic letter. With a most arrogant air of superiority the Pontiff pities the benighted condition of the Moors, and declares that these new monks would devote one-third of their possessions to ransoming slaves, and would purchase "pagans" to exchange for Christians. Though officially countenanced the monks had some ^ Mas Latrie, 128—9. 240 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHKS IN NORTH AFRICA. I i I'f risks to run. It wa-s easier for the Sultan to declare he would protect them than to save them from the irresponsible violence of Moslem fanatics, and in 1226 Honoriiis III. was obliged to allow them to wear beards in order that they might attract less attention by con- forming to the ordinary dress of the country. By this time they had bec(^me sufficiently numerous to need supervision and in 1223 a bishop was appointed over them. Besides ransoming prisoners they distributed alms, and no doubt they alleviated the sufferings and revived the faith of those whom they could not release'. No doubt too the indigenous Christians did not escape their attention, although by this time the Christians of Africa had developed many peculiarities which distinguished them from the Western Church. Gibbon asserts that the force of circumstances had driven them to adopt some of the characteristics of the Mohammedans around them. Like their Spanish brethren they submitted to circumcision; they ab- stained from pork and wine and were known as the Mozarabes or adoptive Arabs. They stood in fact halfway between the orthodox Christians and the Moslems around them; in belief they were followers of Christ, but in outward things they had conformed to the rules of Mahomet. It was therefore easy to distinguish them from other Christians living in Africa, and several families of the old African Church were found in Tunis when Charles V. landed there in 1535". Leo the African thus describes the state of affairs in that city about this time^: — 1 Mas Latrie, 130—3. ^ Gibbon, ch. 51. 3 In Mas Latrie, 528—30. THE END OF AFIIICAN CHRISTIANITY. 241 "In the suburb near the gato of El Manera its a particular street, which is like another little suburb, in which dwell the 'Christians of Tunis.' They are employed as the guard of the Sultan and on some other special duties. In the suburb near the sea-gate, Bab-el-Baar (on the side of the Goulette), live the foreign Christian merchants, such as the Venetians, the Genoese, and the Catalans. There are all their shops and their own houses, separated fn^m those of the Moors." A most careful distinction was evidently drawn between the ' Christians of Tunis ' and the merchants from Europe. The former have their special quarters, as in eastern cities all nationalities do, but they are' allowed to live near the Moors; on the other hand the merchants are necessary to the trade of the city and must therefore be tolerated ; but they are kept as near the edge of the town and as far from their Mohammedan neighbours as possible. The 'Christians of Tunis' were neither settlers from Europe nor renegades, but for the most part at any rate were the direct descendants of the great African Church. They performed special and honourable duties, and were allowed to exercise their religion unmolested in a chapel of their own. However the end soon came. In 1583 the Turks, long masters of Algiers and Tlem9en, took Tunis and dethroned Mohammed, the last of the Aben-Hafis. The new conquerors were fanatical haters of Christianity, and all who refused to embrace Mohammedanism were' in deadly peril from them. Their violence was chiefly directed against the native Christians, and while the foreigners were too useful or too well protected to be H. 16 242 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. V ^ ' 'I j persecuted to death, the poor remnant of the African Church was forced to apostatize or die\ The last blow had fallen, and by the end of the sixteenth century the great Church of Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine had at length passed from the face of the earth. It was not extinguished without a struggle, and the vitality it had displayed for nearly a thousand years of oppression was worthy of the noble names with which it is inseparably associated. But now at last its long history was over and the fertile fields of North Africa were given up to the yoke of Islam, under which for the most part they remain to this day. 1 Mas Latrie, 538—30. I h h Atk CHAPTER IX. Conclusion. The Christian Churches of North Africa were founded about the end of the first century; for six hundred years they played an impoitant, at times the most important part, in the development of Western Christianity, and were then crushed ahnost completely by the overwhelming force of the Mohammedan in- vasion, although a remnant still survived for nine centuries. During their fifteen centuries of existence they experienced the most varied fortunes. For two cen- turies they had to struggle for life, as all other Christian communities struggled, against the forces of a State- established paganism ; like other Churches they tri- umphed, and to them, as to others, the accession of Constantino promised peace. But now they were exposed to the attacks of a more insidious foe. Within their own ranks Donatism grew up, and the schism which at first merely divided them, threatened to con- quer the Churches which gave it birth. The trouble continued for over a hundred years, but the wisdom of St Augustine, backed by the might of the State, forced 16—2 ] I ?*kl i i i' ,«3 ' ll ■ . • i ill 244 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. the sectaries to return or to leave the Church un- molested, and again there seen.M every hope of peace. Once more their expectations were shattered ; this time a foreign and heretical foe attacked the African Christians and for a century they languished under the tyranny o half-civilized Arians. The arms of Belisarius restored the supremacy of the Province in tempoml matters to the Empire, in spiritual matters to the Catholic Church, and for the next hundred and iifty years African Christi- Hnity was subject to no trials which an earnest faith could not hope to overcome. But in the seventh century the final misfortune overtook Africa, and the Province fell a victim to the resistless onslaught of the Moslem conquerors ; the secular power of the Empire was for ever swept away, the Roman population was dispersed, and the Church was broken up and forcecl to seek what shelter it could. To all appearance the Churches of Africa were now totally destroyed, but in spite of everything Christianity shewed a marvellous and unparalleled tenacity in its hold on the Province. For nine hundred years the Faith in Christ was handed down from fother to son, and the Apostolic Succession was kept up with only occasional help from more favoured commumons in the heart of one of the most fanatically Mohammedan communions of the world. , . • ,• i Such a record as this would command admiration it African Christianity had concerned itself merely with its own people. Few other Churches can claim to have endured for six hundred years a constant succession ot attacks from within and persecutions from without ; but fewer still can boast that they have kept the flame ICA. •ch un- f peace. s time a [•istians, ■anny of restored itters to Church, Christi- ;st faith seventh and the it of the Empire bion way d force(i vera now dstianit} ty in its rears the r to son, vith only mions, in ammedan liration ii rely with m to have ^cession of without ; the flame CONCLUSION. 245 .) of Faith alive for nearly one thousand years, sur- rounded on all sides by bitter and unrelenting foes. But the Churches of Africa have still other claims to veneration. As long as their organization was com- plete, they played a worthy part in the controversies that agitated the early Christians, and whenever the orthodoxy of the world was in doubt, Africa was always found on the side of the right. At various times and with varying measures of success, Novatianism Donatism, Pelagianism, Manichaeism, and Arianism,' obtamed a footing in the Province, but all alike were checked and forced to withdraw in confusion. In the controversy about the Three Chapters and in the repulse of the Monothelites the voice of Africa was heard with no uncertain sound, and the exposure of the errors of Pelagius was largely due to the vigouf and zeal of St Augustine, The Christians of Carthage m fact formed one of the most influential and orthodox communions of the early Church, and they did much to fix the doctrines of Christianity as we know them, and to settle the canon in its present form. Yet the Churches of Africa are no more, and the causes of their fall present a problem of the utmost mterest. Unfortunately it can no longer be fully and certainly solved, for the destructiveness of the Saracens has swept away nearly all the records of the most critical time in their history ; but some guesses may be made from the knowledge that has survived of their earlier years. Three tests may be applied to discover the sound- ness of any communion. Orthodoxy of doctrine, per- sonal piety, and efficient rrganization are necessary 'I 1:1 t' fu <: I i! 246 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. for the well-being of a Church ; but in none of these can the Africans be said to have been disastrously wanting. Indeed, as far as their teaching was con- cerned, they were more orthodox than Rome itself, and they offered a more prompt and stedfast resistance to the errors of Pelagius and the quibbles of Justnnan than did the Popes themselves. The personal piety and sound learning of individual members of the African Church are as easily proved. The names of Cyprian and Augustine stand out from their fellows throughout the world, and some less well- known Africans are worthy to be classed with them. The devotion of Deogratias and Eugenius won the respect even of the Vandals ; the influence of Ful- gentius filled the monasteries; the piety of Quod- vultdeus procured for him the dignity of an Abbat at Borne. The details of the last years of the Church are too obscure to enable the list to be continued, but the courage of Reparatus at Constantinople and the trust of the great Gregory in Columbus do not bespeak any falling off from the high standard of the first few centuries; and the devotion that could support the Christians after the Saracen invasion was certainly of no poorer quality than that shewn by their forefathers, when exposed to the spasmodic rage of the heretical Vandals. With the organization and discipline of the Church there was not much amiss. It is true that the various dioceses were not quite so closely knit as in some other countries, and that various important points were at first I'^ft to be settled by individual bishops instead of the Church as a whole ; and it is true that, however it. ICA. f these itrously IS con- elf, and ance to istinian iividual proved, ut from ;ss well- h them, von the of Ful- f Quod- Lbbat at Church ntmued, 3ple and s do not •d of the it could .sion was by their ye of the e Church le various )me other 5 were at .nstead of .owever it CONCLUSION. 247 may have worked practically, theoretically the mode of choosing a Primate was wrong. But still, taking it all in all, its ecclesiastical system suited Africa, and re- mained vigorous and strong as long as the Province remained under the Roman power. Indeed the African Christians once or twice proved themselves able to go behind the strict law and, casting aside its letter, to act effectively upon its spirit. During the Vandal per- secution, whenever there was a short breathing-space, the Catholics set their house in order without regarding the regular limits of the dioceses or caring whether they encouraged the pretensions of Rome. Still more striking are the events of the contest with the Mono- thelites. The action of Fortunatus threatened to mislead the whole Church, and to prevent the Pro* consular province in particular from expressing its true opinion. In this crisis had the Church shewn no power of adapting her course of action to the times, the result nmst have been either a misrepresentation of the views of an important section on a vital p. Int, or a disorderly revolt against lawfully-constituted authority. Happily the Bishops of Proconsularis were able to shake them'- selves free from hidebound customs and to break the law in order to preserve the law. Gulosus, Bishop of Pupit, called a convention of his colleagues, and with them decreed the deposition of Fortunatus and the condemnation of the doctrines of the Monothelites. An occurrence such as this, in which the law was invoked to do that which it did not contemplate, and an un- constitutional act was performed in perfect accord with the best constitutional principles, speaks volumes for the reality of the discipline of the African Church. It I.i ./; 248 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. took place within fifty years of the extinction of the Christians of Africa as an organized body, and it seems to make the causes of that extinction all the harder to Tinderstand. . If the African Church right up to the time when its records cease can stand the threefold test, and can be proved orthodox in doctrine, pure in life, and sound in system, the reason of its fall must be found outside its religious life. One fact at once stands out when the history of the Province as a whole is regarded. \frican Christianity practically fell with the Imperial power and left but few traces behind. Now this com- cidonce points to a connexion between the two, and the previous life of the Province confirms the sup- position. Twice before had the rule of Rome received severe shocks, once from the Moors and once from the Vandals, and in both cases had the Catholics been sub- jected to bitter persecutions. In the days of Firmus and Gildo, the Donatists had been triumphant; m the time of the Vandals the Arians had ridden roughshod over the orthodox ; and now that the Saracens held all Africa the Christians once more fell on evil days. But there was this difference between the peril of Christianity in the eighth and in the fourth and fifth centuries; it was not so much a persecution as an extinction of the Faith ; the time was no longer one of noble martyrs and heroic confessors ; there were hardly any Christians to be found. The Church had gradually dwindled away with the Roman population; as the borders of the Province had been gradually pushed back by the pressure of the Moors, the territories of the Chnvrh had ^rown smaller too. Year by year and ICA. CONCLUSION. 240 of the j seems ,rder to e when md can i sound outside it when jgarded. mperial lis coin- vvo, and he sup- received Tom the een sub- Firmus ; in the ughshod 1 held all ; peril of and fifth )n as an er one of re hardly gradually ; as the T pushed itories of year and oentury by century the arm of Rome had lost its strength and had become less and less able to defend the outlying districts of its dominions. Raid after raid had swept over the most fertile plains of North Africa, and in the mountainous parts of Mauritania independent Berber kingdoms had been set up. The fortunes of the Church had suffered with those of the State, and as the eagle had been slowly driven back, the Cross had been com* polled to retire. For on the whole the Christianity had gained but little hold on the Moors. It was strongest in the eastern or more civilized districts ; but its foothold in Mauritania was never firm and in the end was lost altogether. It is true that some of the Bishops, as Quodvultdeus, Deogratias, etc. seem to have borne assumed names, and may therefore be those of men of Moorish origin ; but these prelates probably came from the people of mixed blood, who lived in the interior and formed a connecting link between the Romans and the Moors. Amongst the pure Berber tribes there are hardly any traces of Christianity. Belisarius is said to have converted some who were known as the " Pacati," and Gennadius was praised by Gregory for his missionary efforts; but at other times the Moors are mentioned only as the enemies and persecutors of all Christian believers. It was not so much Christianity as the mode of its presentation that repelled the Berbers. The mar- vellous survival of some form of Faith amongst the fanatical Mussulmans could only have been due to the Moors and Moorish resolution ; for the Roman popula- tion had been dispersed or slain, so the only Christians Ir 250 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. i I I t in Africa besides the captives from European countries must have sprung from the Moorish stock. The tenacity shewn in those centuries of trial was a distinctive trait of the Berber nature, and there is something very characteristic in the way in which that small remnant clung to Christianity in spite of all persecution and oppression. It is to be lamented that the Church in its prime had never managed to secure all this devotion for itself; if it had, the history of the Province and even of the world might have been different. The line dividing the Romans from the Moors would have been obliterated ; the peoples would have been united ; the Province would liave been strengthened and a united front presented to the Saracen hordes. This might have happened and at one time ap- peared almost likely to happen, but the uncompromising attitude of African Christianity nipped the first promise of Moorish Christianity in the bud. The Berber cha- racter was narrow but strong. Seizing upon certain vital principles of doctrine, it disregarded the rest and was prepared to sacrifice everything rather than give way in the matters on which it had pinned its faith. Extreme veneration for personal piety, separation from all weaker brethren and fierce intoleration were the principal marks of its religion. When the Moors were Christians they honoured martyrs and confessors with unmeasured admiration; when they were Moham- medans they paid more respect to their local saints than to the Prophet himself; and in these latter days the rise of the Mahdi and other Moorish seers proves that their character is still the same. Such men as these would accept Christianity after their own fashion CONCLUSION. 251 and no other, and most anfortunately for the chance of spreading the Faith in Africa the doctrines that appealed to them were not compatible with the spirit of the rest of the Christian Church. Twice within fifty years were there attempts to force the African communion into a policy of intolerant puritanism and bitter exclusiveness, and both the Novatians and Donatists declared it impossible for the saints to hold converse with sinners. In the second case, at any rate, this narrowness attracts profoundly the uncivilized element in the provincial population, and the origin of Donatism shews how greatly its career was affected by the national characteristics of the Moors. It arose in Numidia, one of the least Romanized parts of the Province ; it was favoured by the Berber leaders, Firmus and Gildo ; it was supported by half- barbarian bands of fanatical Circumcelliones ; many of its followers could speak Punic alone. The district of its birth, the nationality of its political leaders, the savagery of its rank and file and their ignorance of Latin bespeak a large uncivilized non-Roman element. Its practical suppression by St Augustine and its partial revival in the days of Gregory point to the same conclusion. As soon as the forces of Catholicism and Imperialism were marshalled against it, the once all-powerful organization disappeared from the more civilized districts of Africa ; the spiritual and temporal power of Rome triumphed and not one word of the sectaries is heard for nearly two centuries. Then there is a fresh outbreak and in the very quarter where it might have been expected. Not in Roman Carthage or well-settled Byzacene, but in the West, in the. iU i; 252 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. i ■ , mountainous regions of Numidia and Mauritania the old trouble crops up again. Thi- re viviil, moreover, hns certain peculiar circiim- stancos r.oniiccted with it. If the western bishops had been affected by the Donatist errors, it would have followed the ordinary lines of heresies and schisms; but at first, as far as the scanty records n\ake anything clear, the highoi- ecclesiastics seom to have opposed the new teachings. The laity forced the bishops to accept the schisnuitical doctrines and were prepared to use violence to oust the Catholic clergy from their cures in favour of sectarians. The whole of Numidia was affected by the Donatist teaching, and the pro- vincial synod could not be relied on to decide ecclesias- tical questions according to the canons of the Church and the traditions of the Fathers; while in Procon- sularis the episcopate were still so hostile to this per- verted form of belief that it forgot moderation and wisdom in its anger. The ultimate fate of Donatism is quite unknown; but if it be admitted that this type of Christianity attracted the Moors as much as it repelled the Romans, an unexpected conclusion must follow from the circum- stances of the extinction of the Churches of Africa. The ruin of Donatism was the destruction of the one chance of perpetuating Christianity in North A ' ica. In the first place it prevented the building of the most efficient of all bridges between the Romans and the Moors ; in the second place it weakened the Christians in numbers where they were strongest in tenacity. The wonderful fact of the survival of the Faith through nine hundred years of oppression cannot be CoNCLUSrON. 253 overrated, and the few bare facts that reveal its existence stand for ninuberless instances of heroic fortitude that have now been forgotten. If the Church had only succeeded ii getting hold of the great mass of the B(;rber tribes, if it could only have eidisted unier the banner of Christ all the enthusiasm that afterwards supported the cause of Islam, it might well have been that not only would the Saraceu' have never succeeded in crushing African Christianity after the conquest of the Province, but they might never have con(juered the Province at all. As it was, the teaching which appealed strongl}' to the Berb* '• mind was condemned by the leaders of the Church as imperfect, and those who taught and believed it were subject to the ban of the ecclesiastical and secular jinthorities. It was un- doubtedly corrupt and it c(ji d not be reconciled with the spirit or much of the letter of the pure; Gospel; still the faults of the Moors were those of their qualities, and if LJiey had not been so fanatically nar- row it may 1)i' doubted whether they would have shewn such marvellous resolution. As far as our records go, the causes of the extinction of the Church s of North Africa may be stated as follows. They fell because laey were the ChurcLos of a party and not of a peop^ ; they appealed to the civilized Romans alone, ants not to the barbarian Moors. Circumstances forced them to assume a hostile a d uncompromising attitude towards the fonn of Christiiuiity adopte>l by the Moors, and ^heir life was bound up with that of th« Roman dominatioi) "n the Province. From the time of the Vandals this had been g'-aduall} weakened and its territories had been h l 254 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. Steadily diminished; the alien population in Africa had decreased and with it the nunibera of the Church. When the Saracen invasion came the Romanized in- habitants fled, and like the Jewa of old were spread over the face of the world ; as the Roman community dispersed, the Church dispersed and the disintegration of the Imperial power meant the disintegration of the ecclesiastical system also. Some few Christiana re- mained when their brethren were gone, and these man- aged to preserve their separate existence with occasional hulp from more prosperous communions. Probably Moorish by blood, they display a marvellous resolution, and at times were even able to defy their persecutors ; but their numbers were too small for them ever to become a lasting power, and in 1 583 the Turks swept away for ever the last vestiges of the Church of Africa which still existed in the land made famous by the labours of Cyprian and Augustine. It may be that the Catholics made a mistake in altogether refusing to countenance or adopt the methods of Donatism; probably their policy was dictated by the theological and political necessities of the time; but there can be no doubt that the African Churches were destroyed not because of their failings, not because they were corrupt, but because they failed to reach the hearts of the true natives of the Province. The system of Rome, the doctrines of Rome, the virtues of Rome were those of a civilized law-abiding nation : the system, the doctrines, and the virtues of the Moors were those of a barbarian and savage people. Both had their strong points and both their weaknesses ; if the Moors were narrow and fanatical, they were faithful to the CONCLUSION. 255 heart's ooro: it* the Romans were nnbonding and nn- accommoflating, they were blinded to the needs of their country by the troubles of the whole Church. But aa it waa, the Church in Africa as an organization was sure to disappear, not because its members fell away, but because they wore dispersed, and when the foreign' population of the Province was gone, there were hardly any Christians left to carry on in Africa the life of the alien Chuich of its former rulers. I> i I [ 1 1 I ! AUTHORS AND WORKS QUOTED. Abbott, Dr Evelyn Philomythus. St Augustine Letters and Works. Benson, Abp Cyprian. His life. His times. His work. Beveriuge ,.„.,..,,,.,,.... 2vvo8i k6v si ve Pandectae Canonum. Bnigham .....Dictionary of Christian Antiquities. Bois.sier, Gaston L'Afrique Romainp. » » Le Fin du Paganisme, ^^^gh* Select Anti- Pelagian Epistles of St Augustine, Bury Fragments. » •• • History of Later Roman Empire. Cagnat, Rene L' Armee Romaine d' Afrique, Cassiodorus Chronicle. >j .Variae* Chronicon Paschale. Claudian De Bello Gildouico. Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Coulanges, Fustel de Recherches sur quelques Problfemes d'Histoire. I^*^i'''as Histoire Generale de I'Eglise. El Hakera (translated by Slane). El Kairouani ...(Exploration Scientifique de FAfrique). Encyclopedia Britannica. En Noweiri (translated by Slane). . _. Fiiila-y Greece under the Romans, Fournel ,,,Les Berbers. H. 17 i ill 258 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IX NORTH AFRICA. Freeman, E. A ,,. English Historical Review, July 1887. Fulgentii Sancti Vita, Qarner Dissertation on African Synods. Gibbon "...'.*..* Decline and Fall of the Homan Eminre. Gregory I Letters, ' _ Gregory II .Letters, Gregory VI I Letters. Greo-ory of Tours Historia Francorum. jjefele History of the Councils of the Churck Hodgkhi, T ......Cassiodorus' Variae. ...............Italy and her Invaders. IbnKhaldoiui .,...„,.. ..(translated by Slane). Idatius Chronicle. Isidorus Hispalensis Chronicle. „ „ ......Historia Vandalorum. John Biclarensis ,.t...... Chronicle. ■ • Jornandes l>e Rebus Geticis. Justinian Laws. Lecky History of European Morals. Leo 1 Letters, Marcollinus Comes Chronicle. Marcus Histoire des Wandaies. J Mas Latrie, Le Comte do Relations et Commerce de 1 AfrK^ue bep- tentrionale. Mercier Histoire de I'Afrique. j^jilnian Latin Christianity. Mommsen Roman Provinces from Caesar to Dio- cletian. Morcelh ...„.,. Africa Christiana. I^l^j^ter ■ • • Frimordia Ecclesiae Af ricanae. .• Neander Church History. Papencordt Gcschichte der Vandalen. Plinius Opera. Possidius De Promissionibus. ,- ■■ .Vita Sancti Augustini Episcopi. • • >» . Procopius Anecdota. De Aediftciis. I !1« ......De Bello Vandalico. AUTHORS AND WORKS QUOTED, 259 I^i^osper , Chronicle. Prosper Tyro Chronicle (Canlsii Autiquae Lectiones). Ruinart , Historia Persecutionis Vandalorum, Salvian , Ue Gubernatione Dei, Smith, Dr W „. Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, ■» *<.».'.•.•,.■.. Dictionary of Christian Biography* Theodo8iu8..*,.,.....,,„,..Laws, Theophanes »...,«.*„.„,. Chronicle, Tissotj Charles ...,,,,„„ J Jeographie coniparee de province ro- maine d'Afrique, Tictor Tunnonensis Chronicle, Victor Vitensia m . . . , o m , ,D(? Persecr "ione Vandalomm. A useful list of works upon Africa is to be found m Asit'bee*.„.,.,.,„,.,.,.„„.,Bibliography of Tunis, P' II INDEX, Aniatafrhh',, mairiage,, lo2'S j, l-evolt and death, lO'i dntalas, 161, 170, 173 Aniiy, 17, 79; reorganization by Justinian, 175-(jj Foederati and Limitauei, 17 dugnstine, St, of Hippo, 30; op^ , position to Ponatists, 50-1; 58-62, 65 ; death, 80-1 Aumsius, Mount, 7; captured by Moors, 120; by Solonaon,, 171 » by Saracens,, 218 Jioni/ace, Bisliop of Carthage, 159, 177 Boniface^ Count of Africa, 71-4,, 80-i Caetesth, 30 Cahinu, 221, 223-4 Carthage, captured; by Vandals, 82 ; by Belisarius 163 ; by Saracens, 221-2 Carthage Conferences, with Doua- tists, 411, 63-4; with Arians, 484, 130-4; reorganization of Church, 535, 177-81 Church, Atiioan, origin and date, 22-3 ; characteristics, 25-6 ; reverence for saints and mar* tyrs, 38-9 ; growth, 27-37 ; Clei;^-', ov» 6; celibacy, 33-4; synods, -'"-S; diocesan system, 39-42, 159-60, 181. i94-5» M5-&J primates, 41-2', ISl,, .194-5; relations with Alexan* dria, 24-7, 42-4, 230; relations; with Rome, 23-4, 12-4, 103-4, 196-8, 207, 234-6; reorganiza* tion under Justinian, 176-82 j readmission of penitents, 146, 150, 177-9; monasteries and Bishops, 160-1, 180; restora- tion of proper';, etc., 181; pro- gress, 187, 191-2; discipline m time of Gregory I,, 194-9 J under the Saracens, 225-30; appeal to Jacobite Patriarch of Alexandria, 230; appeal to Home, 234-6; causes of fall, 248-55. See also DonatistSf Manicheans, Monothelites, No- vatians, Pelagians, Three Chap- ters, Vandal Persecution ''Christians of Tunis," 240-2 Circumcelliones, 48, 50, 57, 61, 63, 83-5 Columbus, Bishop in Nuraidia, 196, 198, 203 Cyprian, St, Bishop of Carthage, 28, 44-6, 71 Cijrila, Arian Patriarch of Car- thage, 124, 132-4 Deogratlas, Bishop of Carthage, 109-10 Domiiiicns, Bishop of Carthage, 192, 198, 199, 202, 206 2G2 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN NORTH AFRICA. ■ t Donatists, 44-53 ; political aspect, 47-9; economic and social aspect, 49, 56-7 ; excesses, 56-7, 59 ; St Augustine's opposition, 50-1, 58-62, 65 ; edicts against, 50, 57, 03-5 ; conference at Carthage, 411, 63-4; downfall, 68-6; relations with Vandals, 83-5 ; reappearance, 200-3 ; effect on African Christianity, 250-3. See also CircumceU Hones Eufieniiis, Bishop of Carthage, 123-4, 130; exile, 139-40; return, 149; death, 157 Firmits, 49, 65 Fulfientivs, St, Bishop of Euspe, 95, 140, 148, 160 ; monastic Ufe, 150-1 ; consecration, 155-6 ; exile, 157 ; summoned to Car- thage, 157-8 Gaiseric, character, 77-8; settle- ment of Africa, 90-6; con- spiracy against, 97 ; expedi- tious, 82, 98; sacks Rome, 98- 9; peace with East tind West, 101, 117; policy towards Catho- Ucs, 101-18; attitude towards officials, 92, 113-4,115; death, 117 Gelimei; usurps, 162; conquered by Belisarius, 1(»3 Genuadiitti, Praetorian Prefect, 190, 194-5, 201-4 Gihlo, 49, 55 Gri'ijonj I., Pope, 192-203 Gregorij I J., Pope, 203 Gregory VII., Pope, 234-6 Greqori/, Prefect, revolt and death, 212-3 GuntUamund, 14-51; policy to- wards Catholics, 149-51 Hilderic, 158-62; favours Catho- lics, 158-9; character, 161 Hippo, siege, 80-1 Hiunwric, 118-45 ; hostage at Rome, 81-2; marriage, 99; international relations, 119; religious policy, 120-7, 136-7, 143; confer< .ice at Carthage, 130-4; reissues Theodosian edict, 135-6; exile of clergy,, 128-9, 139-40, 142; famine and pestilence, 144-5 IiiterceswreH, 35; dispute con. cerning limits of dioceses, 159- 00, 194 Junca, synods, 523-4, 159-60 Ko(;eila, 216, 219-20 Leo I., Pope, letter to Bishop of Mauritania, 103-4 Miniicheuus, 69-70, 122, 203-4 Mdstifidx, 176 MdsiiiKi, 154 IHaxiinidiiistx, 51-2, 62 Maximiuiuii' Bishop of Bagai, 60-1 Mondtiti'ries, 150-1 ; relations with Bishops, 160-1, 180 ; slack discipline, 199 MonotheUtes, 206-9 Mont CdKsim, monks of, 237-8 Muorx, origin, 5; civilization, 9; religious character, 16; attacks on Provinces, 70-4, 120, 148-9, 153, 170-4, 190, 204; relations with Gaiseric, 85; independent kingdoms of Masuna, 154, Mastigas, 176; "Pacati," 176; resist Saracens under Koveila, 216, 219-20, Cahina, 221, 223- 4; join Saracens, 224; conver* sion to Mohammedanism, 249- 53 Mornah, 231 Notitlaoi Africa under the Sara cens, 232-3 Novdtidiis, 44- "» Pehujians, 66-8 Province, boundaries, 4-7; p