Leovigild, Guntram, king of Orleans, had made an invasion, and had also sent ships to Galicia to instigate an insurrection of the Sueves. The Franks were driven back by Recared and their ships sunk by the naval forces of Leovigild. After this preliminary struggle Leovigild attempted to make an alliance with Guntram, but the Frankish king rejected all his advances, and for the second time invaded Septimania. Recared was engaged in fighting against him when he received the news of his father's last illness, which caused him to return to Spain. No sooner was Leovigild dead, than Recared was unanimously elected king.
His reign was very unlike that of his predecessor. Leovigild had been essentially warlike, striving for the political unification of the Peninsula. Recared fought only in self-defence against the Franks and Vascons; instead of continuing the conquest of Spain, he made peace with the Byzantines, acknowledged their occupation of certain territories, and promised to respect it. Moreover, Leovigild desired uniformity of religion, but on the basis of Arianism, whilst Recared made it his main concern, but on the basis of Catholicism. It is probable that he abandoned the warlike policy of his father, because recent events had convinced him that the greatest danger for the Visigothic kingdom lay in the discord between the Visigothic and the Spanish-Roman elements. He probably realised that the main work before him was to unite these two elements, or at least, to induce them to lay aside their discontent and jealousy. More than one reason has been alleged for the change in the religious point of view. It has been supposed that Leovigild himself turned Catholic shortly before his death, and this view is supported by a passage in Gregory of Tours, but it scarcely suits the nature of the king, as illustrated by the earlier events of his life. There is another statement, connected with the above, which has less documentary evidence to support it. It occurs in the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, and is to the effect that Leovigild charged Leander, bishop of Seville, to convert Recared. Lastly, the conjecture that Recared had secretly turned Catholic in his father's lifetime, is not supported by any contemporary documents. We are, therefore, led to suppose that this change on the part of Recared was due to one of the following causes: — (1) Reflection, which had ripened in the knowledge of the real force which the Catholics represented in the Peninsula, superior as they were in number to the Visigoths, possessed of money and property in the land, and connected with the Byzantines. (2) A change of conviction on the part of Recared himself, after his accession to the throne, which was possibly brought about by the preaching of Leander, and also by the example of Hermenegild. (3) A possible combination of both causes.
The facts are: — (1) The execution of Duke Sigisbert, which might have been either the outcome of Reeared's affection for his brother Hermenegild, or in punishment of Sigisbert's transgression of his orders; but it is noteworthy that Recared accounted for it by stating that
