Primacy of the Spains

The Archbishop of Braga has claimed the title of Primate of the Spains (Portuguese: Primaz das Espanhas) both for being the oldest diocese on the Iberian Peninsula and for its role in the christianization of the Suebi Kingdom.

Bishops such as João Peculiar and Estêvão Soares da Silva protest before the Pope, and Honorius III left the matter unresolved (papal bulls of January 19, 1218).

Originally, after the provincial division by Diocletian in the 3rd century, the city of Toletum (now Toledo) was within the Roman province of Carthaginensis, whose capital was Carthago Nova (now Cartagena).

The metropolitan seat and provincial capital were in the territory occupied by the Byzantines and so, shortly after taking the throne, the Visigoth king Gundemar promoted the holding of a synod in Toledo.

That synod agreed that Toledo was the metropolitan of the whole province, seizing that title from the episcopal seat at Cartagena - that agreement was then endorsed by the king in a decree of 23 October 610.