Of the various works of Archbishop Julian of Toledo (who is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church and died not long before the Muslim conquest of most of Spain), his De Comprobatione Sextae Aetatis ("Concerning the Proof of the Sixth Age") was probably the least successful in terms of impact and influence, and only comes down to us today in a few manuscripts. From surviving medieval literature, the work only appears to have been given notable attention by the ninth century 'Mozarab' author Álvaro of Córdoba, who is best known for his lengthy polemic- Indiculus Luminosus- that tied Islam to the Antichrist, and his advocacy for the 'martyrs of Córdoba' who were executed for blasphemy against Islam and/or apostasy from it. By contrast, Julian's Historia Wambae ("History of Wamba"), which covered the Visigothic king Wamba's suppression of a revolt in southern Gaul, enjoyed influence among subsequent Iberian chroniclers and historians down the centuries, being used as a source in the 13th century CE by Lucas of Tuy in his "World Chronicle" and Rodrigo Ximenez de Rada's "Gothic History" (depending on Lucas rather than directly using Julian), which were among the last major works of Iberian history in Latin and contributed to the development of a vernacular history of Spain.
The De Comprobatione Sextae Aetatis was an anti-Jewish polemic written by Julian at the request of the Visigothic king Erwig (d. 687 CE). Divided into three books, the work attempts to prove the truth of Christianity and that Jesus is the Messiah. In this post, I have translated the prefatory prayer, the preface, and book one (I will translate the second and third books in subsequent posts, or compile all of them as a book and study, if so desired).
Fundamentally, as the title suggests, the work revolves around the idea that the history and course of world events can be divided into six ages, and that it is in the sixth age (the current era of the word) that Jesus came as Messiah. This idea is not original to Julian, but can be found (for instance) in Isidore of Seville's chronicle, which formed the backbone of the first book of Lucas of Tuy's World Chronicle. According to Julian, the Jewish rejection of Jesus is based on the idea that we are not yet in the sixth age and thus Jesus could not have been the Messiah: a notion supposedly based on the fact that 6000 years have not yet passed since the beginning of the world, with each age being divided into 1000 years.
[Click here to continue reading]:
https://aymennaltamimi.substack.com/p/anti-jewish-polemic-julian-of-toledos