title: errorPage directive works, but error-page in web.xml doesn't?
body: <p>I get jsp exceptions causing a forward to my error page when I put this at the top of my JSPs... </p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;%@ page errorPage="/error.page" %&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but when I try to do it globally with web.xml like so:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;error-page&gt;
      &lt;exception-type&gt;java.lang.Throwable&lt;/exception-type&gt;
      &lt;location&gt;/error.page&lt;/location&gt;
  &lt;/error-page&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I just get a blank page... I've also tried putting /error.jsp in the location element.. but no love with that either.. </p>
  
  <p>I am triggering an exception with a jsp that just contains this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;%if(true)throw new RuntimeException("test exception");%&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I do see the exception in the console from tomcat but I just can't get that error page to show without a directive on every jsp... am I missing something simple here?</p>
  
  <p><strong>UPDATE:</strong></p>
  
  <p>/error.page is mapped (using spring) the contents are this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;%@ page isErrorPage="true"%&gt;
  &lt;html&gt;
  &lt;head&gt;&lt;/head&gt;
  &lt;body&gt;
  &lt;div class="error"&gt;
  An error has occurred, the development team has been notified. Sorry for the inconvenience.
  &lt;/div&gt;
  &lt;/body&gt;
  &lt;/html&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I can hit the page directly with no error.</p>
  
  <p><strong>UPDATE:</strong></p>
  
  <p>If you have this problem... make sure you don't have filters swallowing exceptions in your chain! see my answer below.</p>