1.
Navarre
–
The first documented use of a name resembling Navarra, Nafarroa, or Naparroa is a reference to navarros, in Eginhards early 9th Century chronicle of the feats of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. Other Royal Frankish Annals feature nabarros, there are two proposed etymologies for the name. Basque nabar, brownish, multicolor (i. e. in contrast to the mountainous lands north of the original County of Navarre. Basque naba, valley, plain + Basque herri, the linguist Joan Coromines considers naba to be linguistically part of a wider Vasconic or Aquitanian language substrate, rather than Basque per se. During the Roman Empire, the Vascones, a tribe who populated the southern slopes of the Pyrenees. In the mountainous north, the Vascones escaped large-scale Roman settlement, not so the flatter areas to the south, which were amenable to large-scale Roman farming—vineyards, olives, and wheat crops. Neither the Visigoths nor the Franks ever completely subjugated the area, the Vascones included neighbouring tribes as of the 7th century. In AD778, the Basques defeated a Frankish army at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass and that kingdom reached its zenith during the reign of King Sancho III, comprising most of the Christian realms to the south of the Pyrenees, and even a short overlordship of Gascony. When Sancho III died in 1035, the Kingdom of Navarre was divided between his sons and it never fully recovered its political power, while its commercial importance increased as traders and pilgrims poured into the kingdom throughout the Way of Saint James. In 1200, Navarre lost the key western Basque districts to Alphonse VIII of Castile, Navarre then contributed with a small but symbolic force of 200 knights to the decisive Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 against the Almohads. The native line of kings came to an end in 1234, however, the Navarrese kept most of their strong laws and institutions. To the south of the Pyrenees, Navarre was annexed to the Crown of Castile, but keeping a separate status. A Chartered Government was established, and the managed to keep home rule. After the 1839 Convention of Bergara, a version of home rule was passed in 1839. The relocation of customs from the Ebro river to the Pyrenees in 1841 prompted the collapse of Navarre’s customary cross-Pyrenean trade, amid instability in Spain, Carlists took over in Navarre and the rest of the Basque provinces. The end of the Third Carlist War saw a wave of Spanish centralization directly affecting Navarre. In 1893-1894 the Gamazada popular uprising took place centred in Pamplona against Madrids governmental decisions breaching the 1841 chartered provisions. Except for a faction, all parties in Navarre agreed on the need for a new political framework based on home rule within the Laurak Bat
Navarre
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Coins of Arsaos, Navarre, 150–100 BC, showing
Rome 's stylistic influence
Navarre
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Flag
Navarre
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Castle of Xabier
Navarre
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Carlists in retreat to the Irache monastery during the
Third Carlist War
2.
Aragon
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Aragon is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces, Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel, the current Statute of Autonomy declares Aragon a nationality of Spain. Aragons northern province of Huesca borders France and is positioned in the middle of the Pyrenees, within Spain, the community is flanked by Catalonia to the east, Valencia and Castile–La Mancha to the south, and Castile and León, La Rioja, and Navarre to the west. Aragon is home to many rivers—most notably, the river Ebro, Spains largest river in volume and it is also home to the Aneto, the highest mountain in the Pyrenees. As of 2015, the population of Aragon was 1,317,847, with more than half of it living in Zaragoza. As of 2015, half of Aragons population,50. 45%, Huesca is the only other city in the region with a population greater than 50,000. The majority of Aragonese citizens,71. 8%, live in the province of Zaragoza,17. 1% in Huesca and 11. 1% in Teruel, the population density of the region is the second lowest in Spain, only 26, 8/km2, after Castilla La Mancha. Only four cities have more than 20,000 inhabitants, Zaragoza 700,000, Huesca 50,000, Teruel 35,000 and Calatayud 20,000. Spanish is the language in most of Aragon, and it is the only official language, understood. The strip-shaped Catalan-speaking area in Aragon is often called La Franja, with such a low population density large areas of Aragon remain wild and relatively untouched. It is a land of natural contrasts, both in climate and geologically, from the green valleys and snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees to the dry plains. Aragons Pyrenees include splendid and varied mountain landscapes with soaring peaks, deep canyons, dense forests and its rugged peaks include the Aneto, the highest in the range, the misty Monte Perdido, Perdiguero, Cotiella and many others. The park is one of the last sanctuaries of birds of prey in the range. Many beautiful mountain butterflies and flowers can be seen in the summer, the principal valleys in the mountains include those of Hecho, Canfranc, Tena, Benasque and others. The green valleys hide pretty villages with nice Romanesque churches and typical Pyrenean houses with flowers on the balconies, the oldest Romanesque cathedral in Spain is located in the medieval town of Jaca in the very northern part of Huesca Province. In the Pyrenean foothills, or pre-Pyrenees, the Mallos de Riglos are a natural rock formation. Ancient castles nestle on lonely hills, the most famous being the magnificent Loarre Castle, further south, the Ebro valley, irrigated by the river Ebro, is a rich and fertile agricultural area covered with vast fields of wheat, barley and other fruit and vegetable crops. Many beautiful and little-known settlements, castles and Roman ruins dot the landscape here, some of the most notable towns here include Calatayud, Daroca, Sos del Rey Catolico, Caspe and others
Aragon
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Loarre, one of the most important Romanesque castles in Europe
Aragon
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Flag
Aragon
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View from Ordesa valley in the Aragonese Pyrenees
Aragon
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Circo de Soaso in
Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park
3.
Crown of Castile
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The title of King of Castile remained in use by the Habsburg rulers during the 16th and 17th centuries. Charles I was King of Aragon, Majorca, Valencia, and Sicily, in the early 18th century, Philip of Bourbon won the War of the Spanish Succession and imposed unification policies over the Crown of Aragon, supporters of their enemies. This unified the Crown of Aragon and the Crown of Castile into the kingdom of Spain, even though the Nueva Planta decrees did not formally abolish the Crown of Castile, the country of was called Spain by both contemporaries and historians. King of Castile also remains part of the title of Felipe VI of Spain. The Kingdom of León arose out of the Kingdom of Asturias, the Kingdom of Castile appeared initially as a county of the Kingdom of León. From the second half of the 10th century to the first half of the 11th century it changed hands between León and the Kingdom of Navarre, in the 11th century it became a kingdom in its own right. The two kingdoms had been united twice previously, From 1037 until 1065 under Ferdinand I of León, upon his death his kingdoms passed to his sons, León to Alfonso VI, Castile to Sancho II, and Galicia to García. From 1072 until 1157 under Alfonso VI, Urraca, and Alfonso VII, from 1111 until 1126 Galicia was separate from the union under Alfonso VII. In 1157 the kingdoms were divided between Alfonsos sons, with Ferdinand II receiving León and Sancho III Castile, from then on the two kingdoms were united under the name of the Kingdom of León and Castile, or simply as the Crown of Castile. Ferdinand III later conquered the Guadalquivir Valley, while his son Alfonso X conquered the Kingdom of Murcia from Al-Andalus, the heir to the throne has been titled Prince of Asturias since the 14th century. Almost immediately after the union of the two kingdoms under Ferdinand III, the parliaments of Castile and León were united. It was divided into three estates, which corresponded with the nobility, the church and the cities, and included representation from Castile, León, Galicia, Toledo, Navarre, under Alfonso X, most sessions of the Cortes of both kingdoms were held jointly. The Cortes of 1258 in Valladolid comprised representatives of Castile, Extremadura and León, subsequent Cortes were celebrated separately, for example in 1301 that of Castile in Burgos and that of León in Zamora, but the representatives demanded that the parliaments be reunited from then on. These laws continued to be in force until 1889, when a new Spanish civil code, in the 13th century there were many languages spoken in the Kingdoms of León and Castile among them Castilian, Leonese, Basque and Galician-Portuguese. But, as the century progressed, Castilian gained increasing prominence as the language of culture, henceforth all public documents were written in Castilian, likewise all translations of Arabic legal and government documents were made into Castilian instead of Latin. In 1492, under the Catholic Monarchs, the first edition of the Grammar of the Castilian Language by Antonio de Nebrija was published, Castilian was eventually carried to the Americas in the 16th century by the conquistadors. Because of Castilians importance in the land ruled by the Spanish Crown, on the death of Alfonso XI a dynastic conflict started between his sons, the Infantes Peter and Henry, Count of Trastámara, which became entangled in the Hundred Years War. Alfonso XI had married Maria of Portugal with whom he had his heir, however, the King also had many illegitimate children with Eleanor of Guzman, among them the above-mentioned Henry, who disputed Peters right to the throne once the latter became king
Crown of Castile
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The Recapture of Granada (F. Padilla)
Crown of Castile
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Royal Standard
Crown of Castile
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Columbus and the Catholic Monarchs (The return of Columbus)
Crown of Castile
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"The Comuneros Padilla, Bravo and Maldonado in the Patíbulo ", by
Antonio Gisbert, 1860.
4.
Galicia (Spain)
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Galicia is an autonomous community of Spain and historic nationality under Spanish law. It had a population of 2,718,525 in 2016 and has an area of 29,574 km2. Galicia has over 1,660 km of coastline, including its islands and islets, among them Cíes Islands, Ons, Sálvora, Cortegada. Galicia was incorporated into the Roman Empire at the end of the Cantabrian Wars in 19 BC, in 410, the Germanic Suebi established a kingdom with its capital in Braga, this kingdom was incorporated into that of the Visigoths in 585. The Governor also presided the Real Audiencia do Reino de Galicia, from the 16th century, the representation and voice of the kingdom was held by an assembly of deputies and representatives of the cities of the kingdom, the Cortes or Junta of the Kingdom of Galicia. This institution was forcibly discontinued in 1833 when the kingdom was divided into four provinces with no legal mutual links. During the 19th and 20th centuries, demand grew for self-government and this resulted in the Statute of Autonomy of 1936, soon frustrated by Francos coup detat and subsequent long dictatorship. After democracy was restored the legislature passed the Statute of Autonomy of 1981, approved in referendum and currently in force, the interior of Galicia is characterized by a hilly landscape, mountain ranges rise to 2,000 m in the east and south. The coastal areas are mostly a series of rías and cliffs. The climate of Galicia is usually temperate and rainy, with drier summers. Its topographic and climatic conditions have made animal husbandry and farming the primary source of Galicias wealth for most of its history, allowing for a relative high density of population. With the exception of shipbuilding and food processing, Galicia was based on a farming and fishing economy until after the mid-20th century, in 2012, the gross domestic product at purchasing power parity was €56,000 million, with a nominal GDP per capita of €20,700. There are smaller populations around the cities of Lugo and Ourense. The political capital is Santiago de Compostela, in the province of A Coruña, Vigo, in the province of Pontevedra, is the most populous municipality, with 292,817, while A Coruña is the most populous city, with 215,227. 56% of the Galician population speak Galician as their first language and these Callaeci were the first tribe in the area to help the Lusitanians against the invading Romans. The Romans applied their name to all the tribes in the northwest who spoke the same language. In any case, Galicia, being per se a derivation of the ethnic name Kallaikói, the name evolved during the Middle Ages from Gallaecia, sometimes written Galletia, to Gallicia. This coincides with the spelling of the Castilian Spanish name, the historical denomination Galiza became popular again during the end of the 19th and the first three-quarters of the 20th century, and is still used with some frequency today
Galicia (Spain)
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A satellite view of Galicia
Galicia (Spain)
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Flag
Galicia (Spain)
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Bronze Age gold helmet from Leiro,
Rianxo
Galicia (Spain)
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Palloza houses in eastern Galicia, an evolved form of the
Iron Age local
roundhouses
5.
Portugal
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Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts, Carthaginians and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic, political and military powers. Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were also founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic. The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north
Portugal
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Citânia de Briteiros, in the
Minho Province, is the best preserved
Iron Age and
Castro culture site in Portugal.
Portugal
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Flag
Portugal
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The
Roman Temple of Évora, in the
Alentejo, is a symbol of
Lusitania, Roman rule in Portugal.
Portugal
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Monument in Porto to
Vimara Peres, first ruler of the County of Portugal
6.
King
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King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, in the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the title may refer to tribal kingship. Germanic kingship is cognate with Indo-European traditions of tribal rulership In the context of classical antiquity, king may translate Latin rex or either Greek archon or basileus. In classical European feudalism, the title of king as the ruler of a kingdom is understood as the highest rank in the order, potentially subject. In a modern context, the title may refer to the ruler of one of a number of modern monarchies. The title of king is used alongside other titles for monarchs, in the West prince, emperor, archduke, duke or grand duke, in the Middle East sultan or emir, etc. Kings, like other royalty, tend to wear purple because purple was a color to wear in the past. The English term king is derived from the Anglo-Saxon cyning, which in turn is derived from the Common Germanic *kuningaz, the Common Germanic term was borrowed into Estonian and Finnish at an early time, surviving in these languages as kuningas. The English term king translates, and is considered equivalent to, Latin rēx, the Germanic term is notably different from the word for king in other Indo-European languages. It is a derivation from the term *kunjom kin by the -inga- suffix, the literal meaning is that of a scion of the kin, or perhaps son or descendant of one of noble birth. English queen translates Latin regina, it is from Old English cwen queen, noble woman, the Germanic term for wife appears to have been specialized to wife of a king, in Old Norse, the cognate kvan still mostly refers to a wife generally. Scandinavian drottning, dronning is a derivation from *druhtinaz lord. The English word is of Germanic origin, and historically refers to Germanic kingship, the Early Middle Ages begin with a fragmentation of the former Western Roman Empire into barbarian kingdoms. The core of European feudal manorialism in the High Middle Ages were the territories of the kingdom of France, the Holy Roman Empire, in southern Europe, the kingdom of Sicily was established following the Norman conquest of southern Italy. The Kingdom of Sardinia was claimed as a title held by the Crown of Aragon in 1324. In the Balkans, the Kingdom of Serbia was established in 1217, in eastern-central Europe, the Kingdom of Hungary was established in AD1000 following the Christianisation of the Magyars. The kingdoms of Poland and Bohemia were established within the Holy Roman Empire in 1025 and 1198, in Eastern Europe, the Kievan Rus consolidated into the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which did not technically claim the status of kingdom until the early modern Tsardom of Russia. In northern Europe, the kingdoms of the Viking Age by the 11th century expanded into the North Sea Empire under Cnut the Great, king of Denmark, England
King
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The nine European Monarchs who attended the
funeral of
King Edward VII of Britain, photographed at
Windsor Castle on 20 May 1910. Standing, from left to right:
King Haakon VII of Norway,
Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria,
King Manuel II of Portugal,
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany,
King George I of Greece and
King Albert I of Belgium. Seated, from left to right:
King Alfonso XIII of Spain,
King George V of Britain and
King Frederick VIII of Denmark.
King
King
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Ramesses II, the third
Pharaoh of the
Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt.
7.
Prince
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A prince is a male ruler, monarch, or member of a monarchs or former monarchs family. Prince is also a title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess, the English word derives, via the French word prince, from the Latin noun princeps, from primus + capio, meaning the chief, most distinguished, ruler, prince. The Latin word prīnceps, became the title of the informal leader of the Roman senate some centuries before the transition to empire. Emperor Augustus established the position of monarch on the basis of principate. The term may be used of persons in various cultures. These titles were borne by courtesy and preserved by tradition, not law, in medieval and Early Modern Europe, there were as many as two hundred such territories, especially in Italy, Germany, and Gaelic Ireland. In this sense, prince is used of any and all rulers and this is the Renaissance use of the term found in Niccolò Machiavellis famous work, Il Principe. Most small territories designated as principalities during feudal eras were allodial and this is attested in some surviving styles for e. g. British earls, marquesses, and dukes are still addressed by the Crown on ceremonial occasions as high, in parts of the Holy Roman Empire in which primogeniture did not prevail, all legitimate agnates had an equal right to the familys hereditary titles. Gradual substitution of the title of Prinz for the title of Fürst occurred. Both Prinz and Fürst are translated into English as prince, but they not only different. This distinction had evolved before the 18th century for dynasties headed by a Fürst in Germany, note that the princely title was used as a prefix to his Christian name, which also became customary. Cadets of Frances other princes étrangers affected similar usage under the Bourbon kings, the post-medieval rank of gefürsteter Graf embraced but elevated the German equivalent of the intermediate French, English and Spanish nobles. By the 19th century, cadets of a Fürst would become known as Prinzen, the husband of a queen regnant is usually titled prince consort or simply prince, whereas the wives of male monarchs take the female equivalent of their husbands title. In Brazil, Portugal and Spain, however, the husband of a monarch was accorded the masculine equivalent of her title. To complicate matters, the style His/Her Highness, a prefix often accompanying the title of a dynastic prince, although the arrangement set out above is the one that is most commonly understood, there are also different systems. Depending on country, epoch, and translation, other usages of prince are possible, foreign-language titles such as Italian principe, French prince, German Fürst and Prinz, Russian knyaz, etc. are usually translated as prince in English
Prince
–
Cicero attacks
Catiline in the
Senate of the Roman Republic.
Prince
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Royal, noble and
chivalric ranks
Prince
–
Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, was the premier prince du sang during his lifetime (painted by Joost van Egmont).
Prince
–
José, Prince of Brazil,
Duke of Braganza, died before he could ascend to the throne of Portugal.
8.
Sancho VII of Navarre
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Sancho VII Sánchez, called the Strong or the Prudent, was the King of Navarre from 1194 to his death. His retirement at the end of his life has given rise to the nickname el Encerrado or the Retired. The historian and forensic anthropologist, Luis del Campo, who studied his mortal remains and he was probably the eldest child of Sancho VI and Sancha, daughter of Alfonso VII of León, born soon after their marriage, probably in Tudela, their usual residence. He was the brother of Berengaria, who was married to Richard the Lionheart. Sancho and Richard were reputed to have good friends and close allies. The French took advantage of Richards captivity in Germany and captured certain key fortresses of the Angevin dominions including Loches, when Richard returned to his continental lands in 1194, the knights of Sancho were besieging the castle for him. As soon as Richard arrived though, Sancho was forced to return to Navarre at the news of the death of his father and he was crowned in Pamplona on 15 August. He arrived late at the Battle of Alarcos in 1195 and thus ruined good relations with the Castilian sovereign Alfonso VIII, the ensuing confrontation resulted in Sancho devastating Soria and Almazán and Alfonso accepted the Peace of Tarazona. Sancho made expeditions against Murcia and Andalusia, and, between 1198 and 1200, he campaigned in Africa, probably in the service of the Almohads, whose help he wanted against Castile. Taking advantage of his absence, Alfonso VIII of Castile and Peter II of Aragon invaded Navarre, which lost the provinces of Álava, Guipúzcoa and these conquests were subsequently confirmed by the Treaty of Guadalajara. His leadership was decisive in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the year 1212, in that engagement, the Christian forces of Sancho, Alfonso, Afonso II of Portugal, and Peter II of Aragón allied to defeat the forces of the Almohad Caliph Muhammad an-Nasir. Sanchos troops cut the chains guarding the tent and Slavic guards ring of the Miramamolín, for this, it is believed the chains became the symbol of Navarre and replaced the sable eagle on a golden field with a golden chain on a gules field in the Navarrese coat-of-arms. His relations with the north of the Pyrenees were notably better than his Castilian ones. Several Pyreneean counties declared themselves his vassals and he concluded treaties with John, King of England, and the various Aragonese kings of his time, the aforementioned Peter II and James I. With the latter he signed at Tudela, in 1231, which was never finished, Sancho continued the construction of a new cathedral in Pamplona, as begun by his father and to be finished by his successor. The construction of a certain Gothic bridge over the Ebro has also attributed to him. His eldest sister, Berengaria, Queen of England, died in 1232, when he died in his castle at Tudela, probably of complications related to the varicose ulcer in his leg, Blancas son Theobald was recognized as the next monarch of Navarre on the 7th of April. According to Alberic de Trois-Fontaines, Sancho left a library of 1.7 million books and he was originally interred in the church of San Nicolás, but was later moved to Roncesvalles after much resistance from the local Clergy
Sancho VII of Navarre
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Sancho’s sarcophagus
Sancho VII of Navarre
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Sancho's signature and seal, the
Arrano Beltza.
9.
Roda Codex
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It is 205 mm ×285 mm, and contains 232 folios. The manuscript appears to have been housed at Nájera in the 12th century, the codex includes copies of well-known ancient and medieval texts, as well as unique material. The first two-thirds of the compilation reproduces a single work, Paulus Orosius Historiarum adversum paganos libri VII, also notable are Isidore of Sevilles History of the Vandals and Suebi and History of the Goths, the Chronica prophetica, and a genealogy of Jesus. It also includes a chant in honour of Leodegundia Ordóñez, Queen of Navarre, still, the manuscript is perhaps best known for its genealogies of the dynasties ruling on both sides of the Pyrenees. The genealogies in the Roda Codex have played a role in interpreting the scant surviving historical record of the dynasties covered. The family accounts span as many as five generations, ending in the first half of the 10th century and these include the Íñiguez and Jiménez rulers of Pamplona, and the counts of Aragon, Sobrarbe, Ribagorza, Pallars, Toulouse and the duchy of Gascony. Citations Bibliography Zacarías García Villada, El códice de Roda recuperado, Revista de Filología Española 15, textos navarros del Códice de Roda, Estudios de Edad Media de la Corona de Aragón,1, 194-283. article without accompanying genealogical charts José María Lacarra. Las Genealogías del Códice de Roda, Medievalia,10, 213-6, digital images of the Roda Codex
Roda Codex
–
Roda Codex, 1r.
10.
Al-Andalus
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Al-Andalus, also known as Muslim Spain or Islamic Iberia, was a medieval Muslim territory and cultural domain occupying at its peak most of what are today Spain and Portugal. At its greatest geographical extent in the century, southern France—Septimania—was briefly under its control. Rule under these kingdoms led to a rise in cultural exchange, a number of achievements that advanced Islamic and Western science came from al-Andalus including major advances in trigonometry, astronomy, surgery, pharmacology, and other fields. Al-Andalus became an educational center for Europe and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea as well as a conduit for culture. For much of its history, al-Andalus existed in conflict with Christian kingdoms to the north, after the fall of the Umayyad caliphate, al-Andalus was fragmented into a number of minor states and principalities. Attacks from the Christians intensified, led by the Castilians under Alfonso VI, the Almoravid empire intervened and repelled the Christian attacks on the region, deposing the weak Andalusi Muslim princes and included al-Andalus under direct Berber rule. In the next century and a half, al-Andalus became a province of the Berber Muslim empires of the Almoravids and Almohads, ultimately, the Christian kingdoms in the north of the Iberian Peninsula overpowered the Muslim states to the south. In 1085, Alfonso VI captured Toledo, starting a gradual decline of Muslim power, with the fall of Córdoba in 1236, most of the south quickly fell under Christian rule and the Emirate of Granada became a tributary state of the Kingdom of Castile two years later. In 1249, the Portuguese Reconquista culminated with the conquest of the Algarve by Afonso III, finally, on January 2,1492, Emir Muhammad XII surrendered the Emirate of Granada to Queen Isabella I of Castile, completing the Christian Reconquista of the peninsula. The toponym al-Andalus is first attested to by inscriptions on coins minted by the new Muslim government in Iberia, the etymology of the name has traditionally been derived from the name of the Vandals. A number of proposals since the 1980s have contested this, Vallvé proposed a corruption of the name Atlantis, halm derives the name from a Gothic term *landahlauts. Bossong suggests derivation from a pre-Roman substrate and they crossed the Pyrenees and occupied Visigothic Septimania in southern France. Most of the Iberian peninsula became part of the expanding Umayyad Empire and it was organized as a province subordinate to Ifriqiya, so, for the first few decades, the governors of al-Andalus were appointed by the emir of Kairouan, rather than the Caliph in Damascus. Visigothic lords who agreed to recognize Muslim suzerainty were allowed to retain their fiefs, resistant Visigoths took refuge in the Cantabrian highlands, where they carved out a rump state, the Kingdom of Asturias. In the 720s, the al-Andalus governors launched several raids into Aquitaine. At the Battle of Poitiers in 732, the al-Andalus raiding army was defeated by Charles Martel, in 734, the Andalusi launched raids to the east, capturing Avignon and Arles and overran much of Provence. In 737, they climbed up the Rhône valley, reached as far as Burgundy, Charles Martel of the Franks, with the assistance of Liutprand of the Lombards, invaded Burgundy and Provence and expelled the raiders by 739. Relations between Arabs and Berbers in al-Andalus had been tense in the years after the conquest
Al-Andalus
–
Al-Andalus and Christian kingdoms circa 1000 AD
Al-Andalus
–
Islamic-period garden in the
Alhambra.
Al-Andalus
–
A
gold Dinar minted in al-Andalus
11.
Arabic language
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
Arabic language
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The Galland Manuscript of
One Thousand and One Nights, 14th century
Arabic language
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al-ʿArabiyyah in written Arabic (
Naskh script)
Arabic language
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Bilingual traffic sign in
Qatar.
Arabic language
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Examples of how the Arabic root and form system works.
12.
Sancho III of Pamplona
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Sancho Garcés III, also known as Sancho the Great, was the King of Pamplona from 1004 until his death in 1035. He also ruled the County of Aragon and by marriage the counties of Castile, Álava and he later added the County of Cea in 1030 and the counties of Sobrarbe and Ribagoza. He would later intervene in the Kingdom of León, taking the capital city and he was the eldest son of García Sánchez II and his wife Jimena Fernández. The year of Sanchos birth is not known, but it is no earlier than 992 and his parents were García Sánchez II the Tremulous and Jimena Fernández, daughter of Fernando Bermúdez, count of Cea on the Galician frontier. García and Jimena are first recorded as married in 992, the first record of the future king is a diploma of his fathers granting the village of Terrero to the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla. The king describes Sancho merely as my son, the same diploma also shows the future duke of Gascony, Sancho VI, at the court of Pamplona. His father last appears in 1000, while Sancho is first found as king in 1004, on his succession, Sancho initially ruled under a council of regency led by the bishops, his mother Jimena, and grandmother Urraca Fernández. Sancho aspired to unify the Christian principalities in the face of the fragmentation of Muslim Spain into the taifa kingdoms following the Battle of Calatañazor, in about 1010 he married Muniadona of Castile, daughter of Sancho García of Castile, and in 1015 he began a policy of expansion. He displaced Muslim control in the former county of Sobrarbe. Raymond and Mayor annulled their marriage, creating a further division finally resolved in 1025 when Mayor retired to a Castilian convent and he also forced Berengar Raymond I of Barcelona to become his vassal, though he was already a vassal of the French king. Berengar met Sancho in Zaragoza and in Navarre many times to confer on a policy against the counts of Toulouse. In 1016, Sancho fixed the border between Navarre and Castile, part of the relationship he established by marrying Muniadona, daughter of Sancho García of Castile. In 1017, he became the protector of Castile for the young García Sánchez, however, relations between the three Christian entities of León, Castile, and Navarre soured after the assassination of Count García in 1027. He had been bethrothed to Sancha, daughter of Alfonso V, as García arrived in León for his wedding, he was killed by the sons of a noble he had expelled from his lands. Sancho III had opposed the wedding and the expansion of Leonese power to Castile. Sancho established relations with the Duchy of Gascony, probably of a suzerain–vassal nature, in consequence of his relationship with the monastery of Cluny, he improved the road from Gascony to León. This road would begin to bring increased traffic down to Iberia as pilgrims flocked to Santiago de Compostela, because of this, Sancho ranks as one of the first great patrons of the Saint James Way. Sancho VI of Gascony was a relative of King Sancho and spent a portion of his life at the court in Pamplona
Sancho III of Pamplona
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The burial stone of Sancho III, bearing his effigy
Sancho III of Pamplona
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Sancho, as depicted by
Juan Rizi in the 17th century
13.
Ebro River
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The Ebro or Ebre is one of the most important rivers on the Iberian Peninsula. It is the second longest river in the Iberian peninsula after the Tagus, the source of the river Ebro is in Fontibre, from the Latin words Fontes Iberis, source of the Ebro. Close by is the big artificial lake Embalse del Ebro created by the damming of the river, the upper Ebro rushes through rocky gorges in Burgos Province. Karst geological processes shaped the landscape of layers of carbonate rock of extensive limestone bedrock formed in an ancient seabed. Aragonite, a named for Aragon, attests to the fact that carbonates are abundant in the central Ebro Valley. The valley expands and the Ebros flow then becomes slower as its volume increases. There, larger tributaries flowing from the Central Pyrenees and the Iberian System discharge large amounts of water, as it flows through Zaragoza the Ebro, is already a sizeable river. There, the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar stands next to the Ebro, the soils in most of the valley are primarily poor soils, calcareous, pebbly, stony, and sometimes salted with saltwater endorheic lagoons. The semi-arid interior of the Ebro Valley has either drought summers and it is covered with chaparral vegetation. Summers are hot and winters are cold, the dry summer season has temperatures of more than 35 °C, occasionally reaching over 40 °C. In winter, the temperatures drop below 0 °C. In some areas the vegetation depends heavily on moisture produced by condensation fogs and it is a continental Mediterranean climate with extreme temperatures. There are many ground frosts on clear nights, and sporadic snowfalls, the biomes are diverse in these Mediterranean climate zones, Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub. Hinterlands are particularly distinctive on account of extensive sclerophyll shrublands known as maquis, the dominant species are Quercus coccifera and Quercus ilex. These trees form monospecific communities or communities integrated with Pinus, Mediterranean buckthorns, Myrtus, Chamaerops humilis, junipers, Pistacia, Rosmarinus, Thymus, etc. The mountain vegetation is mostly coniferous forests that are drought adapted and their presence is related to the marine origin of the Ebro valley and the extensive marine deposits in the same area. After reaching Catalonia, the Ebro Valley narrows, and the river becomes constrained by mountain ranges, massive dams have been built in this area, such as the dams at Mequinenza, Riba-roja, Flix. In the final section of its course the river bends southwards, the massive calcareous cliffs of the Serra de Cardó range constrain the river during this last stretch, separating the Ebro Valley from the Mediterranean coastal area
Ebro River
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The Ebro River in Zaragoza
Ebro River
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Watershed of the Ebro
Ebro River
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The source of the Ebro in
Fontibre.
Ebro River
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The Ebro River delta from space
14.
Abd-ar-Rahman III
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Abd-ar-Rahman III was the Emir and Caliph of Córdoba of the Umayyad dynasty in al-Andalus. Called al-Nasir li-Din Allah, he ascended the throne in his early 20s, Abd ar-Rahman was born in Córdoba, the grandson of Abdullah, seventh independent Umayyad emir of Al-Andalus. His parents were Abdullahs son Muhammad and Muzna, a Christian concubine and his paternal grandmother was also a Christian, the royal infanta Onneca Fortúnez, daughter of the captive king Fortún Garcés of Pamplona. Abd ar-Rahman was thus nephew in the half-blood of queen Toda of Navarre, white skin, blue eyes and attractive face, good looking, although somewhat sturdy and stout. His legs were short, to the point that the stirrups of his saddle were mounted just one palm under it, when mounted, he looked tall, but on his feet he was quite short. Muhammad was assassinated by his brother Al-Mutarrif, who had grown jealous of the favour Muhammad had gained in the eyes of their father Abdallah. Al-Mutarrif had accused Muhammad of plotting with the rebel Umar ibn Hafsun, according to some sources, the emir himself was behind Muhammads fall, as well as Al-Mutarrifs death in 895. Abd ar-Rahman spent his youth in his mothers harem, Al-Mutarrifs sister, known as al-Sayyida, was entrusted with his education. She made sure that Abd ar-Rahmans education was conducted with some rigor, Emir Abdallah died at the age of 72. Despite the fact that four of his sons were alive at the time of his death, Abdallah instead chose as his successor his grandson, Abd al-Rahman III. Most importantly Abdallah gave Abd al-Rahman his ring, the symbol of power, Abd al-Rahman succeeded Abdallah the day after his death,16 October 912. Historiographers of the time, such as al-Bayan lMogrib and the Cronica anonima de Abd-ar-Rahman III, at the time, Abd al-Rahman was about 21 or 22 years old. He inherited an emirate on the verge of dissolution, his power extending not far beyond the vicinity of Córdoba, to the north, the Christian Kingdom of Asturias was continuing its program of Reconquista in the Duero valley. To the south in Ifriqiya, the Fatimids had created an independent caliphate that threatened to attract the allegiance of the Muslim population, on the internal front the discontented Muladi families represented a constant danger for the Córdoban emir. The most powerful of the latter was Umar ibn Hafsun, who, from his fortress of Bobastro. From the very early stages of his reign, Abd ar-Rahman showed a firm resolve to quash the rebels of Al-Andalus, consolidate centralized power, within 10 days of taking the throne, he exhibited the head of a rebel leader in Cordoba. From this point on he led expeditions against the northern and southern tribes to maintain control over them. To accomplish his aims he introduced into the court the saqalibah, the saqalibah represented a third ethnic group that could neutralize the endless strife between his subjects of Muslim Arab heritage, and those of Muslim Berber heritage
Abd-ar-Rahman III
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Abd-ar-Rahman III and his court in
Medina Azahara, by
Dionisio Baixeras Verdaguer.
Abd-ar-Rahman III
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The
Great Mosque of Córdoba.
15.
Sancho the Great
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Sancho Garcés III, also known as Sancho the Great, was the King of Pamplona from 1004 until his death in 1035. He also ruled the County of Aragon and by marriage the counties of Castile, Álava and he later added the County of Cea in 1030 and the counties of Sobrarbe and Ribagoza. He would later intervene in the Kingdom of León, taking the capital city and he was the eldest son of García Sánchez II and his wife Jimena Fernández. The year of Sanchos birth is not known, but it is no earlier than 992 and his parents were García Sánchez II the Tremulous and Jimena Fernández, daughter of Fernando Bermúdez, count of Cea on the Galician frontier. García and Jimena are first recorded as married in 992, the first record of the future king is a diploma of his fathers granting the village of Terrero to the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla. The king describes Sancho merely as my son, the same diploma also shows the future duke of Gascony, Sancho VI, at the court of Pamplona. His father last appears in 1000, while Sancho is first found as king in 1004, on his succession, Sancho initially ruled under a council of regency led by the bishops, his mother Jimena, and grandmother Urraca Fernández. Sancho aspired to unify the Christian principalities in the face of the fragmentation of Muslim Spain into the taifa kingdoms following the Battle of Calatañazor, in about 1010 he married Muniadona of Castile, daughter of Sancho García of Castile, and in 1015 he began a policy of expansion. He displaced Muslim control in the former county of Sobrarbe. Raymond and Mayor annulled their marriage, creating a further division finally resolved in 1025 when Mayor retired to a Castilian convent and he also forced Berengar Raymond I of Barcelona to become his vassal, though he was already a vassal of the French king. Berengar met Sancho in Zaragoza and in Navarre many times to confer on a policy against the counts of Toulouse. In 1016, Sancho fixed the border between Navarre and Castile, part of the relationship he established by marrying Muniadona, daughter of Sancho García of Castile. In 1017, he became the protector of Castile for the young García Sánchez, however, relations between the three Christian entities of León, Castile, and Navarre soured after the assassination of Count García in 1027. He had been bethrothed to Sancha, daughter of Alfonso V, as García arrived in León for his wedding, he was killed by the sons of a noble he had expelled from his lands. Sancho III had opposed the wedding and the expansion of Leonese power to Castile. Sancho established relations with the Duchy of Gascony, probably of a suzerain–vassal nature, in consequence of his relationship with the monastery of Cluny, he improved the road from Gascony to León. This road would begin to bring increased traffic down to Iberia as pilgrims flocked to Santiago de Compostela, because of this, Sancho ranks as one of the first great patrons of the Saint James Way. Sancho VI of Gascony was a relative of King Sancho and spent a portion of his life at the court in Pamplona
Sancho the Great
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The burial stone of Sancho III, bearing his effigy
Sancho the Great
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Sancho, as depicted by
Juan Rizi in the 17th century
16.
Kingdom of Castile
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The Kingdom of Castile was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region and it began as the County of Castile, an eastern frontier lordship of the Kingdom of León in the 9th century. During the 10th century its counts increased their autonomy, but it was not until 1065 that it was separated from León, between 1072 and 1157 it was again united with León, and after 1230 this union became permanent. Throughout this period the Castilian kings made conquests in southern Iberia at the expense of the Islamic principalities. Castile and León, with their southern acquisitions, came to be known collectively as the Crown of Castile, according to the chronicles of Alfonso III of Asturias, the first reference to the name Castile can be found in a document written during AD800. The name reflects its origin as a march on the frontier of the Kingdom of Asturias, protected by castles. The County of Castile, bordered in the south by the northern reaches of the Spanish Sistema Central mountain system and it was re-populated by inhabitants of Cantabria, Asturias, Vasconia and Visigothic and Mozarab origins. It had its own Romance dialect and customary laws, the areas that they settled didnt extend far from the Cantabrian southeastern ridges, and not beyond the southern reaches of the high Ebro river valleys and canyon gores. Subsequently, the region was subdivided, separate counts being named to Alava, Burgos, Cerezo & Lantarón, the minority of Count García Sánchez led Castile to accept Sancho III of Navarre, married to the sister of Count García, as feudal overlord. García was assassinated in 1028 while in León to marry the princess Sancha, Sancho III, acting as feudal overlord, appointed his younger son Ferdinand as Count of Castile, marrying him to his uncles intended bride, Sancha of León. At the Battle of Tamarón Bermudo was killed, leaving no surviving offspring, in right of his wife, Ferdinand then assumed the royal title as king of León and Castile, for the first time associating the royal title with the rule of Castile. When Ferdinand I died in 1065, the territories were divided among his children, Sancho II became King of Castile, Alfonso VI, King of León and García, King of Galicia, while his daughters were given towns, Urraca, Zamora, and Elvira, Toro. Sancho II allied himself with Alfonso VI of León and together they conquered, Sancho later attacked Alfonso VI and invaded León with the help of El Cid, and drove his brother into exile, thereby reuniting the three kingdoms. Urraca permitted the greater part of the Leonese army to take refuge in the town of Zamora, Sancho laid siege to the town, but the Castilian king was assassinated in 1072 by Bellido Dolfos, a Galician nobleman. As a result, Alfonso VI recovered all his territory of León. This was the union of León and Castile, although the two kingdoms remained distinct entities joined only in a personal union. The sworn oath taken by El Cid before Alfonso VI in Santa Gadea de Burgos regarding the innocence of Alfonso in the matter of the murder of his brother is well known, under Alfonso VI, there was an approach to the rest of Europeans kingdoms, including France. He gave his daughters, Elvira, Urraca and Theresa, in marriage to Raymond of Toulouse, Raymond of Burgundy, in the Council of Burgos in 1080 the traditional Mozarabic rite was replaced by the Roman one
Kingdom of Castile
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Flag
17.
Ribagorza
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Ribagorza or Ribagorça is a comarca in modern Aragon, Spain, situated in the north-east of the province of Huesca. It borders the French département of the Haute-Garonne to the north, within Aragon its neighboring counties are Sobrarbe, Somontano de Barbastro, and La Litera. It roughly corresponds to the Aragonese part of the medieval County of Ribagorza, the administrative capital of Ribagorza is Graus, although the historical capital of the county was at Benabarre. The Ribagorçan dialect is a transitional Aragonese–Catalan dialect spoken in the part of the county. Municipalities in the part, bordering Catalonia, are part of La Franja, a geolinguistic area. However, Aragonese and Catalan form a dialect continuum here and the limit of both languages cannot be drawn in a clear-cut manner. The traditional names of the towns are in brackets
Ribagorza
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The
Aneto, the highest peak in the
Pyrenees, is located in this comarca
Ribagorza
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Ribagorza/Ribagorça
18.
Kingdom of Galicia
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The Kingdom of Galicia was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Founded by Suebic king Hermeric in 409, the Galician capital was established in Braga, being the first kingdom which adopted Catholicism officially and it was part of the Kingdom of the Spanish Visigothic monarchs from 585 to 711. Compostela became capital of Galicia in the 11th century, while the independence of Portugal determined its southern boundary, the representative assembly of the Kingdom was then the Junta or Cortes of the Kingdom of Galicia, which briefly declared itself sovereign when Galicia alone remained free of Napoleonic occupation. The kingdom and its Junta were dissolved by Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the origin of the kingdom lies in the 5th century, when the Suebi settled permanently in the former Roman province of Gallaecia. Their king, Hermeric, probably signed a foedus, or pact, with the Roman Emperor Honorius, the Suebi set their capital in the former Bracara Augusta, setting the foundations of a kingdom which was first acknowledged as Regnum Suevorum, but later as Regnum Galliciense. The independent Suebic kingdom of Galicia lasted from 410 to 585, in 410 Gallaecia was divided, ad habitandum, among two Germanic people, the Hasdingi Vandals, who settled the eastern lands, and the Suebi, who established themselves in the coastal areas. As with most Germanic invasions, the number of the original Suebi is estimated to be low, generally fewer than 100,000. They settled mainly in the regions around modern northern Portugal and Western Galicia, in the towns of Braga and Porto, in 419 a war broke out between the Vandal king Gunderic and the Suebis Hermeric. After a blockade alongside the Nervasian Mountains, the Suebi obtained Roman help, in the absence of competitors, the Suebi began a period of expansion, first inside Gallaecia, and later into other Roman provinces. In 438 Hermeric ratified a treaty with the Gallaeci, the native. In 448 Rechila died, leaving the state to his son Rechiar. Rechiar married a Visigothic princess, and was also the first Germanic king to mint coins in ancient Roman territories, Rechiar led further expansions to the east, marauding through the Provincia Tarraconensis, which was still held by Rome. The Roman emperor Avitus sent an army of foederates, under the direction of the Visigoth Theoderic II. Rechiar fled, but he was pursued and captured, then executed in 457, in the aftermath of Rechiars death, multiple candidates for the throne appeared, finally grouping into two allegiances. By 465 Remismund, who established a policy of friendship with the Goths, five of the attendant bishops used Germanic names, showing the integration of the different communities of the country. After clashing in frontier lands, Miro and Leovigild agreed upon a temporary peace, the Suebi maintained their independence until 585, when Leovigild, on the pretext of conflict over the succession, invaded the Suebic kingdom and finally defeated it. Audeca, the last king of the Suebi, who had deposed his brother-in-law Eboric and this same year a nobleman named Malaric rebelled against the Goths, but he was defeated. As with the Visigothic language, there are traces of the Suebi tongue remaining
Kingdom of Galicia
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The location of the Kingdom of Galicia in the 11th century CE, in red
Kingdom of Galicia
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Arms of the Kingdom of Galicia, illustrated in L´armorial Le Blancq,
Bibliothèque nationale de France, 1560
Kingdom of Galicia
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Theodemar (or
Ariamir), king of Galicia with the bishops Lucrecio, Andrew, and Martin.
Codex Vigilanus (or Albeldensis),
Escurial library
Kingdom of Galicia
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Silver coin of the Galician-Suebi king,
Rechiar (438–55); the
reverse reads IVSSV RICHIARI REGES, Latin for "by order of King Rechiar"
19.
Count of Barcelona
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The Count of Barcelona was the ruler of Catalonia for much of Catalan history, from the 9th until the 15th century. The County of Barcelona was created by Charlemagne after he had conquered lands north of the river Ebro, as the county became hereditary in one family, the bond of the counts to their Frankish overlords loosened, especially after the Capetian dynasty supplanted the Carolingians. In the 12th century the Counts formed a union with the Kingdom of Aragon. In 1258, the king of France relinquished his authority over the County in the Treaty of Corbeil. Catalonia maintained its own laws, institutions, taxes and privileges until they were removed after the War of the Spanish Succession in the 18th century, Count of Barcelona remained one of the many hereditary titles of the Spanish monarchy. In the 20th century, the title regained some prominence when Juan de Borbón, in 1977, after Juan Carlos had become King upon Francos death in 1975, he officially awarded the title of Count of Barcelona to his father, who had renounced his rights to the throne. Juan held that title until his death in 1993, when it reverted to the King who has held it ever since, Juan de Borbóns widow used the title Countess of Barcelona until her death in 2000. The succession of Ramon Berenguer IV and Petronilla led to the creation of the Crown of Aragon, martin was the last direct descendant of Wilfred the Hairy to rule, died without legitimate heirs. By the Compromise of Caspe of 1412 the County of Barcelona, in Barcelona this was promulgated in 1716, and the title of Count of Barcelona became one of the many unused hereditary titles of the modern Spanish monarchy. List of Aragonese monarchs List of Spanish monarchs List of Viscounts of Barcelona
Count of Barcelona
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Counties in the Spanish March.
Count of Barcelona
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Wilfred I (Guifré I) el Pelós (the Hairy)
Count of Barcelona
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Wilfred II Borrell I (Guifré II Borrell)
Count of Barcelona
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Sunyer
20.
Duke of Gascony
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The Duchy of Gascony or Duchy of Vasconia, was a duchy in present southwestern France and northeastern Spain, part corresponding to the modern region of Gascony after 824. The Duchy of Gascony, then known as Wasconia, was originally a Frankish march formed to sway over the Basques. In the Hundred Years War, Charles V of France conquered most of Gascony by 1380, the corresponding portion within Spain became part of the Basque Kingdom of Navarre. Gascony was the territory of Roman Gallia Aquitania. This province, by the 2nd century, was extended to much of western Roman Gaul. Thus, the name of the Aquitani came to be transferred to the territory of central-western France later known as the Duchy of Aquitaine, in 293, Diocletian re-created the original province of Caesars Aquitania under the name of Novempopulania or Aquitania Tertia. Around 580, both the Visigothic kingdom and the kingdom of the Franks launched major campaigns against the Basques, in 587 Basques are cited as raiding the plains of Aquitaine, maybe to the west of Toulouse. Chilperic I sent his duke Bladastes stationed in Toulouse, but was defeated and this military push from a stronger centralized authority in Toledo placed more pressure on the Basques to get off the Ebro rich farmland than those already stretching all the way to the Garonne. In this period, the count of Bordeaux Galactorius is cited as fighting the Basques, who are portrayed as hiding out in the mountains, in 602, the Merovingians created a frontier duchy to their southwest during the tripartite wars between Franks, Visigoths, and Basques. A certain Genial was then appointed dux wasconum as a way of handling their relations with the Basques. At the same time, the Visigoths created the Duchy of Cantabria as a buffer against the Basques inhabiting west of current Navarre, about this period duke Francio is reported to vow allegiance to the Franks in Cantabria, an area inhabited by the Basques, but c. 612, the Gothic king Sisebut seems to have conquered the territory, in the years 610 and 612 respectively, the Gothic kings Gundemar and Sisebut launched attacks against the Basques. After a Basque attack in the Ebro valley in the year 621, Swinthila defeated them, however, the Basques relish was short-lived since they were brought to heel by Dagobert. By 626, it is certain that the extended up to the Pyrenees. In 643, there was another rebellion to the north of the Pyrenees and in 642 and 654 they battled against the Visigoths to the south, in Saragossa. From 589 to 684, the Bishop of Pamplona was absent from the Visigothic Councils of Toledo, under Felix and his successors, Frankish overlordship over these lands became merely nominal, and Vasconia became a prominent regional power. Independent dukes Lupus, Odo, Hunald and Waifer succeeded him respectively and their ethnicity is not certain, since records and their names are not conclusive. But the Umayyad invasion of 711 effected a shift in trends
Duke of Gascony
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Duchy of Vasconia after the Battle of Poitiers (734-743)
Duke of Gascony
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The duchy of Gascony (green) in 1150
Duke of Gascony
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Duchy of Vasconia and both sides of the Pyrenees (760)
21.
Imperator totius Hispaniae
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Imperator totius Hispaniae is a Latin title meaning Emperor of all Spain. In Spain in the Middle Ages, the emperor was used under a variety of circumstances from the ninth century onwards. It was primarily used by the Kings of León and Castile, the use of the imperial title received scant recognition outside of Spain and it had become largely forgotten by the thirteenth century. The analogous feminine title, empress, was frequently used for the consorts of the emperors. Only one reigning queen, Urraca, had occasion to use it, a surviving charter of 863 refers to Ordoño I as our lord, residing in the Asturias, qualifying him as a commanding prince. This residential form of title was preferred because the Asturian kingdom at this stage was not ethnically unified or well-defined. The first document, dated to 866 or 867, confirmed by Alfonso, who signs as I, Alfonso, of all Spain emperor, the other refers to him simply as Alfonso, Emperor of Spain. The forger may have borrowed these exalted titles from the chancery of Alfonso VI, the subscription lists of both these charters are compatible with the dates, and it has been suggested that the clauses referring to Alfonso as emperor are derived from authentic charters. A similarly grandiose title is given to Alfonso in the contemporary Chronica Prophetica, the authenticity of the letter is still debated. Besides the apocryphal charters, there are genuine, posthumous documents referring to Alfonso as emperor, in one that dates from 917, in the reign of his son Ordoño II of León, the king confirms as Ordoño, son of the Emperor Alfonso the Great. A document from 950 can also be cited that refers to Alfonso with the imperial title, the pertinent passage reads, They put in place a border with Gonzalo, son of our lord emperor Prince Alfonso. A royal diploma of 922, where Ordoño II refers to himself as emperor, is the first recorded instance of a Leonese king doing so, the charter reads, I, the most serene emperor Ordoño. Although he apparently avoided the imperial style himself, his subjects, private documents of his reign commonly refer to him as the great king, as in a document of 930. Contemporary documents of the reign of Ramiro III of León use the magnified titles basileus and magnus rex, the former is a Latinisation of the Greek for king and was the title employed by the Byzantine Emperors. To western European ears it had an imperial inflection, during the regency of Ramiros aunt, the nun Elvira Ramírez, the king confirmed a document of 1 May 974 as Flavius Ramiro, prince, anointed great basileus in the kingdom. I confirm with my own hand, Elvira, basilea, paternal aunt of the king. Its use in a document of the tenth century harkens back to Visigothic rule, a judicial document that emanated from the royal court in 976 refers to a certain royal servant as in the palace of the most lordly king–emperor. in obedient service to his most lordly emperor. In the first decades of the century, the Catalan Abbot Oliba referred to the kings of León, Alfonso V and Bermudo III
Imperator totius Hispaniae
–
A Privilegium Imperatoris (Imperial Privilege), as it reads at the top, issued by the Emperor
Alfonso VII of León and Castile granting land to a certain Abbot William (bottom, centre) for the foundation of a
Benedictine monastery. Behind Alfonso (right) is his majordomo, Count
Ponce Giraldo de Cabrera, bearing a sword and shield. At bottom left are Alfonso's sons
Sancho and
Fernando.
Imperator totius Hispaniae
–
Alfonso III of León (866–910)
Imperator totius Hispaniae
–
Ordoño II of León (910–924)
Imperator totius Hispaniae
–
Ramiro II of León (931–951)
22.
Ramiro I of Aragon
–
Ramiro I was the first King of Aragon from 1035 until his death. Apparently born before 1007, he was the son of Sancho III of Pamplona by his mistress Sancha de Aybar. He was called king by his vassals, neighbors, the church and even his sons, likewise, in his two wills, he refers to his lands as having been given him in stewardship, in the first by García, and in the second by God. He is called regulus and quasi pro rege in charters from Navarre, due to his growing independence and the small size of his Pyrenean holdings, he is sometimes called a petty king, Aragon a pocket kingdom. Ramiro sought to enlarge his lands at the expense of both the Moors and his brother, García, the King of Navarre, shortly after the death of his father, he supported the emir of Tudela in an invasion of the Navarre. While he was defeated in the Battle of Tafalla, he still was able to gain territory, including Sanguesa, in 1043, apparently with the approval of García, he annexed Sobrarbe and Ribagorza, previously held by his youngest legitimate half-brother, Gonzalo. This union created a pseudo-independent Aragonese state, with its capital at Jaca, before he was married, Ramiro had a mistress named Amuña with whom he had a natural son, Sancho Ramírez, in whom he confided the government of the county of Ribagorza. Ramiro wed his first wife, Gisberga, daughter of Bernard Roger of Bigorre and she changed her name to Ermesinda on marrying him. Ramiros second wife was Agnes, was perhaps a daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine, after annexation of Ribagorza and Sobrarbe, Ramiro began the advance from Aragon toward Huesca and Zaragossa. The first charter for the town of Jaca is attributed to him. It included well defined laws of protection even to non residents, Ramiro died at the Battle of Graus in 1063 while trying to take the city. He was buried at the monastery of San Juan de la Peña, in Santa Cruz de la Serós
Ramiro I of Aragon
–
13th century miniature of Ramiro
23.
Bermudo III
–
Bermudo III, king of León, son of Alfonso V of León by his first wife Elvira Menéndez, was the last scion of Peter of Cantabria to rule in the Leonese kingdom. He was called Emperor in Galicia in 1025, Bermudo III was the son of Alfonso V of León by his first wife Elvira Menéndez. He succeeded to the throne of León in 1027, Bermudo married Jimena Sánchez, who was a daughter of Sancho Garcia of Castile. Leon and Navarre disputed the succession to the Countship of Castile thus left vacant, Sancho III of Pamplona was married to Muniadona, daughter of Sancho García of Castile, and sister to the murdered count. Sancho claimed the county of Castile in his wifes name and installed in it their son, Ferdinand and he seized the borderlands between the Cea and the Pisuerga rivers, right above León capital, long a bone of contention between León and Castile. In 1032 Sancho of Navarre forced a marriage between his son, Fernando of Castile, and Sancha of León, and those lands went to Castile as part of her dowry. In 1034, Sancho wrested the city of León itself from his brother-in-law, Bermudo, by the time Sancho died in 1035, the meseta north of the Duero was dominated by the Pyrenean pocket kingdom of Navarre. However, for all of Sanchos diplomatic and military skill, one cannot help, Bermudo III was killed at the Battle of Tamarón on September 4,1037. Autopsy of his remains shows that he may have suffered death from infantry spears or pikes, after falling from his horse. Since the latter died without an heir, the kingdom of León now recognized Sancha and her husband as its rulers, from that time the hegemony which Leon had enjoyed began to pass to Castile. By his wife Jimena, daughter of Sancho III of Pamplona, Bermudo had one child, a son named Alfonso, justo Pérez de Urbel and Ricardo Del Arco y Garay, Historia de España, vol. 6, España cristiana, comienzo de la reconquista, 2d ed, bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press
Bermudo III
–
Bermudo III
Bermudo III
–
The tomb of Bermudo III of León.
24.
Alfonso VI of Castile
–
Alfonso VI, nicknamed the Brave or the Valiant, was the son of King Ferdinand I of León and Queen Sancha, daughter of Alfonso V and sister of Bermudo III. He became king of León and of Galicia, and then king of the reunited Castile, the son of Ferdinand I, King of León and Count of Castile and his wife, Queen Sancha, Alfonso was a Leonese Infante with Navarrese and Castilian blood. His paternal grandparents were Sancho Garcés III, king of Pamplona and his wife Muniadona of Castile, the year of Alfonsos birth is not recorded in medieval documentation. Bernard F. Reilly says he died at age 72, which would place his birth in 1037, the second child and eldest son, Sancho, would have been born in the second half of 1038 or in 1039. All of them, except Elvira, confirm a document in the monastery of San Juan Bautista de Corias on 26 April 1046, the cleric Raimundo was in charge of Alfonsos early education. Already king, Alfonso appointed him Bishop of Palencia and referred to him as magistro nostro, viro nobile et Deum timenti, as the second son of the king of León and Count of Castile, Alfonso would not have been entitled to inherit the throne. His elder brother, Sancho, was given the Kingdom of Castile, created by his father for him, the conflicts began after the death of their mother Queen Sancha on 7 November 1067, leading to seven years of war between the three brothers. The first skirmish was the Battle of Llantada, a trial by ordeal in which both agreed that the one who was victorious would obtain the kingdom of the defeated brother. This was the event where both decided to join forces to divide between themselves the Kingdom of Galicia that had been assigned to their younger brother García II. After eliminating their brother, Alfonso VI and Sancho II titled themselves kings of Galicia, the truce was broken with the Battle of Golpejera on 12 January 1072. However, during the siege, Sancho II was murdered, according to tradition, during the siege a nobleman named Vellido Dolfos appeared before the king, claiming to have changed his loyalty from Urraca to Sancho. Under the pretense of showing him the parts of the citys walls, Dolfos separated the king from his guard. The violent death of Sancho II, who had no descendants, allowed Alfonso VI to reclaim his throne as well as Sanchos and Garcias original inheritances of Castile and Galicia, respectively. Although Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, the standard-bearer and confidant of King Sancho II, was present at the siege of Zamora, neither can Sancho IIs death be blamed on Alfonso VI, who, when his brother was killed, was in exile far from the events. Nevertheless, the minstrels and ballads filled this void with beautiful literary creations devoid of any historical reality and it was at this time that the Leyenda de Cardeña concerning El Cid was born. He held him at the castle of Luna, for seventeen years, in 1072 he entitled himself rex Spanie. Alfonsos first movement was in 1076 after the death of King Sancho IV of Navarre and his great territorial expansion came at the expense of the Taifa Muslim kingdoms. In 1076, the Emir of Zaragoza, who wished to seize Valencia without being disturbed by Alfonso VI, one of the initiatives of these years, known as the Treason of Rueda, ended in failure
Alfonso VI of Castile
–
A 12th-century painting of Alfonso VI at the
Cathedral of
Santiago de Compostela.
Alfonso VI of Castile
–
Signature of Alfonso VI, from a 1097 charter.
Alfonso VI of Castile
–
Epitaph of Jimena Muñoz, Alfonso's mistress and progenitor of the first Portuguese royal line
25.
Sancho IV of Navarre
–
Sancho Garcés IV, nicknamed Sancho of Peñalén was King of Pamplona from 1054 until his murder in 1076. He was the eldest son of García Sánchez III and his queen, Stephanie, Sancho was the eldest son and heir of García Sánchez III and his wife Stephanie. García was killed at the Battle of Atapuerca on 1 September 1054 during a war with the Kingdom of León. Sancho, who was fourteen years of age, was proclaimed king by the army in the camp by the field of battle with the consent of the king of León, Ferdinand I. Sanchos mother served as his regent until her death on 25 May 1058, remaining faithful to her husbands policies, she continued to support the monastery of Santa María la Real of Nájera. Soon after Sanchos accession, many lords in the west of the kingdom went over to the Leonese, only Íñigo López, lord of Biscay, and Sancho Fortúnez, lord of Pancorbo, remained loyal. On 29 December 1062, Sancho and Ferdinand signed a treaty defining their shared border, Ferdinand was recognised as king of all Castile and Sanchos authority was recognised in the Rioja, Álava, Biscay, and implicitly Guipúzcoa. As king, Sancho received support from his uncle, Kin Ramiro I of Aragon. Out of gratitude for his friendship, his fidelity, his help and his council, Sancho gave Ramiro possession of Lerda, Undués and these places were probably to be held as fiefs or in a similar arrangement. Beginning in 1060, Sancho put pressure on al-Muqtadir, king of Zaragoza, from 1065, he was in conflict with Castile, raised to a kingdom for Ferdinands son Sancho the Strong. This culminated in the so-called War of the Three Sanchos, years before, Sanchos father had managed to retain a series of frontier lands, including Bureba and Alta Rioja, which had been claimed by Ferdinand. Sancho the Strong sought to reconquer these lands for his kingdom, faced with an invasion by his cousin the Castilian Sancho, The Navarrese Sancho asked for aid from his other cousin, Sancho of Aragón. But their forces were defeated by Sancho the Strong and his trusted alférez El Cid, Sancho lost Bureba, Alta Rioja and he was assassinated in Peñalén, whence his nickname, by a conspiracy headed by his brother Ramón Garcés and his sister Ermesinda of Navarre. During a scheduled hunt, Sancho was forced from a cliff by his siblings, upon his assassination, the kingdom was invaded and ultimately partitioned between Sancho of Aragon and a third cousin, Alfonso VI of León and Castile. Alfonso occupied La Rioja and Sancho was proclaimed king in Pamplona, Sancho Garcés IV married a French woman, Placencia of Normandy in 1068. García Sánchez died in Toledo around the year 1092, García Sánchez, with the same name as the eldest son, dead after 1092. Sancho Garcés had a lover named Jimena with whom he had two children, Raimundo Sánchez, lord of Esquiroz
Sancho IV of Navarre
–
House of Íñiguez
26.
Alfonso the Battler
–
Alfonso I, called the Battler or the Warrior, was the king of Aragon and Navarre from 1104 until his death in 1134. He was the son of King Sancho Ramírez and successor of his brother Peter I. Alfonso the Battler earned his sobriquet in the Reconquista and he won his greatest military successes in the middle Ebro, where he conquered Zaragoza in 1118 and took Ejea, Tudela, Calatayud, Borja, Tarazona, Daroca, and Monreal del Campo. He died in September 1134 after a battle with the Muslims at the Battle of Fraga. During his brothers reign, he participated in the taking of Huesca, which became the largest city in the kingdom and he also joined El Cids expeditions in Valencia. His father gave him the lordships of Biel, Luna, Ardenes, a series of deaths put Alfonso directly in line for the throne. His brothers children, Isabella and Peter, died in 1103 and 1104 respectively, a passionate fighting-man, he was married in 1109 to the ambitious Queen Urraca of León, widow of Raymond of Burgundy, a passionate woman unsuited for a subordinate role. The marriage had been arranged by her father Alfonso VI of León in 1106 to unite the two chief Christian states against the Almoravids, and to them with a capable military leader. But Urraca was tenacious of her right as queen regnant and had not learnt chastity in the household of her father. Husband and wife quarrelled with the brutality of the age and came to open war, Alfonso had the support of one section of the nobles who found their account in the confusion. The marriage of Alfonso and Urraca was declared null by the Pope, as they were cousins, in 1110. He inserted the title of imperator on the basis that he had three kingdoms under his rule, the king quarrelled with the church, and particularly the Cistercians, almost as violently as with his wife. As he defeated her, so he drove Archbishop Bernard into exile and he was finally compelled to give way in Castile and León to his stepson, Alfonso VII of Castile, son of Urraca and her first husband. The intervention of Pope Calixtus II brought about an arrangement between the old man and his young namesake, in 1122 in Belchite, he founded a confraternity of knights to fight against the Almoravids. It was the start of the orders in Aragon. Years later, he organised a branch of the Militia Christi of the Holy Land at Monreal del Campo, Alfonso spent his first four years in near-constant war with the Muslims. In 1105, he conquered Ejea and Tauste and refortified Castellar, in 1106, he defeated Ahmad II al-Mustain of Zaragoza at Valtierra. In 1107, he took Tamarite de Litera and Esteban de la Litera, then followed a period dominated by his relations with Castile and León through his wife, Urraca
Alfonso the Battler
–
Statue of Alfonso in the Parque Grande José Antonio Labordeta, Zaragoza
Alfonso the Battler
–
A
denarius of Alfonso's, minted at
Jaca, bearing his effigy and the inscription ANFUS-REX ARA-GON (Anfusus rex Aragonensium, King Alfonso of Aragon).
27.
Urraca of Castile
–
Urraca called the Reckless, was Queen of León, Castile, and Galicia from 1109 until her death in childbirth. She claimed the title as suo jure Empress of All the Spains. Urraca’s place in the line of succession made her the focus of politics, and she became a child bride at age eight to Raymond of Burgundy. Urracas marriage to Raymond was part of Alfonso VIs diplomatic strategy to attract cross-Pyrenees alliances, author Bernard F. Reilly doubts that the marriage was consummated until Urraca was 13, as she was placed under the protective guardianship of a trusted magnate. Her pregnancy and stillbirth at age 14 suggest that the marriage was indeed consummated when she was 13 or 14 years old, Urraca gave birth two children, a daughter, Sancha Raimúndez and a son, Alfonso Raimúndez, who would become Alfonso VII. Raymond died in 1107, leaving Urraca a widow with two small children, Urraca became again an heir presumptive after the death of her half-brother Sancho at the Battle of Uclés in 1108. Alfonso VI reunited the nobles of the Kingdom in Toledo and announced that his daughter was the chosen one to succeeded him. The nobles agreed with the designation but demanded that Urraca should marry again. Several candidates for the hand of the heiress to the thrones of León and Castile appeared immediately, including counts Gómez González, marriage negotiations were still underway when Alfonso VI died on 29 June/1 July 1109 and Urraca became queen. Many of Alfonso VI’s advisers and leading magnates in the kingdom formed a “quiet opposition” to the marriage of the queen to the King of Aragon. According to Bernard F. Reilly, these magnates feared the influence the King of Aragon might attempt to wield over Urraca, as events unfolded, these advisers underestimated Urracas political prowess, and later advised her to end the marriage. Also, they believed that the new marriage of Urraca could put in jeopardy the rights of the son of her first marriage, from Galicia, the count of Traba began the first aggressive movement against the monarchs reclaiming the hereditary rights of Alfonso Raimúndez. In response to the Galician rebellion, Alfonso I of Aragon marched with his army to Galicia and in 1110, as their relationship soured, Urraca accused Alfonso of physical abuse, and by May 1110 she separated from Alfonso. Additionally, as Urraca was married to many in the kingdom objected to. Estrangement between husband and wife escalated from discrete and simmering hostilities into open armed warfare between the Leonese-Castilians and the Aragonese, an alliance between Alfonso of Aragon and Henry of Portugal culminated in the 1111 Battle of Candespina in which Urracas lover and chief supporter Gómez González was killed. He was soon replaced in both roles by another count, Pedro González de Lara, who took up the fight, by the fall of 1112 a truce was brokered between Urraca and Alfonso with their marriage annulled. Recovering these regions and expanding into Muslim lands would occupy much of Urracas foreign policy, according to author Bernard F. Additionally, the circumstance of Urraca’s gender added a distinctive role-reversal dimension to diplomacy and politics, which Urraca used to her advantage. Urraca is characterized in the Historia Compostelana as prudent, modest and these observations were hardly neutral or dispassionate, according to Reilly, who wrote, here is no question that the queen is in control, perhaps all too much in control, of events
Urraca of Castile
–
Queen Urraca presides over Court, Santiago Cathedral
Urraca of Castile
–
Signature of Urraca from 1097 charter.
Urraca of Castile
–
Statue of Queen Urraca in Madrid, sculpted by Juan Pascual de Mena.
28.
Kingdom of Navarre
–
The medieval Kingdom of Pamplona was formed when the native chieftain Íñigo Arista was elected or declared King in Pamplona, and led a revolt against the regional Frankish authority. The southern part of the kingdom was conquered by the Crown of Castile in 1512, the monarchs of this unified state took the title King of France and Navarre until its fall in 1792, and again during the Bourbon Restoration from 1814 until 1830. There are similar earlier toponyms but the first documentation of Latin navarros appears in Eginhards chronicle of the feats of Charles the Great, other Royal Frankish Annals give nabarros. Basque naba/Castilian nava + Basque herri, the linguist Joan Coromines consider naba as not clearly Basque in origin but as part of a wider pre-Roman substrate. The area was conquered by the Romans by 74 BC. It was first part of the Roman province of Citerior, then of the Tarraconensis province, after that it was part of the conventus Caesaraugustanus. The Roman empire influenced the area in urbanization, language, infrastructure, commerce, after the decline of the Western Roman Empire, neither the Visigoths nor the Arabs succeeded in permanently occupying the western Pyrenees. The western Pyrenees passages were the only ones allowing good transit through the mountains and that made the region strategically important from early in its history. The Franks under Charlemagne extended their influence and control towards the south, occupying several regions of the north and it is not clear how solid the Frankish control over Pamplona was. In response, the Cordoban Emirate launched a campaign to place the region under their firm control and it placed a muwallad governor, Mutarrif ibn Musa, in Pamplona. The same year the Basque leader, Jimeno the Strong, submitted to the Emir, in 799, Mutarrif ibn Musa was killed by a pro-Frankish faction whose leader Velasco gained control of the region. In 806 and 812 Pamplona fell into the Franks hands, due to difficulties at home, the Frankish rulers could not give full attention to the outlying borderlands, and the country gradually withdrew entirely from their allegiance. In 816, Louis the Pious removed Seguin as Duke of Vasconia, the rebel Garcia Jiménez arose in his place, and was killed in turn in 818. Louis son Pepin, then King of Aquitaine, stamped out the Vasconic revolt in Gascony and he next hunted the chieftains who had taken refuge in southern Vasconia, i. e. Pamplona and Navarre, no longer controlled by the Franks. He sent an army led by the counts Aeblus and Aznar-Sanchez, on the way back, however, they were ambushed and defeated in Roncesvaux by a probable joint Vasconic-Banu Qasi force. Out of this pattern of resistance against both Frankish and Cordoban interests, the Basque chieftain Íñigo Arista took power, tradition tells he was elected as king of Pamplona in 824, giving rise to a dynasty of kings in Pamplona that would last for eighty years. Pamplona and Navarre are cited as separate entities in a Frankish Carolingian chronicle, Pamplona is cited in 778 by another Frankish account as a Navarrese stronghold, while this may be put down to their vague knowledge of the Basque territory. They distinguished Navarre and its main town in 806 though, while the Chronicle of Fontenelle quotes Induonis et Mitionis, however, Arab chroniclers make no such distinctions, and just talk of the Baskunisi, a transliteration of Vascones, since a big majority of the population was Basque
Kingdom of Navarre
–
Navarre (light green) in 1190
Kingdom of Navarre
–
Flag
Kingdom of Navarre
–
Magdalena of Valois, regent of Navarre from 1479 to 1494, and mother of Queen
Catherine I of Navarre
Kingdom of Navarre
–
Queen Joan III
29.
Petronilla of Aragon
–
Petronilla, whose name is also spelled Petronila or Petronella, was the Queen of Aragon from the abdication of her father in 1137 until her own abdication in 1164. She was the daughter and successor of Ramiro II by his queen and she was the last ruling member of the Jiménez dynasty in Aragon, and by marriage brought the throne to the House of Barcelona. Petronilla came to the throne through special circumstances and her father, Ramiro, was bishop of Barbastro-Roda when his brother, Alfonso I, died without an heir in 1134, and left the crown to the three religious military orders. His decision was not respected, the aristocracy of Navarre elected a king of their own, restoring their independence, as king, he received a papal dispensation to abdicate from his monastic vows in order to secure the succession to the throne. King Ramiro the Monk, as he is known, married Agnes of Aquitaine in 1135, their only child and her marriage was a very important matter of state. The nobility had rejected the proposition of Alfonso VII of Castile to arrange a marriage between Petronilla and his son Sancho and to educate her at his court. When she was just a little one year old, Petronilla was betrothed in Barbastro on 11 August 1137 to Raymond Berengar IV, Count of Barcelona. At El Castellar on 13 November, Ramiro abdicated, transferred authority to Ramon Berenguer, Ramon Berenger de facto ruled the kingdom using the title of Prince of the Aragonese. In August 1150, when Petronilla was fourteen, the betrothal was ratified at a ceremony held in the city of Lleida. Petronilla consummated her marriage to Ramon Berenguer in the part of 1151. The marriage produced five children, Peter, Raymond Berengar, Peter, Dulce, while she was pregnant with the first, on 4 April 1152, she wrote up a will bequeathing her kingdom to her husband in case she did not survive childbirth. While her husband was away in Provence, where he was regent for the young Count Raymond Berengar II, accounting records show her moving between there and Vilamajor and Sant Celoni while presiding over the court in Raymond Berengars absence. After her husbands death in 1162, Petronilla received the prosperous County of Besalú and her eldest son was seven years old when, on 18 July 1164, Petronilla abdicated the throne of Aragon and passed it to him. When Raymond Berenguer inherited the throne from his mother, he changed his name to Alfonso out of deference to the Aragonese, the second son named Peter then changed his name to Raymond Berenguer. Petronilla died in Barcelona in October 1173 and was buried at Barcelona Cathedral, after her death, Besalú and Vall de Ribes reverted to the direct domain of the Count of Barcelona, her son Alfonso, who by 1174 had bestowed Besalú on his wife, Sancha. In the Ribes, the bailiff, Ramon, had carved out for himself a virtually independent administrative authority there. He had conducted an inventory for Petronilla after Raymond Berenguers death, in 1410, after the death of King Martin without living legitimate descendants, the House of Barcelona became extinct in the legitimate male line. Two years later, Fernando of Trastámara was enthroned per the Compromise of Caspe, although Fernando triumphed mainly for political and military reasons, the theoretical basis of his candidacy was inheritance in the female line, for which Petronilla served as the precedent
Petronilla of Aragon
–
Charter by which Petronilla abdicated in favour of her son.
Petronilla of Aragon
–
Petronilla from the 15th-century Genealogies dels comtes de Barcelona
30.
Crown of Aragon
–
Put in contemporary terms, it has sometimes been considered that the different lands of the Crown of Aragon functioned more as a confederation than as a single kingdom. In this sense, the larger Crown of Aragon must not be confused with one of its constituent parts, formally, the political center of the Crown of Aragon was Zaragoza, where kings were crowned at La Seo Cathedral. The de facto capital and leading cultural, administrative and economic centre of the Crown of Aragon was Barcelona followed by Valencia, finally, Palma was an additional important city and seaport. For brief periods the Crown of Aragon also controlled Montpellier, Provence, Corsica, the countries that are today known as Spain and Portugal spent the Middle Ages after 722 in an intermittent struggle called the Reconquista. This struggle pitted the northern Christian kingdoms against the Islamic taifa petty kingdoms of the South, in the Late Middle Ages, the expansion of the Aragonese Crown southwards met with the Castilian advance eastward in the region of Murcia. Afterward, the Aragonese Crown focused on the Mediterranean, acting as far as Greece and Barbary, whereas Portugal, mercenaries from the territories in the Crown, known as almogàvers participated in the creation of this Mediterranean empire, and later found employment in countries all across southern Europe. The Crown of Aragon has been considered by some as an empire which ruled in the Mediterranean for hundreds of years and it was indeed, at its height, one of the major powers in Europe. However, its different territories were connected through the person of the monarch. A modern historian, Juan de Contreras y Lopez de Ayala, Marqués de Lozoya described the Crown of Aragon as being more like a confederacy than a centralised kingdom, let alone an empire. Nor did official documents refer to it as an empire, instead. This union respected the institutions and parliaments of both territories. This was due to the loss of Catalan influence, the renunciation of the family rights of the counts of Barcelona in Occitania. Petronillas father King Ramiro, The Monk who was raised in the Saint Pons de Thomières Monastery and his brothers Peter I and Alfonso I El Batallador had bravely fought against Castile for hegemony in the Iberian peninsula. After the death of Alfonso I, the Aragonese nobility that campaigned close him feared being overwhelmed by the influence of Castile, and so, Ramiro was forced to leave his monastic life and proclaim himself King of Aragon. He married Agnes, sister of the Duke of Aquitaine and betrothed his daughter to Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona. The wedding agreement provided Raymond Berengar IV the title of Princeps Aragonum and Dominator Aragonenesis and kept the title, Raymond Berengar IV, the first ruler of the united dynasty, called himself Count of Barcelona and Prince of Aragon. Alfonso II inherited two realms and with them, two different expansion processes, the House of Jiménez looked south in a battle against Castile for the control of the Mediterranean coast in the Iberian peninsula. The House of Barcelona looked north to its origins, Occitania, soon, Alfonso II of Aragon and Barcelona committed himself to conquer Valencia as the Aragonese nobility demanded
Crown of Aragon
–
Petronilla of Aragon (1136–1173) and
Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona (ca. 1131–1162) depicted in a 16th-century painting.
Crown of Aragon
–
Standard
Crown of Aragon
–
Equestrian heraldic representation of King of Aragon in the "Equestrian armorial of the Golden Fleece" 1433-1435.
Crown of Aragon
–
Ferdinand V and
Isabella I,
King and Queen of Castile and León, and later of Aragon, Valencia, Sicily, and Majorca
Navarre (Kingdom of Pamplona) (Control lost in 1234)
Aragon (Control lost in 1164)
Castile (Control lost in 1126)
León (Control lost in 1126)
Galicia
Portugal (Control lost in 1139)
