18 Formation of the Christian Kingdoms - The Christian Kingdom of Asturias / Formação das Asturias

The Reconquest began in Asturias. It was the begining of the formation of the Christian Empire. The center was Asturias.

 

Wikipedia

 

The Kingdom of Asturias (Latin: Regnum Asturorum) was a Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula founded in 718 by Visigothic nobles under the leadership of Pelagius of Asturias.[1] It was the first Christian political entity established following the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom after Islamic conquest of Hispania. In 722, Pelagius subsequently defeated the Umayyad Caliphate at the Battle of Covadonga, in what is usually regarded as the beginning of the Reconquista. The kingdom lasted until 924, when Fruela II became King of León.

 

Indigenous background

 

The birthplace of the Asturian kingdom was the western and central territory of the Cantabrian Mountains part of the Gallaecia, particularly the Picos de Europa and the central area of Asturias. The main political and military events during the first decades of the kingdom's existence took place in this region. According to the descriptions of Strabo, Dio Cassius and other Graeco-Roman geographers, the lands of Asturias were inhabited in the beginning of the Christian era by several peoples, amongst whom the more important were: From the Cantabrians, the Vadinienses, who inhabited the Picos de Europa region and whose settlement gradually expanded southward during the first centuries of the modern era; the Orgenomesci, who dwelled along the Asturian eastern coast; and from the Astures, the Saelini, whose settlement extended through the Sella valley; the Luggones, who had their capital in Lucus Asturum and whose territories stretched between the rivers Sella and Nalón; the Astures (in the strictest sense), who dwelled in inner Asturias, between the current councils of Piloña and Cangas del Narcea; and the Paesici, who had settled along the coast of Western Asturias, between the mouth of the Navia river and the modern city of Gijón.

Classical geographers give conflicting views of the ethnic description of the above mentioned peoples: Ptolemy says that the Astures extended along the central area of current Asturias, between the Navia and Sella rivers, fixing the latter river as the boundary with the Cantabrian territory. However, other geographers placed the frontier between the Astures and the Cantabri more eastwards: Julius Honorius stated in his Cosmographia that the springs of Ebro river were located in the land of the Astures (sub asturibus). In any case, ethnic borders in the Cantabrian mountains were not so important after that time, as the clans divisions that permeated the pre-roman societies of all the peoples of Northern Iberia fell under similar political administrative culture impossed on them by the Romans.

 

This situation started to change during the Late Roman Empire and the early Middle Ages, when an Asturian identity started to develop gradually: The centuries-old fight among Visigoths or Suebians nobles may have helped to forge a distinct identity among the peoples of the Cantabrian districts. Several archaeological digs in the castro of La Carisa (municipality of Lena) have found remnants of a defensive line whose main purpose was to protect the valleys of central Asturias from invaders who came from the Meseta through the Pajares pass: the construction of these fortifications reveals a high degree of organization and cooperation between the several Asturian communities, in order to defend themselves from the southern invaders. Carbon-14 tests have found that the wall dates from the period 675-725 AD, when two armed expeditions against the Asturians took place: One of them, headed by Visigothic king Wamba; the other by Muslim governor Musa bin Nusair, during the Islamic conquest of Iberia who settled garrisons over its territory.

 

The Asturian identity that was gradually forming led to the creation of the Kingdom of Asturias after Pelayo's coronation and the victory over the Muslim garrisons in Covadonga. The Chronica Albeldense, in narrating the happenings of Covadonga, stated that "Divine providence brings forth the King of Asturias".

 

Islamic occupation and Asturian revolt

 

The kingdom was established by the Visigothic nobleman Pelayo (Latin: Pelagius), who had returned to his country after the Battle of Guadalete where, in the Gothic tradition of Theias, he was elected by the other nobles as leader of the Astures, and founded the Kingdom of Asturias. However, Pelayo's kingdom was initially little more than a rallying banner for existing guerilla forces.[2][3]

 

In the progress of the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, the main cities and administrative centers fell in the hands of Muslim troops. Control of the central and southern regions, such as the Guadalquivir and Ebro valleys, presented few problems for the newcomers, who used the existing Visigothic administrative structures, ultimately of Roman origin. However, in the northern mountains, urban centers (such as Gigia) were practically nonexistent and the submission of the country had to be achieved valley by valley. Muslim troops often resorted to the taking of hostages to ensure the pacification of the newly conquered territory.

 

After the first incursion of Tarik, who reached Toledo in 711, the Yemeni viceroy of Ifriqiya, Musa ibn Nusair, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar the following year and carried out a massive operation of conquest that would lead to the capture of Mérida, Toledo, Zaragoza and Lerida, among other cities. During the last phase of his military campaign, he reached the northwest of the Peninsula, where he gained control of the localities of Lugo and Gijon. In the latter city he placed a small Berber detachment under a governor, Munuza, whose mission was to consolidate Muslim control over Asturias. As guarantee of the submission of the region, some nobles – some argue that Pelayo was among them, although his origin is unknown – had to surrender hostages from Asturias to Cordoba. The legend says that his sister was asked for, and a marriage alliance sought with the local Berber leader. Later on, Munuza would try to do the same at another mountain post in the Pyrenees, where he rebelled against his Cordoban Arab superiors. The Berbers had been converted to Islam barely a generation earlier, and were considered second rank to Arabs and Syrians.

 

But, as is told in the Rotensian Chronicle (chronicle of Alfonso III of Asturias in which Pelayo is considered the successor of the kings of Toledo, with clear goals of political legitimacy) as well as in that of Al-Maqqari (a Moroccan historian of the 16th century who died in Cairo, Egypt, and who could have used the Rotensian Chronicle and rewrite it eight centuries later, making it useless as a historical document), Pelayo escaped from that city during the governorship of Al Hurr (717-718) and his return to Asturias triggered a revolt against the Muslim authorities of Gijon. The identity of Pelayo, however, is still an open subject, and this is only one of the theories. The leader of the Astures, whose origin is debated by historians, had at that time his home in Bres (in the district of Piloña) and Munuza sent his troops there under officer Al-Qama. After receiving word of the arrival of the Muslims, Pelayo and his companions hurriedly crossed the Piloña River and headed toward the narrow, easily defended valley of Auseva mountain, and took refuge in one of its caves, Covadonga. After an attempt at siege was abandoned due to the weather and the exposed position of the deep valley gorge, the troops are said to have taken to exit through the high ports to the south, in order to continue in the search and destroy action against other rebels. There the locals were able to ambush the Muslim detachment, which was annihilated. The rest of its survivors continued south to the plains of Leon, leaving the maritime districts of Asturias exposed and weakened of defenders. The most commonly accepted hypothesis for this battle (epic as described by Christian chronicles, but a mere skirmish in Muslim texts) is that the Moorish column was attacked from the cliffs and then fell back through the valleys towards present day Gijón, but was attacked whilst in retreat by the retinue and nearly destroyed.

 

The victory - relatively small, as only a few Berber soldiers were involved — resulted in great prestige for Pelayo and provoked a massive insurrection by other nobles in Galicia and Asturias who immediately rallied around Pelayo, electing him King or military Dux.

 

Under Pelayo's leadership, the attacks on the Berbers increased. Munuza, feeling isolated in a region increasingly hostile, decided to abandon Gijon and headed for the Plateau (Meseta) through the Mesa Trail. However, he was intercepted and killed by Astures at Olalíes (in the current district of Grado). Once he had expelled the Moors from the eastern valleys of Asturias, Pelayo attacked León, the main city in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula and secured the mountain passes, isolating the region from Moorish attack. Pelayo continued attacking those Berbers who remained north of the Asturian-Galician Mountains until they withdrew, but mostly deserted their garrisons at the wider rebellion against Arab control from Cordoba. He then married his daughter, Ermesinda to Alfonso, the son of Peter of Cantabria, the leading noble at the still-independent Visigothic dukedom of Cantabria. His son Favila was married to Froiliuba.

 

Recent archaeological excavations have found fortifications in Mount Homon and La Carisa (near the Huerna and Pajares valleys) dated between the end of the seventh and beginning of the eighth centuries. These Berber fortifications included watchtowers and moats of almost two meters, in whose construction and defense many hundreds may have participated. This would have required a high degree of organization and firm leadership, probably by Pelayo himself.[4] For this reason, experts consider that it is probable that the construction of the defensive line was intended to prevent the reentry of Moors into Asturias through the mountain passes of Mesa and Pajares.[5]

 

After Pelayo's victory over the Moorish detachment at the Battle of Covadonga, a small territorial independent entity was established in the Asturian mountains that was the origin of the kingdom of Asturias. Pelayo's leadership was not comparable to that of the Visigothic kings. The first kings of Asturias referred to themselves as "princeps" (prince) and later as "rex" (king), but the later title was not firmly established until the period of Alphonse II. The title of "princeps" had been used by the indigenous peoples of Northern Spain and its use appears in Galician and Cantabrian inscriptions, in which expressions like "Nícer, Príncipe de los Albiones"[6] (on an inscription found in the district of Coaña) and "princeps cantabrorum"[7] (over a gravestone of the municipality of Cistierna, in Leon). In fact, the Kingdom of Asturias originated as a focus of leadership over other peoples of the Cantabrian Coast that had resisted the Romans as well as the Visigoths and that were not willing to subject themselves to the dictates of the Umayyad Caliphate. Immigrants from the south, fleeing from Al-Andalus, brought a Gothic influence to the Asturian kingdom. However, at the beginning of the 9th century, Alphonse II's will cursed the Visigoths, blaming them for the loss of Hispania. The chronicles on which knowledge of this period is based, written all during the reign of Alphonse III when there was great Gothic ideological influence, are the Sebastianensian Chronicle (Crónica Sebastianense), the Albeldensian Chronicle (Crónica Albeldense) and the Rotensian Chronicle (Crónica Rotense).

 

During the first decades, the Asturian dominion over the different areas of the kingdom was still lax, and for this reason it had to be continually strengthened through matrimonial alliances with other powerful families from the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Thus, Ermesinda, Pelayo's daughter, was married to Alfonso, Dux Peter of Cantabria's son. Alphonse's son Fruela married Munia, a Basque princess from Alava, while his daughter Adosinda married Silo, a local chief from the area of Flavionavia, Pravia.

 

After Pelayo's death in 737, his son Favila (or "Fafila") was elected king. Fafila, according to the chronicles, was unexpectedly killed by a bear while hunting in one of the trials of courage normally required of the nobility in that era. But there is no other such incident known from the long history of monarchs and others at the sport, and the case is suspiciously similar to the Roman legend of their first king, Romulus, taken by a sudden storm. The immediate consequence was that the rule of the Asturians passed to his brother-in-law, ruler of the neighboring independent domain, through a marriage alliance to Fafila's sister. The female ties and rights of inheritance were still respected, and in later cases would allow the regency or crown for their husbands too.

 

Pelayo founded a dynasty in Asturias that survived for decades and gradually expanded the kingdom's boundaries, until all of northwest Iberia was included by ca. 775. The reign of Alfonso II from 791-842 saw further expansion of the kingdom to the south, almost as far as Lisbon, Portugal.

 

Initial expansion

 

Favila was succeeded by Alphonse I, who inherited the throne of Asturias thanks to his marriage to Pelayo's daughter, Ermesinda. The Albeldensian Chronicle narrated how Alphonse arrived in the kingdom some time after the battle of Covadonga to marry Ermesinda. Favila's death made his access to the throne possible as well as the rise to power of one of the most powerful families in the Kingdom of Asturias: the House of Cantabria. Initially only Alphonse moved to the court in Cangas, but after the progressive depopulation of the Plateau and the Middle Valley of the Ebro, where the main strongholds of the Duchy of Cantabria such as Amaya, Tricio and City of Cantabria were located, the descendants of Duke Peter withdrew from Rioja towards the Cantabrian area and in time controlled the destiny of the Kingdom of Asturias.

 

Alphonse began the territorial expansion of the small Christian kingdom from its first seat in the Peaks of Europe, advancing toward the west to Galicia and toward the south with continuous incursions in the Duero valley, taking cities and towns and moving their inhabitants to the safer northern zones. This eventually led to the strategic depopulation of the plateau, creating the Desert of the Duero as a protection against future Moorish attacks.[8]

 

This depopulation, defended by Claudio Sanchez-Albornoz, is doubted today, at least concerning its magnitude.[8] Two main arguments are used to refute it. First, the minor toponymy was preserved in multiple districts. Second, there are biological and cultural differences between the inhabitants of the Cantabrian zone and those of the central Plateau. What is true is that in the first half of the eighth century there was a process of rural growth that led to the abandonment of urban life and the organization of the population in small communities of shepherds. Several causes explain this process: The definitive breakdown of the production system based on slavery in existence from the time of the late Roman Empire, the continuous propagation of epidemics in the area, and the abandonment of Al Andalus by the Berber regiments after the revolt of 740-741. All this made possible the emergence of a sparsely populated and ill-organized area that isolated the Asturian kingdom from the Moorish assaults and allowed its progressive strengthening.

 

The campaigns of kings Alphonse I and Fruela in the Duero valley were probably not very different from the raids that the Astures made in the same area in the pre-Roman era. The initial Asturian expansion is carried out mainly through Cantabrian territory (from Galicia to Vizcaya) and it will be necessary to wait until the reigns of Ordoño I and Alphonse III for the Kingdom of Asturias to take effective possession of the territories located south of the Cantabrian Mountains.

 

Fruela I, Alphonse I's son, consolidated and expanded his father's domains. He was assassinated by members of the nobility associated with the House of Cantabria.

 

[edit] Social and political transformations

 

Written sources are concise concerning the reigns of Aurelio, Silo, Mauregato and Bermudo I. Generally this period, with a duration of twenty-three years (768-791), has been considered as a long stage of obscurity and retreat of the kingdom of Asturias. This vision, defended by some historians, who even named this phase of the history of the Asturian kingdom as that of the "lazy kings," originated because it appears that in that moment there were no important military actions against Al-Andalus. However, during those years there were relevant and decisive internal transformations in the Asturian kingdom. They all prepared and provided a foundation, in all respects, for the strengthening and the expansion of Asturias.

 

First, the first internal rebellion, led by Mauregato (783-788), occurred during those years. The rebellion removed Alphonse II from the throne (although he became king again later, from 791 to 842), and initiated a series of rebellions whose principal leaders were members of ascending aristocratic palace groups and landowners who, based on the growing economic development of the area, tried to displace from power of the reigning family of Don Pelayo. The important rebellions of Nepociano, Aldroito and Piniolo, during the reign of Ramiro I (842-50), are part of this process of economic, social, political and cultural transformation of the Asturian kingdom that occurred during the eighth and ninth centuries.

 

Second, neighboring rebellions by Basques and Galicians failed, aborted by Asturian kings. These rebellions, in turn, took advantage of the internal rebellions of the central and Eastern part of Asturias, and, on occasions, provided help to one or another contender of the Asturian aristocracy: refuge to Alphonse II in lands of Alava, after his flight; the support to Nepociano's rebellion in some Asturian areas or the adherence of Galicians to the cause of Ramiro I.

 

Finally, other evidence suggests important internal transformations of the Asturian kingdom during this time. Rebellions of freedmen (serbi, servilis orico and libertini, according to the Chronicles) occurred during the reign of Aurelio I. The property relationship between master and slave broke down progressively. This fact, together with the growing role of the individual and the restricted family in detriment of the role that until that time had fulfilled the extended family, is another indication that a new society was emerging in Asturias at the end of the eighth and beginning of the ninth centuries.

 

Fruela I (757-68) is succeeded by Aurelio (768-74), Peter of Cantabria's grandson, who will establish the court in lands of what is today the district of San Martin del Rey Aurelio, which previously belonged to Langreo, between the years of his reign. Silo (774-83) succeeded Aurelio after his death, and transfers the court to Pravia. Silo was married to Adosinda, one of the daughters of Alphonse I (and therefore, Pelayo's granddaughter).

 

Alphonse II was elected king after Silo's death, but Mauregato organized a strong opposition and forced the new king to withdraw to lands in Alava (his mother, Munia, was Basque), obtaining the Asturian throne. This king, despite the bad reputation attributed by history, had good relations with Beato de Liebana, perhaps the most important cultural figure of the kingdom, and supported him in his fight against adoptionism. Legend says that Mauregato was Alphonse I's bastard son with a Moorish woman, and attributes to him the tribute of a hundred maidens. He was succeeded by Bermudo I, Aurelio's brother. He was called the deacon, although he probably only received minor vows. Bermudo abdicated after a military defeat, ending his life in a monastery.

 

[edit] Recognition

 

It was not until King Alfonso II of Asturias (791-842) that the kingdom was firmly established with Alfonso's recognition as king of Asturias by Charlemagne and the Pope. He conquered Galicia and the Basques. During his reign, the holy bones of St. James the Great were declared to be found in Galicia, at Santiago de Compostela (from Latin campus stellae, literally "the field of the star"). Pilgrims from all over Europe opened a way of communication between the isolated Asturias and the Carolingian lands and beyond.

 

The first capital city was Cangas de Onís. Then, in Silo's time, it was moved to Pravia. Alfonso II chose Oviedo as the definite capital of the Kingdom. The kingdom was known as Asturias until 924, when it became the Kingdom of León. It continued under that name until incorporated into the Kingdom of Castile in 1230, after Ferdinand III became joint king of the two kingdoms.

 

 

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