Alfonso II of Asturias

Last updated

Alfonso II
Alfonso II el Casto, rey de Asturias (Museo del Prado).jpg
Mariano de la Roca y Delgado, Alfonso II of Asturias, 1852
King of Asturias
Reign791 - 842
Predecessor Bermudo I
Successor Ramiro I
Bornc.760
Died842
House Astur-Leonese dynasty
Father Fruela I of Asturias
MotherMunia


Alfonso II in the twelfth-century Libro de los Testamentos. Alfonsobig.jpg
Alfonso II in the twelfth-century Libro de los Testamentos .

Alfonso II of Asturias (c.760 842), nicknamed the Chaste (Spanish : el Casto), was the king of Asturias during two different periods: first in the year 783 and later from 791 until his death in 842. Upon his death, Nepotian, a family member of undetermined relation, attempted to usurp the crown in place of the future Ramiro I.

Contents

During his reign, which covered a span of 51 years, Alfonso discovered the supposed tomb of St. James the Great (called Santiago in Spanish) in the town of Compostela, which later became known as the city of Santiago de Compostela. He was the son of Fruela I and Munia, a Basque woman captured and brought back to Asturias by the former following a military campaign.

Early life

He was born in Oviedo in 759 or 760. He was put under the guardianship of his aunt Adosinda after his father's death, but one tradition relates his being put in the Monastery of San Xulián de Samos. He was the governor of the palace during the reign of Adosinda's husband Silo. On Silo's death, he was elected king by Adosinda's allies, but the magnates raised his uncle Mauregatus to the throne instead. Alfonso fled to Álava where he found shelter with his maternal relatives. Mauregatus was succeeded by Bermudo I, Alfonso's cousin, who abdicated after his defeat at the Battle of the Burbia River.

Alfonso proclaimed king

Alfonso was subsequently elected king on 14 September 791. Poets of a later generation invented the story of the secret marriage between his sister Ximena and Sancho, count of Saldana, and the feats of their son Bernardo del Carpio. Bernardo is the hero of a cantar de gesta written to please the anarchical spirit of the nobles. [1]

Alfonso moved the capital from Pravia, where Silo had located it, to Oviedo, the city of his father's founding and his birth. There he constructed churches and a palace. He built the churches of San Tirso, [2] where he is buried, and of San Julián de los Prados (aka Santullano), high above overlooking the nascent city.

Andalusian raids into Asturias

On accession to the throne, Hisham I, son of Abd al-Rahman I, commenced a string of military campaigns in the eastern Pyrenees and to the north-west. In 794, a raid spearheaded by Abd al-Karim dealt a major military blow to Alfonso II on the eastern fringes of the Kingdom of Asturias (Cantabria and Castile). The Asturian king asked for the assistance of the Basque Frankish vassal Belasco, master of Álava and bordering regions at the time. Abd al-Karim advanced deeper west into Asturias and pillaged the region, while his brother Abd al-Malik ventured into the western Asturian lands.

Relations with Charlemagne and the Papacy

Under pressure from his enemies, Alfonso II reached out to Charlemagne, [3] sending delegations to Toulouse and Aix-la-Chapelle in 796, 797, and 798. [4] These diplomatic efforts, profferred by Froia and later Basiliscus, may have aimed to strengthen his legitimacy and the Asturian government against ongoing internal unrest——viz., troubles in Galicia——and external attacks of the Ibn Mugait brothers, the generals Abd al-Karim and Abd al-Malik. [5]

Alfonso was acknowledged as a king by Charlemagne and the Pope, and Asturias as a kingdom for the first time in the Royal Frankish Annals. The king showed an interest in the Frankish cult of Saint Martin of Tours, and he encouraged Carolingian Church influence in Asturias.[ citation needed ]

Alfonso's envoys to Charlemagne's courts may have also dealt with the adoptionist controversy, which had brought Bermudo's kingdom into Charlemagne's view. It seems that Carolingian support did much to spur his raid into Andalusian territory up to Lisbon, which was captured and sacked by his troops in 798.

Later events

Asturias in 850 Peninsule iberique en 850.png
Asturias in 850

Also, during Alfonso's reign, the alleged resting place of St. James was revealed. [6] Tradition relates that in 814, the body of Saint James was discovered in Compostela and that Alfonso was the first pilgrim to the shrine at Libredón. [7]

In 825, he defeated Saracen forces at Narón (near Ferrol) and also in year 825 Anceo (in the hills equidistant from Pontevedra and Vigo), [8] and, thanks to these victories, the "repopulation" of parts of Galicia, León, and Castile was started— with charters confirming the possession of the territories.

The Crónica Sebastianense records his death in 842, saying:

tras haber llevado por 52 años casta, sobria, inmaculada, piadosa y gloriosamente el gobierno del reino
[after having held for 52 years chastely, soberly, immaculately, piously, and gloriously the government of the realm]

Related Research Articles

The 780s decade ran from January 1, 780, to December 31, 789.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">783</span> Calendar year

Year 783 (DCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 783 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Asturias</span> Kingdom in Iberia (718–924)

The Kingdom of Asturias was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius. It was the first Christian political entity established after the Umayyad conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711. In the Summer of 722, Pelagius defeated an Umayyad army at the Battle of Covadonga, in what is retroactively regarded as the beginning of the Reconquista.

Alfonso I of Asturias, called the Catholic, was the third king of Asturias, reigning from 739 to his death in 757. His reign saw an extension of the Christian domain of Asturias, reconquering Galicia and León.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfonso III of Asturias</span> King of Asturias

Alfonso III, called the Great, was the king of León, Galicia and Asturias from 866 until his death. He was the son and successor of Ordoño I. In later sources, he is the earliest to be called "Emperor of Spain." He was also titled "Prince of all Galicia".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oviedo</span> Municipality in Asturias, Spain

Oviedo or Uviéu is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located approximately 24 km (15 mi) southwest of Gijón and 23 km (14 mi) southeast of Avilés, both of which lie on the shoreline of the Bay of Biscay. Oviedo's proximity to the ocean of less than 30 kilometres (19 mi) in combination with its elevated position with areas of the city more than 300 metres above sea level causes the city to have a maritime climate, in spite of its not being located on the shoreline itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silo of Asturias</span> King of Asturias

Silo was the king of Asturias from 774 to 783, succeeding Aurelius. He came to the throne upon his marriage to Adosinda, daughter of Alfonso I. He moved the capital of the Kingdom of Asturias from Cangas de Onís to Pravia, closer to the center of the kingdom. He was a contemporary of Abd al-Rahman I, Umayyad Emir of Córdoba, and of Charlemagne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mauregatus</span> King of Asturias from 783 to 789

Mauregatus the Usurper was the king of Asturias from 783 to 788 or 789. He was an illegitimate son of Alfonso I, supposedly by a Moorish serf. He usurped the throne on the death of Silo, the husband of his half sister Adosinda, earning himself the nickname of the Usurper. The nobility had elected Alfonso II at Adosinda's insistence, but Mauregatus assembled a large army of supporters and forced Alfonso into exile in Álava.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramiro I of Asturias</span> King of Asturias (rgn: 842 - 850)

Ramiro I was king of Asturias from 842 until his death in 850. Son of King Bermudo I, he became king following a succession struggle after his predecessor, Alfonso II, died without children. During his turbulent reign, he fended off attacks from both Vikings and the forces of al-Andalus. Architecturally, his recreational palace Santa María del Naranco and other buildings used the ramirense style that prefigured Romanesque architecture. He was a contemporary of Abd ar-Rahman II, Umayyad Emir of Córdoba.

This is a historical timeline of Portugal.

Adosinda was the queen of Asturias during the reign of her husband, Silo, from 774 to 783. She was a daughter of Alfonso I and Ermesinda, daughter of the first Asturian king, Pelayo. She was a sister of Fruela I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elvira of Castile, Queen of León</span>

Elvira García was Queen of León by marriage to King Bermudo II, and regent of Leon jointly with Count Menendo González during the minority of her son Alfonso V from 999 until 1008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Lutos</span>

The Battle of Lutos occurred in 794 when the Emir of Cordoba, Hisham I sent military incursions against the Kingdom of Asturias under the command of the brothers Abd al-Karim ibn Abd al-Walid ibn Mugaith and Abd al-Malik ibn Abd al-Walid ibn Mugaith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Pancorbo (816)</span>

The Battle of Pancorbo took place in 816 between a Moorish army from the Emirate of Cordoba sent by Al-Hakam I and under the control of Abd al-Karim ibn Abd al-Wahid ibn Mugit and pro-Frankish forces under the control of Balask al-Yalasqi. The battle was fought when the Córdoban forces attempted to cross the pass at Pancorbo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pantheon of Asturian Kings</span>

The Pantheon of Asturian Kings is a chapel of Nuestra Señora del Rey Casto in the Cathedral of San Salvador, Oviedo, Spain. It is the burial place of many of the rulers of the medieval kingdoms of Asturias and León.

The tribute of 100 virgins is a Spanish national myth as part of the Reconquista ideology. The legend rests on a narrative of annual tribute of one hundred virgin maidens paid by the Christian kingdom of Asturias to the Muslim emirate of Córdoba. The narrative also suggests that fifty were to be of noble birth and fifty commoners. The myth of tribute has been described "historically apocryphal but ideologically accurate" because it played important propaganda role in the formation and affirmation of the Reconquista ideology in the later Middle Ages, and it still figures prominently to this day in Spanish national cultural memory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fruela of Cantabria</span> 8th-century Count of Spain

Fruela of Cantabria or Fruela Pérez was the second son of Duke Peter of Cantabria and brother of King Alfonso I of Asturias.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Las Babias</span> Historic battle on the Iberian peninsula

The Battle of Las Babias occurred in the year 795 when the Emir of Cordoba, Hisham I of Córdoba sought to avenge his previous military incursions in 794 against the Kingdom of Asturias under the command of the brothers Abd al-Karim ibn Abd al-Walid ibn Mugaith and Abd al-Malik ibn Abd al-Walid ibn Mugaith. The previous battles resulted in devastating losses for the Emirate, most importantly at the Battle of Lutos where one of the Emir's generals was killed in action. The battle resulted in a Córdoban victory.

The Primitive Way is one of the paths of the Camino de Santiago. It begins in the old Asturian capital of Oviedo and runs west to Lugo and then south to Santiago de Compostela joining the more popular French Way in Melide for the last two hiking days. According to the Confraternity of St James, the Camino Primitivo is approximately 320 km in length.

References

  1. Wikisource-logo.svg One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Alphonso s.v. Alphonso II.". Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 734.
  2. García de Castro Valdés, César (2008). «San Tirso (Oviedo)». Arte Prerrománico en Asturias. Ménsula Ediciones, S. L. pp. 28-30. ISBN 978-84-612-4085-2.
  3. "Anglo-Saxon | Definition, History, Language, Countries, Culture, & Facts | Britannica". 23 January 2024.
  4. "El histórico primer contacto de Asturias con un imperio que cambió el mundo". 8 September 2021.
  5. Martínez Díez, Gonzalo (2002). «Articulación político-administrativa y las relaciones exteriores en el reinado de Alfonso II». Poder y Sociedad en la Baja Edad Media hispánica: Estudios y homenaje al profesor Luis Vicente Díaz Martín II. Coordinador, Carlos Manuel Reglero de la Fuente. Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid. pp. 724-725. ISBN 84-8448-172-7.
  6. Rucquoi, Adeline (2017). «Los reyes de Asturias y los orígenes del culto a la tumba del apóstol Santiago». Los reyes de Asturias y los orígenes del culto a la tumba del apóstol Santiago. Francisco Javier Fernández Conde, Raquel Alonso Álvarez (coord.). Oviedo: Trea. pp. 17-36. ISBN 978-84-17140-03-8.
  7. Portela Silva, E. (2003). Historia de la ciudad de Santiago de Compostela. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. p. 54. ISBN   8497501373.
  8. Aramburu y Zuloaga, Félix (1996). «Alfonso II, el Casto». Asturianos Universales. Tomo VII. Madrid: Ediciones Páramo, S.A. ISBN 84-87253-26-1.
Preceded by King of Asturias
791–842
Succeeded by