Kingdom of Castile
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This article is a work in progress translation of the Reino de Castilla article from Spanish to English. If you are confident enough in your fluency of Spanish and English, please feel free to assist with this translation.
Original article in Spanish: Reino de Castilla Original article in English: Reino de Castilla |
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The Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It was created as a politically autonomous entity in the 9th century: it was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of Leˆ„n. Its name is supposed to be related to the host of castles constructed in the region. It was one of the ancestor kingdoms of the Kingdom of Spain.
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[edit] History
[edit] 9th to 11th centuries: The beginnings
The first reference to the name "Castilla" can be found in a document of the year 800: We have erected a church to the honour of Saint Martin, in Area Patriniano, in the territory of Castile. In the chronicle of Alfonso III (King of Asturias, 9th century) it is written: The Vardulias are now called Castilla.
The county of Castile was re-populated by inhabitants of Cantabri, Astur, Vascon and Visigothic origins. It had its own romance dialect and laws. The first Count of Castile was Rodrigo in 850, under Ordoˆ±o I of Asturias and Alfonso III of Asturias. In 931 the county was unified by count Fernˆ°n Gonzˆ°lez, who made his lands subject to a hereditary succession, independent of the kings of Leˆ„n.
[edit] 11th and 12th centuries: Expansion and union to the Kingdom of Leˆ„n
In 1028 Sancho III the Great, of Navarre, married the sister of count Garcˆ‚a Sˆ°nchez and inherited title to the County of Castile after his brother-in-law's death. In 1035 he left the county to his son Fernando and at which time Castile acquired the status of a kingdom. Fernando I was married to Sancha, sister of Bermudo III of Leˆ„n. Fernando III began a war with Castile and in the battle of Tamarˆ„n against a coalition of Castile and Navarre the king of Leˆ„n was killed, leaving no offspring. His brother-in-law Fernando assumed the crown of Leˆ„n for himself using his wife's rights, resulting in the first union of the kingdoms of Leˆ„n and Castile.
When Fernando I died in 1065, his last will followed the Navarre tradition of dividing the kingdoms between the heirs: For the first-born, Sancho II, the kingdom of Castile. For Alfonso VI the territory brought by the mother, the kingdom of Leˆ„n. For the third, Garcˆ‚a, the kingdom of Galicia. For his daughter Urraca the town of Zamora. Sancho II of Castile allied himself with Alfonso VI of Leˆ„n and conquered Galicia. Not being satisfied enough with Castile and half of Galicia, Sancho attacked his brother and invaded Leˆ„n with the help of El Cid. Urraca permitted the grater 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. The Castilian troops then withdrew.
As a result Alfonso VI recovered all his original territory of Leˆ„n, and now became the king of both Castile and Galicia. This was the second union of Leˆ„n and Castile, although the two kingdoms remained distinct. The sworn oath taken by El Cid to Alfonso VI in Santa Gadea de Burgos regarding the innocence of the Leonese king in the matter of the murder of his brother is well known.
With Alfonso VI, there is an approach to the rest of Europeans kingdoms, especially France. He marries his daughters Urraca and Teresa with Raymond of Bourgogne and Henri of Lorraine. In the Council of Burgos in 1080 the traditional Mozarabe rite is replaced by the Roman one. Upon his death, Alfonso VI was succeeded by his daughter Urraca. Urraca married Alfonso I of Aragˆ„n (her second marriage), but when he was unable to unify both kingdoms, he repudiated Urraca in 1114, which increased tensions between the two kingdoms. Urraca also had to contend with her son (offspring of her first marriage), the king of Galicia, to assert her rights. When Urraca died, he becomes the king of Castile as Alfonso VII. During his reign Alfonso VII managed to annex parts of the weaker kingdoms of Navarre and Aragˆ„n which fought to secede after the death of Alfonso I of Aragˆ„n. Alfonso VII refused his right to conquer the Mediterranean coast for the new union of Aragˆ„n with the County of Barcelona (Petronila and Ramˆ„n Berenguer IV).
[edit] Twelfth Century: a link between Christendom and Islam
During the twelfth century, Europe enjoyed a great advance in intellectual achievements thanks to Castile. Via the Islamic Empire, long forgotten classic works in Europe were recovered, and contacts established with the knowledge and works of Muslim scientists.
In the first half of the century a program of translations, traditionally called the "School of Toledo", was undertaken which rendered many philosophical and scientific works from classical Greece and the Islamic world into Latin. Many European thinkers, such as Daniel de Morley, disappointed by the universities of Paris, travelled to Spain to listen to the lectures of the wisest philosophers of the world.
The Way of St. James further enhanced the cultural exchange between the kingdoms of Castile and Leon and the rest of Europe.
The twelfth century saw the establishment of many new religious orders, after the European fasion, such as Calatrava, Alcantara and Santiago; and the foundation of many Cistercian abbeys.
[edit] 13th century: Definitive union with the Kingdom of Leˆ„n
Alfonso VII returned the royal tradition of dividing his kingdom among his children. Sancho III became King of Castile and Fernando II, King of Leˆ„n.
The rivalry between both kingdoms started again until 1230 when Fernando III el Santo received the Kingdom of Castile from his mother Berenguela (in 1217) and the Kingdom of Leon from his father Alfonso IX. In addition, he took advantage of the decline of the Almohad empire to conquer the Guadalquivir Valley whilst his son Alfonso took the kingdom of Murcia. The Courts from Leon and Castile merged, an event considered as the starting point of the Crown of Castile, made of two kingdoms: Castile and Leon, and taifas and feuds conquered to arabs (Cˆ„rdoba, Murcia, Jaˆ©n, Sevilla). The kingdoms retained their laws (e.g. when subjects of Kingdom of Castile were tried in the Kingdom of Leon the laws of the latter applied)
[edit] Government: Councils and Courts
Like in every other medieval kingdom, the supreme power, granted by God, fell on the king. But soon rural and urban communities established assemblies to make decisions on everyday life matters.
These assemblies evolved to Councils where part of the neighbours represented the others. They achieved more powers and rights such as being able to elect magistrates and officers, mayors, speakers, clerks...
Due to the increasing power of the Councils the need of communication between these and the King arose and from that the Courts are established in the Kingdom of Leon in 1188. A corresponding version was created in the Kingdom of Castile in 1250. In the medieval Courts, the inhabitants of the cities were a small group (known as laboratores) and had no legislative powers, but they were the nexus between the king and the kingdom, something that was pioneered by the kingdoms of Castile and Leon.
[edit] Arms of the Kingdom of Castile
During the reign of Alfonso VIII Gules charged with tower triple-turreted Or, started to be used as canting arms of the Kingdom of Castile both in blazons and flags.
