Limits of the Kingdom of Castile in 1210 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 depended of the Kingdom of León. Its name is supposed to be related to the host of castles constructed in the region. Image File history File links Wiki_letter_w. ...
The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe. ...
The city of León was founded by the Roman Seventh Legion (for unknown reasons always written as Legio Septima Gemina (twin seventh legion). It was the headquarters of that legion in the late empire and was a center for trade in gold which was mined at Las Médulas...
Caernarfon Castle, Wales. ...
History
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. Alfonso III (c. ...
 Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Castile. 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 Ordoño I of Asturias and Alfonso III of Asturias. In 931 the county was unified by count Fernán González, who made his lands subject to a hereditary succession, independent of the kings of León. Cantabri was an ancient tribe which inhabited the north coast of Spain near Santander and Bilbao and the mountains behind a district hence known as Cantabria. ...
The Astures were the original indoeuropean inhabitants of northwest area of Hispania that now comprises the provinces of León, Asturias (only the central area, between Navia and Sella rivers), and northern Zamora (all in modern Spain). ...
The Vascons (Latin : Vascones) were an ancient people who, before the arrival of the Romans, inhabited the region in what is now Spain, north of the Ebro river (present day Navarre). ...
The Visigoths, originally Tervingi, or Vesi (the noble ones), one of the two main branches of the Goths (of which the Ostrogothi were the other), were one of the loosely-termed Germanic peoples that disturbed the late Roman Empire. ...
Roderic (in Spanish Rodrigo), was the last king of the Visigoths (710 - 711). ...
Ordoño I (830?-May 27, 866), became king of Asturias in 850. ...
Alfonso III (c. ...
Ferdinand II González (930–970) was the first independent count of Castile, son of Gonzalo Fernández de Lara, who had been named count of Arlanza and the Duero around the year 900, a descendent of Nuño Rasura, one of the two judges from Castile, and of Rodrigo...
11th and 12th centuries: Expansion and union to the Kingdom of León In 1028 Sancho III the Great, of Navarre, married the sister of count García Sánchez 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 León. Fernando III began a war with Castile and in the battle of Tamarón against a coalition of Castile and Navarre the king of León was killed, leaving no offspring. His brother-in-law Fernando assumed the crown of León for himself using his wife's rights, resulting in the first union of the kingdoms of León and Castile. Sancho III of Navarre (c. ...
Bermudo III (1010–4 September 1037), king of León (1028–4 September 1037), son of Alfonso V of León by his wife Elvira Mendes, was the last scion of Peter of Cantabria to rule in the Leonese kingdom. ...
Statue in Madrid (L.S. Carmona, 1750-53). ...
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 León. For the third, García, the kingdom of Galicia. For his daughter Urraca the town of Zamora. Sancho II of Castile allied himself with Alfonso VI of León and conquered Galicia. Not being satisfied enough with Castile and half of Galicia, Sancho attacked his brother and invaded León 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. Alfonso VI (before June 1040 – July 1, 1109), nicknamed the Brave, was king of León from 1065 to 1109 and king of Castile since 1072 after his brothers death. ...
Statue of El Cid in Burgos. ...
Urraca may mean: Urraca of Castile (1082 - 1129), who was Queen of Castile and León and aunt to Afonso I. Urraca, princess of Portugal (1151–1188), who was a daughter of Afonso I, king of Portugal and the wife of King Ferdinand II of León. ...
As a result Alfonso VI recovered all his original territory of León, and now became the king of both Castile and Galicia. This was the second union of León 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. Statue of El Cid in Burgos. ...
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 Aragón (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 Aragón which fought to secede after the death of Alfonso I of Aragón. Alfonso VII refused his right to conquer the Mediterranean coast for the new union of Aragón with the County of Barcelona (Petronila and Ramón Berenguer IV).
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 the translation school of Toledo was founded. Its main task was to translate 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, went to that center of knowledge 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. Scallop, St. ...
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.
13th century: Definitive union with the Kingdom of León Alfonso VII returned the royal tradition of dividing his kingdom among his children. Sancho III became King of Castile and Fernando II, King of León. Alfonso VII of Castile (March 1, 1104/5 _ August 21, 1157), nicknamed the Emperor, was the king of Castile and Leon since 1126, son of Urraca of Castile and Count Raymond (the third?) of Burgundy. ...
Sancho III of Castile (1134 – August 30, 1158), called el Deseado (The Desired), was King of Castile for one year, from 1157 to 1158. ...
Ferdinand II, king of León (d. ...
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 advantadge 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 (Córdoba, Murcia, Jaén, 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) Events Kingdom of Leon unites with the Kingdom of Castile. ...
Fernando III called El Santo (the Saint), (1198/1199 – May 30, 1252) was a king of Castile (1217–1252) and Leon (1230–1252). ...
Events April 9 - Peter of Courtenay crowned emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople at Rome, by Pope Honorius III May 20 - First Barons War, royalist victory at Lincoln. ...
Alfonso IX of León (August 15, 1171 – September 23 or 24, 1230; ruled from 1188–1230), first cousin of Alfonso VIII of Castile, and numbered next to him as being a junior member of the family, is said by Ibn Khaldun to have been called the Baboso or Slobberer...
The Almohad Dynasty (From Arabic الموØدون al-Muwahhidun, i. ...
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. The city of León was founded by the Roman Seventh Legion (for unknown reasons always written as Legio Septima Gemina, or twin seventh legion). It was the headquarters of that legion in the late empire and was a center for trade in gold which was mined at Las M...
Events Saladin unsuccessfully besieges the Hospitaller fortress of Krak des Chevaliers in modern Syria. ...
// April 30 - King Louis IX of France released by his Egyptian captors after paying a ransom of one million dinars and turning over the city of Damietta. ...
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. This is an article about Heraldry. ...
French Tricolore flag A flag is a piece of cloth flown from a pole or mast, usually intended for signaling or identification. ...
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