“[Caliph Walid I] in the western regions, through his army general Musa, invaded and subdued the kingdom of the Goths in Hispania, a kingdom that had been firm and powerful since ancient times; and after overthrowing this kingdom, he made the Goths his subjects.” (Byzantine-Arabic Chronicle, mid-8th century)
The end of the Visigothic kingdom
The Visigothic kingdom, despite its militarism, was not characterized by stability or a strong central government. Historical sources such as the " Laterculus regum visigothorum", The “Chronicle" of John of Biclaro and the “History of the Goths” of Saint Isidore reflect that civil wars caused by succession conflicts and noble rebellions occurred with such frequency that they became commonplace. From neighboring France, Gregory of Tours, at the end of the 6th century, spoke of the “Gothic disease” ("morbus gothorum") in his “History of the Francorum”, explaining that it was “the detestable custom adopted by the Visigoths of assassinating those kings who are not to their liking and replacing them with others who are”. Contributing to this was the fact that the monarchy was not hereditary but elective, so upon the death of a king, several magnates could compete for the throne. The monarch tried to ensure that one of his sons would succeed him, associating him with the throne as a kind of co-regent who, as we have seen, was entrusted with the task of governing Gallaecia to gain experience of government in the duties of the throne. But when the king died, his will was often disregarded, so the situation almost inevitably led to civil war.
This is what happened in 710 or 711, upon the death of Witiza (probably assassinated), with struggles between Roderic and other contenders for the crown. It seems clear that Roderic was not Witiza's chosen candidate, and that when he ascended the throne he faced opposition from a large part of the nobility. The Visigothic kingdom was greatly weakened for these reasons, but it must also be added that at the beginning of the 8th century, poor harvests, famines, and plagues followed one another, so discontent must have been widespread.
In 711, troops from
North Africa, composed of followers of a new religion —Islam—, landed on the
Iberian Peninsula. It is unknown whether they initially came to the aid of one
of the warring Visigothic factions, or if their intention was to launch an
expedition to further spread their faith, but after witnessing the fragility of
the Visigothic kingdom, they embarked on a conquest. Despite being outnumbered,
in July they defeated Roderic at the Battle of Guadalete, very near Arcos de la
Frontera (Cádiz). According to the chronicles, the king suffered a desertion of
nobles loyal to Witizan during the battle, which facilitated the Muslim
victory. From that moment on, the Islamists encountered little resistance, and
in less than five years they seized control of the Peninsula in a veritable
military walkover, bringing an end to the Visigothic kingdom. Thus began a
period of more than seven hundred years of Muslim presence in the land of
ancient Hispania.
The Muslim invasion
Islam arose in the Arabian Peninsula with the teachings of Muhammad, a former caravan driver who claimed to have received the verses of the Quran orally from the Archangel Gabriel. Initially rejected, he was eventually recognized as a prophet by a large part of the population of Medina and Mecca, and in just ten years (622-632) he spread the new religion throughout almost all of Arabia. After Muhammad's death (632), his fervent followers expanded Islam throughout the Near East and North Africa, taking advantage of the decline of the Byzantine Empire and local authorities. In barely eighty years, they had reached Ceuta and Tangier, so it was only a matter of time before they discovered the internal problems of the Visigothic kingdom. The capital of this vast empire was established in Damascus, from where the caliphs of the Umayyad dynasty ruled—true emperors who also held religious power by virtue of belonging to the same tribe as Muhammad.
In 711, during the
reign of Caliph Walid I, the Yemeni Musa Ibn Nusayr was the governor of
Ifriqiya (North Africa). According to Ibn al-Kadabus, Musa sent Tariq Ibn
Ziyad, a Berber, to the Iberian Peninsula “at the head of twelve thousand men,
both Arabs and Berbers (…). A large number of volunteers also joined him”. When
he tried to land, a Christian army prevented him, but Tariq outflanked and
defeated him. To prevent escape, he set fire to the ships on which they had
arrived and marched towards Córdoba. King Roderic met him with one hundred
thousand knights, according to Muslim sources, which evidently exaggerate the
figures. In any case, and against all odds, Tariq defeated the Visigoths in the
decisive Battle of Guadalete and began to traverse all of Hispania, subjugating
the main cities, reinforced by Musa himself and his troops. Many Visigothic
nobles preferred to negotiate rather than fight, and surrendered their
strongholds. This was the case with the Duke of Asturia and the other
authorities of Gallaecia, who surrendered the cities of Astorga and León in
714, although some historians maintain that the ancient Asturica Augusta was
besieged and destroyed by the Muslims.
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| Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (Wikimedia) |
The cities that resisted were destroyed, and their inhabitants were stripped of their possessions, many ending up as slaves. The Jewish population welcomed the occupiers with open arms, as the persecutions and pressures of the Visigoths had become unbearable: it is known that on several occasions they even facilitated their task by opening the city gates from within. The invaders showed tolerance toward them and toward the enemies who submitted to them, although the Hispanic population was encouraged to convert to Islam through political and economic measures. Those who converted, in addition to being able to hold administrative positions, were exempt from paying the jizya and the kharaj, a personal tax and a land tax that all non-Muslims had to pay. With such a simple measure, the newcomers managed to ensure that, despite initial reluctance, by the 10th century around 80% of the inhabitants of al-Andalus were Muslim.
In contrast to the two centuries it took the Romans, the invaders conquered the entire Iberian Peninsula in less than five years. Ironically, the Romans had the advantage of facing a diverse array of peoples who were never able to unite and resist as a single force, while the Muslims faced the challenge of attacking a Peninsula unified under Visigothic rule. The explanation for this phenomenon is simple: the Romans conquered Hispania in stages, without a pre-established invasion plan, while the Muslims were driven by the desire to spread their faith throughout the known world, and they also had the good fortune to encounter a state as fragile and decadent as that of the Visigoths. The Islamists imposed the name al-Andalus on all of Hispania and transformed it into a viliate or emirate, that is, a province governed by a wali or emir dependent on the caliph of Damascus, with its capital in Córdoba. They continued their advance through southern France, eager to spread Islam throughout Western Europe. Their progress was only halted after their defeat by the Frankish general Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers (732), exactly a century after the death of Muhammad. Following this defeat, they retreated to the Iberian Peninsula and never again attempted to venture beyond the Pyrenees.
Muslim society was headed by the Arabs, proud and haughty because they came from the homeland of Muhammad, so they reserved for themselves the high offices and the best cities and lands in the south. Below them, and comprising the bulk of the occupying troops, were the Berbers or "Amazighen", a majority ethnic group in North Africa whose conversion to Islam was recent but intense. They received the least fertile lands in the north, and thus very soon they also had to contend with the rebellious Christians. There was also a minority of Syrians and people of other origins, who shared with the Berbers the contempt with which they were treated by the Arabs. Dissension among these ethnic groups began very early, and their internal struggles would cause periods of weakness that would be exploited by the Christian resistance.
Asturian kingdom
The invaders called Gallaecia "Yiliqiyya", which is why the Asturian-Leonese kingdom was sometimes also called by that name. Many historians translated (and still translate) “Yilliqiyya” as “Galicia” and “yalaliqa” as “Galicians”, which leads to many misunderstandings and confusions, as we shall see.
Muslim rule of the Iberian Peninsula was not as complete as is often assumed. Many areas remained in the hands of Visigothic nobles who had made pacts with the invaders, and the Muslim presence in the north of the peninsula was limited to garrisons and governors in the main cities. Furthermore, the belief that present-day Asturias was not conquered is also a myth, since it seems that there was a Muslim governor named Munuza in the city of Gijón. Thus, the Mozarabic Chronicle, written in 745, could state that in 715 "Abdalaziz [son of Musa] governs all of Hispania in peace".
At this time, Pelayo appears, a figure who would soon acquire legendary status. It seems he had held some important position in the Visigothic court, and it is even said that he was the son of the dux, or duke, of Asturia, although other historians claim he was an Asturian chieftain. Be that as it may, the fact is that around the year 718, this Pelayo began a rebellion against Muslim rule, taking advantage of a council held in the mountains of Asturias. He was appointed leader of the Asturians and began to gain followers for his cause. In that same year, or more likely in 722, Munuza, who was possibly the governor of Gijón, sent troops to quell the uprising, but they suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of the rebels at Covadonga. The battle was recounted with epic and miraculous overtones by later Christian chroniclers, who even claimed that the Virgin Mary herself had participated, bringing the mountain crashing down upon the Muslims. This was an attempt to glorify what was likely an ambush in which the Asturians used their knowledge of the terrain to massacre the enemy army or detachment below from the heights.
Whatever the case, this event is considered the founding moment of the Asturian kingdom in the Albeldense Chronicle (“and thus, by divine providence, the kingdom of the Astures was born”), as it enabled Pelayo to capture Gijón and attract many more people to his cause, extending his domains to the Nalón River. The capital of this nascent kingdom was established in Cangas de Onís, sheltered by the mountains, as the Muslim military superiority remained evident. However, the invaders showed little concern for this stronghold and preferred to continue focusing on their expansion into France. Things changed after the aforementioned defeat at Poitiers (732), as in 735 the newly arrived governor Uqba Ibn al-Hajjah apparently defeated the Christians in Gallaecia (Asturias in this case) and in Pamplona, a city that, aided by the Franks, had followed the example of the Asturians and rebelled . This is narrated in the chronicle called " Ajbar Machmuâ ”:
“[ Uqba Ibn al- Hajj became master of Gallaecia, Álava, and Pamplona, leaving no hamlet in Gallaecia unconquered, except for the mountains, where a king named Belay (Pelayo) had taken refuge with 300 men. The Muslims relentlessly attacked and harassed him, to the point that many of them died of hunger; others eventually surrendered, and their numbers dwindled until they were reduced to 30 men, who, according to accounts, did not even have 10 wives. There they remained fortified, feeding on honey, for they had beehives and the bees had gathered in the crevices of the rock. It was difficult for the Muslims to reach them, and they left them, saying, “Thirty men, what can they matter?” They despised them, therefore, and they eventually became a very serious matter, as, God willing, we shall relate in due course.
The situation certainly couldn't have been that desperate for the Christians, and even the chronicler shows some skepticism (“according to what is said”), but this passage is very interesting in showing the Muslim point of view. Despite this, the chronicler is often confused about dates and people, so it wouldn't be surprising if he is actually referring to Pelayo's uprising, and not to a later defeat of the Asturian leader. Later, he explains how the rebels expanded:
“The inhabitants of Gallaecia revolted against the Muslims, and as the power of the Christian named Pelayo, whom we mentioned at the beginning of this history, grew, he left the mountains and took control of the district of Asturias. The Muslims of Gallaecia and Astorga resisted him for a long time, until the civil war of Abol-Jatar and Tsuaba broke out. In the year 33, the Arabs were defeated and driven out of Gallaecia, and all those who were wavering in their faith converted back to Christianity and ceased paying tribute. Of the remaining inhabitants, some were killed and others fled behind the mountains towards Astorga. But when famine spread, they also drove the Muslims out of Astorga and other towns, and retreated behind the gorges of the other mountain range, towards Coria and Mérida, in the year 36.”
The author dates these events between 740 and 754, but Pelayo had already died in 737, so it must be assumed that he is referring to his successors. In any case, it is proven that the Berbers revolted in Tangier against the Arab governor of Ifriqiya in 740, and that this rebellion spread to the Iberian Peninsula. The Arabs suppressed it by sending troops composed of Syrians, but the damage had already been done: from that moment on, the Christians took advantage of the instability caused by these and other civil wars, consolidating and extending their new kingdom in the Cantabrian Mountains and the surrounding areas. The “ Ajbar Machmuâ" indicates that Muslim rule in the territory of ancient Gallaecia (present-day Galicia, Asturias, León, and parts of Zamora and northern Portugal) ended as early as the 8th century, although historians in the first half of the 20th century continued to mistakenly identify this territory solely with Galicia. News of this early center of resistance reached groups of Christians in North Africa, who, driven by Muslim persecution, emigrated to the new kingdom, becoming servants of Bishop Odoario of Lugo.
The Muslim invasion had a curious consequence on the toponymy of the Iberian Peninsula: Transmontane Asturia, north of the Cantabrian Mountains, remained in Christian hands and became the nucleus of the new kingdom, while Augustana continued to be dominated by Muslims for some time. The chronicle of Alfonso III states that Munuza 's army was so thoroughly destroyed that not a single Muslim remained within the Pyrenean passes (referring to the Cantabrian Mountains, as we have seen). This led to the name "Asturia" being reserved for the present-day province of Asturias for the first time in history. Furthermore, the name began to be used in the plural, probably to indicate that it included several districts. It already appears in its current form in the Alfonsine Chronicle written in 883, although the more common name seems to have been "Asturorum (or Astororum ) Regnum", that is, the kingdom of the Astures. The survival of the term Gallaecia is indisputable, since Muslim historians used it throughout the centuries in its Arabized version ("Yiliqiyya"), and almost always to refer to the Asturian-Leonese kingdom as a whole.
Alfonso I and the myth of the strategic desert of the Duero
Pelayo reigned from 718 until his death in Cangas de Onís in 737, leaving his son Favila as his successor. Favila could do little, however, as he died just two and a half years later in a rather unusual way: a keen hunter, he fell victim to his passion, dying recklessly at the hands of a brown bear. The succession then fell to his sister Ermesinda , but in those times it was not common for a woman to reign, so her husband, Alfonso I, received the throne. In much later times, he would have to settle for the role of king consort. This would not be the last time in the kingdom's history that a woman inherited the crown and was forced to cede it to her husband. Alfonso was the son of Pedro, a supposed descendant of the Visigothic royal line, and the last Duke of Cantabria. Asturias and Cantabria once again joined their destinies against a common enemy, as had happened more than seven centuries before.
Alfonso I, who would be known as "the Catholic," proved to be a highly competent and capable king who skillfully exploited the civil wars among the Muslims mentioned earlier. He had the invaluable assistance of his brother Fruela, who accompanied him on his campaigns and distinguished himself as a great military leader. His reign (739-757) lasted practically as long as the Berber rebellions against the Arabs, which allowed him to attack a number of cities far removed from present-day Asturias: according to the Rotense version of the Chronicle of Alfonso III, he captured Lugo, Tuy, Porto, Braga, Viseu, Chaves, Ledesma, Salamanca, Zamora, Ávila, Astorga, León, Simancas, Saldaña, Amaya, Cenicero, Alesanco, and several other places. In other words, his conquest extended across Galicia, northern Portugal, much of the Northern Plateau, and as far east as La Rioja. However, the Albeldense Chronicle, which is the closest to the events, states that he only “victoriously occupied the cities of León and Astorga, which were in enemy hands. He ravaged the so-called Gothic Fields as far as the Duero River and extended the Christian kingdom.” This latter account is much more credible for such an early period and reflects a particular interest in dominating the southern part of ancient Asturia. Furthermore, it aligns with the texts of Muslim chroniclers, which demonstrate a complete abandonment of Gallaecia around the year 750.
The Rotense chronicle tells us that Alfonso I, after his raids on some thirty cities under Muslim rule, "took the Christians back to his homeland". This phrase was interpreted by the historian Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz to suggest that this maneuver created a strategically unpopulated area in the Duero Valley, which would be very useful in preventing Muslim incursions, since the lack of population and their crops would prevent the invaders from advancing to the Cantabrian coast.
This medievalist, building upon and expanding the ideas of 19th-century historians such as the Portuguese Alexandre Herculano and the Dutch Reinhart Dozy, vehemently defended the existence of the "strategic desert", successfully gaining acceptance among a large portion of 20th-century medievalists. However, his theory faced several detractors from the outset, as it presents numerous inconsistencies and weaknesses. Firstly, the relocation of a large population from the plateau to the north is hardly credible, as it would require a level of management, resources, and infrastructure unimaginable for 8th-century Hispania. This artificially created desert would cover approximately 130,000 km², making it an operation of such magnitude that it would be difficult to implement even in the 21st century. It would entail the relocation of more than half a million inhabitants to an area of 25,000 km² where fewer than 125,000 people would live.
On the other hand, the supposed "genius" of the desert that Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz speaks of doesn't seem so brilliant if we consider that it would have worked both ways, preventing Christian incursions into al-Andalus. We know that these attacks and raids were continuous, and that, in the opposite direction, the Muslims attacked Asturian territory on several occasions, so if it existed, it didn't prove very useful. Sánchez-Albornoz pointed out that most Muslim incursions took place along the western and, above all, eastern edges of the kingdom, which would indicate a desire to skirt the desert, especially to reach the Álava region, which was devastated on numerous occasions. But he conveniently forgets that there were also frontal attacks across the Duero River, as we will see. And he also forgets that the roads leading to Álava also had to cross this desert.
Luis López Santos demonstrated in 1952 that the towns of the Diocese of León in the 13th century still followed the Visigothic calendar of saints, with the same patron saints as before the Muslim invasion. This would have been impossible if depopulation had occurred over decades or centuries. Similarly, it can be argued that without a population on the plateau, place names of pre-Roman, Roman, and Germanic origin would have been lost to oblivion, which also did not happen.
But we also have accounts of Muslim attacks on the cities of Astorga and León in periods prior to their official repopulation by Ordoño I (850-866). Specifically, in 795, Abd al-Karim
“reached Medina- Asturiqa [the city of Astorga] in the interior of Yilliqiyya , where he received news that Adfuns (Alfonso II) was gathering the people of his land (…) ordering the inhabitants of the plain to retreat to the high mountains on the coastal side.”
This fragment from the historian Ibn Idari, which we will see in full later, demonstrates beyond a doubt that the northern part of the plateau was inhabited. After a battle with an Andalusian victory, Abd al-Karim marched from there against Asturias, demonstrating with this campaign the strategic irrelevance of the supposed desert. For their part, Ibn Idari and Ibn al- Athir speak of a Muslim attack on the city of León some years before Ordoño I reigned:
“In the year 231 [845-846 AD] he sent Muhammad Ibn al-Amir Abd al- Rahman on a summer expedition to Galilee , who surrounded it, besieging the city of Liyun [Leon], which he fought with almajaneques [a kind of human-powered catapult]; and when they (the besieged) knew that they were lost, they came out at night and took refuge in the mountains and marshy places, and he burned what was in it, and when he thought to destroy its wall he found that it was seventeen or eighteen cubits [almost ten meters], and he left it and went into the land of Christendom, robbing and taking captives.”
These testimonies completely rule out the possibility that both cities were in Muslim hands after the civil wars between Berbers and Arabs. They also demonstrate that the northern regions of the northern plateau were not deserted, despite what the Rotense Chronicle states. Now, who inhabited them? Although we have no other testimony than the Albendense Chronicle, we must assume that they were inhabited by subjects of the Asturian-Leonese kings. This would demonstrate the continued existence of Gallaecia as the initial framework of the Christian kingdom and would explain the use of the name of that Roman province by Muslims and other foreign powers. Some historians, however, believe that both in these cities and in the surrounding rural areas lived people independent of any centralized power who were eventually absorbed by the Asturian-Leonese kingdom. In any case, it is undeniable that the cities south of the Cordillera would have a very small population, and that they would not play a major role in the organizational and administrative system of the kingdom until their "official" repopulation in the time of Ordoño I.
Sánchez-Albornoz also used the repopulation efforts and the founding of towns and villages as an argument in favor of the desertification theory, claiming that they took place in sparsely populated areas. However, we know that these efforts were carried out throughout the Middle Ages, and often in densely populated areas. The repopulation efforts did not consist of occupying uninhabited places by relocating people of foreign origin, but rather of politically reorganizing these areas, fully integrating them into the administrative system of the Asturian-Leonese kingdom.
Christian chronicles make no mention of the existence of this desert. It could be argued that these sources are generally very brief and provide very little information, which is why they omit mentioning it. But it is striking that the Muslim chronicles, much longer and more detailed, also fail to mention it. There are only two possible references: the first is from the historian Abenalcotia, who says that in the time of Muhammad I, the rebels Ibn Marwan and Sadun Al- Surunbaki states that they “remained in their wilderness [or desert] between the Muslim and Christian regions,” although we know that Ibn Marwan had his base of operations in what is now the province of Badajoz, and al- Surunbaki in the city of Porto, making it unlikely that this passage refers to a desert covering the entire Duero basin. The second account comes from Ibn Idari, who claims that Abd al-Rahman III “took five days to cross the great desert along the Duero River” on a march from Clunia to the Tudela area. It should be noted that less than half of this route crosses Duero lands (its easternmost point), through what is now the province of Soria. It so happens that most of the march took place in Navarre, which is not actually part of the Duero basin, making this account geographically inaccurate. On the other hand, this march crossed the path that the Muslims used in most of their 9th-century raids, which rules out that they did it to avoid the “strategic desert” of Sánchez-Albornoz.
However, several Muslim accounts refute the existence of the desert. Ibn Hayyan states in his Al- Muqtabis that Abd al-Rahman III, during one of his campaigns, attacked the area of Burgo de Osma and Gormaz (Soria), and that
“upon learning of the scarcity this year in the region of the Duero fortresses of the tyrant Ramiro, son of Ordoño, king of Yiliqiyya, to which he was heading, and his haste in harvesting the crops in some of them to prevent the Muslims attacking them from profiting from them, to the point of not providing sustenance for the army, al-Nasir [Abd al-Rahman's nickname], fearing hardship for his men, abandoned his planned punitive incursion, finding it more opportune and safer to return”.
This passage demonstrates that there was a population in the Duero basin that maintained crops, although in times of scarcity they could not sustain either their own troops or the enemies who plundered them. When Ibn Hayyan himself recounts the Battle of Simancas, he describes in great detail the route taken by Abd al-Rahman III, whose enormous army (some one hundred thousand infantry and an undetermined number of cavalry) crossed directly through the Duero River basin. And not only that: after the initial slight defeat, his troops spent weeks traversing this supposed desert, covering some 200 kilometers from west to east and spending almost a month there in total, without us knowing how such a large force could survive in an area supposedly uninhabited and without crops.
Finally, Ibn al- Kardabus, a Muslim historian from the late 12th century, presents the following dialogue between the dying Almanzor (Ibn Abu Amir) and his hajib or chamberlain:
"If God had inspired me to devastate what I conquered and empty of inhabitants what I dominated, and I had placed between the land of the Muslims and the land of the Christians ten days' march through desolate and deserted places, even if [they] longed to tread them, they would not reach the land of Islam except in tatters, because of the amount [necessary] of provisions for the journey and the difficulty of the objective."
The hajib said to him:
“You will soon be at peace: so order what you have thought.”
Almanzor replied:
“Get out of here! Don’t come to me with stories. By God! If I were to cure him and order what you have indicated, people would truly say: Ibn Abu Amir fell ill, and his illness, taking hold of his brain, has made him mad and foolish; he has devastated the land of the Muslims and, by evacuating it, has depopulated it.”
This important (and overlooked) testimony expresses the Muslim leader's desire to have created a strategic desert to prevent Christian expeditions into al-Andalus, which precisely demonstrates that such a desert never existed. He also acknowledges that had he done so, he would have been considered insane for depopulating Muslim territory, thus dismissing the idea as unrealistic and fanciful.
Even granting that the northern sub-plateau must indeed have been very sparsely populated (with a population density that could have been around five inhabitants per square kilometer), the existence of such a construct must be carefully qualified, or simply dismissed. This raises many questions about the organization, culture, language, religion, etc., of the inhabitants of the border areas, but having been isolated from the central powers, it is very likely that we will never know their history. Lacking written sources, only archaeology is shedding any light on the matter, corroborating that the desert is merely a historiographical myth.
The Independent Emirate. Fruela I, Aurelio and Silo
Until the mid-8th century, the Muslim world had been ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, which had established its capital in Damascus. They considered themselves successors of Muhammad, receiving the title of caliphs and wielding both political and religious power. One could say that their leaders were akin to a blend of emperors and popes in the Western world. However, in 750, a revolution occurred that culminated in the rise to power of the Abbasid dynasty. To achieve this, the Abbasids resorted to underhanded tactics: they invited the Umayyads to a banquet and then murdered them all. But one managed to escape: Abd al-Rahman, who fled as far as he could to avoid the enemy assassins, finally reaching al-Andalus in 755 after many hardships. Taking advantage of the situation created by the Berber and Arab wars, Abd al-Rahman seized power in 756, proclaiming himself independent emir and transforming al-Andalus into a territory emancipated from the power of the Abbasid caliphs, who moved the capital of the Muslim empire from Damascus to Baghdad. These caliphs also encouraged conspiracies and uprisings against the new emir, but they always failed, as Abd al-Rahman unified and ruled his kingdom with an iron fist.
During his thirty-two-year reign (756-788), Abd al-Rahman I had to exert considerable effort to defeat the Berber and Yemeni rebels, as well as the Abbasid armies. Despite this, he did not neglect his border with the nascent Asturian kingdom, which he attacked on several occasions.
In 757, Alfonso I died and was buried alongside his wife in Covadonga. He was succeeded by his son, Fruela I, who reigned for eleven years (757-768) and had to face several Muslim attacks. In Galicia, he confronted and defeated an army commanded by Omar, a relative of Abd al-Rahman I, whom the Asturian king ordered executed. In Álava, he fared worse against Badr, a freedman and trusted advisor of the emir, who ravaged the region in 767 and subjected it to tribute payments. In any case, these attacks clearly demonstrate that the Asturian kingdom held sway over both regions, and Fruela did indeed have to suppress several rebellions in both Galicia and Álava. During his reign, we have evidence of the founding of a monastery in Viogio , that is, in present-day Villadepalos in the El Bierzo region. For this reason, it has often been said that Fruela initiated the repopulation of this region. This does not mean that he moved large contingents of settlers from other places, but rather that he integrated these territories into the administrative and fiscal system of the kingdom. The document that mentions this foundation states that the monks "took possession of ancient villages", which does not necessarily mean that they were abandoned. According to the chronicles, "Fruela repopulated Galicia as far as the Miño River", a territory that lay far from the supposed "strategic desert". The same can be said of the city of Oviedo, which emerged during this reign thanks to the founding of several monasteries, without this implying that the area was uninhabited until that time.
Despite his founding in Oviedo, all indications suggest that the court continued to reside in Cangas de Onís. Like his Muslim rival, Fruela I was known for his iron fist in securing his crown: in addition to violently suppressing rebellions in Galicia and Álava, he did not hesitate to murder his own brother, Vimarano, when he began to overshadow him. This murder earned him the enmity of the nobility, who conspired against him and killed him in the capital in 768. His figure was famous even in al-Andalus, as Muslim chronicles describe him as having “surpassed his father in bravery, skill in governance, and firmness. He wielded uncontested power and had a glorious reign”. From his marriage to the Basque woman Munia, he had a son, Alfonso (the future Alfonso II), who was just a child at the time of his assassination. Against his will, Fruela I was succeeded by his cousin Aurelio, who was the nephew of Alfonso I and the grandson of Duke Pedro of Cantabria.
Aurelius reigned
for only six years (768-774), during which time he was at peace with Abd
al-Rahman I. We do not know if this peace was due to the payment of tributes
(which would imply a certain subjugation of the " Asturorum"). The
only known fact of his reign is that he crushed a serf uprising, without any
further details being known. The emir's reign was either due to his being very
busy suppressing internal rebellions, or because he was largely occupied with
suppressing internal rebellions, or because the emir was very busy suppressing
internal rebellions.
“In his time the libertines (freedmen?) took up arms against their own lords, and exercised tyranny: the prince managed with his skill to subdue them and reduce them to their first servitude” (Chronicle of Alfonso III: Sebastianense and Rotense versions ).
Aurelius died of natural causes in the town of San Martín del Rey Aurelio, which suggests he had moved the capital of his kingdom there. He had no known wife or descendants, and was therefore succeeded by Silo.
Silo ruled for
almost a decade (774-783). He was not of royal lineage, but he was married to
Adosinda , a daughter of Alfonso I: once again we find a woman as the
transmitter of dynastic legitimacy, although this would not be the last time.
Several chronicles say that during his reign he was at peace with the Muslims .
causam “Matris ,” meaning “because of his mother,” though the meaning of this
expression remains uninterpreted (Did his mother marry Abd al-Rahman I? Was she
his concubine? Or was she of Arab origin?). This peace was likely also due to
Abd al-Rahman I focusing his efforts on halting the advance of the Franks, who,
commanded by Charlemagne, suffered a resounding defeat against the Basques in
778 at Roncesvalles, after having failed in their attempt to capture the Muslim
city of Zaragoza. For some years, the emir dedicated himself to strengthening
his position in the Ebro Valley, which could explain his apparent disinterest
in the Asturian kingdom .
Silo crushed a
rebellion after a pitched battle on Mount Cuperio or Ciperio (O Cebreiro or
Montecuveiro ?): Sebastian's Chronicle says it was an insurrection of the
peoples of Gallaecia (“ populos Gallaetiae ”), something that most contemporary
historians have overlooked and interpreted as a rebellion limited to the limits
of present-day Galicia.
Silo and Adosinda
had no children, so they groomed Alfonso, the son of Fruela I, to succeed them.
They entrusted him with the government of the "Palatium ", or royal
court, which appears to have moved to Pravia, marking the third change of
capital after Cangas de Onís and San Martín del Rey Aurelio.
To study the history of this early period of the Asturian-Leonese kingdom, we must rely on both Christian and Muslim chronicles, as we have very few surviving documents. In fact, the earliest surviving medieval document or charter is kept in the Archives of León Cathedral, dates from 775, and was written by King Silo himself.
King Mauregato and an opera by Schubert
Upon Silo's death,
his widow Adosinda appointed her nephew Alfonso as king, a decision approved by
most of the nobles. However, some of them preferred Mauregato, a bastard son
Alfonso I had with a Muslim slave. We do not know the maneuvers he employed,
but Mauregato ultimately seized the throne "by cunning", as the
Chronicle of Alfonso III states, and Alfonso was forced to take refuge in Álava
"with his mother's relatives". The usurper imprisoned his half-sister
Adosinda in a convent and reigned for six years (783-789). According to
Andalusian chronicles, a Muslim attack occurred during this time, although it
could not have been very significant, as Emir Abd al-Rahman I remained occupied
with suppressing rebellions and maintaining the unity of al-Andalus.
For his part, Charlemagne had not given up on his plans to enter Hispanic lands, and he conquered Girona, Urgel, Cerdanya and Besalú, which together with other territories would form the so-called Carolingian "Hispanic March" as a border with the Muslims.
About Mauregato, the most famous being that he swore allegiance to Abd al-Rahman I and pledged to deliver one hundred Christian virgins as an annual tribute to maintain peace (the so-called "Tribute of the One Hundred Maidens"). This story is entirely false and apocryphal, and was created many centuries later.
His figure as a usurper also inspired the brilliant musician Franz Schubert more than a thousand years later, when he composed the opera "Alfonso und Estrella" (Alfonso and Estrella), D 732, in 1822. As is typical of Romanticism, history appears distorted in this work: Fruela de León, the legitimate king, has been unjustly deposed by Mauregato. Fruela is worried because his son Alfonso wishes to lead a revolt against the usurper. At the court of León, Adolfo, an ambitious general, is in love with Estrella, Mauregato 's daughter , but her father has declared that only the man who possesses the "Chain of Eurico" can marry Estrella. Furious at being denied marriage, Adolfo plots a revolt against Mauregato .
During a hunting
expedition, Estrella gets lost and encounters Alfonso. They fall deeply in
love, neither knowing the other's identity. Alfonso gives Estrella a necklace
he has always worn and points out a safe path back home. Back at court, she
recounts the story, and Mauregato recognizes the necklace as the "Chain of
Eurico". Before he can tell her its meaning, a rebellion led by Adolfo
begins, and he captures Estrella. Alfonso then discovers that Estrella is
Mauregato 's daughter and sides with him against the rebels. Mauregato's
troops defeat Adolfo, and Alfonso rescues Estrella. But Mauregato is overcome
with remorse and restores Fruela to the throne. In return, Fruela abdicates in
favor of Alfonso II and Estrella, and everything ends happily. As we can see,
it is a completely invented story in which the Asturian kingdom (Leonese,
according to Schubert) and its protagonists serve only as a vague backdrop for
the opera and a love story. The reality is that Mauregato died of natural
causes in 788, and that Bermudo I, brother of King Aurelius, was chosen as his
successor.
