Bermudo III. (León)

Bermudo III. von León, history painting by José María Rodríguez de Losada (1826–1896), around 1892–94

Bermudo III. (* 1017 ; † 1037 ) was King of León from 1028 to 1037. The son of Alfonso V ascended the throne at the age of 11. During his reign, the neighboring country of Navarre reached under Sancho III. , the great, his greatest display of power.

An incident in the capital, León, was to shape the future of his government. In 1029 the Castilian Count García Sanchez II visited the city to meet his sister Bermudo III. To marry Sancha . Once there, he was murdered by members of the Vela family in revenge for an insult to the family by the count's father.

Since he died without descendants, the King of Navarre, Sancho III , attacked . , Castilian territory in order to enforce the rights he had acquired by marrying Munia, the sister of the victim. He conquered the area between the rivers Cea and Pisuerga . At the same time, Sancho III. execute the Vela. Finally, the son of Sanchos, Ferdinand I , was appointed count. Under him the county of Castile should be raised to a kingdom.

When he reached the age of majority in 1032, Bermudo III sought. then to retake the territories of the Kingdom of León that were lost to Navarre. He was unsuccessful, however. He tried this again by marrying his sister Sancha with Ferdinand I, but this did not succeed either. On the contrary: since Sancho III. attacked his kingdom and conquered Astorga and León , territories which he would not regain until the death of Sancho III, the great.

Only later and after a hard struggle did he recapture the land between Pisuerga and Cea. However, he found death in the battle of the Valle de Tamarón when he tried to conquer Tierra de Campos . With him the line of the descendants of Don Pelayo ended . The throne passed to his sister Sancha, who ceded her rights to her husband Ferdinand I.

literature

• José M. Alonso Núñez: Vermudo III . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 8, LexMA-Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-89659-908-9 , Sp. 1561 f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Alfons V.	King of León 1028-1037	Ferdinand I.