Ferdinand I (León)

Ferdinand I the Great ( Spanish Fernando el Magno ; * probably between 1016 and 1018 ; † December 27, 1065 in León ) was the first King of León , Castile and Galicia from the House of Jiménez from 1035 to 1065 . He made a significant contribution to the rise of the Kingdom of Castile - León to become the dominant power among the Christian kingdoms of Spain .

King Ferdinand I depicted in a miniature from the 12th century. Archivo de la Catedral de Santiago, Tumbo A.

Life

origin

Ferdinand was a son of King Sancho III. of Navarre and the Munia Mayor of Castile ; according to a document dated October 21, 1022, he was the youngest. His siblings were:

Mayor († before 1044), ∞ with Count Pons Wilhelm of Toulouse
García III. († 1054), King of Navarre
Gonzalo († 1045), King of Ribagorza and Sobrarbe
Bernardo († after 1024)
Jimena († after 1062), ∞ with King Bermudo III. from León

A half brother was:

Ramiro I († 1063), King of Aragon

King of León

King Sancho III. built the Basque Kingdom of Navarre and with it the ruling House of Jiménez into a hegemonic power among the Christian empires of the Iberian Peninsula by means of an energetic rule , above all by in 1029 on behalf of his wife the county of Castile, which borders on Navarre to the west, after the assassination of their last count, of his brother-in-law. He also exercised significant influence on the Kingdom of León through his sister Urraca , the widow of Alfonso V , who fell against the Moors in 1028 . As the youngest son of his father, Ferdinand was intended to succeed him in the maternal inheritance, i.e. in Castile. Sancho III. 1032 forced Ferdinand to marry the Leonese Infanta Sancha , sister of the reigning king Bermudo III. who was still a child. As the bride's dowry, he annexed the borderland between the Cea and Pisuerga for Castile. And despite the close family ties to Bermudo III. distributed Sancho III. forcibly removed him from León in 1034 and took control of this kingdom himself. However, he died only a year later at the height of his power and Ferdinand was able to succeed as planned in Castile, while Bermudo III. took advantage of the situation to reclaim León. Between the brothers-in-law there was immediately a dispute over the disputed borderland, which culminated in the decisive battle of Tamarón on September 4, 1037 , in Bermudo III. fell. Because he left no children, the kingdom of León fell to his sister Sancha, the last member of the Asturian house , and her husband Ferdinand. On June 22, 1038 Ferdinand was recognized as king in León by the great Leóns and Galicia and crowned in the Church of Santa María .

The first fifteen years of his rule were largely peaceful for Ferdinand. He used this time to consolidate his kingdom. Among other things, he was the first Leonese king to establish contacts with the Burgundian Abbey of Cluny , to which he certified an annual donation of 1,000 dinars . In order to reform the decrepit monastic system, he decided in 1055 at a church council of his empire in Coyanza to introduce the Benedictine order rule based on the Franconian model. However, Ferdinand brought the power he had grown in those years in opposition to his eldest brother García III. of Navarre, who saw his position as senior of the family and thus as leader of the Spanish Christians threatened. These tensions finally erupted in the fratricidal war from which Ferdinand emerged victorious on September 15, 1054 in the decisive battle of Atapuerca near Burgos ; García was killed in the process. Ferdinand refrained from taking over Navarre, where he accepted the successor to his nephew Sancho IV , but annexed the Bureba landscape with the San Salvador Abbey of Oña from him .

With the victory over the older brother, Ferdinand now claimed the seniority over the Jiménez dynasty for himself, especially since his only living half-brother Ramiro I of Aragón was only an illegitimate son of his father. Connected with this was his political priority among the Christian kingdoms of Hispania , which he was also able to legitimize through his ownership of the Leonese crown through his marriage to Sancha. His wife's ancestors had already succeeded the old Visigoth kings and, as their heirs, claimed a claim to supremacy, which they expressed through the use of an imperial title ( imperator ) . Ferdinand had himself and his wife named emperors for the first time on September 12 and 13, 1056 in two documents issued for the Benedictine Abbey of Arlanza, two years after his victory over García.

Moors fight

The Muslim Typhoon Kingdoms in 1037.

Immediately after the fratricidal struggle ended, Ferdinand began expanding his empire against the Muslim Al-Andalus . He was favored by the fact that the political unity of Al-Andalus had come to an end due to the collapse of the Caliphate of Cordoba after the death of Almansor in 1002 and the last caliph in 1031. In its place were several sub- kingdoms , the so-called Taifas , which were now ruled by the former governors of the caliphs as independent kingdoms, the most powerful of which were those of Toledo , Badajoz , Saragossa , Valencia and Seville . Ferdinand's first attacks were directed against Taifa Badajoz by making several raids in the region south of the lower reaches of the Duero . The aim here was to recapture the old county of Portucale , which had been conquered by Almansor in the previous decades. With the conquest of Lamego on November 29, 1057, he brought the Duero Valley under his control. Advancing further south, he took Seia and, after a victorious battle on July 25, 1058, Viseu , thereby gaining access to the Mondego valley .

Ferdinand then turned against Taifa Saragossa for the time being, wrested the castles of San Esteban de Gormaz , Berlanga , Vadorrey , Santamara and others one after the other, thereby bringing the old Roman road from Saragossa and Toledo under his control. He then moved against the Taifa Toledo and conquered Talamanca in 1063 , whereupon the typhoon king Al-Mamun was forced to become a vassal to Ferdinand, who in turn placed the vassals under his protection after receiving an annual tribute (paria) . The typhoon king of Saragossa was prompted to take this step shortly afterwards, when his empire was increasingly troubled by Ramiro I of Aragón. In order to live up to his guarantees of protection, Ferdinand sent his eldest son to support the King of Saragossa in 1063, who killed his uncle in the Battle of Graus . In 1064 Ferdinand completed the conquest of the Mondego Valley by taking Coimbra after a six-month siege. According to legend, he is said to have done this with the heavenly assistance of St. James , who appeared as "the soldier of Christ". And after repeated raids (razzia) to Andalusia finally the kings of Seville and Badajoz had to commit to the payment of tribute to the Kingdom of León, the new hegemony thus manifested in his pariah system among the countries of the Iberian Peninsula.

In the spring of 1065, the Typhoon King of Saragossa, al-Muqtadir , with the support of the King of Valencia, resigned his vassalage to León and carried out a massacre of the Christian population of his city. Ferdinand immediately moved against Valencia, defeated its king in the battle of Peterna and then besieged its capital. In the camp in front of Valencia, however, Ferdinand was attacked by a serious illness that forced him to break off the siege and retreat to León, where he died on December 27, 1065. He was buried in the collegiate church of San Isidoro Abbey , which he had founded. At an unspecified point in time, Ferdinand had received the bones of Saint Isidorus from the typhoon king of Seville as a diplomatic gift, for the safekeeping of which he had a new shrine built in his capital, which was also to serve as a new burial place for the Leonese kings. The epitaph of his grave names him “Ferdinand the Great, King of all Spain” (FERNANDUS MAGNUS REX TOTIUS HISPANIAE).

progeny

Ferdinand's marriage to Sancha of León († 1067) resulted in three sons and two daughters. These children were:

Urraca (* before 1037, † 1103), "Queen" of Zamora .
Sancho II († 1072), King of Castile.
Elvira († 1099), mistress of Toro .
Alfonso VI († 1109), King of León and from 1072 also King of Castile and Galicia.
García († 1090), King of Galicia.

Shortly before his death in 1064, Ferdinand decided on his succession at a court meeting and, following the example of his father, determined the division of his empire among his sons. The eldest, Sancho II, was to receive the former county of Castile and the youngest, García, Galicia as separate kingdoms. The middle son of Alfonso VI . but, who was supposedly the favorite son of Ferdinand, was to take over the rule in León, with which the seniorate among the brothers was awarded to him. However, Ferdinand thereby laid the foundation for the quarrel between his sons, as he had already existed with his brothers. After his death, the sons waged a fratricidal war, from which Alfonso VI. emerged victorious and thus reunited the empire of Ferdinand.

literature

Ludwig Vones : Ferdinand I. 'el Magno' . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 4, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-7608-8904-2 , column 362 f.
Alfonso García Gallo: El concilio de Coyanza: contribución al estudio del derecho canónico español en la alta edad media. In: Anuario de historia del derecho español, Vol. 20 (1950), pp. 275-633.
Justo Pérez de Urbel: La división del reino por Sancho el Mayor. In: Hispania. Revista española de historia. 14: 3-26 (1954).
Charles Julian Bishko: Fernando I y los orígenes de la alianza castellano-leonesa con Cluny. In: Cuadernos de Historia de España. Vol. 47 (1968), pp. 31-135 and Vol. 48 (1969), pp. 30-116 ( English translation online ).
Bernard F. Reilly: The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI 1065-1109. Princeton University Press, 1988 ( online ).

Web links

Commons : Ferdinand I. (León) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

annotation

↑ Alfonso Sánchez Candeira: Castilla Y León En El Siglo Xi. Estudios Del Reinado De Fernando I., Madrid 1999, p. 45.
↑ For the date of death see: Chronicon Lusitanum, ed. by Enríque Flórez, in: España Sagrada. Vol. 14 (1786), p. 405.
↑ Colección diplomática de la catedral de Pamplona, Tomo I (829-1243), ed. by José Goñi Gaztambide (1997), no. 7, p. 29. Document of Sanchos III, who recommended that the Abbey of San Salvador of Leire adopt the Benedictine order.
↑ Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §77, pp. 42-43.
↑ Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §79, p. 44.
↑ Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §80, pp. 44-45.
↑ Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §82-84, pp. 46-47. Chronicon Regum Legionensium , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, p. 82.
↑ Cartulario de San Pedro de Arlanza: Antiguo Monasterio Benedictino, ed. by Luciano Serrano (1925), nos. 56 and 57, pp. 116-119. "Sub imperio imperatoris Fredinandi regis et Sancie regine imperatrice, regnum regentes in Legione et in Gallecia uel in Castella ...".
↑ Chronicon Lusitanum, ed. by Enríque Flórez, in: España Sagrada. Vol. 14 (1786), p. 404.
↑ Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §85-86, pp. 47-49. Chronicon Lusitanum, ed. by Enríque Flórez, in: España Sagrada. Vol. 14 (1786), p. 404.
↑ Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §88-89, pp. 50-52. Chronicon Lusitanum, ed. by Enríque Flórez, in: España Sagrada. Vol. 14 (1786), pp. 404-405.
↑ Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §105-106, pp. 62-64.
↑ Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §95-101, pp. 55-60.
↑ Historia Silense, ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §81, p. 45.
↑ Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §103, p. 60.

predecessor	Office	successor
Sancho III. of Navarre	King of Castile 1035-1065	Sancho II.
Bermudo III.	King of León 1037-1065	Alfonso VI
Bermudo III.	King of Galicia 1037-1065	García

personal data
SURNAME	Ferdinand I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Ferdinand the Great; Fernando el Magno
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	King of Castile and León
DATE OF BIRTH	1018
DATE OF DEATH	December 27, 1065
Place of death	Leon

[1] Alfonso Sánchez Candeira: Castilla Y León En El Siglo Xi. Estudios Del Reinado De Fernando I., Madrid 1999, p. 45.

[2] For the date of death see: Chronicon Lusitanum, ed. by Enríque Flórez, in: España Sagrada. Vol. 14 (1786), p. 405.

[3] Colección diplomática de la catedral de Pamplona, Tomo I (829-1243), ed. by José Goñi Gaztambide (1997), no. 7, p. 29. Document of Sanchos III, who recommended that the Abbey of San Salvador of Leire adopt the Benedictine order.

[4] Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §77, pp. 42-43.

[5] Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §79, p. 44.

[6] Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §80, pp. 44-45.

[7] Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §82-84, pp. 46-47. Chronicon Regum Legionensium , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, p. 82.

[8] Cartulario de San Pedro de Arlanza: Antiguo Monasterio Benedictino, ed. by Luciano Serrano (1925), nos. 56 and 57, pp. 116-119. "Sub imperio imperatoris Fredinandi regis et Sancie regine imperatrice, regnum regentes in Legione et in Gallecia uel in Castella ...".

[9] Chronicon Lusitanum, ed. by Enríque Flórez, in: España Sagrada. Vol. 14 (1786), p. 404.

[10] Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §85-86, pp. 47-49. Chronicon Lusitanum, ed. by Enríque Flórez, in: España Sagrada. Vol. 14 (1786), p. 404.

[11] Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §88-89, pp. 50-52. Chronicon Lusitanum, ed. by Enríque Flórez, in: España Sagrada. Vol. 14 (1786), pp. 404-405.

[12] Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §105-106, pp. 62-64.

[13] Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §95-101, pp. 55-60.

[14] Historia Silense, ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §81, p. 45.

[15] Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §103, p. 60.