Raymond of Burgundy

Raymond of Burgundy

Raimund of Burgundy ( Spanish Raimundo de Borgoña , French Raymond de Bourgogne ; † September 20, 1107 in Grajal de Campos ) was a Franco-Burgundian nobleman in the late 11th and early 12th centuries from the House of Burgundy-Ivrea , who due to his Marriage with the later Queen Urraca of León-Castile (* 1080, † 1126) became the progenitor of the Spanish line of his dynasty, which ruled over the Kingdom of León - Castile , including the Trastámara branch until 1555 .

Life

Raimund was a later son of Count Wilhelm I of Burgundy and his wife Stephanie, one of his brothers was Archbishop Guido von Vienne, who later became Pope Calixtus II. The family was of Frankish descent and ruled the Burgundian Free County, located in what was then the stronghold of Burgundy , its territory about corresponded to today's French region Franche-Comté . Nothing is known about his early years, except that he first appeared as a documented witness in a donation from his father to Cluny Abbey around 1086 .

Raimund had probably already found himself in the wake of his brother-in-law, Duke Odo I of Burgundy , in the spring of 1087 , when he led an army campaign to Spain to fight the Muslim Almoravids . The Duke was a call for help from King Alfonso VI. followed by León-Castile , who had been married to his aunt Konstanze . Together with the Spanish forces, they had besieged Tudela , held by the Moors , but failed to capture it in April 1087. However, the Spanish king had used the presence of the French for political negotiations and probably arranged the marriage of his eldest daughter Urraca to Raimund here. While most of the French knights had started their home march after the siege was broken off, Duke Odo and with him probably also Raimund had moved with the royal court to León , where the engagement was officially announced. Among the local nobility, this connection had provoked ambivalent to negative reactions, as Urraca was the eldest daughter of the king with no son as his chief heir, which in fact meant that a foreigner would take over the throne. In addition, this marriage threatened to overpower the Franco-Burgundian influence at the Leonese court, which had already been established through the marriage of Constanze to the king and the Burgundian abbey of Cluny , which she protected . Apparently in reaction to this marriage, uprisings broke out in Galicia that same year , led by the Bishop of Santiago de Compostela, Diego Peláez . The rebels had evidently campaigned for the inheritance rights of their former king García , who had lived in captivity for years, and had hoped for the support of the Anglo-Norman King William the Conqueror . But because he died that same year, the uprising had collapsed by 1088 at the latest and Bishop Diego was taken prisoner.

At the latest after the death of the ex-king García on March 22, 1090, Raimund was appointed by his father-in-law as ruling count in Galicia, as he was first mentioned on February 27, 1091. Also around the same time his marriage to Urraca had been formalized and apparently Alfonso VI had. from then on the succession of his son-in-law to the throne was considered. Raimund's position in Galicia was strengthened in the course of an investiture dispute with Pope Urban II over the occupation of the bishopric of Santiago de Compostela by first entrusting the Clunician Dalmacio and finally in 1096 Diego Gelmírez with the church office, who had previously been Raimund's private notary was. Above all, Gelmírez was to prove himself to be a decisive safeguard of the interests of the Burgundian party even after Raimund's death, which had already been strengthened again in 1093 by the marriage of the king's daughter Theresa to Henry of Burgundy . In the same year the illegitimate Infante Sancho Alfónsez was born and Queen Konstanze died, whereby Raimund saw his line of succession increasingly threatened. In order to strengthen his position within the royal family, he had willingly transferred the county of Portugal , the southern border province of Galicia to Al-Andalus , in 1095 for the support of his brother-in-law Heinrich . There Raimund had to accept a defeat against the Almoravids before Lisbon in November 1094 , whereupon the city was lost.

From then on, Raimund stayed at the royal court constantly in order to maintain his influence on the succession plan. However, he had not been able to prevent his fall in the favor of his father-in-law and his turning to the bastard son Sancho. By 1106 at the latest, Alfonso VI. Married his mother Zaida, who had converted to Christianity as "Elisabeth" and thus helped her son to a legitimizing status. Although Raimund and Urraca had already had a son of their own with the birth of Alfonso Raimúndez in 1105, the old King Alfonso VI. Created a fait accompli in May 1107 on a court day in León through the proclamation of Infante Sancho as heir to the throne.

Raimund had not long survived this defeat; he died surprisingly on September 20, 1107 after a rapidly progressing illness in his castle Grajal de Campos . His burial in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela , the expansion of which he was instrumental in driving, was arranged by Bishop Diego Gelmírez .

In the struggle for the throne of León, Raimund was granted a posthumous success less than a year after his death, when on May 30, 1108 the Infante Sancho was killed by the Moors at the Battle of Uclés and Alfonso VI. now Urraca had to appoint heir to the throne. This had been able to keep the throne for her son, with which the Frankish house Burgundy-Ivrea could inherit the Basque house Jiménez .

family

The marriage between Raimund and Urraca von León had two children:

• Sancha Raimúndez († February 28, 1159) remained unmarried.
• Alfonso Raimúndez (born March 1, 1105, † August 21, 1157), as Alfonso VII from 1126 to 1157, King of León-Castile.

Others

Raymond of Burgundy was one of the first French in northern Spain; After the reconquest ( reconquista ), more came into the country during the repopulation ( repoblación ) in the 12th and 13th centuries, but almost nothing is known about them. Geographical names in the south of the province of Salamanca such as Sierra de Francia , Peña de Francia or Río Francia could remind of this time.

literature

• Detlev Schwennicke, European Family Tables Volume II, Plate 57 (Urracas family) and 62 (Raimund's family)
• John E. Slaughter: Sobre la fecha de la muerte del Conde Raimundo de Galicia. In: Anuario de estudios medievales, Vol. 13 (1983), pp. 93-106.
• Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León-Castilla under Queen Urraca 1109-1126. Princeton University Press, 1982 ( online ).
• Bernard F. Reilly: The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI 1065-1109. Princeton University Press, 1988 ( online ).

Web links

Commons : Raymond of Burgundy  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Remarks

1. ↑ Recueil des chartes de l'Abbaye de Cluny, Vol. 4, ed. by Alexandre Bruel (1888), no. 3615, pp. 776-777.
2. ↑ See Reilly (1988), §10, pp. 192-195.
3. ↑ Historia Compostelana, ed. by Enríque Flórez, in: España Sagrada. Vol. 20 (1765), p. 254.
4. ↑ See Reilly (1988), §11, p. 217.
5. ↑ Chronicon Compostellanum, ed. by Enríque Flórez, in: España Sagrada. Vol. 20 (1765), p. 611.
6. ↑ Historia Compostelana, ed. by Enríque Flórez, in: España Sagrada. Vol. 20 (1765), p. 360.
7. ↑ The date of death is recorded in the necrology of Dijon Cathedral . Chartes et documents de Saint-Bénigne de Dijon II: 990-1124, ed. by Georges Chevrier, Maurice Chaume (1943), p. 198. See Reilly (1988), §16, p. 341. Raimund presumably died in the presence of his brother, Archbishop Guido von Vienne , who at least died in December 1107 on was present at the royal court in León. Historia Compostelana, ed. by Enríque Flórez, in: España Sagrada. Vol. 20 (1765), pp. 95-96.
8. ↑ Historia Compostelana, ed. by Enríque Flórez, in: España Sagrada. Vol. 20 (1765), pp. 64-65.