Kingdom of Asturies

| bgcolor=" #efefef align=" center" colspan=" 2" | |- | Currency |In Latin: Hoc signo tuetur pius. Hoc signo vincitur inimicus
En French: By this sign is protected the piles. By this sign the enemy is overcome. |- | Capital || Cangas de Onís, San Martín del Rey Aurelio, Pravia, Oviedo |- | Languages | Latin (official), protoroman Asturien in the middle of the kingdom, Castilian Basque and protoroman and Galician-Portuguese at the ends Eastern and Western of the kingdom. Possible linguistic enclaves Mozarabs in the valley of the brittonic Duero and in the North of the Galicia. |- | Form of government | Elective monarchy (718 - 842), hereditary Monarchy (842 - 925) |- | Monarch | King of Asturies |- | Duration | 718 - 925 |- | Foundation | Crowning of Peeling to the row of Prince of Asturies in 718 |- | Dissolution | Division of the Kingdom by Alphonse III (910). His/her son, Fruela II, reunified the territories, but definitively moved the capital with León in 925. |- | First monarch | Peeling |- | Last monarch | Fruela II |- | preceding State | None |- | following State | Kingdom of León |}

This article treats Kingdom of Asturies from a historical point of view (718 - 925). For any information concerning Asturies current, please consult the article on the Autonomous Communauté of the Asturies.

The Royaume of Asturies was the first political entity Christian established on the Iberian peninsula after the fall of the Royaume Visigoth (which followed the death of the King Rodrigue to the Bataille of Guadalete) and the Moslem Conquête of Hispanie. The kingdom will perdura of 718 with 925, when Fruela II reached the throne of the Royaume of León.

Indigenous origins of the Kingdom of Asturies

Over there lived two very powerful people, Cantabres and Astures, which were not subjected to our Empire| Florus

The Kingdom of Asturies had as a territory the Western parts and power stations of the Cantabric Cordillère, in particular the Pics of Europe and the central surface of Asturies, where the principal political events and soldiers took place during the first decades of the kingdom. According to descriptions of Strabon, Dion Cassius and other geographers gréco-Romans, these grounds were inhabited at the dawn of the Christian era by various people, among whom one can quote:

the Vadiniensi , which lived the Pics of Europe and which moved gradually towards the south at the first centuries of our era, as testified some to many steles cantabres.
the Orgenomesques which remained on the Eastern coast of Asturies.
the Sælini which occupied the valley of Sella.
the Lugons , from which the territory extended between Sella and Nalón and who had as a capital Lucus Asturum ( Lugo de Llanera )
the Astures themselves which lived the interior part of Asturies located between the current communes of Piloña and Cangas del Narcea.
the Pésiques which occupied the Western coasts of Asturies, between the mouth of Navia and the current city of Gijón.

Information which the geographers traditional about the ethnic filiation of these people bring to us is confused: Ptolémée mentions that the Astures lived the central part of Asturies current, which extends between Navia and Sella, placing at the east of this river the border with the people of the Cantabres . However, at the 4th century Julius Honorius indicates in its Cosmographia the source of the Ebre as being the territory of Astures ( sub asturibus ). At all events and by leaving side the details relating to the borders between the various ethnos groups cantabres, Strabon itself observed in its Geographia that all the people of the North of Spain, since the Galicians until Vascons, had a similar culture and lifestyles.

In addition, there exist testimonys according to which neither the Lugons nor the Pésiques were identified at the origin with the Astures : thus in the Parrochiale Suevorum one makes the distinction between Astures and Pésiques , as if they were two differentiated tribes and on a stone found in the commune of Piloña - the Pierre of Ungons - is mentioned the border between the Lugons and the Astures . It thus seems that there did not exist any identity supratribale to which the tribes of the future territory asturien adhered.

However this situation started to develop with the Low Empire and for the periods of the Germanic invasions: the combat initially against the Romans and then against the Vandals Hasdings and the Visigoths forged little by little an identity common to the people of future Asturies. On this subject, several archaeological excavations made it possible to find remainders of fortifications in the neighborhoods of the Camp of Carisa (Lena). The experts consider that this defensive line, located strategically in the high valley of the río Caudal - natural passage of entry in Asturies since the Meseta - proves the existence of an organized resistance within which all the inhabitants of Asturies current had inevitably to cooperate. In this direction, the same specialists discovered in Carisa two distinct archaeological levels, the first correspondent with the Guerres cantabres and the second at the period 675 - 725, during which took place the forwarding of the king Visigoth Wamba against Astures and the conquest of Asturies by Musa.

The identity asturienne which was forged gradually was going to crystallize definitively after the crowning of Pélage, the victory with Covadonga and the consolidation thereafter of the Kingdom of Asturies. On this subject, the Chronic of Albelda which speaks in praise of successes of Covadonga affirms that after this battle (By divine Providence was born the Kingdom from Asturies).

History of the Kingdom

Moslem occupation and the revolt asture

Isa Ben Ahmad Al-Razi tells that at times of Anbasa Ben Suhaim Al-Qalbi, on the grounds of Galicia raised a wild ass named Pélage. |Chronicle of Al Maqqari

During the Moslem Conquest of Spain, the main cities and administrative centers of the Peninsula fell gradually to the hands from the Moslem troops. The domination of the central and southernmost areas, such as the valleys of the Guadalquivir or the Ebre, posed very few problems to the new arrivals, which were based on the administrative structures wisigothes existing, of Roman origin. However, in the mountains of North, the urban centres were practically non-existent and the tender of the country was to be made valley after valley. The Moslems often had recourse to the taking of hostages to make sure pacification of the conquered territory.

After the first incursion of Tariq ibn Ziyad which in 711 reached Tolède, the Yemeni viceroy of Ifriqiya, Musa ibn Nusayr, cross the following year the Straits of Gibraltar and successfully carried out a massive operation of conquest which would lead it to capture inter alia the towns of Mérida, Tolède, Saragossa and Lérida. In the last phase of its military countryside he arrived until the North-West of the Peninsula where he succeeds in taking possession of the towns of Lugo and Gijón. In the latter it affected a small detachment Berbère under the orders of a governor called Munuza whose mission consisted in consolidating the Moslem capacity on Asturies. Like guarantee of the tender of the area, some noble, among them Peeling, was taken along like hostages to Cordoue.

But, according to the Chronicle of Alphonse III (vulgar version known as Rotense ) and also that of Al Maqqari, Pélage succeeds in fleeing of Cordoue which was then directed by Al Hurr (717 - 718). On its return to Asturies, it fomented a revolt against the Moslem authorities of Gijón. The chief of Astures - of which the origin is discussed by the historians - had then his field with Bres (commune of Piloña) and Munuza sent to it troops under the command of the general Al Qama. After having received news of the arrival of the Moslems, Peeling and its companions crossed with any haste Piloña and joined the Mont Auseva and took refuge in one of its caves, Covadonga. They succeeded in tightening there a ambush with the detachment buckwheat which was decimated. The victory - altogether modest, since it implied only a few hundreds of Berber soldiers - granted a great prestige Pélage and caused an insurrection of great scale of Astures. Munuza, which was seen then insulated in an increasingly hostile area, decided to flee Gijón to go on the Meseta while passing by the Camino Real del Puerto of Mesa . It however was intercepted and killed by Astures with Olalíes (current commune of Grado).

Recently, on the Picu Homón - close to the Puerto of Mesa - and with the Carisa (located at approximately 15 kilometers more in the east, on the commune of Lena, which dominates the valleys of Huerna and Pajares, a team of archeologists carried out excavations which enabled them to update fortifications. According to the abundant data by the Carbon dating, they were built between the end of and the beginning of the 8th century. One found on these sites of the turns of guet and the pits of almost 2 meters of depth. Their construction and their monitoring had to imply thousands of soldiers, which required an high degree of organization and a firm leadership, probably that of Peeling itself. On this subject, the specialists consider that it is very probable that the construction of this defensive line had like objective to prevent the Moslems from entering Asturies by the collars of Mesa and Pajares.

After the victory of Peeling to the Battle of Covadonga (722) over the Buckwheats, a small territorial entity - which would constitute the Kingdom of Asturies later - is established in the mountains asturiennes. The leadership of Peeling was not comparable with that of the kings Visigoths: thus the first kings of Asturies gave each other themselves alternatively the title of princeps (prince) and of rex (king) and it is only at the time of Alphonse II that the latter title was consolidated definitively. On this subject, the title of princeps was traditional among native-born people of the North of Spain and its use is noted in the epigraphy cantabre, in which expressions such as appear princeps albionum (on an inscription located on the commune of Coaña) and princeps cantabrorum (on a stone vadiniense of the municipality of Cistierna, León). Actually, the kingdom of Asturies emerges as an influence on the people of the Cantabre Cornice which had resisted as well to the Romans as with the Visigoths and which was not laid out to subject to the diktats Omeyyades. The immigration of people originating in the South who had fled Al-Andalus, influenced the kingdom asturien culture Visigoth. However, still at the beginning of the 9th century in the will of Alphonse II, of the reproaches are made to the Visigoths that one shows loss of the Hispanie. The chronicles on which knowledge all of the time is based, written of the time of Alphonse III when the wisigothe influence was already important, are the Chronicle has Sebastián , the Chronicle Albeldense , and the Chronicle Rotense .

During the first decades control asturien on the various areas of the kingdom was limited enough, and it was to be constantly reinforced by matrimonial alliances with other powerful families of the North of the Iberian peninsula: thus Ermesinde, girl of Peeling, is linked with Alphonse, wire of Pierre de Cantabrie. And the children of Alphonse, Fruela and Audesinde made respectively in the same way with Munia, a Basque originating in Álava and with Silo, a local leader pesic of the area of Flavonavia (Pravia).

After the death of Peeling in the year 737, his/her son Favila was elected king. According to the chronicles, it was killed by a bear at the time of one of the demonstrations of value normally required to the nobility of the time.

Initial expansion

Alphonse {{Ier}} succeeds Favila and inherits the throne of Asturies thanks to its marriage with the girl of Peeling, Ermesinda. Alphonse was probably born has Tritium Magallum (Tricio, Rioja), where its Pierre parent sat, Duc of Cantabrie. The chronicle of Albelda tells that Alphonse left the grounds of Rioja in Asturies to marry in Ermesinda. The death of Favila made possible its accession to the throne as well as the come to power of a family which would become one of more powerful Kingdom of Asturies: the House of Cantabrie. So indeed Alphonse went to the court Cangas only by principle, it is proven that after the progressive depopulation of the Meseta and the average valley of Ebre, where were the principal fortified towns of the Duchy of Cantabrie like Amaya, Tricio or the town of Cantabria, the descendants of the duke Pierre withdrew grounds of Rioja towards the area cantabre. Over there with time the destinies of the Kingdom of Asturies were écrirent.

It was Alphonse who started the territorial expansion of the small Christian kingdom since his original territory of the Pics of Europe, while advancing towards the west until the Galicia and towards the south by ceaseless incursions into the valley of Duero, fascinating cities and villages and by moving its inhabitants towards the surer areas of North. This caused the strategic depopulation of the meseta , thus creating the Désert of Duero like protection against future Moslem attacks.

This depopulation, defended by Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz, is questioned nowadays, at least with regard to its width. The principal progressive ideas to refute it are on the one hand the conservation of minor toponymy in the many comarques ones and on the other hand the fact that today still there exist great differences, as well anthropologiquement as culturally between the inhabitants of the area cantabre and those of the central Meseta . On the other hand, it is certain that during first half of the 8th century a process of ruralisation took place in the valley of Duero, in parallel with the abandonment of the urban life and the organization of the population in small pastoral communities. The possible causes of this phenomenon are: the final bankruptcy of the slave system of production perdurant since Bottom Empire; the propagation continues great epidemics in the régon; and finally the Al Andalus abandonment on behalf of the Berber garrisons after the revolt of years 740 and 741. All that made possible the appearance of a space little populated and disorganized which isolated the kingdom asturien from the Moslem attacks and which enabled him to be reinforced gradually.

Remainder, the campaigns of the kings Alphonse 1st and Fruela in the valley of Duero were to hardly be different with plunderings which Astures made in the same area at the time pre-Roman. The expansion was initially carried out mainly through the territory cantabre (of the Galicia to the Biscay and it was necessary to await the reigns of Ordoño {{Ier}} and of Alphonse III so that the Kingdom of Asturies takes indeed possession of the territories located at the south of the Cordillera.

Fruela 1st, wire of Alphonse 1st consolidated and extended the fields of his/her father. He was assassinated by members of the nobility related to the House of Cantabrie.

Social transformations and policies

The handwritten sources are very poor with regard to the reigns of Aurelio, Silo, Mauregat and Bermude {{Ier}}. It is considered that this period of twenty-three years (768 - 791) was impressed of obscurantism and fold of the Kingdom of Asturies. This point of view, supported by some historians who went until indicating this part of the history of the kingdom like that of the lazy Kings , is due to the fact that it does not seem that warlike offensives were carried out at the time against Al-Andalus. However, these same sources allow affirms as during these years of the transformations essential and decisive for the internal questions of the kingdom asturien occurred. Those prepare and gave a strong foundation in all the fields for its later reinforcement and its expansion.

Initially, it was during these years that one observed the first rebellion interns asture carried out by Mauregat itself, which expelled Alphonse II of Asturies throne. With it in Asturies a series began from rebellions fomented by rising groups from the aristocracy courtesan and by great landowners who, on the basis of economic development of the area, tried to supplant the reigning family of Peeling. The important rebellions of Népotien, Aldroito and Piniolo during the later reign of Ramire {{Ier}}, belonged to this process of transformation economic, political, social and cultural of the kingdom asturien which took place between 8th and the 9th century.

In the second place, peripheral risings of the Galicians and Vascons failed, extinct by the kings asturiens. These revolts, in their turn, benefitted from the internal rebellions of the areas power station and Eastern of Asturies; on certain occasions, they brought of the assistance to one or the other of the belligerents of the aristocracy asturiennes: Alphonse II found refuge in the grounds of Alava after his escape; the rising of Népotien found a support in some areas asturiennes; Galicians linked themselves with the cause of Ramire 1st.

Lastly, other sources at that time evoke important internal transformations of the kingdom asturien. They are risings of freed ( serbi, servilis orico there libertini , according to the chronicles) which occurred during the reign of Aurelio. The relations of property between Master and slave broke little by little. This fact, associated with the increasingly important role of the individual and the family restricted with the detriment of the role which had hitherto the widened family, is an additional index that a new business was emerging in Asturies of the end of the 8th century and the beginning of the 9th century.

Aurelio, descendant of Pierre de Cantabrie succeeded Fruela {{Ier}} and installed the court on the grounds of what is currently the commune of San Martín del Rey Aurelio between 768 and 774. With its death Silo reached the throne and moves the court with Pravia. Silo was married with Adosinda, sister of Alphonse 1st (consequently of the line of Peeling).

With died of the king Silo, the young person Alphonse II was elected (it would go up later on the throne, in 791), but Mauregat, wire naturalness of the king Alphonse 1st, organized a strong opposition and succeeds so that the new king withdraws himself in the grounds of Alava (his/her mother, Munia, was vasconne) and the throne of Asturies was allocated thus. This king, in spite of the bad reputation which the History allotted to him, maintained of good relationships with Beatus de Liébana, undoubtedly gave the cultural character most important of the kingdom, and him his support in his fight against the Adoptianisme. The legend wants that this king was the bastard one of Alphonse 1st and a Moor, and allots the to him Tribut of the Hundred Virgins. Its succession was ensured by Bermude {{Ier}}, brother of Aurelio. It was called the deacon , even if it accepted probably only minor votes. Bermude abdicated after a military defeat and finishes its days in a monastery.

Consolidation and expansion

After the abdication of Bermude 1st, Alphonse '' Pure the '' returned in Asturies and proclaimed king, putting fine at the period of relative peace with the Moslems. During its reign it carried out punitive forwardings towards the south, arriving until Lisbon in 798 and in 825 it also gained a victory against the Moslems over the Nalón. It establishes the capital of the kingdom with Oviedo and repopulated the Galicia and the septentrional areas of Castille and León. It was a reign exposed to the ceaseless attacks of the Moslems. In spite of that, the kingdom extended and the Art préroman asturien made its appearance, giving place to some of the jewels of European medieval architecture. Alphonse II founded the worship of Saint Jacques and was the first character on the Chemin of Saint-Jacob which connected Asturies to all Europe, in particular with the kingdom of Charlemagne, which had like common enemy a South of Eastern culture. Alphonse II was of Alava by his mother, which foot-note by its will to attract its neighbors vascons with the kingdom asturien. With the battle of Lutos (muds in asturien, marshes in Castilian), it inflicted a heavy defeat with the Arabs and Berber who wanted to finish some with the increasing threat that already the kingdom constituted. In 808, it made forge the Croix of the Angels. This same king charged the architect Tioda with the construction of several royal and religious buildings with an aim of embellishing Oviedo. Unfortunately few of these works survived, because of rebuildings during the later reigns.

The following kings Ramire {{Ier}} (wire of Bermude which proclaimed king after a civil war) and Ordoño Ier d' Oviedo lived during one continual period of war against the Moslems. At times of Ramire 1st, art known as ramirien developed, regarded as the apogee of the Art asturien. This king delivered the Bataille of Clavijo, to which according to the legend the apostle Saint Jacques, ridden on a white horse, helped the army asturienne against the Moslem troops. In 844, a fleet Norman appeared on the coast of Gijón. One does not know with certainty if they unloaded at this place, but they were not stopped since they continued their projection until the place which the chronicles called the Headlight of Brigantio (Corogne), where they were pushed back, prosecuting according to the chronicles their incursion towards Spain (the chronicles asturiennes called Spain Al Andalus).

Ordoño repopulated Astorga, León, Tuy and Amaya. It tied close relationships with the Royaume of Navarre; it is possible that it contributed to the release of the king García Íñiguez then sequestered by the Norman ones. Within the process of connection with the valley of Ebre, it forged alliances with the Banu Qasi of Saragossa, which it also fought on the occasion with the liking of successive changes of alliances. Ordoño also tried to help, without success, the Mozarabes tolédans in rebellion against the emir of Cordoue. His death his/her son Alphonse III succeeded to him.

Apogee and end of the kingdom

The reign of Alphonse III marked the top of the power of the Kingdom of Asturies. It establishes very close relations with the Royaume of Navarre, it fought and was combined many times at the Banu Qasi of Saragossa and fought at the sides of the Mozarabes of Tolède in their war against the emir.

In the year 908, one century after Alphonse II and the Cross of the Angels, Alphonse III made forge the Croix of the Victoire, symbol since then of Asturies. He married Jimena, a noble Navarrese, perhaps girl of García Iñíguez. With the support of the noble Galicians, like Hermenegildo Gutierrez, it conquered Norde of current Portugal. It also advanced along Duero, fascinating Zamora and Burgos. At the time of its apogee, the kingdom asturien occupied the whole of the North-West of the peninsula, since Oporto until Álava.

García {{Ier}}, wire of Alphonse III '' Large the '', after its confrontation with his/her father and his brothers Ordoño II and Fruela II, moved the capital of the kingdom with León. It created thus a new entity, the Kingdom of León, which would include the kingdom asturien.

Territorial organization of the Kingdom of Asturies

The core of the kingdom: Asturies there Liébana

On the ground of Asturies the first Christian State of the Reconquista was founded. The four capitals which successively the kingdom knew (Cangas de Onís, Pravia, San Martín del Rey Aurelio and Oviedo) are located in the territory asturien, just as the first testimonys of art préroman asturien.

The Chronicle Rotense , at the time to evoke the campaigns of Alphonse 1st, affirms that in these times became populated Asturies, Primorias, Liébana, Transmiera, Sopuerta, Carranza, Bardulia which one now calls Castille and the maritime part of Galicia . In this quotation are described the various regional and comarques entities existing in the territory cantabre.

At the beginning, and as one can deduce it from the will of Alphonse II (842), the original royaum of Peeling extended between the rivers Eo and Miera, through the grounds which would be known later under the names of Asturies of Oviedo and from Asturies of Santillana. However, the successors of Peeling gradually extended their fields, absorbent of territories like Transmiera or the Bierzo, which however preserved their autonomy in the shape of duchies or counties governed by counts related to the local aristocracy, like Rodrigue de Castille or Gatón of Bierzo.

At the east of Miera comarques Trasmiera, Sopuerta and Carranza were located. These two last were annexed in Biscay (1285) and later on to the Pays Basque (1979), but today still they preserve most of their original mountain culture: the traditional dialect of the Encartaciones present of the features asturo-léonais and the traditional mythology of comarque includes references to creatures such as the Ojáncano or the Trenti which are so familiar in the folklore of Montaña of Cantabrie.

The Desert of Duero, the town of León and the antique Duchy Asturiense

After the Moslem conquest of Spain, the territory of the Northern submeseta started to know a process of depopulation which was seen accentuated by the Berber rebellion of the years 740 and 741 and by the dryness which touches the aforementioned area during the decades of the middle of the 8th century. That had as a consequence which the basin of Duero transformed into a hardly populated territory of small communities agropastorales organized in villages around a seigniory or of a local monastery.

There was debate in Spanish historiography as for the nature and the intensity of the depopulation of the valley of Duero. Certain authors, like Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz, affirm that this one was total and even required by the kings asturiens with an aim of isolating itself strategically from the Émirat of Cordoue and to make difficult the penetration of the task forces buckwheats in Asturies. Other authors, among them Abilio Barbero and Marcelo Vigil, consider that what occurred was, rather than a depopulation, a political and economic disorganization of the territory. This one, far from to have started at the 8th century, takes its roots in the crisis of the latifundism post-Roman and the slave system. Moreover, of the ethnologists such as Julio Caro Baroja paid the attention on the existence of enormous differences between the cultures cantabres (Galician, asturienne, etc) and those of the Meseta (Castilian for example).

The Western area of the Northern submeseta , which corresponds to the valleys of the Esla, of the Orbigo (river) and of the river, was populated at times pre-Romans of tribes of Celtic language like the Astures or the Vacceos . With the Roman conquest, these territories were integrated into the Conventus Asturiensis which after division in provinces of Caracalla, was allotted to the province of Gallaecia. During the era wisigothe, the area became part of the Duchy of Asturie (or Duchy Asturiense ), whose main cities were Astorga ( Asturica Augusta , capital of astures of in addition to-mounts) and León ( Legio VII , rested by the Romans after the Guerres cantabres).

Since second half of the 8th century these areas were gradually absorbed by the Kingdom of Asturies. However, this same absorption was carried out in various forms according to the territory. Thus, on the one hand it seems that the areas of the mountains leonaises, the Bierzo and the Maragateria never managed to be depopulated completely and preserved all their ethnic personality: in this manner, it is very probable that the territories of Valdeón, Laciana and Babia belonged to monarchy asturienne since times of Peeling. In the same way, one notes the existence of a county of Bierzo since Alphonse II, and it is very probable that it is quite former to the reign of this monarch. In addition, the ethnographic studies carried out on the people Maragat reveal a possible origin asture, which was expressed in a rather poetic way by the author asturien Constantino Cabal. In all these comarques, the linguistic methods asturo-léonaises and the cultural features, which are very close to the asturiens, were preserved until the current hour. On the contrary, the colonization of the Desert léonais, Coyanza and Tierra de Campos, had a strong component Mozarab: through all these comarques forms toponymic of this language abound, in which the suffixes prevail - el and - iel , instead of asturo-léonais - iellu . Today still it is possible to distinguish cultural contrast between these two zones of the Province of León.

In any case, it is proven that the town of León became the principal bastion asturien on the Meseta Centrale, managing after the death of the king Alphonse III to assume the statute of capital of the kingdom which was called then Royaume of León. Another striking fact in the projection asturienne towards the South was the fortification and the repopulation of Zamora, true guardian of Duero and which by its importance was qualified by certain Arab historians of Capitale of the Galicians the expansion of the kingdom was articulated during the following centuries around the Roman fitted antique which linked the Asturica with the Emerita Augusta , which gave place later to the Via Plata.

Western steps: Galicia and the County Portucalense

The bond between the North of Galicia and Asturies is noted already in the Parroquial Suevo , manuscript of the 6th century when is evoked the seat of évêché of Britonia which extended on the territories from the Province from Lugo and Asturies.

During the Moslem conquest of Spain, Buckwheats conquered Tuy and established there a seigniory which had as a base the low valley of Miño. The Berber rebellion of the years 740 and 741 had as a consequence the abandonment on behalf of the Berber garrisons of all their positions in the north of the Sierra of Gredos. Thus the South of Galicia is lived released of the Moslem domination, although it underwent a process of depopulation similar to that of the valley of Duero which left with the very standard abandonment urban life.

On the contrary, Norde of Galicia was integrated into the kingdom asturien incipient by the king Alphonse II which establishes in the town of Lugo the Odoario bishop. The weak position asturienne had to be consolidated by its successor, Fruela Ier, which crushed an insurrection of the Galicians and which demolished in Pontuvia a punitive forwarding sent by the emir de Cordoue Abd Al-Rahman Ier. A few tens of years later, another insurrection of the Galicians was repressed by the king Silo with the battle of Montecubeiro, not far from Castroverde.

In any case, the discovery at times of the king Alphonse II of the tomb of the Jacques apostle and the birth of the Way which bears its name ensured the spiritual integration of Galicia within the Kingdom of Asturies and later on of those of León and Castille.

The expansion towards the South began under Ordoño {{Ier}} which repopulated Tuy. A few decades later, Vimara Pérez, vassal of Alphonse III of Asturies, reached Oporto (taken in 868) establishing the bases of the Comté of Portugal which would then give place to Portugal.

The Eastern border: the Duchy of Cantabrie, Castille and the high valley of Ebre

At the end of the 7th century, the Eastern areas of the northern submeseta were populated small rural communities of various ethnic origins. The indigenous population went down from the various tribes which populated the places at times pre-Romans, commes the Vardules, the Vaccéens, the Turmoges and the Celtibères, and it devoted primarily to the pastoralism. On this original population is established a migratory wave coming from the cantabro-Pyrenean zone, which came primarily made up of clans belonging to two distinct people: the Cantabres and the Vascons.

Cantabres began the first their expansion. The Cantabrie described by the Roman geographers extended quasi exclusively on the territories from the Cordillera, and yet its expansion, consequence probable of the sedentarisation of these people, started as from the 2nd century on the grounds of the Meseta , as can testify to them the very many stones vadinienses which give a report on a strong migratory movement of the inhabitants of the area of the Pics of Europe towards the zone of Cistierna. However, the most intense colonization was carried out in the high average valley of Ebre, in the current provinces of Burgos and Rioja.

Thus, one can deduce this from the reading of the Chronique of the '' Biclarense '' (6th century), where the campaigns of the king Visigoth on these grounds are described: Cantabrie wisigothe No did not coincide with that described by the Roman geographers, it rather extended on the grounds from Rioja and the Ribera de Navarre. It is described like an area located side by side with the territory of Vascons, and whose capital bore the same name, the Ville of Cantabrie, established with one kilometer in the north of the current city of Logroño, and whose ruins are still visible. This city accepted the reprimands of San Millán, which exhorted its inhabitants to be converted if they did not want to be destroyed by the forces of the evil. This warning statement was not heard of the villagers who transfer their hearths destroyed by the troops of the king arien Léovigild. Later, this place was the seat of the Duché of Cantabrie, created by Ervig at the end of the 6th century. It aimed to pacify Cantabres and to contain the Basque expansion. One knows the name of one of the dukes, of Cantabrie|Pierre], who was the father of the king asturien Alphonse {{Ier}} and also of some of his institutions, thus the Vie of San Millán , written by San Braulio, mentions the existence of a Sénat of Cantabrie which sat in the homonymous city.

Still at the 11th century the bishop of Astorga, Sampiro, calls Sanche III of Navarre Rex Cantabriensis and with the kingdom of García IV, a noble Navarrese named Fortún Ochoiz receives the title of Lord of Cameros, Seigneur of the Valley of Arnero and Seigneur of Cantabrie .

The Basque expansion took place at the beginning of the Reconquista. Toponymy shows that the Basque language was spoken in most of Rioja and province of Burgos. In the Glosas Emilianenses (Gloses d' Emilien) certain expressions in Basque are preserved, which were probably annotated by monks native speakers of this language. In fact, the language Castilian inherited the Basque its phonological system and a good part of its anthroponymy (García, Sancho, Jimeno) and even in the poem of Cid and works of Gonzalo de Berceo some of the characters employ Basque expressions.

In any case, the zone started to pass under influence of the kings of Asturies starting from Ordoño Ier and of Alphonse III, which with the assistance of its vassal Rodrigue and Diego Porcelos repopulated Amaya and founded the town of Burgos.

The first signification advances from the Cantabric Cordillera towards the Meseta had as main actors the Foramontanos , name under which are indicated colonists who gave up the mountain territories of North and which moved towards the South to colonize the plain. Sometimes colonization was carried out on the initiative of the minor nobility and the monasteries, as other occasions it was acted of broad groups of relationship which migrated on the Meseta , in a movement not very different from that which the vadinienses at the first centuries of our era carried out. During the reign of Alphonse II the zone of Campoo, the territory of the sources of Ebre as well as the more septentrional zones of the basin of Duero were occupied. This territory was difficult to colonize, since the Eastern side of the kingdom was more the badly protected: forwardings which moved on Galicia and León were to cross the Désert of Duero, a place not very favourable with the provisioning of the troops, and because of that their bases were at Tolède, Coria, Talamanca and Coimbra, localities which were located at more than 400 kilometers of their objectives. However the area of Rioja was relatively populated, it was with the hands of a powerful family of local lords, the Banu Qasi, and it was crossed by a Roman roadway which passed by Amaya and which arrived until Astorga. This same road had been used by Léovigild during its campaigns against Cantabres in 574 and by Muza, during its long operations of conquest carried out during the years 712 - 714.

The king Ramire {{Ier}} carried out an attempt of colonization and fortification of the town of León, although a Moslem forwarding ruined this one. However its successor Ordoño made profitable the military domination increasing asture as well as the internal problems of the Emirate to establish and forifier of the strategic places in the basin of Duero. Rodrigo, first count de Castille by Ordoño 1st repopulated the Peña of Amaya, which ensured the asturienne presence on Right Bank of Ebre.

Its successor Diego Rodríguez Porcelos, acts at the time of Alphonse III with a policy even more expansive. The Eastern border of the county was fixed on Arlanzón and the Mounts of Oca. Burgos was founded and the Moslems were torn off with certain their frontier fortresses, like Pancorbo, which were used as a basis for forwardings with lesquelle the emirs de Cordoue devastated these comarques. To protect the Eastern border from the Kingdom of Asturies, they had to build a multitude of castles which would give soon its name to the area: Castille

During the decades which followed the death of Diego Porcelos, the other noble ones as Vela Jiménez, Comté of Alava or Nuño Nuñez, Count de Castille, continued the projection asturienne towards the South, which reached the valley of Duero at the beginning of the 10th century. One carried out the occupation of the town of Osma and the penetration towards the zone of Sepúlveda. All these grounds belonging to the high valley of Duero, were inhabited by the Celtibères and the Arévaques, and one found there enclaves of stock like Numantia (destroyed by the troops of Scipion) and Uxama (Osma), which according to all the indices continued to be populated after the Moslem conquest. The letter of Beatus with Eterius, bishop of Osma, shows that at the end of the 8th century this city still preserved the seat of évêché. The Spanish philologist Rafael Lapesa exposes in his work Las lenguas circunvecinas LED castellano (neighbouring languages of the Castilian) his thesis according to which the Castilian spoken with Soria as in the area about Mounts of Oca had origins Mozarabs, which would seem to give arguments to those which affirm that there was a demographic and cultural continuity in precise zones of the basin of Duero.

Territories of Vascons

At the beginning of the Christian era, the territories of the Basque depression were populated primarily by three distinct people: the Vardules, the Drivers and the Autrigons. Certain authors, among them the linguist Koldo Mitxelena, consider that these people spoke a language ancestor about the current Basque.

On the contrary, other historians and philologists like Claudio Sánchez Albornoz or Jürgen Untermann estimate that the Basque depression (the antiques saltus and ager vasconum ) was colonized tardily with 5th and 6th centuries by tribes originating in Aquitaine. In this direction one stressed that as well the ager as the saltus vasconum were deeply romanisés, and until today a nonBasque Indo-European toponymy preserved itself (Deva, Durango) in the current Basque provinces. The already evoked expansion of L will euskara in the Middle Ages, as well as the absence of a epigraphy proto-Basque out of the Aquitanian territory, would seem to be weighty arguments in this direction (made curious, the only currencies found in Navarre, those of Bascunes were struck in Ibère). If it is proven that the layer of Iruña-Veleia contains inscriptions in Basque language, it is also proven that those are relatively late, between 3rd and the 5th century. According to certain authors, they would not invalidate the thesis of the late vasconisation of the Basque depression, but it would simply advance it of two or three centuries.

In any case, it is certain that the Basque language never exceeded the limit of Nervión at the time of monarchy asturienne. In these times, Vascons of the territories more in the West fell under the asturienne influence during the reigns of Alphonse 1st and Fruela. This last married Alavaise, Munia, which would give him a son, the future king Alphonse II. During the reign of Mauregat, young prince Alphonse had to take refuge with his parents maternal in the area of Alava until it could finally definitively reach the throne of Asturies after the death of Bermude 1st. The constitution of the County of Alava goes back to the rebellion of the count Eglyon against Alphonse III. After having choked the revolt, the monarch raised noble honest with his cause, Vela Jiménez under Count d' Alava. This tycoon had an crucial importance with regard to the repopulation and the fortification of Castille, in particular for the defense of Cellorigo in 882 against the troops of Al-Mundhir of Cordoue. The County of Alava extended on all the territories from the homonymous province except for the Earth from Ayala which integrated the territory only into the 15th century, and most probably from the valley from Aramayona. In addition, it included the frontier territories of the current provinces of Burgos and Rioja. This county survived like entity independent until death of Alvaro Herrameliz, following which Alava belonged to the fields of Ferdinand Gonzalez.

The chronicler biscaïen Lope Garcia de Salazar locates in his works Chroniques of Biscay (Crónicas de Vizcaya, 1454) and Joies and fortunes (Bienandanzas E fortunas, 1471) the birth of the seigniory of Biscay at that time. They mention the existence of a hero founder, Jaun Zuria, with the pale dye and the fair hair which created the seigniory after its victory over the troops asturienne at the time of legendary Bataille of Arrigorriaga (840). However, the lack of documentation on this subject leaves all these questions outstanding: the only thing that noted the contemporary chronicles was that Alphonse III successfully made face with a rebellion of Vascons.

Culture and company

The kingdom was eminently rural, with the saving in subsistence only based on agriculture and the breeding; Oviedo was the single urban center in Asturies current. However, there was a series of important cities in the other parts of the kingdom, like Braga, Lugo, Astorga, León and Zamora. The company, of levelling type initially was gradually feudalized, especially at the time of the arrival of populations Mozarabs of culture wisigothe. Paradoxically, this population which christianized little by little the kingdom was établieans an area with the many pagan cultural elements (the Eglise of the Holy Cross, with Cangas de Onís, first architectural vestige, was built on a dolmen).

Although it is considered traditionally that the cultural activity was very reduced, the work of Beatus, the acrostic dedicated to Silo, constructions préromanes, make that this point is changing.

The territorial organization was related to the counts which were with the head of the most distant fields, the initial core asture being under the direct orders of the king. The structure of the court, L oficio palatino was much simpler than that of the Visigoths.

Art asturien

Religion and spirituality with the Kingdom of Asturies

Remainders of Celtic and megalithic paganism

- Nel there Flor, Pine of Pría

- El Cuintu Xana, Francisco González Prieto

Although the first Christian testimonys of Asturies date from the 5th century, the true progression of Christianity in Asturies took place only starting from the middle of the 6th century when a whole troop of Anachorètes, like Saint Toribio de Liébana and other monks belonging to the order of Saint Fructuoso de Braga, had settled in the territories of the Cantabric cordillera and began the preaching of the Christian doctrines among the autochtones.

The christianization of Asturies advanced very slowly and one can say that it never managed to make forget the antiques divinities. As in good of other places (perhaps in a greater measurement here), they survived in the popular beliefs while coexisting in a Syncrétisme with the new religion. Thus in its work Of correctione rusticorum Saint Martin de Braga réprimandait in this way the peasants of the Gallaecia for their attachment with the pagan worships: Many expelled demons of the sky chair in the sea, the rivers, the sources or the forests and are made venerate ignoramuses like gods. For them they make sacrifices: in the sea they call upon Neptune; in the rivers the Lamias : in the sources Nymphs; in the forests Dianes .

The writer asturien Constantino Cabal was the first to support the idea of a relationship etymological, today generally allowed by the philologists between the Latin word Diana mentioned in the quotation of Saint Martin de Braga, and the asturien Xana which indicates the creature of the Mythologie asturienne: this could indicate a certain continuity between the mythical antique religion asture and beliefs existing nowadays in the rural regions of Asturies. It is not in vain only the brook which spouts out Sanctuaire of Covadonga bears still today the name of the Celtic antique goddess Deva, whose its worship was celebrated in this place before its christianization. According to other authors deva would be a Celtic word and Indo-European which means simply goddess , and it would be possible that behind this denomination other female divinities like Navia or Briga hide. In any case, Deva was a term which according to the opinion of recognized historians, ethnologists and philologists enjoyed a great fame at the time pre-Christian woman as testify some to the toponyms such as the Island of Deva (with Castrillón), or the well of the Güeyu Deva (Gijón). First still today is said that the girls come from there who are born on the territory from the commune; Güeyu Deva that its red water is anything else only the blood of the Moors demolished with the battles of Covadonga.

In the average valley of the Sella, area where was founded Cangas de Onís, there was a zone of Dolmens which dated from the megalithic time, probably of period 4000 - 2000 av. J.C. In this one, particularly under the Dolmen of Santa Cruz one carried out the ritual burials of the tribals chiefs of the comarque one. This practice survived the conquests Roman and wisigothe, up to the point that still at the 8th century the king Favila was buried there at the same place where the remainders of the ancestral chiefs rested. Although monarchy asturienne itself sponsored the christianization of the place (she ordered the construction of a church), it is certain that still today there exist pagan traditions which affirm that the dolmen of Santa Cruz is populated of Xanas and that the ground extracted from its ground has curative properties.

According to the stone found on the tomb of Favila, a character called Asterio officiated with the funeral of the king, whom it describes as vate , Latin word which means " soothsayer, prophète" and which has truth-friends in the Celtic languages as the Irish Gaelic oaith which makes référenece with the bards which carried out prophecies and divinations (like the magus Suibhne, equivalent Irish of Merlin. This contrasts with the Christian texts most common where one with the practice to appoint the priests with the term presbyterus (of the Greek Πρεσβυτερος, “big brother”). In this direction, it should not be forgotten that the christianization of Asturies was concluded by ways rather not very orthodoxe: the Parrochiale Suevorum allotted to the seat Breton the parishes existentes on the territory asturien, this is why it is probable that the primitive forms of Christianity existing in Asturies did not differ little from the practices of the Celtic churches of the British Isles, among them the tonsure of its monks, which by its pagan reminiscences was condemned by the {{IVe}} Concile of Tolède It remains still nowadays in Galicia of many pious legends relative to monks which travelled on the sea to the coasts of the Paradise, for example Saint Amaro, Trezenzonio or Ero de Armenteira, which preserves enormous parallels at stories of Holy Brendan the Navigator, Holy Maclou, or of the Immrama Irish. In addition, paganism has without any doubt influenced the practices of the Catholic church in Asturies: it was not unusual that the priests took part in the ceremonies to prevent the arrival of the Nuberu in a given parish and in the character of the freros are preserved the last vestiges of mythological poetry in Asturies traditional.

The process of christianization was encouraged by the kings of Asturies which, unlike the kings of pagan England (like Penda), of the Ireland Gaelic (Conn Cétchathach) or of Saxony of the 8th century (the duke Widukind), they did not cement by their capacity on the indigenous religious traditions but they took their myths founders of the Christian Holy Scriptures (in particular of the Apocalypse and the prophetic books of Ezechiel and Daniel) and of the texts of the Fathers of the Church, as we will see it in the following section.

Christian religion: Millenarism and Worship of Saint-Jacob

And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon and in the stars, and, on the ground, an anguish of the nations worry about the crash of the sea and of his agitation then one will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with great power and great glory|LLC 21,25-27

During the reigns of Silo and Mauregat were established the bases of the culture of the Kingdom of Asturies and Christian Spain of the Early middle ages. At that time of alleviating appearance, which saw the kings of Asturies subjecting to the diktats emirs de Cordoue, lived Beatus de Liébana, which was undoubtedly the intellectual high-ranking person of the Kingdom of Asturies, and whose work left an indelible trace in the Christian culture of the Reconquista.

Beatus is lived directly implied in the quarrel adoptianist, within which he fought with force against Elipand, bishop of Tolède. The adoptianists supported that Jesus was born man and that it was adopted by the Father only after his death and its resurrection and that it acquired his divine character thus. The adoptianism took root in the Arianisme which denied the divinity of Christ and in paganism gréco-Roman, where it existed some examples of heroes as Hercules who after their death reached the Apothéose. It is also advisable not to draw aside from the Moslem influences in the appearance of the adoptianism, thus Elipand obtained its load thanks to the Moslem authorities, whose religion denied the divinity of Jesus, regarding it a prophet and not as the Son of God. However, the heresy adoptianist was fought by Beatus since its monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana at the same time as it defended the independence of the church asturienne vis-a-vis that of Tolède and than it reinforced the links with Rome and the Carolingian Empire. Thus Beatus was supported in its fight against the church of Tolède by the Pope like by Alcuin of York, Anglo-Saxon scholar bench with Aachen with which it maintained a great friendship.

The most transcendent work created by Beatus was its Commentaires of the Apocalypse which was copied in manuscripts the following centuries (called commonly Beatus ) and on the subject of which the Italian writer Umberto Eco declared: " Its sumptuous images gave place to the more iconographic great event of the History of Humanité" . Beatus exposed to it a personal interpretation of the apocalyptic account, to which he added quotations coming from the Old Testament and the Pères of the Church, the whole being accompanied by masterly illuminations.

In the Comments , a new interpretation is given to the symbols of the Apocalypse: Babylon does not indicate any more Rome, but Cordoue, seat of the emirs of Al-Andalus; the Stupid , ancient symbol of the Romain Empire, incarnates from now on the Moslem invader who threatens to destroy the Western Christendom and which at the time afflicted the fields with the Kingdom of Asturies by its frequent raids.

In the prolog of the second book of this work is one of the most known Mapa Mundi of the European culture of the Early middle ages. The objective of this chart is not as well the geographical representation of the World as an illustration of the diaspora évangélisatrice of the Apostles during the first decades of Christianity. To carry it out, Beatus was based on the abundant data by Isidore of Seville, Ptolémée and the Holy Scriptures. Le Monde is represented in the form of a ground disc surrounded of the Ocean and which is divided into three parts: Asia (higher half-circle), Europe (left lower quadrant) and Africa (quadrant lower right). The Mediterranean (Europe-Africa), the Nile (Africa-Asia), the Aegean Sea and the Bosphorus (Europe-Asia) separate the continental masses.

Beatus was convinced of the imminent arrival of the Fin of Times, which would come preceded by the reign from the Antéchrist, whose empire would last 1290 years. As it was based on the diagram exposed by Saint Augustin in his work of the City of God, the creator of the Commentaires estimated that the history of the world was structured in six Ages: the five first extended between creation of Adam and the crucifixion of Jesus, while the sixth, posterior with the Christ and contemporary of our time, was to culminate with the outburst of the events prophesied by the Apocalypse.

The movements of character millenarist were common thing in Europe of then: in the years 760-780 a whole series of the astronomical phenomena occurs in Gaules and cause panics among the populations; a monk visionary, Jean, predicted the End of the world during the reign of Charlemagne. At this same time appears the Apocalypse of Daniel, a text written in Syriaque during the reign with Byzance of the Irene empress in whom is prophesied a whole series of wars between Arabs, Byzantine and people of the North who would be completed by the arrival of the Antichrist.

For Beatus, the events which took place in Hispanie then (the Moslem domination, the heresy adoptianist, the progressive assimilation of the Mozarabs, etc) were signs which indicated the proximity of the apocalyptic éon. As Elipand in its Lettre of the bishops of Spain brought it back to his/her brothers de Gaulle , the abbot of Santo Toribio came from there to announce the arrival of the End of the world to his compatriots of Liébana for Easter of year 800: the day before this day, of the hundreds of villager met around the Monastery of Santo Toribio, awaiting - terrified - the wonder. During almost a day and half it remained in this same place without anything to swallow until one among, called them Ordoño, exclaimed: “Let us eat and drink, so that if the end of the world comes, we are repus! ”

The prophetic visions and millenarists of Beatus de Liébana left a deep trace in the development of the Kingdom of Asturies: the Prophetic Chronique, which was written around year 880, predicted the final fall of the Emirat of Cordoue as well as the conquest and the redemption of all Spain by the king Alphonse II. Also, the icon of the Croix of the Victoire, who ends up becoming the emblême Kingdom of Asturies, originated in a passage of the Apocalypse in which Saint Jean with the following vision of the Parousie: he sees Jesus-Christ majestueusement sitting, surrounded by clouds which declares to him: “I am Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, that which is, which was and which comes, the Almighty. ” . The use of the Labarum went back to times of Constantin Large the, which made use of it at the time of the Bataille of the bridge Milvius. But in Asturies, the use of the Cross of the Victoire acquired nuances of veneration. In almost all the churches préromanes this symbol appears engraved, often accompanied by the expression “Hoc signo tuetur pius, in hoc signo vincitur inimicus” which became the currency of the monarchs asturiens.

Another spiritual heritage of the Kingdom of Asturies is consisted of the appearance of one of the cultural roads most attractive of Europe: the Way of Saint-Jacques-of-Compostelle. The first text referring to the preaching of Jacques Saint the Major one is the Bréviaire of the Apostles (6th century) which mentions a place named Aca Marmárica as being the site of its eternal rest. Saint Isidore of Seville persisted in this idea in his treaty Of ortu and obitum patrium . One century and half later, in the times of king Mauregat, the anthem O Dei Verbum was made up in which the apostle is described as “gilded head of Spain, our guard and national owner” and one refer to his preaching in the Peninsula during the first decades of Christianity. Some allot this anthem to Beatus, although this is discussed among the historians.

But it was not before the reign of Alphonse II that from Galicia the news of an extraordinary event arrived: in the diocese of Iria-Flavia a ermita called Pelagius had observed at the time of several successive nights of the mysterious glares on the forest of Libredón. Celestial songs accompanied the dance by the lights. Impressed by this phenomenon, Pelagius was presented in front of the archbishop of Iria-Flavia, Théodomir which went on the spot with its continuation. In L of the forest one discovered a tomb of stones with three bodies which were recognized like those of the apostle Jacques Major the and of his disciples, Theodore and Atanase. According to the legend, the king Alphonse was the first pilgrim to visit the Apostle. During the nights which lasted the way he was guided by the course of the Milky Way which as from this moment would take the popular name of Chemin of Saint Jacque .

The discovery of the tomb of Santiago represented a political success of first order for the Kingdom of Asturies. Hispanie could claim with the honor to lodge the relics of one of the apostles of Jesus-Christ, a privilege only shared with Asia (Ephèse more precisely) where the body of rested |Saint Jean and with Rome where the skins of Saint Pierre and Saint Paul were buried. Since this moment, Saint-Jacques-with-Compostelle became such Rome and Jerusalem one of the three Holy Cities of Christendom. With the opening of the Way of Jacques Saint, a multitude of influences penetrated in the Iberian peninsula coming from Central Europe during the centuries to come, since the styles novel and Gothic until the trova of Provence.

However, the history of the discovered of the relics of the Apostle presents certain enigmatic aspects. The tomb was found in a place which was used as necropolis since Bottom Empire, thus it is possible that they are the remainders of notable of the area. The British historian Henry Chadwick launched the assumption according to which the found sarcophagus with Compostelle contained the relics of Priscilien. Other authors, like Constantino Cabal, stress that many places of Galicia like the Crowned Peak, Pierre de Barca (Muxía) or San Andrés de Teixido was the destination of the faithful pilgrimages pagan ones which considered that these places recognized with the End of the world were main doors towards the Other World. The discovery of the tomb of Jacques Saint allowed the beginning of the christianization of these ways of pilgrimages.

Myths and legends

Being given that the Chronicles of the Kingdom of Asturies were written one century and half later that the battle of Covadonga, of many facets of the first kings remained in the half-light, given up on the grounds nebulas of the myth and the legend.

If the historical existence of Pélage does not suffer any dispute, on the other hand its character was tinted of a multitude of traditions and accounts. One of them affirms that before the Moslem invasion of Spain it went to pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Holy City of Christendom.

As it is affirmed as the Croix of the Victoire by a ray which cut this figure in the trunk of a oak at the time to strike it. Two elements of fundamental importance in mythology asturienne are interlaced in this myth: on a side the ray which was the symbol of the antique god asture Taranis and which is forged by Ñubery, lord of the clouds, the rain and the winds; on another side, the oak is the symbol of the royalty asturienne, as can testify those engraved in the stone to them to the Church of Abamia where the sheets of this gasoline of tree are reproduced.

Moreover, the area of Covadonga was prodigal in formidable accounts, as that which affirms that on the spot that the Lakes Enol and Ercina occupy today drew up a village of shepherds whom one day the Virgin visited. Vêtue like a pèlerine, it required the lodging and food of the houses of the village; one pushed back it in all except for a humble refuge of shepherd where it was accommodated. This one affectionately divided with it all that it had. Like punishment for the inhospitality of the inhabitants of the places, the day following a flood of divine origin devastated the village which remained drowned for always except for the hut of the shepherd. Vis-a-vis him, the mysterious hostess started to cry, and its tears were transformed into superb flowers when they touched the ground. Then the shepherd realized that divine the pèlerine was the Virgin.

It is about a myth panceltic which meets in many stories of other countries of the Atlantic Arc, as that which affirms that under the lagoon of Antela (Galicia) are the ruins in the antique quoted of Antioche, erased chart in its time by a night flood like punishment for the condemnable life of its inhabitants. Still today it is possible to hear during the Night of Midsummer's Day the bells of the church of the city as well as the song of the cocks. On the other side of the Bay of Biscay, in Brittany, circulate of the traditions concerning the city of Ker Ys which were on the grounds of bay of Douarnenez gained on the sea and protected by a powerful dam. The girl of the king of the city, Dahud, gave the keys of the dam to a demon which had been disguised as an elegant prince, action which ended in the immersion of the city.

But there exist also myths around monarchy asturienne which hold of the purest tradition Judeo-Christian: the Chronicle has Sebastián tells that when trespassed the king Alphonse {{Ier}} an exceptional occurrence occurred in Cangas de Onís. Whereas the notable ones took care its skin of the court, of the celestial canticles were made hear. They entonnaient the following text of the Book of Isaïe which in addition was that used by the Hispanic liturgy during the Saturday Day before of Glory:

I said: In the peace of my days I from go away to the doors of the schéol; I am private remainder of my years! I said: I will not see any more Yahweh, Yahweh on the ground of the alive ones; I will not see any more the men, among the inhabitants of the silencer stay! My residence is removed, carried far from me as a tent of shepherds. Like Tisserand, I warped my life; it cuts off me from the trade! Day at the night you will have finished some with me! I am you until the morning; like a lion, it broke all my bones; day at the night you will have finished some with me! Like the swallow, like the crane, I shout; I groaned like the dove; my eyes were wearied to look in top " Yahweh, one makes me violence; would be my guaranteeing! |Is 38,10-14

In Asturies one finds also representatives of the myth of King Dormant: according to the legend, it is still possible nowadays to see wandering the king Fruela in the Garden of the Kings of the Cathédrale of Oviedo and one says that its grandson, the famous knight Bernardo del Carpio, also rests in a cave of the mounts asturiens. The tradition tells that once a peasant lost one of his cows, and when it entered the cave for seeks it heard a voice which affirmed being Bernardo del Carpio, victorious of the French with Roncevaux. After him to have told that he had lived only during centuries in this cave, he says to the peasant: “Gives me your hand, because I want to know how are the men of today. ” the cowherd, astonished, reached the horn of a cow which at the time to be taken by the giant, disappeared in one moment. The peasant from went away terrified, not without intending Bernardo to say: “the men of today are not as those which helped me to kill the French with Roncevaux. ”

The parallels are obvious between these legends and those which surround the other medieval heroes like Barberousse or the King Arthur. First one affirms that he did not die, but that he withdrew himself inside the Kyffhäuser mount and from where he will return to restore the antique glory of Germany when the corbels cease flying. Of the second one affirms that he lives near his knights in a multitude of caves and hill on the island of Great Britain. Its most famous residence is that which Sir Walter Scott allotted to him: the hill of Eildon, in Scotland, where Arthur took refuge after its ultimate battle, and where he will sleep jusquà what comes the hour when the destiny again enables him to direct Great Britain.

Chronicles of the Kingdom of Asturies

Christian chronicles

Chronicles written in Andalusian territory:

Chronic arabo-Byzantine of 741 (also called Continuatio Hispana )
Chronic Mozarab (754)

Chronicles written during the reign of Alphonse III:

Chronique of Albelda
Chronique Rotense
Chronique has Sebastián
Prophetic Chronique

Chronicles of the 11th century:

Chronic of Sampiro

Chronicles of the 12th century:

Chronic Silense or of the anonymous monk of Chronic Santo Domingo de Silos
of Peeling, Chronic bishop of Oviedo
of the Chronic emperor Alphonse VII
of the anonymous moin of Najéra

Chronicles written during the reign of Ferdinand III of Castille:

Chronicon mundo , of Lucas, bishop of Tuy
Chronic Latin of Kings de Castille, of Jean, bishop of Osma
Of rebus Hispaniae , Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada

Chronicle written during the reign of Alphonse X Wise the:

Estoria de España , also called Chronic General of Spain , the first written in Castilian.

Moslem chronicles

Chronic of Al-Maqqari

Heritage

With the foot of this gigantic natural fortress of the Peaks of Europe which rises with a few kilometers hardly sea Cantabrique, Astures and Cantabres fought against Rome, then main of the world. In one of the entries of this fortress, Pélage resisted (718-722) vis-a-vis the Moslems who dominated from India to the Atlantic|C. Sánchez Albornoz

Santi Yagüe (Holy Jacques) will be established anti-Mahomet and its sanctuary compostellan will become the antione. This change gives on the legend its final character. Compostelle becomes the convergence point of the militant Christendom opposed to Mecque, and the popular pilgrimage of the Way of Saint-Jacob, the franque counterpart and galaïco-léonaise of the hajj (the saint Moslem pilgrimage). Providence will grant from now on the victory to the rider over its “snow-covered and impetuous” mounting not only on the Moors of the Peninsula but also, in an extraordinary transoceanic flight, on the Aztec ones, tipping the scales in full battle in favor of Hernán the Cortes and his|Juan Goytisolo

The Kingdom of Asturies is traditionally perceived like the origune of the Reconquista. So in the first moments it is indeed only about one indigenous fight against foreign people (like Astures and Cantabres the Romans and the Visigoths had already fought), the later spectacular expansion and the fact of having contained the germ of famous the Couronne of Castille (union of the kingdoms of Castille and León) were of historical importance which one did not have to underestimate for the time.

Kingdom of Asturies emerged three differentiated political entities: kingdoms of León, Castille, and Portugal. After the displacement of the court with León by Fruela II, the center of gravity of the Kingdom moved towards the South and as from this time one started to speak about the Kingdom of León, whose monarchs regard themselves as the heirs to monarchy asturienne. So in its first decades of existence the authority of the kings asturo-léonais was indeed rather strong, from the unmatched tendencies emerged starting from the middle of the 10th century, particularly in Castille and in Portugal.

The Castilian counties gathered in the middle of the 9th century around the dynasty comtale founded by Ferdinand Gonzalez. So to its beginnings the Comté of Castille did not manage indeed to be freed formally from the Kingdom of León, it passed quickly under the influence of the king Sanche III of Navarre which abrogea definitively the legal dependence with respect to the kings léonais. His/her son Ferdinand {{Ier}} inherited the County of Castille and after having the sovereign of León it demolishes annexed his kingdom. After the death of Alphonse VII, the kingdoms of León and Castille separated again for 70 years, until being unified definitively by Saint Ferdinand III. The memory of monarchy asturienne survived in the courses of kings de Castille and Spain. Alphonse X the Wise one, in his Estoria de España, estimated the Kingdom of Asturies as the place where began the Reconquista and the rechristianisation of Spain. Centuries later, the first national park of Spain, that of the Montagne of Covadonga (nowadays Parks Nacional Picos de Europa , was created by Alphonse XIII in 1918 to commemorate the 1200ère birthday of the crowning of its Pélage predecessor and the battle of Covadonga. Overseas, the pious legend affirms that Saint Jacques Matamoros , guard of the kingdom asturien, appeared at the time of the Bataille of Otumba, unbalancing the combat in favor of the Spaniards. Many American cities like Santiago of Cuba or Santiago of Chile bear the name of this apostle whose skin was discovered at times of Alphonse II, in a place located at the borders of the Kingdom of Asturies.

With regard to the Portugal, it was Alphonse III of Asturies which sent in 868 one of its vassal, the Galician count Vimara Peres to take and repopulate the town of Oporto and the territories portucalenses between Minõ and Duero (itself founded the town of Guimarães). From this manner, at the same time as in the Hispanic center was born the Comté from vassal Castille of the kings asturo-léonais and Navarrese, emerges at the south-western border galaïco-asturienne the Comté of Portugal, which remained also vassal kings of Asturies and León between 9th and the 12th century. At the same time with the south-eastern point of the peninsula was born the County from Aragon, initially vassal of the frank kings. During the 11th century the counties of Castille and Aragon rose with the row of kingdom, which also occurred at the 12th century with the County of Portugal. Since its foundation by noble the Vimara Fathers and his repopulation by the Galicians at the 9th century, the County of Portugal had been an autonomous territory within the Royaume of Galicia. In 1071 the count of Portugal Nuno Mendes (which had entered in rebellion) was demolishes with the Bataille of Pedroso by the king García of Galicia, wire of Ferdinand Large the, which took the title of king de Galice and Portugal, linking all galaïco-Portuguese transitorily. But a few months later García were made prisoner and remained it until the end of its days after being put in rout by his/her two brothers, Sanche II of Castille and Alphonse VI of León. In 1072 García recovered its throne with dead of Sanche. However, being called for pourpalers by Alphonse de León (then moreover king de Castille following the death of Sanche in 1073), the weather was betrays by this one and been captive definitively with the castle of Luna jusq' to its death in 1090.

Alphonse VI of León, Castille and from now on also Galicia and Portugal, once joined together the four crowns of his four aïeux, once his two isolated brothers of the capacity, was entitled Empereur of Hispanies , undoubtedly by Byzantine influence. Little time afterwards, it again separated Galicia and Portugal when it gave their command to his two sons-in-law, Raymond from Burgundy and Henri of Burgundy. This last controlled as a regent of Portugal until his death, being younger than the countess owner of Portugal, Therese de León, which started to reign of itself when it was found widowed. The Infante-Countess went down by her paternal branch from the antiques counts portucalenses , since its great-grandmother Elvira Mendes of Portugal was the sovereign countess of Portugal and wife of Alphonse V of León, as explains it the Luís historian of Mello Vaz de São Payo in his work. The count Henri and later the Therese queen led both the county of Portugal towards a process of gradual independence which would culminate with the autoproclamation of their son the prince Alphonse {{Ier}} of Portugal as king after the Bataille of Ourique in 1139, during which according to the legend - of course - appeared in the sky the cross, the blood and the face of Christ, accompanied of the gold sentence IN HOC SIGNO VINCES . This legend is only documented since the 14th century, time of the foundation about the Christ who borrowed these words and laid out them around its red and cruciform ecu.

On the plan strictly asturien, the Kingdom of Asturies is the birthplace of the Asturien, of the bable and of asturo-léonais, language also spoken with the Kingdom about León. Already in old texts as the Ardoise of Carrio one can distinguish the features forming the outline from a dialect protoroman asturo-léonais, for example the diphthong of the E short Latin ( will vostras - > will vuestras ) or the palatalization of the group it L ( ovecula - > oveya ). If the documents of the time of the Kingdom of Asturies were compiled in their Latin near total, there is not any doubt that at the court one employed like vernacular Language a primitive form of the asturien. In this direction the first written official documents asturo-léonais some started to appear at the 11th century and among them are distinguished the Liber Iudiciorum (Fueru Xulgu) and various municipal rights. Within the first Parliament of the History in Europe, the Courses of León of 1192, the language employed as well of the king as of the prosecutors were asturo-léonais it. This language enjoyed then a great prestige which came from its use by kings de León, successors of Peeling. It should be underlined the fact that in Portugal one had as a practice to appoint the monarchs the title El-Rei which can be regarded as asturo-léonais and not Galaïco-Portuguese (in which case one would make him correspond the form O-Rei ).

A few centuries after the reign of the last kings asturiens, in 1388 was created the Principauté of Asturies and titrates it Prince of Asturies which the heir to the kingdoms of the Crown of Castille would carry and, later on, of that of Spain. Currently, the title is carried by Felipe, wire of Juan Carlos.

The territory of the Principality was made up only of the Asturies d' Oviedo. The Asturies de Santillana, which held their name since the 12th century, formed the Merindad named as from the 15th century Montagne of Burgos , then in 1833 Province of Santander and finally Autonomous Communauté of Cantabrie since 1982.

After having maintained the principality like territorial entity for all the period of the Old Mode, the territorial Division of Spain of 1833 formed the Province of Oviedo which included/understood the common old Asturies d' Oviedo to which one added Ribadedeva, Peñamellera Alta and Peñamellera Baja of old Asturies de Santillana. Into 1983, the Province of Oviedo changed its name for Province of Asturies, being the single province of the autonomous community of the Principality of Asturies.

The flag and the armorial bearings of current Principauté of Asturies include/understand the figure of the Croix of the Victoire.

Anecdotes

The Andalusian sovereigns liked to integrate in their Harems women into the clear skin originating in the North of Spain. Consequently of what the emirs and caliphs de Cordoue, whose mothers and grandmothers were asturiennes or Basque, were a genotype close to the inhabitants of these same areas had. Thus, the caliph Abd Al-Rahman III had the pale skin and the clear eyes, and had as a practice to dye brown his blond hair. Paradoxically, two kings asturiens, Silo and Mauregat, were born Moslem mothers (Berber).

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