Alfonso III of Asturias
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish. (June 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Alfonso III | |
---|---|
Fruela II of León | |
Dynasty | Astur-Leonese dynasty |
Father | Ordoño I of Asturias |
Mother | Nuña |
Religion | Chalcedonian Christianity |
Signature |
Alfonso III (c. 848 – 20 December 910), called the Great (
Life
Alfonso's reign was notable for his comparative success in consolidating the kingdom during the weakness of the
During the first year of his reign, he had to contend with a usurper, Count
He defeated a
In the Reconquista
The following year, 867, Alfonso had to attend to an uprising in the eastern part of the kingdom, in Alava, according to the Chronicle of Albeda. According to the Chronicle of Sampiro, the revolt was led by Count Eylo. Sampiro describes these events as follows:
A messenger arrived from Álava, announcing that their hearts had inflated against the king: hearing that, the monarch decided to march there. Driven by the fear of their arrival, they quickly recognized their obligations and supplicants, lowered their heads before him and promised that they would remain faithful to his kingdom and authority, and that they would do what was commanded. In this way he submitted to his power an Alava lying before him, and Eylo, who presented himself as his count, brought him to Oviedo loaded with iron.[3]
His father, Ordoño, had begun the resettlement of the border territories and Alfonso continued with it. His first successes were in Portuguese lands, where King Alfonso's troops succeeded in locating the southwestern frontier on the Mondego river. Count
Alfonso III had to face the offensive of the Umayyad prince al-Mundir, son of Mohamed I. Fighting occurred almost constantly between 875 and 883. The first Umayyad raids were aimed at León and El Bierzo, but failed. The Christian counteroffensive ended with the taking of Deza and Atienza.
Abd al-Rahman ibn Marwan, the Galician, Lord of Mérida and rebel against the Emir of Córdoba, sent him to ingratiate himself with him to the Minister of this, Hashim ibn Abd al-Aziz.[clarification needed] Accordingly, in 878, Al-Mundir directed his armies back to Leon and Astorga, while Salid ben Ganim reached the Órbigo. Alfonso, hoping to prevent the union of both armies, went out to meet the second, which he defeated in the battle of Polvoraria, at the confluence of the Órbigo and Esla rivers. Al-Mundir then withdrew, but Alfonso III intercepted him in the valley of Valdemora, where he defeated him. Mohamed was forced to pay ransom and sign a three-year truce, the first time that Córdoba had asked for peace.
Both kings considered the truce as a pause while preparing for the next assault: Mohamed raised a fleet to attack Galicia, but it was destroyed by a storm. Alfonso and Ibn Marwan descended through the Tagus Valley and defeated the Cordovan army on Mount Oxifer, next to the Guadiana River.
As revenge, Mohamed attacked the kingdom of Zaragoza in 882, where Alfonso had sent his son Ordoño to be educated with the Banu Qasi, sons of Musa, advancing through the ancient Roman road to Leon. There was an exchange of prisoners and the Cordovans withdrew. They repeated the campaign in 883 with the same result. In 884 Mohamed I and Alfonso III signed a peace, since both began to have serious internal problems. The great king was met with a rising led by his brothers Fruela, Odoario and Bermudo, who became strong in Astorga, supported by several counts, but were quickly defeated and executed. In 901 the Umayyad rebel Ibn al-Qitt proclaimed Mahdi, preached holy war and attacked Zamora - "rebuilt and repopulated by Mozarabic Toledo [...] the most important advanced square of the Asturian kingdom" - which he was able to resist. The messianic leader, abandoned by his own, was defeated and killed in battle on what is known as the Day of Zamora. In those years, the emirate of Cordoba, wracked by civil disorder, stopped disturbing the kingdom of Asturias. Alonso faced off against his former allies in Mérida and the Ebro valley: allied with the Count of Pallars, he instigated a coup that managed to defeat the Banu Qasi and install a Navarrese, Sancho Garcés I, on the throne of Pamplona.
He ordered the writing of three chronicles which held the theory that the kingdom of Asturias was the rightful successor of the old
In 909, Alfonso moved the seat of his government to Oviedo. According to
Culture
- He convened the second Oviedo Council in 893.
- He ordered the elaboration of the Cathedral of Oviedo and a copy of it hangs on the bridge of Cangas de Onís.
- The discovery of the sepulcher of Santiago made Compostela the second apostolic seat after Rome, with authority over clerics from other Christian counties. Santiago became a destination for pilgrims.
- With respect to the Asturian art, Alfonso's reign saw the post-Tramuntana stage of Asturian pre-Romanesque architecture, such as Santo Adriano de Tuñónand the basilica of Santiago de Compostela.
- He ordered the writing of three chronicles in which he remakes history, presenting the kingdom of Asturias as the heir of the Visigothic kingdom:
- The Albeldense Chronicle (c. 881).
- The prophetic Chronicle (c. 883).
- The Chronicle of the Visigoth Kings or Chronicle of Alfonso III (c. 911).
Notes
- ^ España Sagrada. Memorias de los insignes monasterios de San Julián de Samos, y San Vicente de Monforte.
- ^ Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Martínez Díez (2005), p. 220
- R. A. Fletcher, Saint James's Catapult: The Life and Times of Diego Gelmírez of Santiago de Compostela (Oxford, 1984), 317–23.
- ^ The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture. Edited by: Colum P. Hourihane. "Carolingian metalwork" OUP 2013
References
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 734.
- Collins, Roger (1983). Early Medieval Spain : Unity in Diversity, 400-1000. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-22464-8.
- Martínez Díez, Gonzalo (2005). El Condado de Castilla (711-1038). La historia frente a la leyenda (in Spanish). Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León. ISBN 9788495379948.
- McDaniel, David (2010). "Alfonso III of Asturias". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology (online ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195338423.
- Reilly, Bernard F. (2003). "Alfonso III, King of Asturias". In Gerli, E. Michael (ed.). Medieval Iberia : an encyclopedia. New York: Routledge. OCLC 50404104.
- Ruiz de la Peña Solar, Juan Ignacio. "Alfonso III" (in Spanish). Real Academia de la Historia.
- Wreglesworth, John (1995). The Chronicle of Alfonso III and Its Significance for the Historiography of the Asturian Kingdom 718-910 (PhD). University of Leeds.