The origin of the first Peninsular Kingdoms (8th-13th centuries)

 How the first kingdoms and counties were formed?

• During the 8th century, an army of Muslims invaded the Iberian Peninsula. Only two mountanious regions in the north resisted the invasion: Cordillera Cantábrica and Pyrenees.
• The Christian Kingdoms and counties began the Reconquest of the land occupied by the Muslims.

Western focus

• In Asturias, a group of Hispano-Visigothic nobles and families, led by Pelagius, resisted the Muslims and refused to pay tributes to them (722, battle of Covadonga).
• This led to the creation of the Kingdom of Asturias, wich after expanding west (Galicia), east (Cantabria) and south, stablished its capital in Oviedo and recovered visigothic laws (IX century).

Pyrenean region

• The counties that formed the Marca Hispanica in the Pyrenees were controlled by the Carolingian Empire. The Frankish emperor chose the nobles (counts and marquis) who ruled the territories.
• The counties gained independence from Frankish rule and became the counties of Aragón, the Catalan counties and the Kingdom of Pamplona, later known as Navarra.

From the Kingdom of Asturias to the Kingdom of León and Castilla

• In the second half of the IX centuries Asturian kings took advantage of the weakness of the emirate of Córdoba and stretched out to the river Duero.
• They resettle the territory with peasant families from the Cantabrian valleys.
• To control and protect the territory, the court was moved to León (Ordoño II, X century) and the kingdom was renamed Kigdom of León.
• As a result of the proclamation of the Califate in Al-Andalus and its military power (raids of Almansur), the kingdom of León stopped expanding and the border was fixed on the river Duero.

The kingdom of Castilla

• To defend their territory from the Muslims in the east, the kings of León built castles and gave military power to various counts. The area was known as Castilla.
• In the 10th century the count Fernán González unified the counties and began to act independently, creating the County of Castilla.
• In the XI century Castilla County was incorporated to the Pamplona Kingdom (with Sancho III) and became kingdom with his son Fernando I, first king os Castilla and León.

Image from the series "El Cid", a military leader of Castilian origin who conquered Valencia and established his own dominion.  Despite being exalted as a national hero in Spain, he fought as a mercenary for both Christians and Muslims.

The Pyrenean counties and kingdoms

• In the 9th century Pamplona and County of Aragón expelled the Frankish rulers. The count Wilfred the Hairy of Barcelona annexed most of the Catalan Counties. 
• In the 10th century Catalonia gained independence from the Franks.
• At the starts of the 11th century the king Sancho III of Pamplona expanded his territory to:
• The County of Castilla
• The County of Aragón (with Sobrarbe and Ribagorza).
• The Kingdom of León.
• Sancho III, called the Great, divided the kingdom among his sons, creating:
• The Kingdom of Castilla y León
• The Kingdom of Pamplona
• The Kingdom of Aragón.

The Repoblación

The resettlement involved the occupation of land that been deserted or had been reclaimed from Al-Andalus by the Christian kings. In the firts centuries there were two types of resettlement:

• Free resettlement or presura (X-XI c.)in wich the king granted land to free peasant.
• Concejiles resettlement (XI-XII c.)was organised collectively in areas on the border. To encourage the settlement the monarchs granted privileges to the inhabitants (fueros and municipal charters).

The kings gave too land to nobles, so they could defend it, and to monks, so they could build monasteries.

The advance of the Christian Kingdoms

• While the Caliphate of Al-Andalus was breaking down, the Christian kingdoms continued to expand during the 11th century. The taifa kings accepted the payment of parias (gold) to maintain the peace. 
• The northern kingdoms reached the Tajo Valley in the west  (Castile and Leon conquest Toledo 1085) and the Ebro Valley in the east (Aragon conquest Tarragona 1095, Zaragoza 1118).
• Kingdom of Navarra didn’t expand very much because it was limited by Aragon and Castile.
• The kingdoms of Castile and Leon, Aragon and Navarre, and the Catalane Counties grew stronger, but their 12th century advances were blocked by the Almoravids and Almohads.
• Catalan Counties and the Kingdom of  Aragon were united to form the Crown of Aragon (s XII)

Cultural heritage

In the north of Iberian Peninsula, Santiago de Compostela became the destination for many Christian pirgrims who wanted forgiveness for their sins. Many churches and cathedrals in the Romanesque and Gothic styles were built along the route.

Glossary

allod (n): land that is owned and not subject to rent.

Almohads (n): a Berber dynasty that overthrew the Almoravids and joined the taifas of Al-Andalus to their North African empire in the 12^th century.

Almoravids (n): a Berber dynasty who established an empire across the western Maghreb and helped Al-Andalus hold back the advance of the Christian kingdoms in the 11^th century.

andalusí (adj): pertaining to Al-Andalus.

Beatus (n): illustrated copies of manuscripts, named after the monk Beatus of Liébana.

Crown (n): the realm or sovereignty of a monarch.

exile (v): expel someone from their native land.

fueros (n): the rights and privileges granted to the inhabitants of a town or city.

hereditary (adj): pertaining to something that can be passed from parents to their children, for example, property.

inherit (v): receive property, money or titles when someone dies.

Marca Hispánica (n): an area between the Pyrenees and Ebro River created by Charlemagne in 795 to defend the Franks against Al-Andalus.

mercenary (n): a professional soldier paid to work in a foreign army.

Mudéjar (n): a Muslim who was allowed to live in the Christian kingdoms after the reconquest.

municipal charter (n): a collective contract that established the conditions for cultivating the land.

occupy (v): take possession of an area, for example, with military force.

paria (n): a peace tax paid by the taifas of Al-Andalus to the Christian kingdoms in the north of the Peninsula.

reconquest (n): the recapturing of lost territory through military force. The Reconquista of the Peninsula by the Christian kingdoms lasted from the 8^th to the 15^th century.

resettlement (n): the process of moving groups of people to a new place to live.

Saracen (n): a word for a Muslim commonly used by Christian writers during the Middle Ages.

tribute (n): a sum of money paid by one sovereign to another in exchange for peace. During the reconquest, the tributes paid by the taifas were called parias.