Ferdinand I of León
Encyclopedia
Ferdinand I called the Great (el Magno), was the Count of Castile from his uncle's death in 1029 and the King of León after defeating his brother-in-law in 1037. According to tradition, he was the first to have himself crowned Emperor of Spain (1056), and his heirs carried on the tradition. He was a younger son of Sancho III of Navarre
and Mayor of Castile
, and by his father's will recognised the supremacy of his eldest brother, García Sánchez III of Navarre. While Ferdinand inaugurated the rule of the Navarrese Jiménez dynasty
over western Spain, his rise to preeminence among the Christian rulers of the peninsula shifted the locus of power and culture westward after more than a century of Leonese decline. Nevertheless, "[t]he internal consolidation of the realm of León–Castilla under Fernando el Magno and [his queen] Sancha
(1037–1065) is a history that remains to be researched and written."
, García, Gonzalo
, then Ferdinand. Three documents from the Cathedral of Pamplona
list them in this way, as well as four from the monastery of San Juan de la Peña
. One charter from Pamplona, dated 29 September 1023, is witnessed by Sancho's mother, Jimena Fernández, his wife Mayor, her children, listed García, Ferdinand then Gonzalo, and their brother, the illegitimate Ramiro.
In five documents of the monastery of San Salvador de Leire, Ferdinand is listed after Gonzalo. Two of these are dated to 17 April 1014. If authentic, they place Ferdinand's birth before that date. Three further documents from Leire are among the only ones to place Ferdinand second among the legitimate sons, but they suffer from various anachronisms and interpolations. Two preserved diplomas of Santa María la Real de Irache also put Gonzalo ahead of him. On the basis of these documents, Gonzalo Martínez Díez places Ferdinand third of the known legitimate sons of Sancho III (Ramiro being a bastard born before his marriage to Mayor), and his birth no earlier than 1015. The Crónica de Alaón renovada, which Martínez Díez dates to 1154, but which other scholars dismiss as a late medieval concoction, lists García, Ferdinand and Gonzalo as Sancho III's sons by Mayor in that order, but in the same passage mistakenly places Gonzalo's death before his father's.
, sister of Bermudo III
, King of León. In his role as feudal overlord, Sancho III of Navarre nominated his younger son Ferdinand, born to the deceased count's sister Mayor, as count of Castile. Although Sancho was recognised as the ruler of Castile until his death, Ferdinand was granted the title "count" (comes) and was prepared to succeed in Castile. On 7 July 1029, before a council in Burgos
, the capital of Castile, Óneca, aunt of the late García and queen Mayor, formally adopted Sancho and Mayor, making them her heirs. The record of the council is the first recorded instance of Ferdinand bearing the title of count. A later charter from the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña, dated 1 January 1030, explicits lists Sancho as king in León (the overlord of Castile) and Ferdinand as count in Castile. The first indication that Ferdinand was independently reigning de facto over Castile, or was at least recognised as count in his own right, is a charter of 1 November 1032 from the monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza
, which does not mention his father, but dates it to the time of "Fernando Sánchez bearing the county". Sancho's decision to name his son as count in Castile preserved its high degree of autonomy, although no Castilian document after 1028 is dated by the reign of Bermudo III nor is he ever named as king of León. The only sovereign whose regnal year was used was Sancho III, making Ferdinand the first count of Castile not to recognise the suzerainty of the king of León.
Sancho III arranged for Ferdinand to marry García of Castile's intended bride, Sancha of León, in 1032. The lands between the Cea
and Pisuerga rivers went to Castile as her dowry. After his father's death on 18 October 1035, Ferdinand continued to rule in Castile, but he was not, as many later authors have it, king of Castile. Contemporary documents stress his status as count and his relationship of vassalage to the king of León. A document issued by his brother Ramiro on 22 August 1036 at San Juan de la Peña was drawn while "emperor Bermudo [was] reigning in León and count Ferdinand in Castile, king García in Pamplona, king Ramiro in Aragon, and king Gonzalo in Ribagorza." Two private Castilian documents dated 1 January 1037 both express Ferdinand's continuing vassalage to the Leonese monarch explicitly, dating themselves by the reign of "king Bermudo and Ferdinand, count in his realms".
In a dispute over the territory between the Cea and Pisuerga, Ferdinand, nominally a vassal of Bermudo III, defeated and killed his suzerain at the Battle of Tamarón
on 4 September 1037. Ferdinand took possession of León by right of his wife, who was the heiress presumptive, and on 22 June 1038 had himself formally crowned and anointed king in León.
and reduced Navarre to a vassal state under his late brother's young son, Sancho García IV
. Although Navarre at that time included the traditionally Castilian lands of Álava
and La Rioja
, Ferdinand demanded the cession only of Bureba. Over the next decade, he gradually extended his control over more of the western territory of Navarre at the expense of Sancho IV, although this was accomplished peacefully and is only detectable in the documentary record.
, Ferdinand invaded the taifa of Zaragoza
through the upland valley of the eastern Duero in the highlands around Soria
. He captured the fortresses of San Esteban de Gormaz
, Berlanga
and Vadorrey, and afterwards proceeded through Santiuste
, Huermeces
and Santamara as far as the Roman road
that lay between Toledo
and Zaragoza
. The success of the campaign was made possible by the preoccupation of the Zaragozan emir, Ahmad al-Muqtadir
, with attacking the neighboring taifa of Tortosa
and defending his northeastern frontier from Ramiro I of Aragon
and Raymond Berengar I of Barcelona. The emir, up until then paying tribute to Sancho IV of Navarre, submitted to Ferdinand and agreed to pay parias
. Although probably originally meant to be temporary, Ferdinand managed to enforce the tribute until his death.
, emir of Toledo
. It is probable that Ferdinand already maintained close relations with the Toledan court, and was perhaps protector of the Mozarabic Christian community in Toledo. In 1058, the last known Mozarabic bishop of Toledo, Pascual, was consecrated in León. In 1062, Ferdinand invaded the east of al-Mamun's taifa, taking Talamanca
and besieging Alcalá de Henares
. After seeing his country plundered, al-Mamun agreed to pay parias and Ferdinand left.
and Badajoz
. Seville, and probably Badajoz also, paid a ransom for his withdrawal. This attack was probably also designed to remove Badajoz as a threat during his siege of Coimbra the next year.
was an invasion of the lower basin of the Duero between the coast, which had long been held by León, and the mountains. On 29 November 1057 his army conquered Lamego
and its valleys. Having secured the Duero, Ferdinand began to bring the valley of the Mondego under his control, first taking Viseu
in its middle stretch on 25 July 1058 and then moving down towards the sea. It was "a long and grueling battle" before Coimbra
, at the mouth of the Mondego, was taken on 25 July 1064 after a six-month siege.
and got as far as the vicinity of the city itself, where he defeated the emir Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar late in the autumn. The emir's father-in-law, al-Mamun of Toledo, seized control of Valencia, and the frightened emir of Zaragoza renewed his tribute payments to León. Ferdinand fell ill in November and returned to his kingdom.
, whose notaries were also calling Ferdinand's predecessor as king of León by the same title. In a royal Aragonese charter of 1036, before the Battle of Tamarón, Ramiro refers to his brother as "emperor in Castile and in León and in Astorga". A similarly-worded charter was issued in 1041 and again in 1061, where the order of kingdoms is reversed and Astorga ignored: "emperor in León and in Castile". The first use of the imperial style in a charter of his own, preserved in the cartulary of Arlanza, dates to the year 1056: "under the rule of the emperor King Ferdinand and the empress Queen Sancha ruling the kingdom in León and in Galicia as well as in Castile". On this basis, Ferdinand is sometimes said to have had himself crowned emperor in 1056.
The imperial title was only used on one other occasion during his reign. A document of 1058 dates itself "in the time of the most serene prince Lord Ferdinand and his consort Queen Sancha" and later qualifies him as "this emperor, the aforesaid Ferdinand".
. By his will, Ferdinand divided his kingdom between his three sons: the eldest, Sancho
, received Castile; the second, Alfonso
, León; and from the latter the region of Galicia
was carved off to create a separate state for García
. Ferdinand's two daughters each received cities: Elvira that of Toro
and Urraca
that of Zamora. In giving them these territories, he expressed his desire that they respect his wishes and abide by the split. However, soon after Fernando's death, Sancho and Alfonso turned on García, and defeating him. They then fought each other, the victorious Sancho reuniting their father's possessions under his control in 1072. However, Sancho was killed that same year and the territories passed to Alfonso.
, probably written shortly after Ferdinand's death, extols him as the "exceedingly strong emperor" (imperator fortissimus) when mentioning the siege of Coimbra. After his death, Ferdinand's children took to calling him "emperor" and "the great" (magnus). In 1072, Alfonso, Fedinand's second son, referred to himself as "offspring of the Emperor Ferdinand". Two years later (1074), Urraca and Elvira referred to themselves as "daughters of the Emperor Ferdinand the Great [or, the great emperor Ferdinand]". In a later charter of 1087, Ferdinand is referred to first as "king", then as "great emperor", and finally just as "emperor" alongside his consort, who is first called "queen" then "empress".
In the fourteenth century a legend appeared in various chronicles according to which the Pope
, the Holy Roman Emperor
, and the King of France demanded a tribute from Ferdinand. In certain versions the Pope is named Urban (although it could not have been either Urban I or Urban II) and in other versions Victor (which is plausibly identifiable with Victor II
). Ferdinand was prepared to pay, but one of his vassals, later known as El Cid
, who in reality was a youth during Ferdinand's reign, declared a war on the Pope, the Emperor and the Frank, and the latter rescinded their demand. For this reason "Don Fernando was afterwards called ‘the Great’: the peer of an emperor". In the sixteenth century this account re-appeared, extended and elaborated, in Juan de Mariana
, who wrote that in 1055, at a synod in Florence
, the Emperor Henry III
urged Victor II to prohibit under severe penalties the use of the imperial title by Ferdinand of León.
This story is generally regarded as apocryphal, although some modern authors have accepted it uncritically or seen a kernel of historical truth in it. Spanish historian A. Ballesteros argued that Ferdinand adopted the title in opposition to Henry III's imperial pretensions. German historian E. E. Stengel believed the version found in Mariana on the grounds that the latter probably used the now lost acts of the Council of Florence. Juan Beneyto Pérez was willing to accept it as based on tradition and Ernst Steindorff
, the nineteenth-century student of the reign of Henry III, as being authentically transmitted via the romancero
. Menéndez Pidal accepted the account of Mariana, but placed it in the year 1065.
Sancho III of Navarre
Sancho III Garcés , called the Great , succeeded as a minor to the Kingdom of Navarre in 1004, and through conquest and political maneuvering increased his power, until at the time of his death in 1035 he controlled the majority of Christian Iberia, bearing the title of rex Hispaniarum...
and Mayor of Castile
Mayor of Castile
Mayor of Castile was queen of Navarre. She was originally called Muniadona and is variously called Munia Mayor . In Spanish, she is called Muniadona de Castilla...
, and by his father's will recognised the supremacy of his eldest brother, García Sánchez III of Navarre. While Ferdinand inaugurated the rule of the Navarrese Jiménez dynasty
Jiménez dynasty
The Jiménez or Ximenes were an Iberian ruling family from the 10th century to the 13th century. They were the first Europeanisers of Spain and brought her back within the wider European political scene while also giving her the political character and division that persisted until the end of the...
over western Spain, his rise to preeminence among the Christian rulers of the peninsula shifted the locus of power and culture westward after more than a century of Leonese decline. Nevertheless, "[t]he internal consolidation of the realm of León–Castilla under Fernando el Magno and [his queen] Sancha
Sancha of León
Sancha of León was a daughter of Alfonso V of León by Elvira Mendes and Queen consort of León and Castile. In 1029, a political marriage was arranged between her and count García Sánchez of Castile. However, having traveled to León for the marriage, García was assassinated by a group of...
(1037–1065) is a history that remains to be researched and written."
Date and order of birth
There is some disagreement concerning the order of birth of Sancho III's son, and of Ferdinand's place among them. He was certainly a younger son, and he was probably born later than 1011, when his parents' marriage is first recorded. Most, and the most reliable, charters name Sancho's sons in the order RamiroRamiro I of Aragon
Ramiro I was de facto the first King of Aragon from 1035 until his death. Apparently born before 1007, he was the illegitimate son of Sancho III of Navarre by his mistress Sancha de Aybar...
, García, Gonzalo
Gonzalo of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza
Gonzalo Sánchez was made Count of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza, two small Pyrenean counties, before 1035 by his father, Sancho III of Navarre. He succeeded to these domains after his father's death in that year and ruled them as vassal of his brother García Sánchez III until his death...
, then Ferdinand. Three documents from the Cathedral of Pamplona
Cathedral of Pamplona
The Cathedral of Royal Saint Mary is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the archdiocese of Pamplona, Spain. The current 15th century Gothic temple replaced an older Romanesque one. Archaeological excavations have revealed the existence of other two previous churches. The Neoclassical façade was...
list them in this way, as well as four from the monastery of San Juan de la Peña
San Juan de la Peña
The monastery of San Juan de la Peña is a religious complex in the town of Santa Cruz de la Serós, at the south-west of Jaca, in the province of Huesca, Spain. It was one of the most important monasteries in Aragon in the Middle Ages. Its two-level church is partially carved in the stone of the...
. One charter from Pamplona, dated 29 September 1023, is witnessed by Sancho's mother, Jimena Fernández, his wife Mayor, her children, listed García, Ferdinand then Gonzalo, and their brother, the illegitimate Ramiro.
In five documents of the monastery of San Salvador de Leire, Ferdinand is listed after Gonzalo. Two of these are dated to 17 April 1014. If authentic, they place Ferdinand's birth before that date. Three further documents from Leire are among the only ones to place Ferdinand second among the legitimate sons, but they suffer from various anachronisms and interpolations. Two preserved diplomas of Santa María la Real de Irache also put Gonzalo ahead of him. On the basis of these documents, Gonzalo Martínez Díez places Ferdinand third of the known legitimate sons of Sancho III (Ramiro being a bastard born before his marriage to Mayor), and his birth no earlier than 1015. The Crónica de Alaón renovada, which Martínez Díez dates to 1154, but which other scholars dismiss as a late medieval concoction, lists García, Ferdinand and Gonzalo as Sancho III's sons by Mayor in that order, but in the same passage mistakenly places Gonzalo's death before his father's.
Count of Castile (1029–37)
Ferdinand was barely in his teens when García Sánchez, Count of Castile, was assassinated by a party of exiled Castilian noblemen as he was entering the church of John the Baptist in León, where he had gone to marry SanchaSancha of León
Sancha of León was a daughter of Alfonso V of León by Elvira Mendes and Queen consort of León and Castile. In 1029, a political marriage was arranged between her and count García Sánchez of Castile. However, having traveled to León for the marriage, García was assassinated by a group of...
, sister of Bermudo III
Bermudo III of León
Bermudo III , king of León , son of Alfonso V of León by his wife Elvira Mendes, was the last scion of Peter of Cantabria to rule in the Leonese kingdom...
, King of León. In his role as feudal overlord, Sancho III of Navarre nominated his younger son Ferdinand, born to the deceased count's sister Mayor, as count of Castile. Although Sancho was recognised as the ruler of Castile until his death, Ferdinand was granted the title "count" (comes) and was prepared to succeed in Castile. On 7 July 1029, before a council in Burgos
Burgos
Burgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...
, the capital of Castile, Óneca, aunt of the late García and queen Mayor, formally adopted Sancho and Mayor, making them her heirs. The record of the council is the first recorded instance of Ferdinand bearing the title of count. A later charter from the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña, dated 1 January 1030, explicits lists Sancho as king in León (the overlord of Castile) and Ferdinand as count in Castile. The first indication that Ferdinand was independently reigning de facto over Castile, or was at least recognised as count in his own right, is a charter of 1 November 1032 from the monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza
San Pedro de Arlanza
San Pedro de Arlanza was a monastery in north central Spain. Founded in 912, it has been called the "cradle of Castile"...
, which does not mention his father, but dates it to the time of "Fernando Sánchez bearing the county". Sancho's decision to name his son as count in Castile preserved its high degree of autonomy, although no Castilian document after 1028 is dated by the reign of Bermudo III nor is he ever named as king of León. The only sovereign whose regnal year was used was Sancho III, making Ferdinand the first count of Castile not to recognise the suzerainty of the king of León.
Sancho III arranged for Ferdinand to marry García of Castile's intended bride, Sancha of León, in 1032. The lands between the Cea
Cea River
The Cea River is a river of northeastern Spain. It is an affluent of the Esla River, and its course runs through the provinces of León, Valladolid, and Zamora. It is 157 km long. Its source lies in the municipality of Prioro, in León province. It arises from the spring called Fuente del...
and Pisuerga rivers went to Castile as her dowry. After his father's death on 18 October 1035, Ferdinand continued to rule in Castile, but he was not, as many later authors have it, king of Castile. Contemporary documents stress his status as count and his relationship of vassalage to the king of León. A document issued by his brother Ramiro on 22 August 1036 at San Juan de la Peña was drawn while "emperor Bermudo [was] reigning in León and count Ferdinand in Castile, king García in Pamplona, king Ramiro in Aragon, and king Gonzalo in Ribagorza." Two private Castilian documents dated 1 January 1037 both express Ferdinand's continuing vassalage to the Leonese monarch explicitly, dating themselves by the reign of "king Bermudo and Ferdinand, count in his realms".
In a dispute over the territory between the Cea and Pisuerga, Ferdinand, nominally a vassal of Bermudo III, defeated and killed his suzerain at the Battle of Tamarón
Battle of Tamarón
The Battle of Tamarón took place on 4 September 1037 between Ferdinand, Count of Castile, and Vermudo III, King of León. Ferdinand, who had married Vermudo's sister Sancha, defeated and killed his brother-in-law near Tamarón after a brief war...
on 4 September 1037. Ferdinand took possession of León by right of his wife, who was the heiress presumptive, and on 22 June 1038 had himself formally crowned and anointed king in León.
Relations with Navarre
On 15 September 1054, Ferdinand defeated his elder brother García at the Battle of AtapuercaBattle of Atapuerca
The Battle of Atapuerca was fought in 1 September 1054 at the site of Piedrahita in the valley of Atapuerca between brothers King García Sánchez III, El de Nájera, of Navarre and King Ferdinand I, the Great, of Castile and León....
and reduced Navarre to a vassal state under his late brother's young son, Sancho García IV
Sancho IV of Navarre
Sancho IV Garcés , called Sancho of Peñalén or Sancho the Noble, was King of Navarre from 1054 to 1076. He was the eldest son and heir of García Sánchez III and Estefanía....
. Although Navarre at that time included the traditionally Castilian lands of Álava
Álava
Álava is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Álava. Its capital city is Vitoria-Gasteiz which is also the capital of the autonomous community...
and La Rioja
La Rioja (Spain)
La Rioja is an autonomous community and a province of northern Spain. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and Nájera.-History:...
, Ferdinand demanded the cession only of Bureba. Over the next decade, he gradually extended his control over more of the western territory of Navarre at the expense of Sancho IV, although this was accomplished peacefully and is only detectable in the documentary record.
War with Zaragoza
In 1060, according to the Historia silenseHistoria silense
The Historia silense, also called the Chronica silense or Historia seminense, is a medieval Latin narrative history of the Iberian Peninsula from the time of the Visigoths to the first years of the reign of Alfonso VI of León and Castile...
, Ferdinand invaded the taifa of Zaragoza
Taifa of Zaragoza
The taifa of Zaragoza was an independent Muslim state in Moorish Al-Andalus, present day eastern Spain, which was established in 1018 as one of the taifa kingdoms, which emerged in the 11th century following the destruction of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the Moorish Iberian Peninsula.During the...
through the upland valley of the eastern Duero in the highlands around Soria
Soria
Soria is a city in north-central Spain, the capital of the province of Soria in the autonomous community of Castile and León. , the municipality has a population of c. 39,500 inhabitants, nearly 40% of the population of the province...
. He captured the fortresses of San Esteban de Gormaz
San Esteban de Gormaz
San Esteban de Gormaz is a municipality in the province of Soria in the autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Spain. Its population is approximately 3,500...
, Berlanga
Berlanga
Berlanga may refer to:* Carlos Berlanga , Spanish musician, composer and painter* Esteban Berlanga, Spanish ballet dancer* Fray Tomás de Berlanga , fourth bishop of Panama...
and Vadorrey, and afterwards proceeded through Santiuste
Santiuste
Santiuste is a municipality located in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 24 inhabitants....
, Huermeces
Huérmeces
Huérmeces is a municipality located in the province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 131 inhabitants....
and Santamara as far as the Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
that lay between Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
and Zaragoza
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
. The success of the campaign was made possible by the preoccupation of the Zaragozan emir, Ahmad al-Muqtadir
Ahmad al-Muqtadir
Ahmad ibn Sulayman al-Muqtadir was a member of the Banu Hud family who ruled the Islamic taifa of Zaragoza, in what is now Spain, from 1049 to 1082. He was the son of the previous ruler, Al-Mustain I, Sulayman ibn Hud al-Judhami.-References:*...
, with attacking the neighboring taifa of Tortosa
Taifa of Tortosa
The Taifa of Tortosa was a medieval taifa kingdom which existed for two separate periods: from 1010 to 1060 and from 1081 to 1099.-Saqlabi dynasty:* Lab'ib : c. 1009-bfr. 1039/40* Muqatil Sayf al-Milla: bfr...
and defending his northeastern frontier from Ramiro I of Aragon
Ramiro I of Aragon
Ramiro I was de facto the first King of Aragon from 1035 until his death. Apparently born before 1007, he was the illegitimate son of Sancho III of Navarre by his mistress Sancha de Aybar...
and Raymond Berengar I of Barcelona. The emir, up until then paying tribute to Sancho IV of Navarre, submitted to Ferdinand and agreed to pay parias
Parias
In medieval Spain, parias were a form of tribute paid by the taifas of al-Andalus to the Christian kingdoms of the north...
. Although probably originally meant to be temporary, Ferdinand managed to enforce the tribute until his death.
War with Toledo
With al-Muqtadir sidelined as a threat, Ferdinand turned his attention to Yahya ibn Ismail al-MamunAl-Mamun of Toledo
Yahya ibn Ismail al-Mamun or Yahya ben Ismael ben-Dylinun was a member of the Banu Dil-Nun dynasty who was king of the Taifa of Toledo between 1043 and 1075....
, emir of Toledo
Taifa of Toledo
The taifa of Toledo was a Muslim medieval kingdom located in what is now central Spain. It existed from the fracturing of the long-eminent Muslim Caliphate of Córdoba in 1035 until the Christian conquest in 1085.-History:...
. It is probable that Ferdinand already maintained close relations with the Toledan court, and was perhaps protector of the Mozarabic Christian community in Toledo. In 1058, the last known Mozarabic bishop of Toledo, Pascual, was consecrated in León. In 1062, Ferdinand invaded the east of al-Mamun's taifa, taking Talamanca
Talamanca (Bages)
Talamanca is a village in the province of Barcelona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain.-References:...
and besieging Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares , meaning Citadel on the river Henares, is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain...
. After seeing his country plundered, al-Mamun agreed to pay parias and Ferdinand left.
Great raid on Badajoz and Seville
In 1063, using the new income from his parias, Ferdinand organised a "great raid, or razzia" into the taifas of SevilleTaifa of Seville
The Taifa of Seville was a short lived medieval kingdom, in what is now southern Spain and Portugal. It originated in 1023 and lasted until 1091, and was under the rule of the Arab Abbadid family.-History:...
and Badajoz
Taifa of Badajoz
The Taifa of Badajoz was a medieval Muslim kingdom in what is now parts of Portugal and Spain and centred on the city of Badajoz which exists today as the first city of Extremadura, in Spain....
. Seville, and probably Badajoz also, paid a ransom for his withdrawal. This attack was probably also designed to remove Badajoz as a threat during his siege of Coimbra the next year.
Reconquests in Portugal
Although the sources are unclear, it is possible that as early as 1055 Ferdinand attacked thetaifa of Badajoz. His first serious campaign of ReconquistaReconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
was an invasion of the lower basin of the Duero between the coast, which had long been held by León, and the mountains. On 29 November 1057 his army conquered Lamego
Lamego
Lamego is a municipality in northern Portugal, with a population of 27,054 inhabitants Lamego is a municipality in northern Portugal, with a population of 27,054 inhabitants Lamego is a municipality in northern Portugal, with a population of 27,054 inhabitants (the catchment of the city of...
and its valleys. Having secured the Duero, Ferdinand began to bring the valley of the Mondego under his control, first taking Viseu
Viseu
Viseu is both a city and a municipality in the Dão-Lafões Subregion of Centro Region, Portugal. The municipality, with an area of 507.1 km², has a population of 99,593 , and the city proper has 47,250...
in its middle stretch on 25 July 1058 and then moving down towards the sea. It was "a long and grueling battle" before Coimbra
Coimbra
Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...
, at the mouth of the Mondego, was taken on 25 July 1064 after a six-month siege.
War with Valencia
In 1065, Ferdinand embarked on his last military campaign. He invaded the taifa of ValenciaTaifa of Valencia
The Taifa of Valencia was a medieval taifa kingdom which existed, in and around Valencia, Spain during four distinct periods: from 1010 to 1065, from 1075 to 1099, from 1145 to 1147 and last from 1229 to 1238 when it was finally conquered by Aragon....
and got as far as the vicinity of the city itself, where he defeated the emir Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar late in the autumn. The emir's father-in-law, al-Mamun of Toledo, seized control of Valencia, and the frightened emir of Zaragoza renewed his tribute payments to León. Ferdinand fell ill in November and returned to his kingdom.
Emperor of Spain
Ferdinand was first titled "emperor" not by himself or his own scirbes, but by the notaries of his half-brother, the petty king Ramiro I of AragonRamiro I of Aragon
Ramiro I was de facto the first King of Aragon from 1035 until his death. Apparently born before 1007, he was the illegitimate son of Sancho III of Navarre by his mistress Sancha de Aybar...
, whose notaries were also calling Ferdinand's predecessor as king of León by the same title. In a royal Aragonese charter of 1036, before the Battle of Tamarón, Ramiro refers to his brother as "emperor in Castile and in León and in Astorga". A similarly-worded charter was issued in 1041 and again in 1061, where the order of kingdoms is reversed and Astorga ignored: "emperor in León and in Castile". The first use of the imperial style in a charter of his own, preserved in the cartulary of Arlanza, dates to the year 1056: "under the rule of the emperor King Ferdinand and the empress Queen Sancha ruling the kingdom in León and in Galicia as well as in Castile". On this basis, Ferdinand is sometimes said to have had himself crowned emperor in 1056.
The imperial title was only used on one other occasion during his reign. A document of 1058 dates itself "in the time of the most serene prince Lord Ferdinand and his consort Queen Sancha" and later qualifies him as "this emperor, the aforesaid Ferdinand".
Death and succession
Ferdinand died on 27 December 1065, in León, with many manifestations of ardent piety, having laid aside his crown and royal mantle, dressed in the robe of a monk and lying on a bier covered with ashes, which was placed before the altar of the Basilica of San IsidoroBasilica of San Isidoro
The Basilica of San Isidoro is a church in León, Spain, located on the site of an ancient Roman temple. Its Christian roots can be traced back to the early 10th century when a monastery for Saint John the Baptist was erected on the grounds....
. By his will, Ferdinand divided his kingdom between his three sons: the eldest, Sancho
Sancho II of Castile
Sancho II , called the Strong, or in Spanish, el Fuerte, was King of Castile and León .He was the eldest son of Ferdinand I of Castile and Sancha of León, the eventual heiress to the Leonese crown...
, received Castile; the second, Alfonso
Alfonso VI of Castile
Alfonso VI , nicknamed the Brave or the Valiant, was King of León from 1065, King of Castile and de facto King of Galicia from 1072, and self-proclaimed "Emperor of all Spain". After the conquest of Toledo he was also self-proclaimed victoriosissimo rege in Toleto, et in Hispania et Gallecia...
, León; and from the latter the region of Galicia
Kingdom of Galicia
The Kingdom of Galicia was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Founded by Suebic king Hermeric in the year 409, the Galician capital was established in Braga, being the first kingdom which...
was carved off to create a separate state for García
García II of Galicia and Portugal
García II , King of Galicia and Portugal, was the youngest of the three sons and heirs of Ferdinand I, King of Castile and León, and Sancha of León, whose Leonese inheritance included the lands García would be given....
. Ferdinand's two daughters each received cities: Elvira that of Toro
Toro, Zamora
Toro is a town and municipality in the province of Zamora, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is located on a fertile high plain, northwest of Madrid at an elevation of 740 meters....
and Urraca
Urraca of Zamora
Urraca was a Leonese infanta, one of the five children of Ferdinand I the Great, who received the city of Zamora as her inheritance and exercised palatine authority in it...
that of Zamora. In giving them these territories, he expressed his desire that they respect his wishes and abide by the split. However, soon after Fernando's death, Sancho and Alfonso turned on García, and defeating him. They then fought each other, the victorious Sancho reuniting their father's possessions under his control in 1072. However, Sancho was killed that same year and the territories passed to Alfonso.
Posthumous reputation
The Chronicon complutenseChronicon complutense
The Chronicon complutense sive alcobacense is a medieval Latin history, in the form of annals, of events in Galicia and Portugal up to the death of Ferdinand I "the Great", whom the anonymous chronicler lauds as an "exceedingly strong emperor" , in 1065...
, probably written shortly after Ferdinand's death, extols him as the "exceedingly strong emperor" (imperator fortissimus) when mentioning the siege of Coimbra. After his death, Ferdinand's children took to calling him "emperor" and "the great" (magnus). In 1072, Alfonso, Fedinand's second son, referred to himself as "offspring of the Emperor Ferdinand". Two years later (1074), Urraca and Elvira referred to themselves as "daughters of the Emperor Ferdinand the Great [or, the great emperor Ferdinand]". In a later charter of 1087, Ferdinand is referred to first as "king", then as "great emperor", and finally just as "emperor" alongside his consort, who is first called "queen" then "empress".
In the fourteenth century a legend appeared in various chronicles according to which the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
, the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
, and the King of France demanded a tribute from Ferdinand. In certain versions the Pope is named Urban (although it could not have been either Urban I or Urban II) and in other versions Victor (which is plausibly identifiable with Victor II
Pope Victor II
Pope Victor II , born Gebhard, Count of Calw, Tollenstein, and Hirschberg, was Pope from 1055 to 1057. He was one of a series of German reform Popes.-Life:...
). Ferdinand was prepared to pay, but one of his vassals, later known as El Cid
El Cid
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar , known as El Cid Campeador , was a Castilian nobleman, military leader, and diplomat...
, who in reality was a youth during Ferdinand's reign, declared a war on the Pope, the Emperor and the Frank, and the latter rescinded their demand. For this reason "Don Fernando was afterwards called ‘the Great’: the peer of an emperor". In the sixteenth century this account re-appeared, extended and elaborated, in Juan de Mariana
Juan de Mariana
Juan de Mariana, also known as Father Mariana , was a Spanish Jesuit priest, Scholastic, historian, and member of the Monarchomachs....
, who wrote that in 1055, at a synod in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, the Emperor Henry III
Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors...
urged Victor II to prohibit under severe penalties the use of the imperial title by Ferdinand of León.
This story is generally regarded as apocryphal, although some modern authors have accepted it uncritically or seen a kernel of historical truth in it. Spanish historian A. Ballesteros argued that Ferdinand adopted the title in opposition to Henry III's imperial pretensions. German historian E. E. Stengel believed the version found in Mariana on the grounds that the latter probably used the now lost acts of the Council of Florence. Juan Beneyto Pérez was willing to accept it as based on tradition and Ernst Steindorff
Ernst Steindorff
Ernst Steindorff was a German historian who was a native of Flensburg.He studied history at the Universities of Kiel, Göttingen and Berlin...
, the nineteenth-century student of the reign of Henry III, as being authentically transmitted via the romancero
Romancero
A romancero is any collection of Spanish romances, a type of folk ballad . The romancero is the entire corpus of such ballads...
. Menéndez Pidal accepted the account of Mariana, but placed it in the year 1065.