War of Barbastro
Encyclopedia
The War of Barbastro was an international expedition, sanctioned by Pope Alexander II
, to take the Spanish
city of Barbastro
from the Moors
. A large army composed of elements from all over Western Europe
took part in the successful siege of the city (1063). The war was part of the Reconquista
, but in its international and papal character it presaged the Crusades
of the next two centuries.
, where the abbot's brother, Thomas de Chalon, led the army. Certainly zeal for the crusade spread elsewhere in France
, for Amatus of Montecassino
notes that "grant chevalerie de Francoiz et de Borguegnons et d'autre gent" were present at the siege. Thus, a large army, primarily of Frenchmen and Burgundians, along with a papal contingent, mostly of Italo-Normans, and local Spanish armies, Catalan
and Aragonese
, was present at the siege when it began in 1063. The leader of the papal contingent was a Norman by the name of William of Montreuil
. The leader of the Spaniards was Sancho Ramírez
, King of Aragon, whose realm was greatly threatened by the Moors to the south. The largest component, the Aquitainian, was led by the Duke
Guy Geoffrey
. Though the makeup of this grand army has been subject to much dispute, that it was largely a force of knights of Frankish extraction is generally agreed.
The duke of Aquitaine led the army through the Pyrenees
at Somport
. He joined the Catalan army at Girona
early in 1064. The entire army then marched past Graus
, which had resisted assault twice before, and moved against Barbastro, then part of the taifa
of Lleida
ruled by al-Muzaffar. The city, which received no reinforcements from Lleida and had its water supply cut off, was besieged and quickly fell. The crusaders plundered and sacked it without mercy. It has been said that 50,000 Moslems were killed.
Thibaut, the Burgundian leader, died, possible of wounds received on campaign, while returning to France after the loss of the city in 1065.
The War of Barbastro has been seen as a proto-Crusade, giving impetus to the Crusading movement in France.
first began a study of the War in the mid-nineteenth century based on a the scarce primary sources, mainly Amatus and Ibn Hayyan
. Dozy first suggested the participation of a papal element based on Ibn Hayyan's reference to the "chivalry of Rome." Subsequent hisoriography has stressed the Cluniac element in the War, primarily the result of Ferdinand I of León
's recent attempts to introduce the Cluniac reform to Spain and inspired by the death of Ramiro I of Aragon
following the failed Siege of Graus.
This interpretation has been attacked in more recent decades , especially the papal connection and Italian involvement. It has been alleged that Alexander was preoccupied with the Antipope Cadalus at the time and did not preach a plenary indulgence for warriors of the Reconquista until the 1073 campaign of Ebles II of Roucy
. It has thus been alleged that it was not William of Montreuil, but Guy Geoffrey, who was the "Roman" leader implied by Ibn Hayyan.
Pope Alexander II
Pope Alexander II , born Anselmo da Baggio, was Pope from 1061 to 1073.He was born in Milan. As bishop of Lucca he had been an energetic coadjutor with Hildebrand of Sovana in endeavouring to suppress simony, and to enforce the celibacy of the clergy...
, to take the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
city of Barbastro
Barbastro
Barbastro is a city in the Somontano county, province of Huesca, Spain...
from the Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
. A large army composed of elements from all over Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
took part in the successful siege of the city (1063). The war was part of the Reconquista
Reconquista
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...
, but in its international and papal character it presaged the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
of the next two centuries.
Expedition
Alexander II first preached the Reconquista in 1063 as a "Christian emergency." It was also preached in Burgundy, probably with the permission of participation of Hugh of ClunyHugh of Cluny
Hugh of Cluny was an Abbot of Cluny. He is sometimes referred to as "Hugh the Great" or "Hugh of Semur" and was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Hugh . He was one of the most influential leaders of one of the most influential monastic orders of the Middle Ages.Abbot Hugh built the...
, where the abbot's brother, Thomas de Chalon, led the army. Certainly zeal for the crusade spread elsewhere in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, for Amatus of Montecassino
Amatus of Montecassino
Amatus of Montecassino , a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Montecassino is one of three Italo-Norman chroniclers, the others being William of Apulia and Goffredo Malaterra...
notes that "grant chevalerie de Francoiz et de Borguegnons et d'autre gent" were present at the siege. Thus, a large army, primarily of Frenchmen and Burgundians, along with a papal contingent, mostly of Italo-Normans, and local Spanish armies, Catalan
Principality of Catalonia
The Principality of Catalonia , is a historic territory in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula, mostly in Spain and with an adjoining portion in southern France....
and Aragonese
Kingdom of Aragon
The Kingdom of Aragon was a medieval and early modern kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain...
, was present at the siege when it began in 1063. The leader of the papal contingent was a Norman by the name of William of Montreuil
William of Montreuil
William of Montreuil was an Italo-Norman freebooter of the mid-eleventh century. He was described by Amatus of Monte Cassino as an exceptional knight, small in stature, who was very robust, strong, valiant and by Orderic Vitalis as le Bon Normand, "the Good Norman."He was a son of the Guillaume...
. The leader of the Spaniards was Sancho Ramírez
Sancho Ramírez, King of Aragón and Navarre
Sancho Ramírez was King of Aragon and King of Navarre...
, King of Aragon, whose realm was greatly threatened by the Moors to the south. The largest component, the Aquitainian, was led by the Duke
Duke of Aquitaine
The Duke of Aquitaine ruled the historical region of Aquitaine under the supremacy of Frankish, English and later French kings....
Guy Geoffrey
William VIII of Aquitaine
William VIII , born Guy-Geoffrey , was duke of Gascony , and then duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitiers between 1058 and 1086, succeeding his brother William VII ....
. Though the makeup of this grand army has been subject to much dispute, that it was largely a force of knights of Frankish extraction is generally agreed.
The duke of Aquitaine led the army through the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
at Somport
Somport
Somport is a mountain pass in the central Pyrenees on the border of France and Spain. The pass, whose name is derived from the Latin Summus portus, was one of the most popular routes for crossing the mountains for soldiers, merchants, and St...
. He joined the Catalan army at Girona
Girona
Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...
early in 1064. The entire army then marched past Graus
Graus
Graus is a village in the Spanish province of Huesca, located in the Pyrenees at the confluence of rivers Esera and Isabena. It is the administrative capital of the region. It is one of the areas of Aragon in which is still preserved the Aragonese language....
, which had resisted assault twice before, and moved against Barbastro, then part of the taifa
Taifa
In the history of the Iberian Peninsula, a taifa was an independent Muslim-ruled principality, usually an emirate or petty kingdom, though there was one oligarchy, of which a number formed in the Al-Andalus after the final collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031.-Rise:The origins of...
of Lleida
Lleida
Lleida is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida, as well as the largest city in the province and it had 137,387 inhabitants , including the contiguous municipalities of Raimat and Sucs. The metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants...
ruled by al-Muzaffar. The city, which received no reinforcements from Lleida and had its water supply cut off, was besieged and quickly fell. The crusaders plundered and sacked it without mercy. It has been said that 50,000 Moslems were killed.
Legacy
The crusaders made off with a lot of booty. Records indicate the capture of a good many Saracen girls and Saracen treasures. Armengol III of Urgel was given the lordship of the city. In 1065, in a counterattack, the Moors easily retook the city and undid all the crusaders' work, massacring the small garrison.Thibaut, the Burgundian leader, died, possible of wounds received on campaign, while returning to France after the loss of the city in 1065.
The War of Barbastro has been seen as a proto-Crusade, giving impetus to the Crusading movement in France.
Historiography
Historian Reinhart DozyReinhart Dozy
Reinhart Pieter Anne Dozy was a Dutch scholar of French origin, who was born in Leiden...
first began a study of the War in the mid-nineteenth century based on a the scarce primary sources, mainly Amatus and Ibn Hayyan
Ibn Hayyan
Abu Marwán Hayyán Ibn Khalaf Ibn Hayyan al-Qurtubi , usually known as Ibn Hayyan, was a Muslim historian from Al-Andalus.Born at Córdoba, he was an important official at the court of the Andalusian ruler al-Mansur and published several works on history which have only survived in part...
. Dozy first suggested the participation of a papal element based on Ibn Hayyan's reference to the "chivalry of Rome." Subsequent hisoriography has stressed the Cluniac element in the War, primarily the result of Ferdinand I of León
Ferdinand I of León
Ferdinand I , called the Great , 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 , and his heirs carried on the tradition...
's recent attempts to introduce the Cluniac reform to Spain and inspired by the death of 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...
following the failed Siege of Graus.
This interpretation has been attacked in more recent decades , especially the papal connection and Italian involvement. It has been alleged that Alexander was preoccupied with the Antipope Cadalus at the time and did not preach a plenary indulgence for warriors of the Reconquista until the 1073 campaign of Ebles II of Roucy
Ebles II of Roucy
Ebles II , also called Eble or Ebale, was the second Count of Roucy of the House of Montdidier. He was the son and successor of Hilduin IV of Montdidier and Alice , daughter of Ebles I of Roucy...
. It has thus been alleged that it was not William of Montreuil, but Guy Geoffrey, who was the "Roman" leader implied by Ibn Hayyan.
Sources
- Bishko, Charles Julian. Fernando I and the Origins of the Leonese-Castilian Alliance With Cluny.
- Boissonnade, Pierre. 1932. "Cluny, la papauté et la première grande croisade Internationale contre les sarrasins d'Espagne: Barbastro (1064–1065)." Revue des questions historiques, 257–301.
- Chaytor, H. J. 1933. "The Reconquest." A History of Aragon and Catalonia. London: Methuan.
- Ferreiro, Alberto. 1983. "The Siege of Barbastro 1064–65: A Reassessment." Journal of Medieval HistoryJournal of Medieval HistoryThe Journal of Medieval History is a major international academic journal devoted to all aspects of the history of Europe in the Middle Ages....
9 (2):129–44. - Pidal, Ramón Menéndez.Ramón Menéndez PidalRamón Menéndez Pidal was a Spanish philologist and historian. He worked extensively on the history of the Spanish language and Spanish folklore and folk poetry. One of his main topics was the history and legend of The Cid....
La España del Cid. - Villegas-Aristizábal, Lucas. 2007. "Norman and Anglo-Norman Participation in the Iberian Reconquista." PhD thesis, University of NottinghamUniversity of NottinghamThe University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
. Cf. esp. pp. 85–104.