List of Castilian counts

This is a list of counts of Castile. The County of Castile had its origin in a fortified march on the eastern frontier of the Kingdom of Asturias. The earliest counts were not hereditary, being appointed as representatives of the Asturian king. From as early as 867, with the creation of the County of Álava, Castile was subdivided into several smaller counties that were not reunited until 931. In the later 10th-century, while nominally in vassalage to the Kingdom of León, the counts grew in autonomy and played a significant role in Iberian politics. After the assassination in 1029 of Count García Sánchez of Castile, King Sancho III of Pamplona, because of his marriage to Mayor, García's sister, governed the county although he never held the title of count:[1] it was his son, Ferdinand Sánchez, the future King Ferdinand I of León who inherited the county from his mother.[2]

Near the end of 1063,[lower-alpha 1] Fernando I convened the Curia regis to announce his testamentary dispositions pursuant to which he had decided to divide his dominions among his sons. His firstborn, Sancho, became the first king of the former county and reigned as Sancho I of Castile.[1][2][4]

Counts of Castile

The early, non-hereditary counts

Beni Mamaduna

Following the appointment of Fernán González in 931 to succeed both Gutier Núñez and Álvaro Herraméliz, he reunited the divided counties of Castile, Burgos, Álava, Cerezo and Lantarón into what would become a single semi-autonomous hereditary county of Castile. Al Andalus sources referred to the family as the Beni Mamaduna, the descendants of Muniadona, Fernán's mother.

Jiménez Dynasty

With the death of Garcia Sánchez, Sancho III of Pamplona, because of his marriage to Mayor of Castile — García Sánchez's sister and heir to the county — became the de facto ruler of Castile, although he was never its count.[1] It was his son Ferdinand I of León who inherited the county and appears as such and never as the monarch of Castile.[lower-alpha 3] The first King of Castile was Fernando's firstborn, Sancho, who ruled as Sancho II of Castile.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "...probably on 22 December [1063], the day on which the Basilica of San Isidoro was consecrated, Ferdinand I, announced before the large number of magnates and bishops who went to León for the occasion, his decision to divide the kingdom among his sons to avoid future discord upon his death." (translation) [3]
  2. ↑ "...from at least 899 until 931, the counties of Castile and Burgos are clearly differentiated, even though governed sometimes by the same individual (...) united or separate, with the only exception of the County of Castile in 929, they were governed by members of the same family: such as Munio Núñez, or his nephews, the brothers Gonzalo and Nuño Fernández or the son of the latter, Gutier Núñez.[13]
  3. ↑ "We can and must state with absolute certainty the fact that Ferdinand was never King of Castile, and that [Castile] never changed its nature as a county, subordinated to the King of León, and that it did not become a kingdom until the death of Ferdinand I in the year 1065" (translation)[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Martínez Díez 2007, p. 181.
  2. 1 2 3 Martínez Díez 2005, vol. 2, p. 713.
  3. ↑ Sánchez Candeira 1999, pp. 220–230.
  4. ↑ Sánchez Candeira 1999, p. 230.
  5. ↑ Martínez Díez 2005, vol. 1, p. 157.
  6. ↑ Martínez Díez 2005, p. 198.
  7. ↑ Martínez Díez 2005, vol. 1, pp. 161–185.
  8. 1 2 Martínez Díez 2005, vol. 1, pp. 192–193.
  9. ↑ Martínez Díez 2005, vol. 1, pp. 199–200.
  10. ↑ Martínez Díez 2005, vol. 1, p. 195.
  11. 1 2 Martínez Díez 2005, vol. 1, p. 196.
  12. ↑ Martínez Díez 2005, vol. 1, pp. 196–197.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Martínez Díez 2005, vol. 1, p. 197.

Bibliography

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