After the
Muslim invasion of Spain, the local Christians of what was to become Sobrarbe met at "Espelunga de Galión" in the year 724, in the place where today stands the monastery of
San Juan de la Peña. There they created an army to fight the invaders and elected as their leader a certain García (Garzía) Ximéniz. Since the Muslims had already taken
Jaca, the chief city of the region, the Christians decided to attack Aínsa. After a prolonged siege they took the city and re-fortified it effectively. When the Muslims counter-besieged it with four times the troops the fall of the city appeared imminent. Then out of the sky appeared a vermillion cross atop an oak tree on a gold field. Interpreted as a sign from God, the cross encouraged the Christians and the Muslims were put to flight. In accordance with vows taken at Espelunga, García Ximéniz, in response to the victory, founded a hermitage dedicated to
John the Baptist at the site. This evolved into the monastery of San Juan de la Peña under García's successors. The kingdom that was baptised at Aínsa they named Sobrarbe, because it was founded "on a tree" (
sobre arbre) when the cross appeared there. According to
Gualberto Fabricio de Vagad in his
Crónica de Aragón (1499), the second king of Sobrarbe, García Ennéguiz (Garci Íñigo), conquered
Pamplona from the Muslims in the time of
Charlemagne. He gives all the kings of Aragon a number as king of Sobrarbe, thus making
Alfonso III of Aragon into the 20th king of Sobrarbe. coat-of-arms of Sobrarbe The image of the red cross on a tree against field of gold was incorporated into the Aragonese coat-of-arms in the top left quarter. By the fifteenth century the legend had been incorporated into the Aragonese national consciousness. It was given a full, historicising treatment in the five-volume
Renaissance history of Aragon,
De Aragoniae Regibus et eorum rebus gestis libri V (1509), by
Lucio Marineo Sículo, who describes the reigns of its kings in turn. By the late sixteenth century its historicity was widely accepted and it appears in the fourth volume of the
Corónica general de España (Córdoba: 1584) by
Ambrosio de Morales, court historian of
Philip II of Spain, among other general histories of the peninsula and of its kingdoms. ==Laws==