The Romans initially brought Christianity to the Iberian Peninsula. There is evidence of martyrs in the third century. By the fourth century, church councils were held throughout the main Roman cities. The Romans would then fall to the Visigoths in 409. The Visigoths were not Christian initially, but by the sixth century, King Recared held councils regarding Christianity in Toledo. Vikings returned to Galicia in 859, during the reign of
Ordoño I. They were faced with an army led by Don Pedro who dispersed them and destroyed 38 of their ships.
Alfonso III, the Great, continued the forays as far as the Sierra Morena, and founded Burgos, the future capital of Castile. His sons rebelled against him, and he abdicated the crown, dividing his dominions among them. With him ended the Kingdom of Asturias, the territory of which soon became subject to León. Another rallying-point of the Reconquest was Aragón; the other two, Navarre and Catalonia, were placed by the circumstances of their origin in peculiar relations with France. The Basques on either side of the Western Pyrenees dissatisfied with Frankish rule, rebelled on several occasions. At Roncevaux they annihilated the forces of Charlemagne, and in 824 another victory secured the independence of the Basques of Pamplona. The names and dates of their kings, or chieftains, are very uncertain until we come to
Sancho II, Abarca. He abdicated in favour of his son,
García II, the Trembler, in whose time the Leónese and Navarrese together were
routed at Valdejunquera.
Sancho III, the Great, was one of the monarchs who most influenced Spanish history; he was eventually King of Navarre, Castile, Aragón, and Sobrarbe. At his death (1035) he divided his kingdoms, giving Navarre to his eldest son García, Castile, with the title of King, to Fernando, Aragón to Ramiro, and Sobrarbe to Gonzálo.
Unification of Spain Several difficulties stood in the way to the union of the various states formed in Spain by the Reconquest. Navarre and Catalonia were in particularly close contact with France, and the marriage of Ramón Berenguer the Great with Dulcia, heiress of Provence, made the relations between the peoples of the ''langue d'oc'' so close that the subsequent development of
Catalonia was connected rather with that of the South of France. In Navarre, when the dynasty of Sancho the Elder became extinct, the Crown passed in succession to the houses of
Blois (1234) of France, and of
Évreux (1349–1441), with the result that Navarre, until the 15th century, lived in much closer relations with the French monarchy than with the Spanish states. On the other hand, the feudal system introduced in the western kingdoms by the House of Navarre brought about repeated partitions of states.
Ferdinand I divided his kingdom into five parts, Castile, León, Galicia, Zamora, and Toro, though his son
Sancho the Strong despoiled his brothers and restored the kingdom to unity. But
Alfonso VII separated Castile and León, leaving the former to his son
Sancho, and the latter to Ferdinand I. Another result of feudal customs being introduced by the Burgundian princes was the separation of Portugal. For
Alfonso VI gave his daughters
Urraca and
Teresa in marriage to
Raymond of Burgundy and
Henry of Burgundy respectively who founded two dynasties: that of Portugal, and that of Castile and León, which began with
Alfonso VII. The Kingdoms of Asturias, Galicia, León, and Castile were united under
Ferdinand III, heir of León through his father
Alfonso IX, and of Castile through his mother
Berengaria. In the same way Catalonia and Aragon entered into a personal union by the marriage of
Ramon Berenguer IV with
Doña Petronila, daughter of Ramiro the Monk, of Aragón. in Reggio Calabria, ItalyThe monarchy formed by the
dynastic union of Aragon and Catalonia was the first to complete the Reconquest in their regional area, they then directed their strength eastward.
Peter II the Catholic, sovereign of Aragon and Catalonia, went to Rome to seek the annulment of his marriage with
Maria of Montpellier and to have himself crowned by the pope. The former purpose he failed to accomplish; the latter occasioned him a great deal of trouble, as the Aragónese nobles refused to recognize the position of vassalage to the
Holy See in which Peter had placed his kingdom. These nobles then forced for the first time the union, which was the cause of such serious disturbances until
Peter IV with his dagger cut in pieces the document which recorded it. Peter II the Catholic, fell in the
Battle of Muret (1213), defending his Albigensian kinsmen against
Simon de Montfort, whom
Innocent III had sent against them. His son,
James I, the Conqueror, completed the Catalan-Aragonese conquest, winning Majorca (1228) and Valencia (1238) besides helping his son-in-law,
Alfonso X, to complete the
conquest of Murcia. His son and successor gave new direction to Catalan-Aragónese policy by enforcing the rights of his wife,
Constance, to the kingdoms of
Sicily and
Naples. Profiting by the
rising of the Sicilian Vespers against the
Angevins (1282), he gained Sicily and attacked Naples. This conquest, however, placed the kings of Aragon in a position of antagonism with the popes, who defended the rights of the House of Anjou.
Martin IV, having excommunicated
Peter III, led the Aragónese nobles to take advantage in extending their privileges at the expense of royal power. The demands of the nobles increased in the reign of
Alfonso III, who was forced to confirm to them the famous Privilegio de la Union.
James II became reconciled with the Holy See, accepting Corsica and Sardinia in lieu of Sicily. Peter IV, the Ceremonious, defeated the nobles at Epila (1348) and used his dagger to cut in pieces the charter they had extorted from his predecessors. In the meantime, the Catalans and Aragónese who were left in Sicily offered themselves to Emperor
Andronikos II Palaiologos to
fight the Turks. Having conquered them, they turned their arms against the Greeks, who treacherously slew their leaders; but for this treachery the Spaniards, under Bernard of Rocafort and Berenguer of Entenca, exacted the terrible penalty which is celebrated in history as "The Catalan Vengeance" and moreover seized the Duchies of
Athens and
Neopatras (1313). The royal line of Barcelona-Aragon became extinct with
Martin the Humane, and the
Compromise of Caspe (1412) gave the Crown to the dynasty of Castile, thus facilitating a future dynastic union.
Alfonso V, the Magnanimous, once more turned Aragonese policy to the direction of Italy, where he possessed the Kingdom of Sicily and acquired that of Naples by having himself made adoptive son of Queen Joanna. With these events began the
Italian wars which were not to end until the 18th century. Meanwhile, the Reconquest languished in Castile; at first, because of the candidacy of Alfonso X for the crown of the
Holy Roman Empire, in which candidacy he had secured a majority of the electoral princes. This was followed by a disputed succession to the throne, the rival claimants being the Cerda heirs (sons of
Fernando, the eldest son of Alfonso X) and the second son of
Sancho IV. Later,
Ferdinand IV succeeded to the throne at the age of nine, being under the tutelage of his mother
María de Molina. Alfonso XI was little more than one year old when his father died (1312); and though his reign was in many respects glorious, and he overcame the
Marinids in the
Battle of Río Salado (1340), still his relationship with
Eleanor de Guzmán, by whom he had several children, resulted in the wars of the following reign, that of Pedro the Cruel, who was at last slain by his bastard brother, Henry of Trastámara, and succeeded on the throne as
Henry II.
John I, who married
Beatrice of Portugal (1383), sought to unite the two kingdoms on the death of
Ferdinand, the last King of Portugal of the Burgundian line. The Portuguese, however, defeated John of Castile at the
Battle of Aljubarrota (1385), and the Portuguese Crown went to the Master of Aviz, who became
John I of Portugal.
Henry III, who married
Catherine of Lancaster, was the first to take the title of
Prince of Asturias as heir to the Crown, which he inherited during his minority, as did his son,
John II. ==Culture==