Origins as a Roman military encampment León was founded in the 1st century BC by the
Roman legion Legio VI Victrix, which served under
Caesar Augustus during the
Cantabrian Wars (29-19 BC), the final stage of the
Roman conquest of Hispania. In the year 74 AD, the
Legio VII Gemina —recruited from the
Hispanics by
Galba in
69 AD— settled in a permanent military camp that was the origin of the city. The Romans established the site of the city to protect the recently conquered territories of northwestern
Hispania from the
Astures and
Cantabri, and to secure the transport of
gold extracted in the province —especially in the huge nearby mines of
Las Médulas— that was taken to Rome through
Asturica Augusta (modern-day
Astorga). Tacitus calls the legion
Galbiana, to distinguish it from the old
Legio VII Claudia, but this appellation is not found on any inscriptions. It appears to have received the appellation of
Gemina on account of its amalgamation by
Vespasian with one of the German legions, probably the
Legio I Germanica. Its full name was Legio VII Gemina Felix. After serving in Pannonia, and in the civil wars, it was settled by Vespasian in Hispania Tarraconensis, to supply the place of the Legio VI
Victrix and
Legio X Gemina, two of the three legions ordinarily stationed in the province, but which had been withdrawn to Germany. That its regular winter quarters, under later emperors, were at León, we learn from the Itinerary, Ptolemy, and the
Notitiae Imperii, as well as from a few inscriptions; but there are numerous inscriptions to prove that a strong detachment of it was stationed at
Tarraco, the chief city of the province. Some elements of the original Roman encampment still survive in the modern city layout. Long sections of the Roman walls (built between the first century BC and the fourth century AD) are still standing. There are also archaeological exhibitions showing remains of the walls, gates, baths and an amphitheatre.
Late antiquity and early middle ages Legio fully became a civilian settlement at some point under the
Low Roman Empire, with civilian population from the
Canabae located outside the walls entering the walled precinct. The place may have passed to
Suebian control after the mid 5th century. Towards 714, during the
Umayyad conquest of Hispania, the place yielded to Arab chieftain
Musa, offering no armed resistance. An attempt was made to settle the strongholds with Berbers, but the scheme was abandoned when the Berbers of northern Iberia rebelled against the Arabs and gave up their positions to join the
Kharijite Revolt around 740. Towards 846, a group of
Mozarabs tried to repopulate the place, but a Muslim attack prevented that initiative. In 856, another attempt at repopulation was made under
Ordoño I and was successful, bringing the territory into the orbit of the
Kingdom of Asturias.
Head of the Kingdom of León The political centre of the
Asturian dynasty was transferred from
Oviedo to León after 910. Sacked by
Almanzor in about 987, the city was reconstructed and repopulated by
Alfonso V, whose Decree of 1017 regulated its economic life, including the functioning of its markets. León was a way-station for
pilgrims on the
Camino de Santiago leading to
Santiago de Compostela. With
Alfonso V of León the city had the "
Fueru de Llión", an important letter of privileges. In 1188,
Alfonso IX of León gathered the
three estates in the city of León (including representatives of the urban class) in the
Cortes of León of 1188, making León the earliest parliament in Medieval Europe. Due to the written documentary corpus, the 1188 Cortes were recognised by the UNESCO in 2013 as "cradle" of parliamentarism.
Suburbs for traders and artisans sprang up, who, after the 13th century, began to influence the municipal government. During the early
Middle Ages, the
livestock industry produced a period of prosperity for the city. León had an important Jewish community in the Middle Ages, and the reference to a Great Synagogue suggests the existence of more than one synagogue in the city. Evidence from 1488 records the transfer of one synagogue, with adjoining gardens and buildings, to the Sociedad de Santa Ana in the suburb of León, possibly on the site of the city's noted
yeshiva.
Modern history ''. In the 16th century, economic and
demographic decline set in and continued until the 19th century. For the extent of the
Early Modern period the city remained controlled by a reduced set of noble families by means of the
regimientos and
regidurías. The city population increased from 9,000 to 15,000 during the 19th century. The population further increased during the 20th century: 18,000 (1910), 44,000 (1940), 73,000 (1960), and 100,000 (1971). During the first decades of the 20th century, the city would be important as a
railway center, with a significant
socialist and
anarchist labor movement, the city being the birthplace of
Buenaventura Durruti, whose brother Manuel was killed in León during the
Revolution of 1934. The military coup d'état that marked the beginning of the
Spanish Civil War took place (and succeeded) in León on 20 July 1936, with the putschist military officers meeting little resistance. The Catholic Church adhered to the rebels and instrumentalised the Catholic sentiment and traditions against the
Republic. The rebels expanded from the city to the rest of the traditionally conservative province, which remained under rebel control except a small northern part connected to Asturias, that became part of the battlefront until the
fall of the North in October 1937. Both the
Convent of San Marcos, the old Santa Ana factory and the provincial prison were nonetheless rehabilitated as mass detention camps in the city by the
Francoist side. During the 1960s, León experienced much growth due to in-migration from the rural zones of the province. ==Districts==