Castile was the most powerful Christian kingdom of 10th-century Spain. Its chief city was Burgos. The kingdom was an important Christian political and military center until its conquest by the Moorish taifa of Nawar in 1035.
In 950, Castile emerged as the strongest independent Christian kingdom in Spain. Galicia had been overrun by the Vikings and León by the Moors. But that year, Ferdinand defeated an army from Córdoba at the Battle of Lena (in Asturias). In the 970s, the Caliphate conquered most of the Pyrenees, founding the fortress city of al-Dara and building their strength in the mountains. Another group of Vikings took over Nawar (Navarre) in the far western Pyrenees; these converted to Islam and accepted vassalage to the Caliph. Islam began to spread in the Basque country, and Castile was effectively surrounded. Córdoba encouraged a civil war in the 980s, which weakened Castile and reduced it too to vassalage until 1002.
Castile's only Christian ally became Galicia, whose Norse-descended rulers embraced Christianity and laid the foundations of the dynamic Kingdom of St. John in the late 900s. St. John and Castile forged a close alliance, leading to a union of crowns in 1020. This kingdom, uniting all of Christian Spain, vigorously expanded to the southwest where Moorish control was weak, but it was checked in the east along the Castilian frontier.
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However, Castile's days were numbered. The Caliphate disintegrated suddenly in 1031, producing the independent statelets called the taifas. But this power vacuum did not provide a respite for the Christian states around Andalusia's edges. Instead, the border taifas, newly independent, came under the control of aggressive rulers who saw in some of their Christian neighbors an opportunity to gain the upper hand over their Muslim rivals. Spotting a territory ripe for the taking, the Emir of Nawar invaded Castille in 1035. The Nawari overran the kingdom and tore down the walls of Burgos.
The Kingdom of St. John was able to hold Asturias but could not drive the Nawari out of Castile proper. Thereafter, Castile was a part of the Muslim world of Al-Andalus, but unlike the Basques, its population always remained predominantly Christian. The King of St. John continued to use "King of Castile" as part of his royal title; the title is connected with the Crown of Asturias.
Kinglist and timeline[]
929: Proclamation of the Umayyad Caliphate
Ferdinand González: Count (930-950), then King (950–970)
- 939: Battle of Simancas, Muslim victory
- 942: Fall of Leon (Ferdinand's feudal overlord)
- 949: Viking conquest of Galicia (Galisja)
- 950: Ferdinand defeats Caliph's armies, takes title King of Castile and Asturias
- 953: marries daughter to Count of Aragon
King Garcia Fernandez (970-995)
- 974: Expands Castile's knighthood
- 976: Vizier Al-Mansur comes to power in Cordoba
- 964: Aids Hrut of Galisja in driving the English out of Compostela
- 990: Son rebels with Al-Mansur's support; rule essentially confined to Asturias
King Sancho Garcia (995-1017) - married Astrid, daughter of King Ruto (Hrut) of Galisja and a descendant of Ragnar.
- 995: Reunites Castile and tacitly repudiates Al-Mansur
- 997: Al-Mansur lays siege to Burgos; Sancho agains submits to his overlordship
- 1002: Death of al-Mansur; Castile again independent
King Alfonso Sanchez (1017-1036)
- 1020: Union with Galicia/Santiago
- 1031: Breakup of the Caliphate
- 1033: War begins against Nawar
- 1035: Nawar overruns Castile and captures Burgos
- 1036: King Alfonso captured, killed in captivity soon after. End of the Kingdom of Castile.