THE chronicles of the Asturian kingdom written during the reign of Alfonso III (r. 866–910) – the Albeldense and the two versions of the Chronicle of Alfonso III – present laconic accounts of the end of Visigothic rule and the early years of the post-Conquest Christian kingdom in the north that contain numerous gaps and silences. One such lacuna is an absence of any mention of the activities of Charlemagne in Spain during the reign of Alfonso II. It was an omission that later historians of medieval Spain found problematic, so they rectified it in their own works with the epic story of the noble warrior and nephew of Alfonso II, Bernardo del Carpio, who plays a central role in the defeat of Charlemagne's army at Roncesvalles, and rebels against his own king, his mother's brother, because of that king's mistreatment of his father.

Though the story of Bernardo del Carpio is said to have no basis in historical fact, unlike the rest of what survives of Spanish epic, this paper will attempt to argue in two ways for a historical context in which the character and deeds of Bernardo make sense. First, I will argue that the figure of Bernardo as the son of Alfonso's sister responds to anxieties within the Asturo-Leonese kingdom arising from its recent transition from a matrilineal system of royal succession (i.e. via the sister or daughter of the king), to a patrilineal system. The fraught relationship between Bernardo and Alfonso II may be presaged by the story of Nepotianus in the chronicles of Alfonso III, and stands in direct contrast to the harmonious and loving bonds between uncles and nephews in the Old French epics. Second, I will argue that the details of Bernardo's story of rebellion against royal authority resonate with a particular historical moment, namely the late-tenth-century rebellions of the Banu Gómez family, the counts of Saldaña, against King Vermudo II. Bernardo's imprisoned father is said to have been count of Saldaña. His conflict with Alfonso III and dealings with the Muslims mirror in many ways the allegiance between the Banu Gómez family and the Muslim leader, Almanzor.