the kingdom of león (910–1037)

The Arab conquest of most of the Iberian peninsula in 711 destroyed the centralising governmental structures of the Visigothic monarchy and of the Spanish church. One of the first beneficiaries of this was the small kingdom that developed from c. 718 onwards in the northern mountains. This Asturian realm aggrandised itself primarily at the expense of its Galician and Basque neighbours until it was able to extend itself southwards on to the plateau of the Meseta. This southwards shift of the frontier which occurred during the second half of the ninth century led to a comparable displacement of the political centre of gravity, symbolised by the transfer of the main royal residence and administrative centre from Oviedo in the Asturias to the former Roman legionary settlement of León.

The deposition of Alfonso III of the Asturias by his son García (910–913/14) in 910 marks the formal divide between the Asturian and Leonese monarchies, but there was no break in dynastic continuity. Even the transfer of the principal seat of royal government from Oviedo to León may not have taken place before the reign of the second of Alfonso’s sons, Ordoño II (913/14–924). This move was a sign of a greater sense of security, in that the new site was more vulnerable to attack from the Arab-ruled south. However, the dissolution of the central power of the Umayyad amirate of Córdoba during a period extending from the 880s to the 920s must have made such a danger seem increasingly remote. At the same time, the political and economic importance of the rapidly expanding southern frontier districts of the former kingdom of the Asturias made the removal of the centre of royal authority to a site closer to and better placed to supervise those regions increasingly desirable.