Garcia Fernandez (Count of Castile)

Early years of rule

Garcia Fernandez was the fourth son of the Count of Castile Fernan González from the Lara and Sanchi dynasty, the daughter of King of Navarre, Sancho I Garces . Since his older brothers died before his father died, Garcia became heir to the throne. In this capacity, he visited the Cordoba at the end of the 960s as part of the embassy. After the death of Fernand González, Garcia Fernández became Count of Castile. This was the first case in Castile County that a succession was inherited from father to son. Although his father died only in June 970, the first mention of Garcia Fernandez with the title of count dates back to March 1 this year.

Having become Count of Castile, Garcia Fernandez took a vassal oath to King Leon Ramiro III , in the youth of which the country was ruled by Elvira Ramirez . Thanks to close family ties, the Castilian count had a good relationship with the King of Navarre, Sancho II Abarca . In the very first months of his reign, Count Garcia established peaceful relations with the Cordoban caliphate : as a vassal possession of King Leon, Castile was included in the peace treaty between Elvira Ramirez and the caliph al-Hakam II , and in 971, the Castilian ambassadors separately from the Leon visited twice the capital of the caliphate .

Despite peaceful relations with the Cordoban caliphate, Garcia Fernandez led the fortification and preparation of troops for the war against the Moors . In order to expand the social base of the service class, the Count of Castile published a fuero in Castroheris on March 8, 974, according to which any resident of Castile (even a peasant) who could raise enough funds to arm a single knight was included in the class of infans .

The beginning of the war with the Moors

In August 974, Count Garcia Fernandez sent a new embassy to Cordoba, but at the same time he became aware of the serious illness of al-Hakama II and that the Cordoban caliphate was waging a war with the Fatimids in their North African possessions. Wanting to take advantage of the situation, the count of Castile, with the consent of Elvira Ramirez , broke off the truce with the caliphate, on September 2 attacked the fortress of Des , plundered its surroundings and defeated the Moors sent against him in the battle of Llano de Albores. At this time, the Castilian ambassadors, not knowing anything about the start of the war, left Cordoba for their homeland, but along the way they were captured by order of the caliph, returned to the capital of the caliphate and detained.

In 975, recovering from illness, al-Hakam II began preparations for a campaign on Castile: an army was assembled, and one of the best commanders of the Caliphate, Halib al-Nasiri, was called from Africa. However, even before the Moors set off on a campaign, on April 17, an army led by Count Garcia Fernandez besieged the well-fortified fortress of Gormas , located near the Castilian city of San Esteban de Gormas . With part of the assembled army, Ghalib came to the aid of the besieged. On May 21, the first clash between the army of the Moors and Castilians took place, which did not reveal a winner, but Galib was forced to retreat and Garcia Fernandez was able to continue the siege. At this time, reinforcements began to approach Christians. Elvira Ramirez and Ramiro III , King of Navarre Sancho II Abarca, Earl of Monson Fernando Ansoures and Earl of Saldania Gomez Diaz led their troops. The total number of Christians, according to medieval chronicles, reached 60,000 soldiers. Reinforcements also approached Galib al-Nasiri. On June 18, Christians attempted to storm Gormas, but were repelled, suffering heavy losses. At the same time, Galib attacked the camp of Christians and inflicted a new defeat on them. Having lost most of their army, the Christian rulers decided to lift the siege, divided and headed for their own lands, but when they retreated, they were again attacked by the Moors: Galib defeated Count García Fernández during the crossing near Langa , and the Vali Zaragoza defeated Sancho II Abarque.

Al Mansour Campaigns

In 977, campaigns began in Castile by one of the most prominent figures of Muslim Spain, Hadjib al-Mansour , who this year took the city of Leon, Salamanca , and then defeated all Christian rulers one by one, including inflicting a new defeat on Garcia Fernandez at Langa . In 981, in response to the support of King Leon Ramiro III of the rebellion of Galib al-Nasiri, al-Mansur took Zamora , from where he moved to Castile and defeated Count Garcia in the battle of Taranquenya (near Retortillo de Soria ). With the remnants of the troops, Garcia Fernandez retreated to the Duero River, where he joined forces with Ramiro III and King of Navarre Sancho II Abarca. However, in the battle of Rueda, the army of Christians suffered a crushing defeat from al-Mansur, retreated to the city of Leon , where it was again defeated by the Moors. Although al-Mansur failed to seize Leon, the defeats inflicted on him by the Christians forced Ramiro III and Sancho Abarq to conclude peace with the Cordoba caliphate on the condition that they paid an annual tribute to the caliph. Only the Count of Castile decided to continue the war with the Moors, but from now on he only defended himself from their attacks. Thinking that he would not be able to keep those of his possessions that were on the south coast of the Duero, Garcia Fernandez withdrew garrisons from the cities of Sepulveda , San Esteban de Gormas and Atienza located here, entrusting the protection of these lands to the local militia and the townspeople. In subsequent years, al-Mansur made several more trips to Castile, including in 984 he took and destroyed Sepulveda.

In 989, after a successful campaign in the kingdom of Leon, al-Mansur again invaded Castile and besieged San Esteban de Gormas. At this time, a conspiracy was drawn up against him, in which his eldest son Abdullah was involved. After the plot was discovered, Abdullah fled from the Moors camp to Burgos , where he took refuge at the court of Garcia Fernandez. Fearing in these conditions, to continue the siege of a well-fortified city, al-Mansur lifted the siege from San Esteban de Gormas, in August attacked the less protected Osma , took it and destroyed it, and in September destroyed the fortress of Clunia . The next year, the Hajib again unsuccessfully besieged San Esteban de Gormas, but then the Moors managed to take several Castilian fortresses, which forced Count Garcia to conclude a peace with the Caliphate, among whose conditions was the extradition of al-Mansour to his son. This condition was fulfilled by the Count of Castile: Abdullah was extradited and executed by order of his father.

Relations with the Leon Kingdom

While the ruler of Leon was Ramiro III, Garcia Fernandez recognized the king’s sovereignty over himself, although he exercised complete freedom of control over his possessions. However, when Ramiro III was overthrown by Bermudo II in 984, Count Garcia refused to take a vassal oath to the new king and even the following year supported the rebellion raised by Count Saldania Gomez Diaz. Thus, the county of Castile actually became an independent property. King Bermudo, busy suppressing the rebellions of the nobility and the war against the Moors , made no attempt to return Castile to his control.

In 991, Bermudo II, looking for allies against the rebellious vassals, turned to Garcia Fernandez for military help and received it. In response, the king recognized the Count of Castile as an independent and equal ruler. With the help of the Castilian army, Bermudo II was able to regain control of its capital, the city of Leon. To strengthen the union, King Bermudo, on November 26 or 30, married a daughter of the Count of Castile, Elvira Garcia . Caused by this marriage, the new rebellion of the Leon nobility was quickly suppressed by the king with the help of the Castilian army.

The Rebellion of Sancho Garces

In addition to an alliance with Bermudo II, in 994, Garcia Fernandez entered into an alliance against the Moors against the new King of Navarre, Garcia II Sanchez . Hadjib al-Mansour, seeing that such unions are dangerous for the Cordoba caliphate , took measures to destabilize the situation in Castile, helping the Count Garcia’s son, Sancho Garcia , who rebelled against his father this year. The rebellion was also supported by the wife of Count of Castile, Ava from Ribagorsa , who, according to legend, even offered herself to be a Muslim wife if he killed her husband. Taking advantage of the internecine war, al-Mansour made a trip to Castile, took San Esteban de Gormas, and on June 17, 994 again destroyed the newly built Clunia . On July 25, 995, Count Garcia Fernandez was defeated by the Moors in the battle of Piedrasillada (near Alcazar ), was seriously wounded and captured. ^[1] He was taken to Medinaceli , where he died ^[2] , despite the order of al-Mansur doctors to save the life of the count. His body was transferred to Cordoba, where it was buried in the Mozarabic church of Tres Santos de Corduba. Subsequently, the remains of Count Garcia were reburied in the monastery of San Pedro de Cardenia.

The new count of Castile was the son of Garcia Fernandez, Sancho Garcia, who in the very first days of his reign, under the threat of al-Mansour taking his capital, Burgos , was forced to admit himself a tributary of the Cordoba caliphate.

Family

Count Garcia Fernandez was married to Ava from 958 or 961 (she died after 995), the daughter of Count Ribagorsa Ramon II . Children from this marriage were:

• Major (died around 1035) - wife (divorced in 1026 or 1027) of Count Lower Paliars Ramon III (died after 1047). Some historians suggest that Major might not be the daughter of Garcia Fernandez, but his son Sancho Garces
• Sancho Garcia (circa 965–5 February 1017) - Count of Castile (995–1017)
• Urraka (died after January 1, 1038) is a nun in the monastery of Kovarrubis
• Gonzalo (died after February 27, 1011)
• Elvira Garcia (died December 1017) - wife (from November 26 or 30, 991) of King Leon Bermudo II , regent of the Kingdom of Leon (999-1007)
• Toda (died after 1031) - wife of Count Saldania Sancho Gomez
• Oneka (died no earlier than 1045) is the wife (since 995) of al-Mansour , after his death a nun and abbess of the monastery of San Salvador de Onya.

• Muller A. History of Islam: From Muslim Persia to the Fall of Muslim Spain. - M .: Astrel Publishing House LLC: AST Publishing House LLC, 2004. - 894 p. - ISBN 5-17-022031-6 .

• Historia del Condado de Castilla VII, 1 (Spanish) . Date of treatment January 8, 2012. Archived March 24, 2012.
• Castile & Leon, counts & kings . Date of treatment January 8, 2012. Archived March 16, 2012.
• Garcias I. Fernandez (German) . Date of treatment January 8, 2012. Archived May 19, 2012.