History of Galicia
Encyclopedia
The Iberian Peninsula
has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years, first by Neanderthals and then by modern humans.
, Asturias
, western León
, and Zamora formed a single megalith
ic area since the Neolithic
and Chalcolithic (also called Copper Age) Ages, around 4500–1500 BCE.
This was the first great culture to appear in Galicia and was characterized by its surprising capacity for construction and architecture. This was combined with deep sense of religion, based on the cult of the dead, the mediators between man and the gods.
Many historians believe that Megalithic culture had two sources: an oriental source that was predominant in the Mediterranean area, and one in the Atlantic, which originated north of the Tagus
River. The latter, because of its geographical proximity to Galicia, would explain the abundant traces of megalithic culture in this area. That this should be the first great culture also meant that it constituted one of the basic pillars that was to endow Galicia's cultural personality.
From this era there remains thousands of dolmen
s (mámoas), a type of tomb or sepulchre, throughout the entire territory. From its social organization it has been confirmed that it corresponded to some type of clan structure.
Peoples from the Castilian plateau moved to Galicia, thus increasing the population, because its position near the Atlantic Ocean gave it a very humid climate.
The increase in population caused certain conflicts, but also led to increased mining and production of weapons, useful objects, and ornamental objects of gold and bronze. Pieces of jewellery crafted from Galician metals circulated throughout all of the Peninsula and Europe.
, people from northwestern Iberian Peninsula
conformed already a homogeneous cultural unity which differentiated themselves from others and which later would be identified by the early Greek and Latin Authors, calling to this group of peoples with the name of Gallaeci (Galicians) perhaps due to their apparent similarity with the Galli (Gauls
) and Gallati (Galatians).
The Gallaeci were originally a Celtic people who have occupied for centuries the territory of modern Galicia and northern Portugal
, were limited to the south with the Lusitanians
and to the east with the Astures. In ethnic terms, they were the firsts Galicians (word derived from Gallaeci). The Gallaecian habitat was based in fortified villages that receive the name of Castrus (hillforts), ranging its size from small villages with less than a hectare (more common in the north), and great hillforts with more than 10 hectares, named "Oppida" or "Citânia", being this last type, more common in the southern half of the traditional settlement.
This mode of inhabiting the territory – through hillforts – was common throughout Europe during the Bronze
and Iron Age
, having received in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula the name of "culture of hillforts" or "Castro Culture
", what refers to this type of cultural manifestation before the arrival of Roman Empire
. However, even after the Rome's fall, the Gallaeci-Romans continued living in hillforts until the 8th century A.C. Only in the territory of actual Galicia exist more than two thousand hillforts, what shows the greatest dispersion of population from the Iron Age in Europe, and which would be the origin of the Galician occupation of the territory inherited until nowadays, characterized by small and high numerous populations so distant from each other.
The Gallaeci's political organization was based on small independent states formed by a high number of hillforts, these states were headed by the figure of a local king that the Romans called "princeps" as in other parts of Europe. Each Gallaecian identified himself as a member of the hillfort where lived, as well as the state / people to whom it belonged, and which the Romans called "Populus". Among the Galleci existed numerous names of tribes as; the Arrotrebi
, the Albioni
, the Celtici Supertamarici
, the Lemavi
, the Nemetati
, etc.. in the same way that by the end of the eighteenth century, Galicians identified themselves with their parish and their county.
In religious terms, the Gallaeci showed a Celtic religion based on the cult to panceltic gods as Bormanus, Coventina
and Lugus
beyond others as Bandua, Cossus, Endovelicus
, Reue, etc.
The knowledge that we have today about the society of the hillforts is very limited; if we followed what the Roman historians said, the Galicians were a reunion of barbarians who spent the day fighting and the night eating, drinking and dancing to the moon. But today it seems absolutely clear that the last five centuries BCE. they developed an aristocratic and even perhaps a feudal social model. The division of the country — into concelhos, concept similar to the counties of the islands or Romania
— seems to be based on this class of social organization. Also, the structure based on hillforts, seems to be associated to a fortified occupation of the territory, resemblance to the one of the Central European classic Celtic habitat. On the other hand, this kind of territorial occupation was likely associated to the attraction that mineral wealth provoked that was in a similar way, as a certain class of gold fever. Anyway, it is also clear that the interest of the Romans for this region was mainly related to its gold mines.
When Iberia was involved in the Punic Wars
between the Carthaginians and the Romans, the strategic alliance that they maintained with the Phoenicians enabled Hannibal to recruit many Gallegans. When the Romans finally undertook the conquest of Iberia, the Gallaicoi faced them in 137 BC. in the battle at the river Douro that resulted in a great Roman victory against 60,000 Galicians, by who the Roman general, proconsul Decimus Iunius Brutus
, turned to Rome as a hero, receiving the name of Gallaicus, according to the historian Paulus Orosius.
At the end of Brutus' campaigns, Rome controlled the territory between the Douro and Minho rivers plus probable extensions along the coast and in the interior. The Second Invasion, of 61 BCE, landed at Brigantium (A Coruña), under the command of Julius Caesar
.
The evidence suggests that the resistance of the Gaedels against the Romans ended here; from now on, they would be enlisted massively as auxiliaries of the Roman legions, fulfilling destinies sometimes completely separate from Galicia, as far as Thrace
and Dacia
. It has been estimated that of the total of Roman auxiliary troops coming from Iberia, more than a third belonged to tribes of the peninsular northwest.
The final extinction of Celtic resistance was the aim of the violent and ruthless Cantabrian Wars
fought under the emperor Octavian
from 26 to 19 BCE. The resistance was appalling: collective suicide rather than surrender, mothers who killed their children before committing suicide, crucified prisoners of war who sang triumphant hymns, rebellions of captives who killed their guards and returned home from Gaul.
In the 3rd century, Diocletian
created an administrative division which included the conventus of Gallaecia, Asturica and perhaps Cluniense. This province took the name of Gallaecia since Gallaecia was the most populous and important zone within the province. In 409, as Roman control collapsed, the Suebi conquests transformed Roman Gallaecia (convents Lucense and Bracarense) into the kingdom of Gallaecia (the Galliciense Regnum recorded by Hydatius
and Gregory of Tours
).
In the year 411, Galicia fell to the Suebi
, who formed a kingdom of their own.
The number of the original Suebic invaders is estimated as fewer than 30,000 people, settled mainly in the urbanized zones of Braga
(Bracara Augusta), Porto
, Lugo
(Lucus Augusta) and Astorga (Asturica Augusta). Bracara Augusta, the modern city of Braga, became the capital of the Suebi, as it was previously the capital of the Gallaecia Roman province. Suebic Gallaecia was larger than the modern region: it extended south to the river Douro and to Ávila in the east.
The Suebic kingdom in Gallaecia lasted from 410 to 584 and seems to have enjoyed relatively stable government for most of that time. Historians like José António Lopes Silva, the translator of Idatius' chronicles, the primary written source for the 5th century, finds that the essential temper of Galician culture was established in the blending of Ibero-Roman culture with that of the Suebi.
There were occasional clashes with the Visigoth
s, who arrived in the Iberian Peninsula in 416 and came to dominate most of the peninsula, but the Suebi maintained their independence until 584, when the Visigothic King Leovigild, invaded the Suebic kingdom and finally defeated it, bringing it under Visigoth control.
Richard Fletcher (Fletcher 1984) points out that in Late Antiquity
Galicia was still very much a part of the Roman and Mediterranean world. He instances the Galician nun Egeria's account of her pilgrimage to the Holy Land, 381–4 and the journey of the young Idatius, though living "at the uttermost limit of the world", who had met Jerome
in the East; his chronicle shows that he remained aware of the affairs of the eastern Mediterranean and refers to travellers from the east coming to Galicia. As bishop Idatius travelled to Gaul on an embassy to Aetius
, 431–2. Miro, king of the Suevi, had diplomatic relations with fellow barbarian kings in Neustria and Burgundy, but also with the emperors in Constantinople. Martin of Braga
, a distinguished 6th century bishop, was a native of Pannonia
. The Visigothic king Leovigild impounded the ships of Gaulish merchants in Galicia. At Lorenzana, the fine sarcophagus that received at a later date the mortal remains of count Osorio Gutiérrez,was probably an import from southern Gaul in the 7th century, Fletcher notes. And one of the coins in the Bordeaux hoard deposited about 700 was struck at a Galician mint, suggesting possible trade connections.
The political situation on the island of Britain (Britain) between the centuries 4th and 7th, had completely changed with the abandonment of the island by Rome and the constant arriving of Anglo-Saxon tribes , from northern Germany
and Denmark
to the eastern part of Great Britain
. The constant aggression and harassment that Jutes
and Anglo-Saxons
carried out against the native Britons
caused that part of them emigrated by sea to other points near the Atlantic coast, settling in some regions of the coast of Armorica
(due to it, it was called Brittany
) and north of the ancient Gallaecia
.
Nowadays, it's yet unknown the cause of the displacement of some Britons contingents to the north coast of Galicia and their reception by the Galician-Suevi, some authors show a possible military pact, or just an acceptance conditions, currently unknown.
Organized in an important territory, introduced its own religious-Christian organization, actually bit different, and founded a bishopric itself that appears quoted in Parochiale Suevorum or Divisio Teodomiri, a document that shows the ecclesiastical organization of the kingdom of Galicia
at the time of the monarchy sueva dated among 572
and 573
. Its religious integration was complete, having watched his representative, – called Maeloc – to the Second Royal Council of Braga in 572
.
The ancient territory of the diocese of Britonia Most of what is known about the settlement comes from ecclesiastical sources; records from the 572 Second Council of Braga
refer to a diocese
called the Britonensis ecclesia ("British church") and an episcopal see
called the sedes Britonarum ("See of the Britons"), which was likely the monastery of Santa Maria de Bretoña. occupied mainly the coastal strip from the Lugo's coast to the Terra Chá
, reaching his influence to the region of the Eo-Navia from the east and the west of Ferrol. Its ancient headquarters, known under the name Maximus Monastery was identified by some authors with the medieval Basilica of Saint Martin of Mondoñedo, where remnants of V–VI centuries. Changed its name and its headquarters on several occasions, currently the Galician diocese of Mondoñedo
is its historical successor.
The settlement of this wave of Britons
immigrants and the creation of their christian diocese is the second largest settlement of a foreign people in the lands of Galicia, after the Suevi.
With the Catholicization of the Visigothic kings, the Catholic bishops increased in power, until, at the synod held at Toledo in 633, they took upon themselves the nobles' right to select a king from among the royal family.
Rodrigo
,the last elected king, was betrayed by Julian
, count of Ceuta
, who called for the Umayyad
Muslims (or Moors
) to enter Hispania. During the battle of Guadalete
in 711, king Rodrigo lost his life. His left wing turned against him, as it was led by bishop Oppas
, a collaborator with the Moors and a member of a rival royal faction. By the end of the battle the whole kingdom fell, and the throne was left empty, for the Moors did not allow the Oppas’ faction to regain it. One of the few survivors was Pelayo, a noble in charge of the royal guard (Comes Spatharius).
This marked the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Hispania
in which most of peninsula came under Islamic rule by 718. This rapid conquest can be understood as a continuation of the civil wars that had afflicted the peninsula for centuries, as well as the Moors following the Islamic command to gain converts by force.
Pelayo is credited with beginning the Christian Reconquista
of Iberia in 718, when he defeated the Umayyads in the Battle of Covadonga, and established the Kingdom of Asturias in the northern part of the peninsula.
The north of Iberia (the former Kingdom of Gallaecia) was never put under real control and were not the most ideal place for the Moors, who just sent a military forces to collect taxes. But by the late 710’s Al-Andalus suffered of revolts. The Berbers
did not like the lands they were given and were repressed by the emiral forces in several battles until the rebellion stopped, but then the Berbers turned against the Astures, claiming higher taxes and setting punishment patrols against their villages. This forced the Astures to start a guerrilla war. During the Moorish invasion of Spain, the Moors briefly occupied Galicia until they were driven out in 739 by Alfonso I of Asturias
. The kingdom was known as Kingdom of Asturias until 924, when it became the Kingdom of León
. Moors regained southern part of Galicia in 953 and were finally driven out in 1034.
In 813 the most important religious event of the medieval Christian Europe happened, the discovery in Galicia, an ark whose remains were attributed to the apostle Saint James. According to Christian tradition, in this year, a hermit saw near to "Libredon" (ancient Santiago de Compostela
) a star on a marble ark. Warned by him, the bishop of Iria Flavia
, Teodomiro travelled quickly to the place, identifying the remains as found the decapitated body of the apostle James.
Myth or reality, this "discovery" was quickly magnified by the Galician-Asturian monarch , Alphonse II
(791
–842
), who in the same year ordered build a church around the tomb "holy", spreading the new throughout Christendom. The diocese of Iria and her owner, became the most powerful ecclesiastical administration not only of high-medieval Gallaecia
, but the entire Iberian Peninsula
, increasing its power with the constant royal donations to the church of Santiago de Compostela. Transformed into the third pilgrim centre of Christianity
, – just after Jerusalem and Rome – was from the eleventh and twelfth centuries especially when from many parts of Europe began arriving pilgrims, both from Occitania
, France
, Navarra and Aragon
-Catalonia
(by land) and from the British Isles
, Scandinavia
, and German territories (by sea).
The pilgrim phenomenon was decisive in the cultural and economic shaping of the kingdom of Galicia
, developed mainly during Diego Gelmirez
's mandate (1100–1136) who successfully converted Compostela in metropolitan church (year 1122), the most important Christian dignity in Occident after Rome. Around the Apostolic tomb grew not only a cathedral – great center of artistic and religious life – but a village then a town, strongly established in the Middle Ages, with a commercial derivative of its status as a holy city, where were crowned Galician kings , where grew the great Galician-Portuguese
lyric school, and where is located the capital of Galicia since the Middle Ages.
Historical and archaeological studies conducted in twentieth century cathedral itself, revealed however, that during Gallaeci-Roman time and even during the Suevic period, Compostela was an important place where have buried important dignities – civil or religious – long before the year 813, which led to several specialists to defend that, the body attributed to the apostle Saint James was actually the body of Priscillian
, patriarch of the Galicia church, beheaded at Trier
in 385
.
During the ninth and tenth centuries, the counts of Galicia owed fluctuating obedience to their nominal sovereign, and Normans/Vikings occasionally raided the coasts. The Towers of Catoira See "Catoira History" (in Spanish)(Pontevedra) were built as a system of fortifications to stop Viking raids of Santiago de Compostela
.
Constant rivalry between the Kingdom of León and the Kingdom of Castile opened rifts that could be exploited by outsiders, and Sancho III "the Great" of Navarre
(1004–1035) absorbed Castile in the 1020s, and added León in the last year of his life, leaving Galicia to temporary independence. In the division of lands which followed his death, his son Fernando succeeded to the county of Castile. Two years later, in 1037, he conquered León and Galicia. In 1065, Ferdinand I of Castile and León divided his kingdom among his sons. Galicia was allotted to Garcia II of Galicia.
declared independence following the death of Ferdinand I of León
. The Count of Portugal, Nuno Mendes, took advantage of the internal tension caused by the civil war between Ferdinand's sons to finally break off and declare himself an independent ruler. However, in 1071 king Garcia II
defeated and killed him at the battle of Pedroso, and annexed his territory, adding the title of King of Portugal to his previous ones. In 1072, King Garcia II himself was defeated by his brother Sancho II of Castile
and fled. In that same year, after Sancho's murder Alfonso VI
became king of Castile and León; he imprisoned Garcia for life, proclaiming himself King of Galicia and Portugal as well, thus reuniting his father's realm. From that time Galicia remained part of the kingdom of Castile and León, although under differing degrees of self-government.
In 1095, Portugal separated almost definitely from the Kingdom of Galicia, both under the rule of the Kingdom of León
, just like Castile (Burgos). Its territories consisting largely of mountain, moorland and forest, were bounded on the north by the Minho, on the south by the Mondego.
happenings: decapitated in Jerusalem with a sword by Herod Agrippa
himself, his body was taken up by angels, and sailed in a rudderless, unattended boat to Iria Flavia
in Spain, where a massive rock closed around his relics at Compostela
. The Historia Compostellana provides a summary of the legend of St. James as it was believed at Compostela in the 12th century. Two propositions are central to it: first, that St. James preached the gospel in Spain as well as in the Holy Land; second, that after his martyrdom at the hands of Herod Agrippa I his disciples carried his body by sea to Spain, where they landed at Padrón on the coast of Galicia, and took it inland for burial at Santiago de Compostela
.
An even later tradition states that he miraculously appeared to fight for the Christian army during the battle of Clavijo
during the Reconquista
, and was henceforth called Matamoros (Moor-slayer). Santiago y cierra España ("St James and strike for Spain") has been the traditional battle cry
of Spanish armies.
The possibility that a cult of James was instituted to supplant the Galician cult of Priscillian
(executed in 385) who was widely venerated across the north of Spain as a martyr to the bishops rather than as a heretic should not be overlooked.
captured Vigo and marched inland
as far as Santiago de Compostela
before withdrawing.
The weather of the decade is sometimes likened to a mini Ice-Age. In January 1850 there was notable snowfall over much of Spain and by February a large number of wolves roamed the countryside. In February 1853 the Galician port cities of Ferrol and A Coruña
reported heavy snowfall, a highly unusual event. February 1854 was again very cold—on the fourteenth Madrid registered a night-time temperature of -8°C. January 1855 was again very cold and snowy over northern Spain.
The winter of 1856–57 was especially hard,
To compound the problem the main domestic industry also went into crisis.
The economic downturn accelerated the existing emigration.
The census of 1857 found 1,776,879 inhabitants in the region. Therefore, according to all these figures, over 12% of the population left Galicia during the period 1836–1880.
Emigration continued well into the twentieth century. The noted Galician writer and politician Alfonso Castelao
(1886–1950)—himself an expatriate twice, during his childhood and after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936—chose to see in emigration both an economic imperative and the affirmation of a dauntless spirit. However, the reality of leaving one's homeland was unpleasant for most, whether in the nineteenth or twentieth century, as the photographs of Manuel Ferrol attest.
Galician nationalist and federalist movements arose in the nineteenth century, and after the Second Spanish Republic
was declared in 1931, Galicia became an autonomous region following a referendum
.
Following the Spanish Civil War
and once established the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, a Galician from Ferrol, Galicia's autonomy statute was annulled (as were those of Catalonia and the Basque provinces). The Franco regime also suppressed any official promotion of the Galician language (although its everyday use was never proscribed). During the last decade of Franco's rule, there was a renewal of nationalist sentiment in Galicia.
Following the transition to democracy following Franco's death in 1975, Galicia regained its status as an autonomous region within Spain. Varying degrees of nationalist or separatist sentiment are evident at the political level. The only nationalist party of any electoral significance, the Bloque Nacionalista Galego
or BNG, advocates greater autonomy from the Spanish state, and the preservation of Galician heritage and culture. Other factions advocate total independence from Spain, while some smaller groupings aspire to integrate with Portugal and the Portuguese-speaking world. However, the nationalist parties have hitherto obtained only minority electoral support at election time.
From 1990 to 2005, the region's government and parliament, the Xunta de Galicia
was presided over by the Partido Popular
('People's Party', Spain's main national conservative party) under Manuel Fraga, a former minister and ambassador under the Franco regime. However, in the 2005 Galician elections, the People's Party lost its overall majority, while just remaining the largest party in the parliament.
In the event, power passed to a coalition between the Partido Socialista de Galicia (PSdeG) ('Galician Socialist Party'), a regional sister-party of Spain's main socialist party, the Partido Socialista Obrero Español ('Spanish Socialist Workers Party') and the BNG. As the senior partner in the new coalition, the PSdeG nominated its leader, Emilio Perez Touriño
, to serve as Galicia's new president.
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years, first by Neanderthals and then by modern humans.
Megalithic culture
Galicia, northern PortugalPortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
, western León
León (province)
León is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.About one quarter of its population of 500,200 lives in the capital, León. The weather is cold and dry during the winter....
, and Zamora formed a single megalith
Megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement.The word 'megalith' comes from the Ancient...
ic area since the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
and Chalcolithic (also called Copper Age) Ages, around 4500–1500 BCE.
Many historians believe that Megalithic culture had two sources: an oriental source that was predominant in the Mediterranean area, and one in the Atlantic, which originated north of the Tagus
Tagus
The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...
River. The latter, because of its geographical proximity to Galicia, would explain the abundant traces of megalithic culture in this area. That this should be the first great culture also meant that it constituted one of the basic pillars that was to endow Galicia's cultural personality.
From this era there remains thousands of dolmen
Dolmen
A dolmen—also known as a portal tomb, portal grave, dolmain , cromlech , anta , Hünengrab/Hünenbett , Adamra , Ispun , Hunebed , dös , goindol or quoit—is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of...
s (mámoas), a type of tomb or sepulchre, throughout the entire territory. From its social organization it has been confirmed that it corresponded to some type of clan structure.
Bronze Age
The introduction of bronze-working techniques introduced a new cultural stage, when the new importance of metals resulted in intense mining activity. Some historians attribute the boom in this sector to the extremely dry and warm climate of the time which revealed, due to the resulting erosion, the mining richness of the North.Peoples from the Castilian plateau moved to Galicia, thus increasing the population, because its position near the Atlantic Ocean gave it a very humid climate.
The increase in population caused certain conflicts, but also led to increased mining and production of weapons, useful objects, and ornamental objects of gold and bronze. Pieces of jewellery crafted from Galician metals circulated throughout all of the Peninsula and Europe.
The Gallaeci (Celts)
At the end of the Iron AgeIron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
, people from northwestern Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
conformed already a homogeneous cultural unity which differentiated themselves from others and which later would be identified by the early Greek and Latin Authors, calling to this group of peoples with the name of Gallaeci (Galicians) perhaps due to their apparent similarity with the Galli (Gauls
Gauls
The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....
) and Gallati (Galatians).
The Gallaeci were originally a Celtic people who have occupied for centuries the territory of modern Galicia and northern Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, were limited to the south with the Lusitanians
Lusitanians
The Lusitanians were an Indo-European people living in the Western Iberian Peninsula long before it became the Roman province of Lusitania . They spoke the Lusitanian language which might have been Celtic. The modern Portuguese people see the Lusitanians as their ancestors...
and to the east with the Astures. In ethnic terms, they were the firsts Galicians (word derived from Gallaeci). The Gallaecian habitat was based in fortified villages that receive the name of Castrus (hillforts), ranging its size from small villages with less than a hectare (more common in the north), and great hillforts with more than 10 hectares, named "Oppida" or "Citânia", being this last type, more common in the southern half of the traditional settlement.
This mode of inhabiting the territory – through hillforts – was common throughout Europe during the Bronze
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
and Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
, having received in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula the name of "culture of hillforts" or "Castro Culture
Castro culture
Castro culture is the archaeological term for naming the Celtic archaeological culture of the northwestern regions of the Iberian Peninsula from the end of the Bronze Age until it was subsumed in local Roman culture...
", what refers to this type of cultural manifestation before the arrival of Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. However, even after the Rome's fall, the Gallaeci-Romans continued living in hillforts until the 8th century A.C. Only in the territory of actual Galicia exist more than two thousand hillforts, what shows the greatest dispersion of population from the Iron Age in Europe, and which would be the origin of the Galician occupation of the territory inherited until nowadays, characterized by small and high numerous populations so distant from each other.
The Gallaeci's political organization was based on small independent states formed by a high number of hillforts, these states were headed by the figure of a local king that the Romans called "princeps" as in other parts of Europe. Each Gallaecian identified himself as a member of the hillfort where lived, as well as the state / people to whom it belonged, and which the Romans called "Populus". Among the Galleci existed numerous names of tribes as; the Arrotrebi
Arroni
The Arroni or Arrotrebi were an ancient Gallaecian Celtic tribe, living in the north of modern Galicia, in the Ortigueira's county.-External links:*...
, the Albioni
Albioni
The Albioni were an ancient Gallaecian Celtic tribe, living in the north of modern Asturias, near the border of modern Galicia.-External links:*...
, the Celtici Supertamarici
Celtici Supertamarici
The Celtici Supertamarici were an ancient Gallaecian Celtic tribe, living in the west of modern Galicia, in the Xallas's county.-External links:*...
, the Lemavi
Lemavi
The Lemavi were an ancient Gallaecian Celtic tribe, living in the center-east of the modern Galicia, in the Monforte de Lemos's county.-External links:*...
, the Nemetati
Nemetati
The Nemetati were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the north of modern Portugal between the Cávado and Ave Rivers, in the province of Minho, north of the Douro.They lived near the valley of the Ave River and may have some link with inscriptions to the war god Cosus Nemedecus. The...
, etc.. in the same way that by the end of the eighteenth century, Galicians identified themselves with their parish and their county.
In religious terms, the Gallaeci showed a Celtic religion based on the cult to panceltic gods as Bormanus, Coventina
Coventina
Coventina was a Romano-British goddess of wells and springs. She is known from multiple inscriptions at one site in Northumberland county of the United Kingdom, an area surrounding a wellspring near Carrawburgh on Hadrian's Wall...
and Lugus
Lugus
Lugus was a deity of the Celtic pantheon. His name is rarely directly attested in inscriptions, but his importance can be inferred from placenames and ethnonyms, and his nature and attributes are deduced from the distinctive iconography of Gallo-Roman inscriptions to Mercury, who is widely believed...
beyond others as Bandua, Cossus, Endovelicus
Endovelicus
Endovelicus , was an Iron Age god of public health and safety, worshipped in pre-Roman and Roman Lusitania and Gallaecia. He was associated with chthonic oracles and healing, and was probably the recipient of pig sacrifices...
, Reue, etc.
Roman Gallaecia (19 B.C. – 410 A.C.)
- Main article: GallaeciaGallaeciaGallaecia or Callaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province and an early Mediaeval kingdom that comprised a territory in the north-west of Hispania...
The knowledge that we have today about the society of the hillforts is very limited; if we followed what the Roman historians said, the Galicians were a reunion of barbarians who spent the day fighting and the night eating, drinking and dancing to the moon. But today it seems absolutely clear that the last five centuries BCE. they developed an aristocratic and even perhaps a feudal social model. The division of the country — into concelhos, concept similar to the counties of the islands or Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
— seems to be based on this class of social organization. Also, the structure based on hillforts, seems to be associated to a fortified occupation of the territory, resemblance to the one of the Central European classic Celtic habitat. On the other hand, this kind of territorial occupation was likely associated to the attraction that mineral wealth provoked that was in a similar way, as a certain class of gold fever. Anyway, it is also clear that the interest of the Romans for this region was mainly related to its gold mines.
When Iberia was involved in the Punic Wars
Punic Wars
The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 B.C.E. to 146 B.C.E. At the time, they were probably the largest wars that had ever taken place...
between the Carthaginians and the Romans, the strategic alliance that they maintained with the Phoenicians enabled Hannibal to recruit many Gallegans. When the Romans finally undertook the conquest of Iberia, the Gallaicoi faced them in 137 BC. in the battle at the river Douro that resulted in a great Roman victory against 60,000 Galicians, by who the Roman general, proconsul Decimus Iunius Brutus
Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus
Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus was a Roman politician and general of the 2nd century BC. He was the son of the consul Marcus Junius Brutus and brother of the praetor Marcus Junius Brutus; he himself was appointed consul in 138 BC...
, turned to Rome as a hero, receiving the name of Gallaicus, according to the historian Paulus Orosius.
At the end of Brutus' campaigns, Rome controlled the territory between the Douro and Minho rivers plus probable extensions along the coast and in the interior. The Second Invasion, of 61 BCE, landed at Brigantium (A Coruña), under the command of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
.
The evidence suggests that the resistance of the Gaedels against the Romans ended here; from now on, they would be enlisted massively as auxiliaries of the Roman legions, fulfilling destinies sometimes completely separate from Galicia, as far as Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
and Dacia
Dacia
In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range...
. It has been estimated that of the total of Roman auxiliary troops coming from Iberia, more than a third belonged to tribes of the peninsular northwest.
The final extinction of Celtic resistance was the aim of the violent and ruthless Cantabrian Wars
Cantabrian Wars
The Cantabrian Wars occurred during the Roman conquest of the modern provinces of Cantabria, Asturias and León, against the Asturs and the Cantabri. They were the final stage of the conquest of Hispania.-Antecedents:...
fought under the emperor Octavian
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
from 26 to 19 BCE. The resistance was appalling: collective suicide rather than surrender, mothers who killed their children before committing suicide, crucified prisoners of war who sang triumphant hymns, rebellions of captives who killed their guards and returned home from Gaul.
In the 3rd century, Diocletian
Diocletian
Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244 – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....
created an administrative division which included the conventus of Gallaecia, Asturica and perhaps Cluniense. This province took the name of Gallaecia since Gallaecia was the most populous and important zone within the province. In 409, as Roman control collapsed, the Suebi conquests transformed Roman Gallaecia (convents Lucense and Bracarense) into the kingdom of Gallaecia (the Galliciense Regnum recorded by Hydatius
Hydatius
Hydatius or Idacius , bishop of Aquae Flaviae in the Roman province of Gallaecia was the author of a chronicle of his own times that provides us with our best evidence for the history of the Iberian Peninsula in the 5th century.-Life:Hydatius was born around the year 400 in the...
and Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours
Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
).
Suebic Kingdom of Galicia (410–585)
- Related articles: SuebiSuebiThe Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c...
, Suebic Kingdom of GaliciaSuebic Kingdom of GaliciaThe Suebic Kingdom of Galicia was the first independent barbarian Christian kingdom of Western Europe and the first to separate from the Roman Empire, as well as the first one to mint coins. Based in Gallaecia, it was established in 410 and lasted as independent state until 584, after a century of...
.
In the year 411, Galicia fell to the Suebi
Suebi
The Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c...
, who formed a kingdom of their own.
The number of the original Suebic invaders is estimated as fewer than 30,000 people, settled mainly in the urbanized zones of Braga
Braga
Braga , a city in the Braga Municipality in northwestern Portugal, is the capital of the Braga District, the oldest archdiocese and the third major city of the country. Braga is the oldest Portuguese city and one of the oldest Christian cities in the World...
(Bracara Augusta), Porto
Porto
Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, Lugo
Lugo
Lugo is a city in northwestern Spain, in the autonomous community of Galicia. It is the capital of the province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 97,635 in 2010, which makes is the fourth most populated city in Galicia.-Population:...
(Lucus Augusta) and Astorga (Asturica Augusta). Bracara Augusta, the modern city of Braga, became the capital of the Suebi, as it was previously the capital of the Gallaecia Roman province. Suebic Gallaecia was larger than the modern region: it extended south to the river Douro and to Ávila in the east.
The Suebic kingdom in Gallaecia lasted from 410 to 584 and seems to have enjoyed relatively stable government for most of that time. Historians like José António Lopes Silva, the translator of Idatius' chronicles, the primary written source for the 5th century, finds that the essential temper of Galician culture was established in the blending of Ibero-Roman culture with that of the Suebi.
There were occasional clashes with the Visigoth
Visigoth
The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...
s, who arrived in the Iberian Peninsula in 416 and came to dominate most of the peninsula, but the Suebi maintained their independence until 584, when the Visigothic King Leovigild, invaded the Suebic kingdom and finally defeated it, bringing it under Visigoth control.
Richard Fletcher (Fletcher 1984) points out that in Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...
Galicia was still very much a part of the Roman and Mediterranean world. He instances the Galician nun Egeria's account of her pilgrimage to the Holy Land, 381–4 and the journey of the young Idatius, though living "at the uttermost limit of the world", who had met Jerome
Jerome
Saint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...
in the East; his chronicle shows that he remained aware of the affairs of the eastern Mediterranean and refers to travellers from the east coming to Galicia. As bishop Idatius travelled to Gaul on an embassy to Aetius
Flavius Aëtius
Flavius Aëtius , dux et patricius, was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was an able military commander and the most influential man in the Western Roman Empire for two decades . He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian peoples pressing on the Empire...
, 431–2. Miro, king of the Suevi, had diplomatic relations with fellow barbarian kings in Neustria and Burgundy, but also with the emperors in Constantinople. Martin of Braga
Martin of Braga
Saint Martin of Braga was an archbishop of Bracara Augusta in Hispania , a monastic founder, and an ecclesiastical author...
, a distinguished 6th century bishop, was a native of Pannonia
Pannonia
Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
. The Visigothic king Leovigild impounded the ships of Gaulish merchants in Galicia. At Lorenzana, the fine sarcophagus that received at a later date the mortal remains of count Osorio Gutiérrez,was probably an import from southern Gaul in the 7th century, Fletcher notes. And one of the coins in the Bordeaux hoard deposited about 700 was struck at a Galician mint, suggesting possible trade connections.
Arrival of the Britons and the founding of the diocese of Britonia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
to the eastern part of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. The constant aggression and harassment that Jutes
Jutes
The Jutes, Iuti, or Iutæ were a Germanic people who, according to Bede, were one of the three most powerful Germanic peoples of their time, the other two being the Saxons and the Angles...
and Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
carried out against the native Britons
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
caused that part of them emigrated by sea to other points near the Atlantic coast, settling in some regions of the coast of Armorica
Armorica
Armorica or Aremorica is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul that includes the Brittany peninsula and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic coast...
(due to it, it was called Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
) and north of the ancient Gallaecia
Gallaecia
Gallaecia or Callaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province and an early Mediaeval kingdom that comprised a territory in the north-west of Hispania...
.
Nowadays, it's yet unknown the cause of the displacement of some Britons contingents to the north coast of Galicia and their reception by the Galician-Suevi, some authors show a possible military pact, or just an acceptance conditions, currently unknown.
Organized in an important territory, introduced its own religious-Christian organization, actually bit different, and founded a bishopric itself that appears quoted in Parochiale Suevorum or Divisio Teodomiri, a document that shows the ecclesiastical organization of the kingdom of Galicia
Kingdom of Galicia
The Kingdom of Galicia was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Founded by Suebic king Hermeric in the year 409, the Galician capital was established in Braga, being the first kingdom which...
at the time of the monarchy sueva dated among 572
572
Year 572 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 572 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Byzantine Empire :* The Byzantine Empire begins a war...
and 573
573
Year 573 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 573 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* The Battle of Arfderydd is fought between...
. Its religious integration was complete, having watched his representative, – called Maeloc – to the Second Royal Council of Braga in 572
572
Year 572 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 572 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Byzantine Empire :* The Byzantine Empire begins a war...
.
The ancient territory of the diocese of Britonia Most of what is known about the settlement comes from ecclesiastical sources; records from the 572 Second Council of Braga
Second Council of Braga
The Second Council of Braga, held in 572, presided over by Martin of Braga, was held to increase the number of bishops in Galaecia. Twelve bishops assisted at this council, and ten decrees were promulgated: that the bishops should in their visitations see in what manner the priests celebrated the...
refer to a diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
called the Britonensis ecclesia ("British church") and an episcopal see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
called the sedes Britonarum ("See of the Britons"), which was likely the monastery of Santa Maria de Bretoña. occupied mainly the coastal strip from the Lugo's coast to the Terra Chá
Terra Chá
A Terra Chá is a region of Galicia, in the Province of Lugo. The overall population of this local region is 47,697 .-Municipalities:Abadín, Begonte, Castro de Rei, Cospeito, Guitiriz, Muras, A Pastoriza, Vilalba and Xermade.-Local Economy:...
, reaching his influence to the region of the Eo-Navia from the east and the west of Ferrol. Its ancient headquarters, known under the name Maximus Monastery was identified by some authors with the medieval Basilica of Saint Martin of Mondoñedo, where remnants of V–VI centuries. Changed its name and its headquarters on several occasions, currently the Galician diocese of Mondoñedo
Mondoñedo
Mondoñedo is a small town and municipality in the Galician province of Lugo, Spain. , the town has a population of 4,508. Mondoñedo occupies a sheltered valley among the northern outliers of the Cantabrian Mountains.-History:...
is its historical successor.
The settlement of this wave of Britons
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
immigrants and the creation of their christian diocese is the second largest settlement of a foreign people in the lands of Galicia, after the Suevi.
Visigothic Kingdom (585 – 711)
Rodrigo
Roderic
Ruderic was the Visigothic King of Hispania for a brief period between 710 and 712. He is famous in legend as "the last king of the Goths"...
,the last elected king, was betrayed by Julian
Julian, count of Ceuta
Julian, Count of Ceuta was a legendary Christian local ruler or subordinate ruler in North Africa who had a role in the Umayyad conquest of Hispania — a key event in the history of Islam, in which al-Andalus was to have a major role, and the subsequent history of what were to become Spain and...
, count of Ceuta
Ceuta
Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish...
, who called for the Umayyad
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
Muslims (or Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
) to enter Hispania. During the battle of Guadalete
Battle of Guadalete
The Battle of Guadalete was fought in 711 or 712 at an unidentified location between the Christian Visigoths of Hispania under their king, Roderic, and an invading force of Muslim Arabs and Berbers under Ṭāriq ibn Ziyad. The battle was significant as the culmination of a series of Arab-Berber...
in 711, king Rodrigo lost his life. His left wing turned against him, as it was led by bishop Oppas
Oppas
Oppas or Oppa was a member of the Visigothic elite in the city of Toledo on the eve of the Muslim conquest of Hispania. He was a son of Egica and therefore a brother or half-brother of Wittiza....
, a collaborator with the Moors and a member of a rival royal faction. By the end of the battle the whole kingdom fell, and the throne was left empty, for the Moors did not allow the Oppas’ faction to regain it. One of the few survivors was Pelayo, a noble in charge of the royal guard (Comes Spatharius).
The kingdom of Asturias and Moorish Iberia
- Main articles: Kingdom of AsturiasKingdom of AsturiasThe Kingdom of Asturias was a Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula founded in 718 by Visigothic nobles under the leadership of Pelagius of Asturias. It was the first Christian political entity established following the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom after Islamic conquest of Hispania...
.
This marked the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Hispania
Umayyad conquest of Hispania
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania is the initial Islamic Ummayad Caliphate's conquest, between 711 and 718, of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, centered in the Iberian Peninsula, which was known to them under the Arabic name al-Andalus....
in which most of peninsula came under Islamic rule by 718. This rapid conquest can be understood as a continuation of the civil wars that had afflicted the peninsula for centuries, as well as the Moors following the Islamic command to gain converts by force.
Pelayo is credited with beginning the Christian Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
of Iberia in 718, when he defeated the Umayyads in the Battle of Covadonga, and established the Kingdom of Asturias in the northern part of the peninsula.
The north of Iberia (the former Kingdom of Gallaecia) was never put under real control and were not the most ideal place for the Moors, who just sent a military forces to collect taxes. But by the late 710’s Al-Andalus suffered of revolts. The Berbers
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
did not like the lands they were given and were repressed by the emiral forces in several battles until the rebellion stopped, but then the Berbers turned against the Astures, claiming higher taxes and setting punishment patrols against their villages. This forced the Astures to start a guerrilla war. During the Moorish invasion of Spain, the Moors briefly occupied Galicia until they were driven out in 739 by Alfonso I of Asturias
Alfonso I of Asturias
Alfonso I , called the Catholic , was the King of Asturias from 739 to his death in 757.He was son of Duke Peter of Cantabria and held many lands in that region. He may have been the hereditary chief of the Basques, but this is uncertain...
. The kingdom was known as Kingdom of Asturias until 924, when it became the Kingdom of León
Kingdom of León
The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León...
. Moors regained southern part of Galicia in 953 and were finally driven out in 1034.
The discovery of the tomb of Saint James (813)
- Main articles: Way of St. JamesWay of St. JamesThe Way of St. James or St. James' Way is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried....
.
In 813 the most important religious event of the medieval Christian Europe happened, the discovery in Galicia, an ark whose remains were attributed to the apostle Saint James. According to Christian tradition, in this year, a hermit saw near to "Libredon" (ancient Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
) a star on a marble ark. Warned by him, the bishop of Iria Flavia
Iria Flavia
Iria Flavia or simply Iria in Galicia, northwestern Spain, was a Celtiberian port, the main seat of the Caporos, on the road between Braga and Astorga. The Romans rebuilt the road as via XVIII or Via Nova and refounded the Celtiberian port as Iria Flavia to complement Vespasian...
, Teodomiro travelled quickly to the place, identifying the remains as found the decapitated body of the apostle James.
Myth or reality, this "discovery" was quickly magnified by the Galician-Asturian monarch , Alphonse II
Alfonso II of Asturias
Alfonso II , called the Chaste, was the king of Asturias from 791 to his death, the son of Fruela I and the Basque Munia.He was born in Oviedo in 759 or 760. He was put under the guardianship of his aunt Adosinda after his father's death, but one tradition relates his being put in the monastery of...
(791
791
Year 791 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 791 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* The Avars invade Europe again, but are...
–842
842
Year 842 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* February 14 – Charles the Bald and Louis the German sign a treaty....
), who in the same year ordered build a church around the tomb "holy", spreading the new throughout Christendom. The diocese of Iria and her owner, became the most powerful ecclesiastical administration not only of high-medieval Gallaecia
Gallaecia
Gallaecia or Callaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province and an early Mediaeval kingdom that comprised a territory in the north-west of Hispania...
, but the entire Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, increasing its power with the constant royal donations to the church of Santiago de Compostela. Transformed into the third pilgrim centre of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, – just after Jerusalem and Rome – was from the eleventh and twelfth centuries especially when from many parts of Europe began arriving pilgrims, both from Occitania
Occitania
Occitania , also sometimes lo País d'Òc, "the Oc Country"), is the region in southern Europe where Occitan was historically the main language spoken, and where it is sometimes still used, for the most part as a second language...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Navarra and Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
-Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
(by land) and from the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
, Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
, and German territories (by sea).
The pilgrim phenomenon was decisive in the cultural and economic shaping of the kingdom of Galicia
Kingdom of Galicia
The Kingdom of Galicia was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Founded by Suebic king Hermeric in the year 409, the Galician capital was established in Braga, being the first kingdom which...
, developed mainly during Diego Gelmirez
Diego Gelmírez
Diego Gelmírez was the second bishop and first archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. He is a prominent figure in the history of Galicia and an important historiographer of the Spain of his day...
's mandate (1100–1136) who successfully converted Compostela in metropolitan church (year 1122), the most important Christian dignity in Occident after Rome. Around the Apostolic tomb grew not only a cathedral – great center of artistic and religious life – but a village then a town, strongly established in the Middle Ages, with a commercial derivative of its status as a holy city, where were crowned Galician kings , where grew the great Galician-Portuguese
Galician-Portuguese
Galician-Portuguese or Old Portuguese was a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages, in the northwest area of the Iberian Peninsula. It was first spoken in the area bounded in the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean and the Douro River in the south but it was later extended south...
lyric school, and where is located the capital of Galicia since the Middle Ages.
Historical and archaeological studies conducted in twentieth century cathedral itself, revealed however, that during Gallaeci-Roman time and even during the Suevic period, Compostela was an important place where have buried important dignities – civil or religious – long before the year 813, which led to several specialists to defend that, the body attributed to the apostle Saint James was actually the body of Priscillian
Priscillian
Priscillian was bishop of Ávila and a theologian from Roman Gallaecia , the first person in the history of Christianity to be executed for heresy . He founded an ascetic group that, in spite of persecution, continued to subsist in Hispania and Gaul until the later 6th century...
, patriarch of the Galicia church, beheaded at Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
in 385
385
Year 385 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Bauto...
.
Reconquista
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
.
Constant rivalry between the Kingdom of León and the Kingdom of Castile opened rifts that could be exploited by outsiders, and Sancho III "the Great" of Navarre
Sancho III of Navarre
Sancho III Garcés , called the Great , succeeded as a minor to the Kingdom of Navarre in 1004, and through conquest and political maneuvering increased his power, until at the time of his death in 1035 he controlled the majority of Christian Iberia, bearing the title of rex Hispaniarum...
(1004–1035) absorbed Castile in the 1020s, and added León in the last year of his life, leaving Galicia to temporary independence. In the division of lands which followed his death, his son Fernando succeeded to the county of Castile. Two years later, in 1037, he conquered León and Galicia. In 1065, Ferdinand I of Castile and León divided his kingdom among his sons. Galicia was allotted to Garcia II of Galicia.
Kingdom of Galicia and Portugal
The Kingdom of Galicia and Portugal was formed in 1065 after the County of PortugalCounty of Portugal
The County of Portugal was the region around Braga and Porto, today corresponding to littoral northern Portugal, from the late ninth to the early twelfth century, during which it was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León.-History:...
declared independence following the death of Ferdinand I of León
Ferdinand I of León
Ferdinand I , called the Great , was the Count of Castile from his uncle's death in 1029 and the King of León after defeating his brother-in-law in 1037. According to tradition, he was the first to have himself crowned Emperor of Spain , and his heirs carried on the tradition...
. The Count of Portugal, Nuno Mendes, took advantage of the internal tension caused by the civil war between Ferdinand's sons to finally break off and declare himself an independent ruler. However, in 1071 king Garcia II
García II of Castile
García Sánchez was the last independent count of Castile from 1017 to his death. Son of Sancho García and his wife Urraca, he succeeded his father when he was only a boy....
defeated and killed him at the battle of Pedroso, and annexed his territory, adding the title of King of Portugal to his previous ones. In 1072, King Garcia II himself was defeated by his brother Sancho II of Castile
Sancho II of Castile
Sancho II , called the Strong, or in Spanish, el Fuerte, was King of Castile and León .He was the eldest son of Ferdinand I of Castile and Sancha of León, the eventual heiress to the Leonese crown...
and fled. In that same year, after Sancho's murder Alfonso VI
Alfonso VI of Castile
Alfonso VI , nicknamed the Brave or the Valiant, was King of León from 1065, King of Castile and de facto King of Galicia from 1072, and self-proclaimed "Emperor of all Spain". After the conquest of Toledo he was also self-proclaimed victoriosissimo rege in Toleto, et in Hispania et Gallecia...
became king of Castile and León; he imprisoned Garcia for life, proclaiming himself King of Galicia and Portugal as well, thus reuniting his father's realm. From that time Galicia remained part of the kingdom of Castile and León, although under differing degrees of self-government.
In 1095, Portugal separated almost definitely from the Kingdom of Galicia, both under the rule of the Kingdom of León
Kingdom of León
The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León...
, just like Castile (Burgos). Its territories consisting largely of mountain, moorland and forest, were bounded on the north by the Minho, on the south by the Mondego.
Santiago and Galicia
The translation of Saint James relics to Galicia in the northwest of Iberia was affected, in legend, by a series of miraculousMiracle
A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
happenings: decapitated in Jerusalem with a sword by Herod Agrippa
Agrippa I
Agrippa I also known as Herod Agrippa or simply Herod , King of the Jews, was the grandson of Herod the Great, and son of Aristobulus IV and Berenice. His original name was Marcus Julius Agrippa, so named in honour of Roman statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and he is the king named Herod in the...
himself, his body was taken up by angels, and sailed in a rudderless, unattended boat to Iria Flavia
Iria Flavia
Iria Flavia or simply Iria in Galicia, northwestern Spain, was a Celtiberian port, the main seat of the Caporos, on the road between Braga and Astorga. The Romans rebuilt the road as via XVIII or Via Nova and refounded the Celtiberian port as Iria Flavia to complement Vespasian...
in Spain, where a massive rock closed around his relics at Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
. The Historia Compostellana provides a summary of the legend of St. James as it was believed at Compostela in the 12th century. Two propositions are central to it: first, that St. James preached the gospel in Spain as well as in the Holy Land; second, that after his martyrdom at the hands of Herod Agrippa I his disciples carried his body by sea to Spain, where they landed at Padrón on the coast of Galicia, and took it inland for burial at Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
.
An even later tradition states that he miraculously appeared to fight for the Christian army during the battle of Clavijo
Battle of Clavijo
The Battle of Clavijo was a legendary battle, supposedly fought in 844 near Clavijo between the Christians led by Ramiro I of Asturias and the Muslims led by the Emir of Córdoba. Saint James the Great, known to Spaniards as Santiago Matamoros , is reputed to have aided the vastly outnumbered...
during the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
, and was henceforth called Matamoros (Moor-slayer). Santiago y cierra España ("St James and strike for Spain") has been the traditional battle cry
Battle cry
A battle cry is a yell or chant taken up in battle, usually by members of the same military unit.Battle cries are not necessarily articulate, although they often aim to invoke patriotic or religious sentiment....
of Spanish armies.
- St. James the Moorslayer, one of the most valiant saints and knights the world ever had … has been given by God to Spain for its patron and protection.
— Cervantes, Don Quixote.
The possibility that a cult of James was instituted to supplant the Galician cult of Priscillian
Priscillian
Priscillian was bishop of Ávila and a theologian from Roman Gallaecia , the first person in the history of Christianity to be executed for heresy . He founded an ascetic group that, in spite of persecution, continued to subsist in Hispania and Gaul until the later 6th century...
(executed in 385) who was widely venerated across the north of Spain as a martyr to the bishops rather than as a heretic should not be overlooked.
Modern Age
Galicia was subject to several raids in the eighteenth century. In 1719 a British expedition led by Lord CobhamRichard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham
Field Marshal Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham PC was a British soldier and Whig politician. He was known for his ownership of and modifications to the estate at Stowe and for serving as a political mentor to the young William Pitt.-Early life:Temple was the son of Sir Richard Temple, 3rd...
captured Vigo and marched inland
Capture of Vigo
The Capture of Vigo occurred in 1719 during the War of the Quadruple Alliance when a British expedition landed on the Spanish coast and seized the settlement of Vigo which they occupied for ten days before withdrawing...
as far as Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
before withdrawing.
Emigration
Apparently due to unusually cold winters throughout the 1850s combined with the prevalence of subsistence agriculture, many Galician family farms went bankrupt.The weather of the decade is sometimes likened to a mini Ice-Age. In January 1850 there was notable snowfall over much of Spain and by February a large number of wolves roamed the countryside. In February 1853 the Galician port cities of Ferrol and A Coruña
A Coruña
A Coruña or La Coruña is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. It is the second-largest city in the autonomous community and seventeenth overall in the country...
reported heavy snowfall, a highly unusual event. February 1854 was again very cold—on the fourteenth Madrid registered a night-time temperature of -8°C. January 1855 was again very cold and snowy over northern Spain.
The winter of 1856–57 was especially hard,
Official reports in the official bulletin of the Spanish government La Gaceta de MadridBoletín Oficial del EstadoThe Boletín Oficial del Estado , Spanish for Official Bulletin of the State, is the official gazette of the Government of Spain. It publishes the laws of the Cortes Generales and the dispositions of the Autonomous Communities...
highlighted the frostiness of the winter. From Puigcerda (Girona), "For more than a month the countryside has been snow-covered." From Biscay, "As a consequence of the copious snows that have fallen over our region during the past days, especially on the peaks of the Valley of Carranza, there has appeared down in the valley a strong pack of wolves that is inflicting great losses on herds of sheep and cattle." Announcements of planned wolf culls were numerous during those cold days of 1857…The snow fell over all of northern Spain from Galicia to Catalonia…On February 4 the province of Santander had spent three months without links with the interior, completely snowed in. "No one remembers such a prolonged spell of bad weather."
To compound the problem the main domestic industry also went into crisis.
From the second half of the nineteenth century onward Galicia's textile industry suffered a severe crisis brought on by the legal importation and the smuggling in of foreign fabrics, and many families endured hardship because there was no alternate source of employment. To make matters worse, the agricultural sector went into crisis between the years 1850–1860, destabilizing the rural economy. The composite crisis forced the population to look for a better life overseas.
The economic downturn accelerated the existing emigration.
There is evidence of a strong current of emigration from the year 1810 to 1853 that is difficult to quantify because the Spanish government did not condone emigration officially. Consequently some authors refer to this obscure period as the period of clandestine emigration.
But from 1836 onward Spain began to grant official recognition to her newly independent colonies. Mexico was the first former colony to be recognized in 1836 and Uruguay, Chile and Argentina followed soon thereafter. As a result emigration intensified…In December of 1836 there appeared the first commercial advertisement offering transatlantic passage—aboard the [slave-ship] General Laborde—from A Coruña to Montevideo, Buenos Aires and other destinations in Mar del Plata. The offer of transatlantic crossings increased progressively. The majority of the crossings was made on sailing ships. In 1850 the brigantine Juan departed from CarrilVilagarcía de ArousaVilagarcía de Arousa is a port town situated on the firth of Arousa in Galicia, 45km south of Santiago de Compostela. Vilagarcía has a population of almost 37,000 inhabitants, so it is the eighth largest town in Galicia....
advertised as a first-class steamer. Relatively reliable data suggest that 93,040 Galicians left between the years 1836 and 1860.
The Spanish government legalized emigration in 1853, and this made the count reliable: 122,875 people left Galicia between the years 1860–1880.
The census of 1857 found 1,776,879 inhabitants in the region. Therefore, according to all these figures, over 12% of the population left Galicia during the period 1836–1880.
Emigration continued well into the twentieth century. The noted Galician writer and politician Alfonso Castelao
Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez Castelao
Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez Castelao , most commonly known as simply Castelao, was a Galician writer in Galician language and one of the main symbols of Galician nationalism...
(1886–1950)—himself an expatriate twice, during his childhood and after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936—chose to see in emigration both an economic imperative and the affirmation of a dauntless spirit. However, the reality of leaving one's homeland was unpleasant for most, whether in the nineteenth or twentieth century, as the photographs of Manuel Ferrol attest.
Contemporary Galicia
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
was declared in 1931, Galicia became an autonomous region following a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
.
Following the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
and once established the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, a Galician from Ferrol, Galicia's autonomy statute was annulled (as were those of Catalonia and the Basque provinces). The Franco regime also suppressed any official promotion of the Galician language (although its everyday use was never proscribed). During the last decade of Franco's rule, there was a renewal of nationalist sentiment in Galicia.
Following the transition to democracy following Franco's death in 1975, Galicia regained its status as an autonomous region within Spain. Varying degrees of nationalist or separatist sentiment are evident at the political level. The only nationalist party of any electoral significance, the Bloque Nacionalista Galego
Bloque Nacionalista Galego
The Galician Nationalist Bloc is a Galician nationalist coalition of political parties. It is self-defined as a "patriotic front".Formed in 1982, under the guidance of historical leader Xosé Manuel Beiras, the BNG advocates for further devolution of powers to the Parliament of Galicia and the...
or BNG, advocates greater autonomy from the Spanish state, and the preservation of Galician heritage and culture. Other factions advocate total independence from Spain, while some smaller groupings aspire to integrate with Portugal and the Portuguese-speaking world. However, the nationalist parties have hitherto obtained only minority electoral support at election time.
From 1990 to 2005, the region's government and parliament, the Xunta de Galicia
Xunta de Galicia
The Xunta de Galicia is the collective decision-making body of the government of the autonomous community of Galicia, composed of the President, the Vice-President and the specialized ministers ....
was presided over by the Partido Popular
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
('People's Party', Spain's main national conservative party) under Manuel Fraga, a former minister and ambassador under the Franco regime. However, in the 2005 Galician elections, the People's Party lost its overall majority, while just remaining the largest party in the parliament.
In the event, power passed to a coalition between the Partido Socialista de Galicia (PSdeG) ('Galician Socialist Party'), a regional sister-party of Spain's main socialist party, the Partido Socialista Obrero Español ('Spanish Socialist Workers Party') and the BNG. As the senior partner in the new coalition, the PSdeG nominated its leader, Emilio Perez Touriño
Emilio Pérez Touriño
Emilio Pérez Touriño is a Spanish politician and economist. He is the former secretary general of the Socialist Party of Galicia and, from August 2005 to March 2009, former president of the autonomous community of Galicia . Namely, he was president of the executive branch, the Xunta de Galicia...
, to serve as Galicia's new president.