Ramiro Garcés, Lord of Calahorra
Encyclopedia
Ramiro Garcés was the second son of king García Sánchez III of Navarre and queen Stephania. He was a powerful nobleman in the region around Nájera
and Calahorra
and a major figure at the courts of both Navarre
and Castile
. He was ambushed and killed while trying to take possession of a castle during the Reconquista
.
. On 19 March 1058, still just infans, he confirmed a grant of Gomesano, Bishop of Calahorra. On 20 July 1062 Ranimirus infans, Garsea rex prolis (infante Ramiro, child of king García) donated property to the prior of San Martín de Albelda
, which was confirmed by the then lord of Calahorra, Fortún Garcés. The will of queen Stephania, dated 1066, bequeathed some property to Ramiro, who is referred to as in Sancto Stephano in a charter of Sancho IV's of 17 April 1072. He appears as domnus Ranimirus, dominator Sanacti Stefani (lord Ramiro, lord of Saint Stephen) on 6 August that year. He can be seen subsequently involved in the politics of the neighbouring Kingdom of Aragon
, when he witnessed a charter of Garsias [...] Aragonensium episcopus (García [...] bishop of the Aragonese) introducing the Augustinian rule into the cathedral of San Pedro de Jaca (1076/9), using only the formula regis filius (son of the king).
while in Pamplona
, the capital, Sancho Ramírez of Aragon was elected king by the nobles. Bernard Reilly believed that Ramiro became a ward of Alfonso VI at Nájera in June and July 1076, but as Ramiro must have been an adult this seems unlikely. He was certainly at the Castilian court by 3 September 1079, however, when he and his sister Ermesinda signed confirmed a charter of Aldefonsus (Alfonso) imperator totius Hispanie. Ermesinda married Fortún Sánchez
, while Ramiro's other sister, Urraca, married García Ordóñez
, a powerful Castilian magnate.
Ramiro appears as lord of Calahorra between 1076 and 1082. On 18 April 1081 and again on 27 May 1085 he donated property to Santa María la Real of Nájera, which his father had founded, and he donated a servant to San Martín de Albelda on 23 January 1082.
. In December 1082 Albofalac, the governor of Rueda de Jalón
, made a pronunciamiento
in a favour of Yusuf al-Muzaffar, the imprisoned brother of al-Muqtadir
, recently deceased ruler of Zaragoza
, and rebelled against al-Mu'tamin, al-Muqtadir's son and successor. At the same time Ibn al-Royolo, who had brought Denia
to al-Muqtadir in 1076, was now suspected of intriguing with Alfonso VI against al-Mu'tamin. Further, a recently failed embassy led by Sisnando Davidiz to the court of Zaragoza may have warmed Alfonso to the invitation of Albofalac to take part in his revolt, which he eventually requested. Alfonso sent an army under Ramiro Garcés and Gonzalo Salvadórez
, lord of Lara. Ramiro and Gonzalo held talks with Yusuf, now free (Albofalac had been his jailer), who may have urged them to request the king's presence. Alfonso did appear, but only for a short while. After his departure, Yusuf suddenly died. Albofalac, through Ramiro, then invited Alfonso to take possession of his castle of Rueda, and the king sent Ramiro and Gonzalo under a safe conduct. When they and their men entered the castle, they were massacred by the garrison, who pelted them with stones.
The disaster is placed in 1084 by the Annales Compostellani
, Chronicon Iriense
, Chronicon Burgense
, and Annales Complutenses. The date of the Historia Roderici, however is confirmed by the Chronica Naierensis
and has the support of Ramón Menéndez Pidal
, Antonio Ubieto Arteta, R. A. Fletcher, and B. F. Reilly.
Nájera
Nájera is a small town located in the "Rioja Alta" region of La Rioja, Spain on the river Najerilla. Nájera is a stopping point on the Way of St James.-History:...
and Calahorra
Calahorra
Calahorra, , La Rioja, Spain is a municipality in the comarca of Rioja Baja, near the border with Navarre on the right bank of the Ebro. During ancient Roman times, Calahorra was a municipium known as Calagurris.-Location:...
and a major figure at the courts of both Navarre
Kingdom of Navarre
The Kingdom of Navarre , originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean....
and Castile
Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
. He was ambushed and killed while trying to take possession of a castle 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...
.
In Navarre
Ramiro is first mentioned in a charter of his father's dated 18 April, probably 1052, as an infans. Still an infans, he confirmed a charter on 11 March 1055, during the reign of his brother, Sancho IVSancho IV of Navarre
Sancho IV Garcés , called Sancho of Peñalén or Sancho the Noble, was King of Navarre from 1054 to 1076. He was the eldest son and heir of García Sánchez III and Estefanía....
. On 19 March 1058, still just infans, he confirmed a grant of Gomesano, Bishop of Calahorra. On 20 July 1062 Ranimirus infans, Garsea rex prolis (infante Ramiro, child of king García) donated property to the prior of San Martín de Albelda
San Martín de Albelda
San Martín de Albelda was a Riojan monastery, whose ruins now lie within the municipal boundaries of Albelda de Iregua. It was an important and advanced cultural centre in Spain and western Europe during the tenth century....
, which was confirmed by the then lord of Calahorra, Fortún Garcés. The will of queen Stephania, dated 1066, bequeathed some property to Ramiro, who is referred to as in Sancto Stephano in a charter of Sancho IV's of 17 April 1072. He appears as domnus Ranimirus, dominator Sanacti Stefani (lord Ramiro, lord of Saint Stephen) on 6 August that year. He can be seen subsequently involved in the politics of the neighbouring Kingdom of Aragon
Kingdom of Aragon
The Kingdom of Aragon was a medieval and early modern kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain...
, when he witnessed a charter of Garsias [...] Aragonensium episcopus (García [...] bishop of the Aragonese) introducing the Augustinian rule into the cathedral of San Pedro de Jaca (1076/9), using only the formula regis filius (son of the king).
In Castile
In 1076 Sancho IV was assassinated, leaving infant heirs, and the kingdom's neighbors pounced on the opportunity. The western provinces were annexed by Alfonso VI of CastileAlfonso 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...
while in Pamplona
Pamplona
Pamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...
, the capital, Sancho Ramírez of Aragon was elected king by the nobles. Bernard Reilly believed that Ramiro became a ward of Alfonso VI at Nájera in June and July 1076, but as Ramiro must have been an adult this seems unlikely. He was certainly at the Castilian court by 3 September 1079, however, when he and his sister Ermesinda signed confirmed a charter of Aldefonsus (Alfonso) imperator totius Hispanie. Ermesinda married Fortún Sánchez
Fortún Sánchez
Fortún Sánchez , called Bono Patre , was a Navarrese nobleman and courtier . He had the same wet nurse as King Sancho Garcés III, and was a regular presence at his court from the start of his majority in 1011 until his death in 1035...
, while Ramiro's other sister, Urraca, married García Ordóñez
García Ordóñez
García Ordóñez , called de Nájera or de Cabra and in the epic literature Crispus or el Crespo de Grañón, was a Castilian magnate who ruled the Rioja from Nájera from 1080 until his death. He is famous in literature as the rival of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, the Cid, whose high position at court he...
, a powerful Castilian magnate.
Ramiro appears as lord of Calahorra between 1076 and 1082. On 18 April 1081 and again on 27 May 1085 he donated property to Santa María la Real of Nájera, which his father had founded, and he donated a servant to San Martín de Albelda on 23 January 1082.
Death
The tragic circumstances surrounding Ramiro's death are narrated at length by the Historia RodericiHistoria Roderici
The Historia Roderici , originally Gesta Roderici Campi Docti and sometimes in Spanish Crónica latina del Cid , is an anonymous Latin prose history of the Castilian folk hero Rodrigo Díaz, better known as El Cid Campeador.It is generally written in a simple, unadorned Latin by...
. In December 1082 Albofalac, the governor of Rueda de Jalón
Rueda de Jalón
Rueda de Jalón is a municipality located in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 360 inhabitants....
, made a pronunciamiento
Pronunciamiento
A pronunciamiento is a form of military rebellion or coup d'état peculiar to Spain and the Spanish American republics, particularly in the 19th century...
in a favour of Yusuf al-Muzaffar, the imprisoned brother of al-Muqtadir
Ahmad al-Muqtadir
Ahmad ibn Sulayman al-Muqtadir was a member of the Banu Hud family who ruled the Islamic taifa of Zaragoza, in what is now Spain, from 1049 to 1082. He was the son of the previous ruler, Al-Mustain I, Sulayman ibn Hud al-Judhami.-References:*...
, recently deceased ruler of Zaragoza
Taifa of Zaragoza
The taifa of Zaragoza was an independent Muslim state in Moorish Al-Andalus, present day eastern Spain, which was established in 1018 as one of the taifa kingdoms, which emerged in the 11th century following the destruction of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the Moorish Iberian Peninsula.During the...
, and rebelled against al-Mu'tamin, al-Muqtadir's son and successor. At the same time Ibn al-Royolo, who had brought Denia
Taifa of Dénia
The taifa of Dénia was a Muslim kingdom in medieval Spain, ruling over part of the Valencian coast and Ibiza. With Dénia as its capital, the taifa included the Balearic Islands and parts of the Spanish mainland.- History :...
to al-Muqtadir in 1076, was now suspected of intriguing with Alfonso VI against al-Mu'tamin. Further, a recently failed embassy led by Sisnando Davidiz to the court of Zaragoza may have warmed Alfonso to the invitation of Albofalac to take part in his revolt, which he eventually requested. Alfonso sent an army under Ramiro Garcés and Gonzalo Salvadórez
Gonzalo Salvadórez
Gonzalo Salvadórez , "called Cuatro Manos on account of his great valour", was one of the most powerful Castilian noblemen of his era, a kinsman of the Lara family, and by tradition, descendant of the Counts of Castile...
, lord of Lara. Ramiro and Gonzalo held talks with Yusuf, now free (Albofalac had been his jailer), who may have urged them to request the king's presence. Alfonso did appear, but only for a short while. After his departure, Yusuf suddenly died. Albofalac, through Ramiro, then invited Alfonso to take possession of his castle of Rueda, and the king sent Ramiro and Gonzalo under a safe conduct. When they and their men entered the castle, they were massacred by the garrison, who pelted them with stones.
The disaster is placed in 1084 by the Annales Compostellani
Annales Compostellani
The Annales Compostellani or Anales castellanos terceros are a set of Latin annals found in, and named after, Santiago de Compostela...
, Chronicon Iriense
Chronicon Iriense
The Chronicon Iriense is a short Latin chronicle of the Diocese of Iria Flavia, modern Santiago de Compostela, during the period beginning in 561 and ending in 982. It is usually found appended to the Historia Compostellana in medieval manuscripts, though it is also found in twelfth-century...
, Chronicon Burgense
Chronicon Burgense
The Chronicon Burgense is a collection of Latin annals that, together with the Annales Compostellani and the Chronicon Ambrosianum, may form a group of related histories sometimes called the Efemérides riojanas because they may have been compiled in La Rioja...
, and Annales Complutenses. The date of the Historia Roderici, however is confirmed by the Chronica Naierensis
Chronica Naierensis
The Chronica Naierensis or Crónica najerense was a late twelfth-century chronicle of universal history composed at the Benedictine monastery of Santa María la Real in Nájera...
and has the support of Ramón Menéndez Pidal
Ramón Menéndez Pidal
Ramón Menéndez Pidal was a Spanish philologist and historian. He worked extensively on the history of the Spanish language and Spanish folklore and folk poetry. One of his main topics was the history and legend of The Cid....
, Antonio Ubieto Arteta, R. A. Fletcher, and B. F. Reilly.
Sources
- Barton, Simon. 1997. The Aristocracy in Twelfth-Century León and Castile. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Barton, Simon and Richard A. Fletcher, edd. 2000. The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0 719 05226 2.
- Fletcher, Richard A. 1989. The Quest for El Cid. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0 394 57447 8.
- Reilly, Bernard F. 1988. The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI, 1065–1109. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
External links
- Kings of Navarre: Chapter 2, Part 1. García V 1035–1054, Sancho IV 1054–1076 at the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy's Medieval Lands Project