I.- Brief description of the time and place where Urraca was born and lived
In the first place, it must be clarified that at that time there was not a very strict registry of births, not even of people of royal blood. Urraca was probably born around the year 1080 in León, although it is possible that she was born in Sahagún.
She was the daughter of Alfonso VI, King of León, Castile and Galicia and Constance of Burgundy.
Alfonso VI had inherited the kingdom of León on the death of his father Fernando I in 1065, while his brothers Sancho II and García I received Castile and Galicia respectively. After a series of confrontations between the three brothers, Alfonso lost his kingdom at the hands of Sancho II and had to take refuge in the Taifa of Toledo. But finally, in the year 1072, Sancho died in the siege of Zamora and Alfonso VI took over the three kingdoms that his father had divided among his sons and returned to unify Leon, Castile and Galicia under his scepter. .
II.- The death of the heir of Alfonso VI
In principle, it was not planned that Urraca would be the heiress of Alfonso VI. This king came to have six wives and several mistresses. But although he had several descendants, only one of them was male. His name is Sancho Alfonsez and he was the son of the king and his relationship with the Muslim Zaida, a union with several questions that would give for another post. But for the purposes that interest us today, it should be noted that Sancho died facing the Almoravids in the battle of Uclés in 1108, when his father was still alive. This left a complicated succession situation.
III.- The complicated succession of Alfonso VI
The eldest of the living descendants of Alfonso VI after the death of Sancho Alfonsez, Urraca, was a widow. Her husband, Raimundo de Borgoña, had died in the year 1107. Both had been appointed counts of Galicia and two children had been born from the marriage, Sancha and Alfonso Raimúndez, the future Alfonso VII. This posed two problems:at that time, with the threat of the Almoravids very present, it was seen as very risky to leave the kingdom in the hands of a woman without a husband who would support her militarily. In addition, Raymond of Burgundy's family had very powerful supporters (his brother Guido was archbishop of Vienne and became pope) and were willing to defend the rights of Raymond's son, the future Alfonso VII, at all costs.
In addition, Alfonso VI had had more daughters with other women. One of them, Teresa, had married another Burgundian, Enrique, and they had been designated counts of Portugal. Surely they thought that either they and their descendants could be the heirs of Alfonso VI or, failing that, they could take advantage of the complex situation after the king's death to turn Portugal into an independent kingdom.
IV.- The death of Alfonso VI
Although Alfonso VI did not take long to die (he did so in 1109, just one year after the death of his son), he had time to establish and approve that his successor would be Urraca. But at that time it was unthinkable that he would do it without having arranged a marriage for her to ensure what was seen as necessary support in the government and in the military. There were two possibilities in relation to the choice of husband for Urraca:either a Castilian or Leonese nobleman or a monarch from another kingdom.
The first option presented the problem that elevating a nobleman from the kingdom to the throne could lead to a confrontation with the rest of the magnates, although it was probably the most desired option by Urraca, who had two lovers among the Castilian nobility, Count Gómez González and Pedro González de Lara and that she would surely have seen favorably if one of them became her husband.
And for the second option (a monarch from another kingdom) the most obvious choice was the King of Aragon, Alfonso I the Battler, a relative of Alfonso VI and one of the main military leaders in the fight against the Almoravids.
Finally, this was the option that was imposed, although the sources disagree on whether it was Alfonso VI himself who made the decision before he died (although the marriage was not celebrated until after his death) or if it was pressure from the nobles. of the kingdom after the death of Alfonso VI which forced Urraca to marry the King of Aragon. In any case, she was the one she married.
V.- The marriage of Urraca with Alfonso I of Aragón
The union between the queen of Leon and the king of Aragin was a complete and utter disaster. Both Alfonso and Urraca had strong personalities. She was not a teenager who had just left her parents' house, but a full-fledged woman, who had already been married and had been a mother, who had government experience as Countess of Galicia and who was willing to defend her rights as queen. and as a woman.
In fact, in the marriage agreements, although Urraca declares that "I give you all my land that belonged to King Alfonso" and the Aragonese was recognized with the title of imperator totius Hispaniae , however, it is added that this commitment is linked to an obligation on the part of the Aragonese:«you must honor his wife as a good man». Failure to comply with this obligation would entail political consequences on the jurisdiction of Alfonso I in the Leonese kingdom.
As for Alfonso I, he was a man dedicated to military life and who preferred to be in the company of his soldiers than women. It is not easy to pronounce on the sexual inclinations of someone who lived almost a thousand years ago, in addition to the fact that it is an absurd and rather sterile debate. What does seem to be possible to say about Alfonso I is that he was a misogynist. Urraca accused him of physical and psychological abuse.
In addition, between the two there were many clashes in the political and government spheres, which led Alfonso to invade the kingdom of his wife, occupying cities, capturing and deposing bishops and looting and murdering at close range. Such was the fame of the forces of the Aragonese king that the Historia Compostela describes that his army was made up of "reprobates, murderers, malefactors, fornicators, adulterers, thieves, wicked, kidnappers, sacrilegious, enchanters, diviners and execrable apostates"
VI.- The dissolution of the Urraca-Alfonso I marriage
The relationship between both spouses was very stormy with several separations and frustrated attempts at reconciliation. In addition, it must be taken into account that their union was a threat to the rights of the son of Urraca and Raimundo de Borgoña, Alfonso Raimúndez, who had great support. The Burgundian party was especially strong among the ecclesiastical hierarchy and they finally got the marriage annulled on the hackneyed excuse of consanguinity between the spouses.
VII.- Urraca's relationship with hers, her son Alfonso Raimúndez, the future Alfonso VII
The relationship between mother and son was complicated. We have already seen that Alfonso had important supporters who defended that it should be he and not his mother who wore the crown. And two of these men who supported him, the Bishop of Compostela Diego Gelmírez and Count Pedro Froilaz, had in common that they both came from Galicia.
It must be remembered that in Galicia for many years there had existed, at the time of the Visigothic domination of the peninsula, an independent Suebi kingdom. And that, during the time of the Asturian monarchy, insurrections by Galician nobles had been frequent. In addition, we have already commented that when Ferdinand I made his will, he divided his domains into the kingdoms of León, Castile and Galicia, which thus saw his expectations of becoming a kingdom temporarily fulfilled.
Therefore, there was a very powerful movement in Galicia that sought independence from León and tried to rely on the figure of Alfonso Raimúndez, who was crowned king of Galicia in 1111.
Urraca had to use a lot of left hand in relations with her son and she gave a coup when in 1117 she gave him the government in the area of Toledo. This, on the one hand, separated him from the bellicose Galicia and, on the other, allowed him to join the government of the kingdom and polish himself in the tasks that he would have to perform when he was king.
VIII.- Her relationship with her sister Teresa, Countess of Portugal
Urraca's half-sister, Teresa, and her husband, Enrique de Borgoña, counts of Portugal, played their cards at all times to prosper within the kingdom of León, and alliances and discrepancies alternated in their relations with Urraca, with various attempts to oppose the queen. and side with her husband Alfonso I of Aragon. Teresa already pointed to the independence of Portugal, although this would take place during the reigns of the sons of Urraca (Alfonso VII) and Teresa (Alfonso Henriques, first king of Portugal).
IX.- The communal revolts in Sahagún and Compostela
Within the description of the reign of Urraca it is necessary to refer to two social movements, the communal revolts in Sahagún and Compostela. These were two rebellions with common factors but also with differential elements that Urraca had to deal with and in which he went through difficult times. In Sahagún (supported by Alfonso I of Aragón), the rebels came to prohibit him from entering the monastery where his father was buried. And in Compostela Urraca became outraged and humiliated, to the point that she was stripped naked, insulted and showered with objects in the streets of the city.
About what happened to the queen, the History of Compostela offers the following story:
When her mob saw her come out of it, they rushed at her, seized her and threw her on the ground in a quagmire, snatched her like wolves and tore her clothes; she with her naked body from her chest to the bottom and in front of everyone she lay on the ground for a long time shamefully. Also many of her wanted to stone her, and among them an old woman from Compostela seriously injured her with a stone on the cheek. […] Finally the queen, with disheveled hair, her body naked and covered in mud, escaped from her and reached the same church in which the bishop was hiding.
But she was finally able to solve both situations and continued her reign until her death in 1126. She was succeeded by her son Emperor Alfonso VII.
X.- Assessment of the reign of Urraca
Traditionally it has not been very benevolent with it. But it must be taken into account that the two main contemporary chronicles that have come down to us from her reign (the Historia Compostelana and the Anonymous Sahagún ) were written in the two towns that she faced and written by characters of religious origin who exude tremendous misogyny. For example, she is criticized a lot for the issue of her lovers, in which there is (still at this time) a double standard between kings and queens.
Today a review is imposed in which the positive aspects of her government are highlighted. It is pointed out that obviously her reign had its lights and shadows, but as it has those of any male king of the time. It is especially valued that, despite threats such as those from Alfonso I of Aragon, the Almoravids, the county of Portugal or the wishes of Galicia for independence, Urraca was able (after seventeen years of government) to deliver intact the kingdom that he received from his father Alfonso VI to his son Alfonso VII. And she did it in a period of complex economic situation, since the Almoravid invasion caused the loss of the considerable income that her grandfather Fernando I and her father Alfonso VI received as outcasts. This made it difficult to maintain a powerful army to deal with threats to her reign.
What can be affirmed without a doubt is that the figure of Urraca I constitutes a character whose story, which I have only sketched here in broad strokes, is exciting and one of the longest chapters of the book De the war to unification. History of León and Castile from 1037 to 1252 , source of this entry.
