First I want to make a clarification. Whoever comes to read this entry looking for controversies, positioning on current political problems or arguments for or against any of these positions, is in the wrong forum. This is an entry about events that occurred in the 12th century and does not intend t
The origins of the County of Castile date back to an administrative division of the Astur-Leonese kingdom that emerged in the 8th century after the Arab conquest of the Peninsula. The county was originally located in the area of Bardulia (to the north of the province of Burgos), so called by the t
Entry taken from the book The Plantagenets That of Berengaria of Navarre, wife of Richard the Lionheart and Queen of England, is a peculiar case in history. Always in the shadow of her charismatic husband, for most historians she has not deserved more than a line to highlight that she is the only
Entry taken from the book The Plantagenets We finish the first entry dedicated to Berengaria de Navarra, with the death of her husband Ricardo Corazón de León. If she had produced an heir to Ricardo, her future would have continued to be linked to high politics, either as regent or as in charge o
Blanca of Castile was the daughter of the Castilian King Alfonso VIII and Eleanor Plantagenet. Her mother was in turn the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and sister of the English kings Richard the Lionheart and John the Landless. The link with the dauphin Louis took place
After the Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in the year 711, a task of recovering the territories of Roman and Visigothic Hispania began almost immediately, which would take more than seven centuries conclude. In this period the ever-increasing Christian possessions were formed into different
Entry extracted from the book «From war to unification. History of León and Castile from 1037 to 1252». Alfonso VII had risen to the throne in 1126, on the death of his mother, Doña Urraca. The first years of his reign were marked by struggles with his mothers former husband, the King of Aragon
The most representative symbol of British royalty is the State Imperial Crown , the crown that British monarchs have worn since Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837 in the most solemn acts such as coronations and opening sessions of Parliament. This crown boasts an impressive multitude of price
Entry taken from the book The Plantagenets Two of the best-known monarchs of the Middle Ages in Europe were Alfonso X the Wise of Castile and Edward I of England, known as the Hammer of the Scots. In the blog and in some collaboration on other pages there are several entries dedicated to the famous
Todays post takes us back to the convulsive early years of the Christian peninsular kingdoms, in which they were so busy trying to define their borders and their own identity against to the rest of the monarchies descended from the Visigoths as well as to gain ground from the Muslim occupants of the
Alphonse II the Chaste , son of queen Petronila de Aragón and the count of Barcelona and prince of Aragón Ramón Berenguer IV ascended to the Aragonese throne in 1164. Like all the monarchs of the time, one of the main concerns was the choice of a wife who would serve the game of dynastic alliances a
Entry taken from the book The Plantagenets In previous blog posts we have talked about Pedro I of Castile, his relationship with María de Padilla and how to strengthen his alliance with England in the civil war he was waging against Henry of Trastámara for the throne of Castile, arranged the marriag
Now that TV has made the figure fashionable of Isabel I of Castile, the female part of the Catholic Monarchs, I would like to refer to a little-known matter of this important historical figure:blood from the famous English dynasty of the Plantagenets ran through his veins, which produced well-known
Maria de Padilla Pedro I of Castile, known as El Cruel, acceded to the Castilian throne in 1350, after the death of his father Alfonso XI. His reign marked by the constant fights with his multiple enemies, both within Castile and outside of it and by his love affairs. Among his Castilian enemies
If I have learned anything from writing the articles on this blog, it is that when you tell a story from History, other stories tangentially come your way that you have to leave aside because otherwise it would be impossible to focus on what you want to tell. Hence the much-used use on my blog of th
If there is a spy on which rivers of ink have been spilled, it is without a doubt Sidney Reilly. Ian Fleming himself, author of the series of novels starring James Bond and himself a member of the British secret services for a time, acknowledged that in building the personality of the famous spy he
One of the questions that always arises when a king abdicates his throne is the problem of the shadow that his presence and activities can pose to the new monarch and for the country. Perhaps one of the clearest examples of the headache that an abdication can cause is the case of the British King Ed
Kim Philby is surely the most famous British spy working for the Soviets in history. For years he held a position in the British secret services while passing all the information that came into his hands to the Russians. What few people know is that during the Spanish civil war Philby received the r
The history of the medieval Nordic kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden and Norway is closely linked. On several occasions the kings of Denmark were also kings of Sweden and, above all, of Norway. However, the case of Magnus the Good is a unique assumption, since he was the only Norwegian to occupy the thron
In a previous blog entry we have talked about the close and not always friendly relations between the Scandinavian kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden and Norway during the Middle Ages. One of the most important periods of these relations was the so-called Kalmar Union , which meant the unification of the t
Terror of the year 1000, story of a fabrication. “It was a universal belief in the Middle Ages that the world was to end with the year one thousand of the incarnation […] This end of such a sad world was all together the hope and the dread of the Middle Ages. » Jules Michelet (1798-1874), Histo
A decisive step in the Hispanic historical evolution was the occupation of the peninsular lands by the Roman armies. The starting point was the struggle sustained by the then Roman republic with Carthage, which it had occupied, in the middle of the third century before Christ , the Iberian Peninsula
Claude Nicolas Ledoux , architect of neoclassical art and visionary of the Age of Enlightenment , by cubism, surrealism is recognized today as one of the very first architects of its time. Inspired by antiquity, he draws volumes with a precise and balanced geometry. His credo was the well-being of m
With this bull, Pope Clement V (ve), ordered on March 22, 1312 the complete dissolution of the powerful Order of the Temple, but... who were the Knights Templar?. It was the year 1120 and in Jerusalem Hugo de Payens Together with several of his closest friends, they founded the so-called Order of t