Following the collapse of the Visigothic Kingdom in Iberia to the Muslim invaders from Maghreb at the start of the 8^th century a new series of polities would begin to emerge in the region of Iberia north of the Cantabrian mountains that would eventually grow to encompass the rest of the peninsula throughout the next several centuries. With such a rapid shift in power structures and relationships with the establishment of Al-Andalus new Christian rulers used a variety of tactics besides military conquest and religious means in order to create a new base of legitimacy and authority for themselves such as bending trade, legal infrastructure, local cultural customs and their own personal dynastic histories. These methods laid the foundations for new rulers to exercise their authority over a volatile and constantly shifting political and cultural climate.

One of the primary and most unique methods through which the new dynasties of Christian rulers established themselves was through the use of dynastic chronicles, focusing on the Chronicle of Alfonso III in this instance. As it stands presently, there are extremely limited sources detailing exactly what transpired in the region that gave rise to the Kingdom of Asturias immediately following the Muslim invasion during the early to mid-8^th-century. Seemingly, one of the best sources for this time period is a series of chronicles written during the following two centuries detailing the primary actors in the region and their accomplishments. However, upon closer inspection there begins to arise a pattern in the ways this turbulent period is described by those looking back on it. These chronicles can be considered as primary sources not for the 8^th century in which they most detail, but for how the people of the 20^th century viewed and made sense of the events of the 8^th century. To be even more specific, the “people” refers to those who were involved in its creation, namely the namesake of this particular chronicle, King Alfonso III and his court who are the most likely authors. The Chronicle of Alfonso III specifically details a line of kings beginning with Visigothic Kings of the 7^th century and ending with Alfonso III himself, with one of its main focuses being on the exploits of a certain King Alfonso I, who of which there is very little corroborating evidence to have actually existed (Rosenwein 2018). To establish some context, Alfonso III did much to expand the small pocket that was his Kingdom of Asturias, so much so that not only was the kingdom able to be split into 3 separate realms upon his death amongst his sons, but his reign also began a strong cultural and religious link to the more powerful Christian realms to the north-east. This expansion necessitated a greater degree of control, and thus Alfonso III likely sought for was to increase his standing amongst his subjects. By this avenue of thinking, it has be theorized that Alfonso I had either had his life greatly exaggerated or had been nearly completely fabricated in order to serve as a “discourse node” through which Alfonso III could garner legitimacy for his own reign (Escalona 2004). By establishing new characters that would serve as the ‘founders’ of the new realm, but also connecting himself to the Visigothic dynasties without needing to bear the liabilities for their swift defeat at the hands of the Muslims Alfonso III had created means through which to establish himself as a core pillar at the foundation of his burgeoning kingdom.

Another way the Christian kings established themselves and their authority throughout their growing realms was through the different legal systems of each realm. Following similar inheritance laws as the Visigoths, the splitting of the realm of Alfonso III started the trend of fracturing kingdoms that would go one to develop unique systems of governance, as evidenced by the vastly different systems in place in Castile and the Crown of Aragon for instance. As time progressed and so did the expansion of the Christian kingdoms, the county of Castile evolved into the most powerful polity in Iberia and understanding the internal structures that allowed this to come about is critical for understanding the future of the Spanish kingdom. As Castile grows and its presence becomes more and more prominent in Iberia its impact on trade and resulting influence the monarch had on regulating trade became more and more intertwined with the realm laws of Castile- particularly during the rule of Alfonso VIII, as we can see the changes undergone since the times of Alfonso III and how the new territories and its associated peoples and resources came to impact the kingdom during a shift in the balance of power of Iberia away from Al-Andalus (Rosenwein 2018). For an earlier example, one can look to an exchange charter in the earlier kingdom of Asturias-Leon. Asturias-Leon emerged from the conflict between brothers following the death of Alfonso III when these two realms were originally split, and while not comparable to exchange charters of other Christian realms at the time in size, the data present particularly in regard to transactions between lay people give a glimpse into how the wider developments of the realm from both external (territory gain, conquest, etc.) and internal (monarch authority, religious matters, cultural and technological developments) factors affect the primary subjects of a Christian realm in Iberia (Davies 2019).

The economic prosperity of the realm certainly keeps a ruler’s position stable, but when changes need to be made a power exercised a ruler with no effective control over the state apparatus will not be able to inflict their will. In the reverse sense, rulers needing to expand their legitimacy and control over newly conquered lands, territory under control of powerful nobles with entrenched traditions, or just another ethnic group have made use of the legal and justice system to expand their authority. While it was difficult for rulers to truly ruler directly until later into the early modern era, medieval Iberian kings made use of judges that would only be acting on behalf of the king (Viso 2017). One of the most important institutions for rulers was the Cortes in which a large gathering of subjects representing different classes could petition the king and he could respond in kind with direct decrees. While it may seem to be a mechanism for the populace to better communicate their concerns to the monarch, no other system could have allowed the ruler to directly impose his will on most of his most important subjects so efficiently.

A final example of an element that monarchs used to lay the foundations for new realms was in the unique cultural practices from north of the Cantabrian Mountains. While prior to the Muslim invasion Christians had been spread all throughout Iberia, the kingdoms that would develop into Spain and Portugal had their beginnings in the Kingdom of Asturias, which was isolated to the relatively small and isolated northern region of what we would also call Asturias today. The fact that the only independent Christian realm was limited to this area for more than a century can narrow down our field of research when analyzing those time periods such as the 8^th century when there are very little primary documents. This cultural focus on the mountainous territory means that the locations of settlements and eventually cities has remained relatively unchanged through the ages (Cortina and Díaz-Guardamino 2015).

By analyzing contemporary documents and researching the contexts in which they were written combined with modern analyses can give us a clear picture on the different methods of that Christian Iberian kings used to establish not only their own rule but propping up their growing realms in a turbulent time. The benefits of understanding the structures behind the rise of the new Christian kingdoms lies not only in understanding the society of Iberia throughout the rest of history up to present, but also towards wider subjects such as the effect Spain and Portugal had on the events of colonialism during the early modern age and the following decolonialism trends which had global ramifications.

Works Cited

Cortina, Miguel Ángel de Blas, and Marta Díaz-Guardamino. 2015. Megaliths and Holy Places in the Genesis of the Kingdom of Asturias (North of Spain, Ad 718–910). The Lives of Prehistoric Monuments in Iron Age, Roman, and Medieval Europe. Oxford University Press. https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780198724605.001.0001/isbn-9780198724605-book-part-18.

Davies, Wendy. 2019. Exchange Charters in the Kingdom of Asturias-León, 700–1000. Christian Spain and Portugal in the Early Middle Ages. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429326653-5.

Escalona, Julio. 2004. Family Memories. Inventing Alfonso I of Asturias. Brill Academic Publishers. https://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/44838.

Rosenwein, Barbara H. 2018. Reading the Middle Ages: Sources from Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic World, Second Edition. 3rd ed. University of Toronto Press.

Viso, Iñaki Martín. 2017. “Authority and Justice in the Formation of the Kingdom of Asturias–León.” Al-Masāq 29 (2): 114–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/09503110.2017.1349979.