Alfonso III (c. 848 – 20 December 910), called the Great (Spanish: el Magno), was king of Asturias from 866 until his death. He was the son and successor of Ordoño I. After his death, the Kingdom of Asturias was split between his sons, with García inheriting León, Ordoño inheriting Galicia, and Fruela inheriting Asturias.
In later sources, he is the earliest to be called "Emperor of Spain." He was also titled "Prince of all Galicia" (Princeps totius Galletiae).
The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León. The kings of León fought civil wars, wars against neighbouring kingdoms and campaigns by both the Moors and the Vikings, all in order to protect their kingdom's changing fortunes.
García is the first of the kings described by the charters as reigning in León. It is generally assumed that the old Asturian kingdom was divided among the three sons of Alfonso III of Asturias: García (León), Ordoño (Galicia) and Fruela (Asturias), as all three participated in deposing their father. When García died in 914, León went to Ordoño, who now ruled both León and Galicia as Ordoño II. At Ordoño's death in 924, the throne went to his brother Fruela II (924–925), who died of leprosy a year later. Fruela's death in 925 was followed by a civil war, after which Alfonso, the eldest son of Ordoño II, emerged as the new king Alfonso IV, ruling from 925 to 932. After a further power struggle, Ramiro, the younger brother of Alfonso IV, became king in 932, having captured his brother Alfonso, as well as the three sons of Fruela II – Alfonso, Ordoño and Ramiro. Alfonso IV may have died soon after, but he left two infant sons, called Ordoño and Fruela. When Ramiro died in 951, he left two sons by two different wives. When the elder son Ordoño III, who ruled from 951 to 956, suddenly died aged little more than thirty, he was succeeded by his younger half-brother Sancho I "The Fat" (956–966), as Ordoño had failed to produce a legitimate heir.
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. In the early 10th century, the Kingdom of Galicia was formed following the division of the Kingdom of Asturias after the death of Alfonso III in 910. His sons split the kingdom, with Ordoño II inheriting Galicia. While Galicia became a distinct political entity, it remained closely tied to the Leonese and Asturian realms through dynastic connections. Later, Ordoño II would integrate Galicia into the Kingdom of León when he inherited the latter. Though the Kingdom of Galicia had moments of semi-independence, it was typically seen as part of the Kingdom of León. Compostela became the capital of Galicia in the 11th century, while the independence of Portugal (1128) determined its southern boundary. The accession of Castilian King Ferdinand III to the Leonese kingdom in 1230 brought Galicia under the control of the Crown of Castile.
Galicia resisted central control and supported a series of alternative claimants, including John of León, Galicia and Seville (1296), Ferdinand I of Portugal (1369) and John of Gaunt (1386) and was not brought firmly into submission until the Catholic Monarchs imposed the Santa Hermandad in Galicia. The Kingdom of Galicia was then administered within the Crown of Castile (1490–1715) and later the Crown of Spain (1715–1833) by an Audiencia Real directed by a Governor which also held the office of Captain General and President. The representative assembly of the Kingdom was then the Junta or Cortes of the Kingdom of Galicia, which briefly declared itself sovereign when Galicia remained free of Napoleonic occupation (except during January–July 1809). The kingdom and its Junta were dissolved by Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Regent of Spain, in 1834.
García I (c. 871 – 914) was the King of León from 910 until his death and eldest of three succeeding sons of Alfonso III of Asturias by his wife Jimena.
García took part in the government alongside his father until 909. In that year a conspiracy, in which García was implicated, was uncovered. Alfonso renounced the throne and divided the realm among his three sons. León went to García, Galicia to Ordoño, and Asturias to Fruela. Asturian primacy was nevertheless recognised.
Fruela II (c. 874–August 925) was the king of Asturias from 910 to 924 and king of León from 924 to 925. His father was Alfonso III of Asturias and his mother was Jimena. In 910 Fruela and two of his brothers deposed their father, Alfonso, and divided the kingdom amongst themselves. Fruela, the youngest brother, took the original portion (Asturias); Ordoño took Galicia; and García, the eldest, took León. Although Fruela called himself king of a much-diminished Asturias, evidence suggests that his role was subordinate to the king of León.
This is a list of the rulers of the Kingdom of Asturias, a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula during the Early Middle Ages. It originated as a refuge for Visigothic nobles following the conquest of Iberia by the Umayyad Caliphate. Following the forced abdication of Alfonso III by his sons in 910, the kingdom was split into three: Asturias, León, and Galicia. All three were reunited in 924 under the Kingdom of León.
For later kings, see the list of Leonese monarchs and the list of Galician monarchs. From 1388, the title Prince of Asturias has been used for the heirs to the Castillian and Spanish thrones.
Jimena of Asturias (died 912), also known as Jimena of Pamplona was queen consort of Asturias from 869 to 910.
She was married to Alfonso III of Asturias. She originally came from Pamplona.