“We have nought but our faith in god to guide us through this turmoil. Our food is short and our kings are weak. Action must be taken against our incapable monarch. Gods work must be completed if we are to save our peoples from the catholic heathens who wish to slaughter us all.”
Contrary to the accounts in Al-Andalus, the reverse appears true for Asturias. In contrast with the dreary, poor developments of its European neighbours, Asturias appears to break the trend of the so-called 'dark ages'. Its trade links through the Mediterranean gave the lands access to goods and technologies from Byzantium and along the Silk road. Growing populations allowed kings to wield greater armies, and land owners to grow filthy rich off excess food and fine luxuries.
-exert from
Prof. Carlos Verdana's: History of the Asturian Kings(1950)
(Prominent Marxist historian)
Muño I Emperor of the Spanish and King of Leon
In the year of our lord 1030, the Pope granted Muño King of Leon and Asturias the title, Emperor of all the Spanish. The coronation ceremony had been set at the 8th of August in the capital of Leon. Festivals and feasts were held throughout the capital to celebrate the momentous occasion. Emissaries from all over Europe arrived in the capital to pay homage to the second European Emperor.
The coronation of Emperor Muño was a spectacle to behold. Although not a grand a spectacle as that of the Holy Roman Emperor, the event still reverberated around Europe. The name Muño was on the lips of every ruler from Arabia to Iceland. Feasts and tournaments were held for days in the capital of Léon, the Castillo de la santa proving its age was barely able to accommodate for the crowning ceremony, let alone all the guests arriving for the feast.
The tournament was a spectacle to behold. Knights from all four corners competed on the kings grounds, with Spanish Knight Rodrigo de Cantabria earning second place, bested only by Knight Philippe 'the giant' of France. Immediately after the event, the Emperor was bombarded with marriage requests from the Kings of Europe. The King entered into an alliance with the King of Lombardy and Lower Lorraine. Such alliances would keep the Islamic invaders away and prevent the Spanish nobility from rebelling, notably Arias de Castilla.
Muño is crowned Emperor of all the Spanish by the Pope
Following the inadequacy of the royal court for holding the event at the Castillo de la Santa, the Emperor ordered the construction of a new Imperial palace near Pollos and Tordesillas. The Palace to be built on the banks of the Duero River would be the image of Imperial splendour. The palace however would not be completed in his lifetime, and is still not completed as of the reign of Guzmán I. The construction site lays half finished, the hulk of a hall stands near the banks, with what appears to be the outline of an wall system. Reports suggest the Emperor became bored of his construction, instead wanting to focus on reforming the Imperial retinue.
Construction of the new Castle near Tordesillas
The Emperors new reforms saw much of the original retinue dismissed, many of the knights had simply inherited their position from the original Spanish and Portuguese men brought into the army and as such, the army had seen better days. Muño's reform saw new Occitan knights and highland German mercenaries known as 'the Swiss' take the place of unreliable or unfit knights in the Imperial retinue. Although the new foreign warriors cost far more than the original Royal Retinue, the reforms were much needed to improve the quality of Muño's personal military.
As newly crowned Emperor, Muño set about transforming his realm. The succession laws were changed, the dukes no longer had the right to elect their monarch. The title would be inherited on an agnatic-cognatic primogeniture basis. The Emperor also abolished the title of the Kingdom of Asturias to centralise the realm around one crown and throne. From now on, Leon would be only kingdom held by the crown, under which the vast majority of the nobility served. The king also enacted the King's peace Law, a law which prevented the nobility of the kingdom from declaring war on each other, much of the smaller nobles were happy to see this move, as a bulwark against the aggressive expansion of Castilla and Galicia. In terms of the succession laws, many of the new nobility were indifferent over Muño's decision. However the old-nobility were furious. As such Muño looked to gain the favour of one of the powerful houses to counter balance the rebellious ones. Muño created the title the Republic of Portugal, giving it to the Lisboa Republic, along with the sovereignty of several ports along the Atlantic coast.
Lisbon is the heart of the Portuguese Republic
Exercising his new title, Muño intervened in the ongoing Navarran civil war. After all, Navarra is a natural part of Spain. Decisive military action on Muño's part brought the King of Navarra to heel, surrendering his title and fleeing to exile in Aquitaine. Many Pyrenean counts swore fealty to Muño rather than face invasion. The Navarran civil war however had led a lowly Catalan duke to declare himself King of Aragon. This would not stand. Several campaigns into Catalonia and a siege of Barcelona saw the Aragonese King bow his knee before Muño. The despot was allowed to keep his title and lands on the grounds he swear fealty to the King and provide royal land near Amposta on which a castle could be built at some point in the future.
Muño continued to rule as Emperor of the Spanish for 8 years after his coronation, however the final year of his life took a turn for the worse. Already weak from illness, the Emperor spent much of his later life in seclusion, it was here Muño developed strange tendencies. It appeared the king had been struck down with the same condition of his father Guillén. This was the second known case of so-called 'Cantabrian madness'. It appeared Arias de Castilla was correct, Muño had inherited much from his father. Fortunately Muño's state meant he was rarely in the public view, with his madness being mostly kept secret. Muño First Emperor of the Spanish died soon after developing his insanity. His death saw the Empire pass to his son Fernando I.
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