Alfonso II of Asturias

Alfonso II of Asturias (c. 760-842), nicknamed “the Chaste”, was king of Asturias in two different periods: first in the year 783 and later between the years 791 and 842, in which he died. Upon his death, Nepociano, a relative of unclear kinship, disputed the throne to the future Ramiro I.

During his reign, which spanned a period of fifty-one years, the supposed tomb of the Apostle Santiago was discovered in Compostela.

Biography

Born in Oviedo around the year 760, he was the son of Fruela I and Munia. When his father died, he was left in charge and care of his aunt Adosinda, wife of King Silo.According to the privilege granted by Ordoño II he was deposited to be educated throughout his childhood in the monastery of Samos, in Galicia,

Postea vero, vene Proabus meus jam supradictus Dominus Adefonsus adhuc in pueritia, remorabit ibidem in Sammanos, et in alium locellum, quod dicunt Subregum in Ripa Laure, cum fratres, multo tempore, in tempore persecutionis ejus.

During the reign of Silo, Alfonso was in charge of the government and administration of the royal palace. Upon his death, he was elected king thanks to the support of his aunt Adosinda and the magnates and nobles of the court, but his Uncle Mauregato organized a strong opposition and managed to depose Alfonso, who, faced with the danger he was running, sought refuge in Álava among his maternal relatives.

When Bermudo I renounced the throne due to his defeat at the Battle of Burbia, Alfonso returned to Asturias where he was definitively proclaimed king on September 14, 791.

He moved the capital of the kingdom to Oviedo and, despite the looting of this city in 794 and 795 or the defeat of Las Babias (September 18, 795), the Reconquest began.

It is known that he maintained contacts with the Emperor Charlemagne. In 795 an embassy from the Asturian king traveled to Toulouse where Ludovico Pío was, whom Charlemagne, his father, had entrusted with the defense of the Frankish kingdom against the incursions of Muslims from Spain. The reason for the embassy was to request a alliance. Two other delegations traveled to the Frankish court in 798, one in the spring and one in the winter. The issue dealt with at the first embassy in spring 798 was the adoptionist heresy against which Charlemagne actively combated. The second delegation in the winter of 798, was to inform Charlemagne of the sack of Lisbon that year, taking advantage of dissensions in the government of Córdoba as well as to deliver part of the booty made up of "seven armors, seven mules and seven captives".

He defeated the Muslims in Lutos (794), Narón and Anceo (825). He also fought on the Orón River (816), a confrontation that ended in a draw. Thanks to the victories over the Muslims, he strengthened his presence in Galicia, León and Castilla, which he will reorganize politically. He came to conquer and temporarily govern the city of Lisbon, also re-founding the depopulated Porto, he carried out raids rescuing slaves in Muslim hands to Seville, or the Goths in Gothic fields (Ribera del Duero), depopulating the northern plateau as a security strip against attacks Muslims, and taking this population to present-day Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria, giving them land there. Thus, he initiates a policy of high population density in the northern region, as a base for the military capacity and defensive base of the kingdom of Asturias.

He established his court in Oviedo, where he built several churches and a palace (Oviedo being the third capital after Cangas de Onís and Pravia). At present, only remains of the church of San Tirso remain. On the outskirts of the limits of the Oviedo of his time, he built the church of Santullano.

The internal situation of the reign of Alfonso II had a serious moment between the years 801 and 808 when the king was forced to retire to the monastery of Ablaña under pressure from a noble group. He recovered the throne thanks to the noble Teudano, starting from that moment an important work of reorganization of the kingdom, linking himself to the Visigothic inheritance to reinforce the royal power. The anonymous author of the Crónica albeldense states that Alfonso restored in Oviedo the entire Gothic order of Toledo, both in the Church and in the Palace.

Sebastian Chronicle indicates that he died in 842 “after having led the government of the kingdom chastely, soberly, immaculately, piously and gloriously for 51 years”.

Tradition affirms that during his reign the tomb of the Apostle Santiago was discovered by a hermit in Compostela (c. 830), a fact that made this place one of the most important pilgrimage centers throughout Christendom. In the XI century, Alfonso was considered the first pilgrim and was attributed in XX century the creation of the primitive path that starts from Oviedo. Later, the saying "Whoever goes to Santiago and not to San Salvador, visits the servant but not the lord" will become famous, referring to the patron saint of Oviedo and the importance of the Asturian king in consolidating the path. The road to Santiago would be of vital importance for the survival of the Astur kingdom, due to the logistical importance of the road and its trade, as well as the arrival of techniques and knights from Europe, which would serve to strengthen the kingdom.

King Alfonso II was never known to have any relationship with women, hence the nickname of Alfonso II the Chaste.

Burial

Pantheon of kings of Oviedo Cathedral.

After his death, the corpse of King Alfonso II was buried in the pantheon of kings in the church of Nuestra Señora del Rey Casto in Oviedo, which the monarch had ordered erected, and in which his wife was also buried, Queen Berta, according to the Cronicón de Cardeña. vaulted lid devoid of decorations and inscription. However, tradition and the preeminent place occupied by said tomb indicated, in the opinion of various historians, that the remains of the founder of the church and the royal pantheon rested there.

However, due to the reconstruction of the pantheon of kings of the Cathedral of Oviedo, carried out at the beginning of the 18th century, it is currently impossible to identify and individualize the mortal remains of King Alfonso II the Chaste, which are counted among those buried there.

In Spanish literature

He appears as a character in the lost Cantar de Bernardo del Carpio and in the story of this legendary character; there is also the romance Bernardo and the King. Lope de Vega was inspired by his biography to compose one of his first comedies, El casamiento de la muerte (c. 1597, printed in 1604), and Antonio Mira de Amescua dedicated his Las misfortunes of King Alfonso the Chaste (1615). He is a character from the baroque cult epic poem El Bernardo o la victoria de Roncesvalles by Bernardo de Balbuena. The romantic playwright Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch also wrote the historical drama Alfonso el Casto (1841). In the historical novel The Knight of the White Boar by José Javier Esparza Torres, his life is narrated in a very complete way (2012). Isabel San Sebastián in her novel La Peregrina (2018) narrates the true story of the pilgrimage made by Alfonso II in the IX century in search of the legendary relics of the Apostle Santiago.

Marriage

He married Berta, who, according to some historians, was related to the French royal house. However, the chronicles of the time indicate that King Alfonso II did not have intimate relations with his wife and that she died without leaving any descendants.

Predecessor: Silo	King of Asturias 783	Successor: Mauregato
Predecessor: Bermudo I	King of Asturias 791-842	Successor: Ramiro I