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107-563: Although there are remains of settlements from the Iron Age and Celtiberian times, Soria itself enters history with its repopulation between 1109 and 1114, by the Aragonese king Alfonso I the Battler . A strategic enclave due to the struggles for territory between the kingdoms of Castile, Navarre and Aragon, Soria became part of Castile definitively in 1134, during the reign of Alfonso VII . Alfonso VIII

214-613: A Jerusalem, pero nunca lo trobaron ni muerto ni vivo. Otros dicen que a tiempo vino en Aragon e fablo con algunos que sopieran de sus poridades. Otros que alli se perdio e non fue conoscido.. Emir of C%C3%B3rdoba The Emirate of Córdoba , from 929, the Caliphate of Córdoba , was an Arab Islamic state ruled by the Umayyad dynasty from 756 to 1031. Its territory comprised most of the Iberian Peninsula (known to Muslims as al-Andalus ),

321-593: A compromise, and the two regional factions proceeded to act independently. The choice of the Navarrese lords fell on García Ramírez , Lord of Monzón , descendant of an illegitimate son of García Sánchez III and protégé of Alfonso VII to be their king. The Aragonese took Ramiro out of a monastery and made him king, marrying him without papal dispensation to Agnes, sister of the Duke of Aquitaine , then betrothing their newborn daughter to Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona , who

428-734: A mauris tamen ante redemptum. Ab aliis dicitur vivus a proelio evasisse et confusionem proelii nequiens tolerare peregrinum se exhibuit huic mundo effigie et habitu immutatus. Et annis aliquot interpositis, quispiam se ostendit qui se eumdem publice fatebatur et multorum Castellae et Aragoniae id ipsum testimonio affirmabant qui cum eo in utroque regno fuerant familiariter conversati et ad memoriam reducebant secreta plurima que ipse olim cum eis habita recolebat et antiquorum assertio ipsum esse firmiter asserebat. Demum tamen quia cum ex regno plurimi sectabantur et de die in diem eorum numerus augebatur. Aldefonsus rex Aragoniae fecit eum suspendio interire. Otros dicen que de vergüenza que era vencido sent passo la mar

535-511: A means of transporting ground troops, such as between the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula. This was also seen with Alcácer do Sal 's ships in the campaign against Santiago de Compostela in 997. As in the army Almanzor recruited Berbers faithful to him. In its administration he favored the saqalibas to the detriment of native officials. The fleet was reinforced with a network of ports and

642-636: A minority but they had formed the ruling elites since the Muslim conquest in the early 8th century. Berbers, who had made up the majority of the conquering army, were a larger group, relatively powerful but less so than the Arab elites. The indigenous population were the majority, but the proportion of Christians among them decreased over time as many of them converted to Islam. The indigenous Muslim converts were known as Muwallad s (Arabic: مولد ) and became very numerous in later generations. Some of them were descended from

749-619: A new base in the Atlantic, in Alcácer do Sal, which protected the city of Coimbra , recovered in the 980s. It served as start of a campaign against Santiago. On the Mediterranean shore, the naval defense was centered at the base of al-Mariya, now Almería . The dockyards of the fleet had been built in Tortosa in 944. The fleet also maintained a significant budget. Initially, the maritime defense of

856-487: A period dominated by his relations with Castile and León through his wife, Urraca. He resumed his conquests in 1117 with Fitero , Corella , Cintruénigo , Murchante , Monteagudo , and Cascante . In 1118, the Council of Toulouse declared a crusade to assist in the conquest of Zaragoza . Many Frenchmen consequently joined Alfonso at Ayerbe . They took Almudévar, Gurrea de Gállego, and Zuera, besieging Zaragoza itself by

963-511: A pilgrim as an act of penance. Some years later, Rodrigo writes, though he does not give a year, an impostor arose and was received by many as the Battler, though Alfonso II had him arrested and hanged. This is the earliest reference to the impostor's end. The legend was amplified in later years. According to the fourteenth-century Crónica de los Estados Peninsulares , the Battler went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem , where he lived for many years. The Crónica de San Juan de la Peña also recounts

1070-610: A programme of reconstruction for the neighbouring villages. The poet Antonio Machado (1875–1939) spent five years in Soria teaching French in a secondary school, before moving to Segovia nearer Madrid. These years in Soria proved significant in his literary development. He married and lost his wife there and discovered much about the nature of the Castilian people – a subject the Generation of '98 authors were very interested in. Campos de Soria

1177-692: A treaty with Castile the next year (1128) with the Peace of Támara , which fixed the boundaries of the two realms. He conquered Molina de Aragón and populated Monzón in 1129, before besieging Valencia , which had fallen again upon the Cid's death. He went north of the Pyrenées in October 1130 to protect the Val d'Aran . Early in 1131, he besieged Bayonne . It is said he ruled "from Belorado to Pallars and from Bayonne to Monreal." At

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1284-728: Is claimed that in Roman times there was a castle called Oria, purportedly named after a Greek knight called Doricus. Based on this folk etymology, some historians guessed that the first inhabitants of this city might have been the Dorians . Archaeology has not confirmed that story. Instead it has suggested that the first inhabitants were the Suebi , whose kings (as reported by Tutor and Malo in their Compedio historial de las dos Numancias ) established one of their courts there. These two hypotheses have been abandoned because of lack of evidence. It seems more likely that

1391-681: Is formed by the city, and four rural hamlets: Las Casas, Oteruelos , Pedrajas and Toledillo ; both Oteruelos and Pedrajas were small municipalities later absorbed by Soria by the 1970s. The shape of the municipality is highly irregular and it is not even continuous, as it comprises three disjointed areas. Soria has an oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb ). Due to its altitude, winters in Soria are very cold by Spanish standards (3.2 °C (38 °F) in January) with almost 84 frost days per year. Summers are dry and warm (average 20.5 °C (69 °F) in July) with

1498-531: Is the Museo Numantino , devoted to the archaeological remains of this and other sites in the province. The city is served by the Soria Railway Station , with daily services to Madrid via Guadalajara . There are also many bus lines to neighbouring cities. A new highway has reduced the trip to Madrid by car down to 2 hours. Soria sits on the banks of Douro river, in its upper course. Its municipality

1605-628: The ulama (religious scholars) and the fuqaha (judges) played the most important social role. In the 9th century, both the Maliki and the Hanafi legal schools of thought ( maddhab s ) were common, but the Umayyads themselves promoted the former. One reason for this might be that Hanafism was seen as too closely associated with the Abbasids, whom the Umayyads considered enemies. Maliki dominance solidified under

1712-667: The Abbasid Caliphate and became an independent emir of Córdoba. He had been on the run for six years after the Umayyads had lost the position of caliph in Damascus in 750 to the Abbasids. Intent on regaining a position of power, he defeated the existing Muslim rulers of the area who had defied Umayyad and Abbasid rule. Abd al-Rahman I united various local fiefdoms into an independent emirate . The campaigns to unify al-Andalus went into Toledo , Zaragoza , Pamplona , and Barcelona and took over twenty-five years to complete. Despite

1819-672: The Balearic Islands , and parts of North Africa, with its capital in Córdoba (at the time Qurṭubah ). From 756 it was ruled as an emirate until Abd al-Rahman III adopted the title of caliph in 929. The state was founded by Abd al-Rahman I , an Umayyad prince who fled the defeat and persecution of the Umayyad clan amid the Abbasid Revolution . The polity then flourished for the best part of three centuries, before disintegrating in

1926-691: The Galician coast. Almanzor eliminated figures who could have opposed his reforms, such as killing Ghalib. Almanzor also replaced the governor of Zaragoza after he collaborated with his eldest son to replace him with a member of the same clan, the Banu Tujib. The admiral of the fleet was also poisoned in January 980 and replaced. Land transport routes were dotted with strongholds, and dignitaries controlled communications. Messengers were bought in and specially trained to handle Almanzor's messages and to transmit

2033-557: The Idrisid emir Abul-Aish Ahmad recognized the caliphate, but refused to allow them to occupy Tangier. The Umayyads besieged Tangier in 949 and defeated Abul-Aish, forcing him to retreat, and then occupied the rest of northern Morocco. Abd al-Rahman III increased diplomatic relations with the Berber tribes in North Africa, Christian kingdoms from the north, West Francia , East Francia , and

2140-641: The Peninsular War . The city preserves an important architectural heritage (extensive medieval walls, Renaissance palaces and architecturally distinctive Romanesque churches) and is home to the Numantine Museum (with pieces from the nearby Celtiberian city of Numantia ). Soria's football team CD Numancia is named after this city. It is one of the smallest cities to ever have had a team in Spain's top division La Liga . Today, its population of 38,881 makes Soria

2247-510: The Principality of Catalonia , which was ruled by Alfonso under Louis's suzerainty. This pretender was an old man (appropriately, since the Battler had died some decades earlier) and Alfonso II expressed confidence that Louis would arrest him at the earliest possible moment and bring him to justice. The first letter supplies sufficient information to date it approximately, since the Bishop sojourned at

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2354-767: The Reconquista . He won his greatest military successes in the middle Ebro , where he conquered Zaragoza in 1118 and took Ejea , Tudela , Calatayud , Borja , Tarazona , Daroca , and Monreal del Campo . He died in September 1134 after an unsuccessful battle with the Muslims at the Battle of Fraga . His nickname comes from the Aragonese version of the Chronicle of San Juan de la Peña (c. 1370), which says that "they called him lord Alfonso

2461-732: The saqaliba and Berbers. He also created new units, outside the regular army of the Caliphate, that were loyal to him and served to control the capital. Almanzor abolished the system of tribal units with their own commanders. This system had been in decline due to a lack of Arab recruits and the pseudo-feudalistic institutions on the frontiers. A new system of mixed units without clear loyalty under orders from Administration officials replaced it. The increase in military forces and their partial professionalization led to an increase in financial expenses, and incentivized campaigning so troops could be paid with loot and land. Lands handed over to

2568-848: The siege of Bayonne in October 1131, three years before his death, he published a will leaving his kingdom to three autonomous religious orders based in Palestine and politically largely independent – the Knights Templars , the Hospitallers , and the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre , whose influences might have been expected to cancel one another out. The will has puzzled some historians, who have read it as an unusual gesture of extreme piety, though not out of line with his purported devotion for militant Christianity. Elena Lourie (1975) suggested instead that it

2675-519: The Battler seized the territory away from the sphere of the Kingdom of León, controlling the territory from 1109 to 1134, entrusting the role of first tenant of Soria to Íñigo López already by 1119, when the effective repopulation should have started, although there are claims tracing it back some time earlier. Soria was granted a short fuero in March 1120, that also fixed limits to the medieval concejo . After

2782-479: The Book who took on the status of dhimmi s or "protected non-Muslims". In exchange for the state's protection, they were required to pay a tax called the jizya . Their religious practices were tolerated but conspicuous displays of faith, such as bells and processions, were discouraged. The local Christian Catholic Church in al-Andalus was partially integrated with the Umayyad regime and its leaders collaborated with

2889-568: The Byzantine Empire . Abd al-Rahman III also brought the Christian kingdoms of the north under his direct influence through military force. The size of the Caliphal army under Abd al-Rahman III was between 30,000 and 50,000 troops. The caliphate became very profitable during the reign of Abd al-Rahman III, with public revenue up to 6,245,000 dinars , higher than previous administrations. Wealth

2996-439: The Caliphate was led by Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Rumahis, a veteran admiral who had served Al-Hakam II and was Qadi of Elvira and Pechina . He repulsed raids by al-Magus (idolaters) or al-Urdumaniyun ('men of the north', Vikings ), in the west of al-Andalus in mid-971. When there was another invasion later that year, the admiral left Almería and defeated them off the coast of Algarve . In April 973, he transported

3103-496: The Christian north of the peninsula, which lacked large urban centers. The adoption of the Arabic language was a wide-reaching phenomenon of long-term importance. It was spearheaded by the promotion of Classical Arabic as an administrative and literary language, followed by the development of a native vernacular Andalusi Arabic . In the 9th century, Romance languages continued to be spoken in rural lower classes but Arabic had become

3210-534: The Fatimids. The Umayyads sent their general, Ghalib, to invade Idrisid Morocco in 973. By 974, Al-Hassan II was taken to Córdoba, and the remaining Idrisids recognized Umayyad rule. The death of Al-Hakam II in 976 marked the beginning of the end of Caliphal power. Al-Hakam was succeeded by his only son, Hisham II . Al-Hakam's top advisor, Almanzor , pronounced the 10-year-old boy caliph and swore an oath of obedience to him. Almanzor had great influence over Subh ,

3317-521: The French troops. The economical and social crisis of Spain in the early 20th century, and the Spanish Civil War with Francisco Franco 's dictatorship which followed, had negative effects on Soria and its neighborhood, which became depopulated due to strong emigration. The policy of the current authorities aims to strengthen the local economy pivoting on Soria's tourism potential, and has also launched

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3424-481: The Saracen armies amount to 30, 40, 50 or 60,000 men, even when in serious occasions they reach 100, 160, 300 and even 600,000 fighters" in the time of Almanzor. In the campaign that swept Astorga and León , chroniclers record Almanzor leading 12,000 African horsemen, five thousand al-Andalusi horsemen, and 40,000 infantry. Stories of Almanzor's last campaign record forty-six thousand horsemen, six hundred forces guarding

3531-558: The Spanish promotional bank, has made an equity investment in the project. The project plans to provide 80 GWh of renewable energy per year, which will heat 8,000 homes, saving 28,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Alfonso I the Battler Alfonso I ( c.  1073/1074  – 7 September 1134), called the Battler or the Warrior ( Spanish : el Batallador ),

3638-462: The annual Cross Internacional de Soria meeting – one of Spain's most prestigious cross country running competitions. The European Youth Orienteering Championships were held in Soria in July 2010. Soria has a biomass district heating plant called Red de Calor de Soria , which uses woodchip residue fuel from the local timber industry. Venture capital firm AXIS, part of Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO),

3745-522: The army of Ghalib from Algeciras to subdue the rebellious tribes of the Maghreb and end Fatimid ambitions in that area. In 985, the fleet ravaged the Catalans . During the Catalan campaign, Gausfred I , Count of Empurias and Roussillon tried to raise an army to help but several flotillas of Berber pirates threatened their coasts, forcing them to stay to defend their lands. In 997 the al-Andalusi fleet hit

3852-630: The army reached 35,000 to 40,000 combatants, half of them Syrian military contingents. An Umayyad expedition helmed by ʿIṣām al-Ḫawlānī occupied the Balearic Islands (the 'Eastern Islands') and incorporated them to Cordobese rule under emir Abdullah circa 902–903. Abd al-Rahman III ascended to the throne in 912, and faced the Fatimid Caliphate , a rival North African Shiʿite Islamic empire based in Tunis . The Fatimid's claim of Caliph challenged

3959-483: The battler because in Spain there wasn't as good a knight who won twenty-nine battles" ( clamabanlo don Alfonso batallador porque en Espayna no ovo tan buen cavallero que veynte nueve batallas vençió ). His earliest years were passed in the monastery of Siresa , learning to read and write and to practice the military arts under the tutelage of Lope Garcés the Pilgrim, who was repaid for his services by his former charge with

4066-448: The chronicles exaggerated tenfold the real numbers – these speak of eight hundred thousand soldiers – the caliphate could have had eight million inhabitants. Those who use more bullish criteria estimate between seven and 10 million. Under Almanzor, the realm also had other large cities like Toledo , Almería and Granada , which were all around 30,000; and Zaragoza, Valencia and Málaga , all above 15,000. This contrasted sharply with

4173-402: The church, his temperament and vow of celibacy made him ill-suited to rule a kingdom under constant military threat and in need of a stable line of succession. The step-son of the deceased king, Alfonso VII of León , as reigning monarch and legitimate descendant of Sancho III of Navarre , put himself forward but garnered no local support. The nobility of Navarre aligned behind Pedro de Atarés ,

4280-458: The city of Mérida . Ethnic Arabs were (at least during the early Emirate period) sparse here and the Muslim population consisted mostly of Berbers, probably semi-nomadic or transhumant , and of Muwallad s. The region along the central frontier, near Toledo, also known as the Middle March, was again only sparsely inhabited by Arabs. The city and local politics were dominated by Muwallad s, while

4387-527: The city's motto. Unlike the current official coat of arms, the king who now appears on the bust of the castle's keep on the castle's bell tower, is represented in the bell of San Gil with his entire body at the foot of the castle, leaving through its door. The first recorded inhabitants in the area of Soria were the Celtiberians , around the 4th century BC. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire ,

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4494-466: The civil war by contingents of Christian mercenaries. Beset by factionalism, the caliphate crumbled in 1031 into a number of independent taifas , including the Taifa of Córdoba , Taifa of Seville and Taifa of Zaragoza . The last Córdoban Caliph was Hisham III (1027–1031). Under Umayyad rule, Arabization and Islamization progressed significantly in al-Andalus. In the long-term, these were to comprise

4601-470: The coast. It is the coldest Spanish provincial capital. The city's professional football club is called CD Numancia . Two of Spain's foremost runners of the late 20th century lived and trained in Soria: Fermín Cacho , a gold medallist at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics , and Abel Antón , a two-time World Champion in the marathon . The area in which they trained, Monte Valonsadero, is now host to

4708-461: The county of Pedrola when Alfonso came to the throne. During his brother's reign, he participated in the taking of Huesca (the Battle of Alcoraz , 1096), which became the largest city in the kingdom and the new capital. He also joined El Cid 's expeditions in Valencia . His father gave him the lordships of Biel , Luna , Ardenes , and Bailo . A series of deaths put Alfonso directly in line for

4815-529: The court of Louis on his way to Rome. It is known from other sources that Berengar attended the Third Lateran Council in March 1179. The letters were probably written towards the end of 1178 or in January 1179 at the latest. According to an annalist source for the years 1089–1196, the pretender was received with honour and pomp in Zaragoza, Calatayud, and Daroca, which the Battler had conquered, but after it

4922-414: The daytime temperature usually around 29 °C (84 °F). Temperatures above 35 °C (95 °F) are not rare in summer, while lows can go under 10 °C (50 °F) at nights. It has scant rainfall (512 mm per year) and spring is the wettest season. The low rainfall is in spite of its high elevation as the maritime Atlantic low-pressure systems are often blocked by the mountains closer to

5029-629: The death of Alfonso I in 1134, Alfonso VII of León, the Emperor took control of the territory. The short fuero was confirmed by Alfonso VII in 1143. Due to its strategic placement at the borders of the Kingdoms of Castile , Aragon , Navarre and León, Soria in the Middle Ages was at the centre of several conflicts between them. Alfonso VIII of Castile , in reward for its support, gave the city several privileges which it maintained until modern times. In 1195

5136-535: The documentation of their tenancies – supported, at least initially, the pretender. These lords also appear in the later legend of the Bell of Huesca , which has no historical basis, as the victims of Ramiro II (1136). Since, historically, they were not active in the 1130s, it is possible that the historically based legend of the pseudo-Alfonso had some influence on the genesis of the Bell of Huesca. The earliest chronicle source for

5243-581: The early 11th century during the Fitna of al-Andalus , a civil war between the descendants of caliph Hisham II and the successors of his hajib (court official), Al-Mansur . In 1031, after years of infighting, the caliphate collapsed and fractured into a number of independent Muslim taifa (kingdoms). The period was characterized by an expansion of trade and culture, including the construction of well-known pieces of Andalusi architecture . The Visigothic Kingdom had ruled Iberia for over two centuries when it

5350-415: The empire". Évariste Lévi-Provençal argues the Almanzor's armies were between 35,000 and 70–75,000 soldiers. It is likely that the leader's armies may not have exceeded twenty thousand men. Until the eleventh century no Muslim army on campaign exceeded thirty thousand troops, while during the eighth century the trans-Pyrenean expeditions totaled ten thousand men and those carried out against Christians in

5457-416: The end of May. The city fell on 18 December, and the forces of Alfonso occupied the Azuda, the government tower. The great palace of the city was given to the monks of Bernard. Promptly, the city was made Alfonso's capital. Two years later, in 1120, he defeated a Muslim army intent on reconquering his new capital at the Battle of Cutanda . He promulgated the fuero of tortum per tortum , facilitating taking

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5564-463: The figure of the homes of paratge who obtained privileged military status by fighting against the Córdobans armed on horseback – after losing their capital in the fall of 985. Military industry flourished in factories around Córdoba. The city was said to produce 1,000 bows and 20,000 arrows monthly, and 1,300 shields and 3,000 campaign stores annually. In contrast to the role the navy played under Abd al-Rahman III, under Almanzor, it served as

5671-458: The following legend: "Soria Pura Cabeza de Estremadura", written in saber letters. The king in the coat of arms is Alfonso VIII , born in Soria, and the red field represents the blood shed by the Sorians, particularly in the battles of Alarcos , Navas de Tolosa and Aljubarrota . The oldest preserved example of the coat of arms is found in the high-medieval bell of San Gil, today the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Mayor , which already reflected

5778-458: The former Visigothic and Hispano-Roman landholding elites that existed prior to the Muslim conquest and who had retained much of their status after the conquest. Jews were present in smaller numbers relative to the other groups. According to Thomas Glick , "Despite the withdrawal of substantial numbers during the drought and famine of the 750s, fresh Berber migration from North Africa was a constant feature of Andalusi history, increasing in tempo in

5885-444: The future king of Navarre, and a mere 500 other knights fought with him. It fell on 17 July. He was dead by September. His tomb is in the monastery of San Pedro in Huesca . The testament of Alfonso leaving his kingdom to the three orders was dismissed out of hand by the nobility of his kingdoms, and possible successors were sought. Alfonso's only brother, Ramiro , had been a Benedictine monk since childhood, and his commitment to

5992-563: The gates of the city were opened. Almanzor continued the military reforms by Al-Hakam and his predecessors. He professionalized the regular army, which guaranteed his military power in the capital and ensured the availability of forces for numerous campaigns. Professionalization de-emphasized levies and other non-professional troops, which were replaced with taxes to support the professional troops – often saqaliba or Maghrebis – and freed Córdoban subjects from military service. Almanzor expanded recruitment of

6099-433: The grandson of Alfonso's illegitimate uncle, while the Aragonese nobility rallied around the abbot-bishop Ramiro. A convention was called at Borja in order to develop a consensus. Pedro de Atarés had so alienated his own partisans there with his perceived arrogance that they had abandoned him, yet at the same time were unwilling to accept Alfonso's younger brother Ramiro. The convention then broke up without ever arriving at

6206-442: The great raid of 1125, he carried away a large part of the subject Christians from Granada, and in the south-west of France, he had rights as king of Navarre. From 1125 to 1126, he was on campaign against Granada , where he was trying to install a Christian prince, and Córdoba , where he got only as far as Motril. In 1127, he reconquered Longares, but simultaneously lost all his Castilian possessions to Alfonso VII . He confirmed

6313-591: The impostor, by hanging, must have occurred in 1163. Vino un ferrero e dixo: «yo so don Alfonso, el que presó a Çaragoça e Cadatayut e Daroqua»; e recebido es en aquellos lugares con grant honra e con grant ponpa. E dice muchas cosas que semeiavam verdat de lo passado quel havia fecho. E era tenido por senyer e por don Alfonso. E despues fue conoscido que non era aquel, e enforcáronlo muy desonradament devant la ciudad de Barcelona. [Alfonsus] nam victus occiditur et si occisus inventus fuerit dubitatur. Ab aliquibus enim dicitur corpus eius in montis Aragonis monasterio tumulatum

6420-429: The imposture is Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada , writing in the middle of the thirteenth century, who records that there were several legends then current about the death of Alfonso the Battler: some believed he perished in the battle of Fraga , some that his body had never been recovered, others that he was buried in the monastery of Montearagón , and still others that he had fled from Fraga in shame after his defeat and became

6527-432: The incident, but it depends entirely on Rodrigo and the Estados Peninsulares . It is not until the seventeenth-century historian Jerónimo Zurita penned his Anales de la Corona de Aragón that new details were added to the legend. Zurita dates the impostor's appearance to the death of Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona , who had been exercising power in Aragon, and the succession of the child Alfonso II in 1162. The death of

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6634-417: The language of the middle and upper classes. By the end of the century, even the Christian population was so widely Arabized that their clergy were required to translate religious texts into Arabic. The early population of al-Andalus at the outset of Umayyad rule had several main constituents: Arabs , Berbers , indigenous converts to Islam, indigenous Christians, and Jews. The Andalusis of Arab origin were

6741-412: The last king of the Visigoths, was killed, leaving an open path into Hispania. The Umayyads established the Iberian Peninsula as a province ( wilāya ) of their empire. The rulers of this province established their capital in Córdoba and received the administrative titles wāli or emīr . In 756, Abd al-Rahman I , a prince of the deposed Umayyad royal family , refused to recognize the authority of

6848-401: The law into one's own hands, which among others reassumed the Muslim right to dwell in the city and their right to keep their properties and practice their religion under their own jurisdiction as long as they maintained tax payment and relocated to the suburbs. In 1119, he retook Cervera, Tudejen, Castellón, Tarazona, Ágreda, Magallón, Borja, Alagón, Novillas, Mallén, Rueda, Épila and populated

6955-429: The least populated provincial capital of Castile and León and the second least populated in Spain (after Teruel ). Particularly important in its economy is the agri-food industry, while an increasing number of tourists are attracted by its cultural heritage. Soria was mentioned by UNESCO as a good example when including the Mediterranean diet in its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It

7062-542: The legitmacy of the Abbasids' religious authority. Abd al-Rahman III took the title of caliph in 929, challenging the Fatimids in their claim to religious authority. Internally, the Spanish Umayyads considered themselves as closer to Muhammad and more legitimate than the Abbasids, even though the Caliphate of Córdoba's legitimacy was not accepted outside of al-Andalus and its North African affiliates. Fatimid invasions were thwarted when Abd al-Rahman III secured Melilla in 927, Ceuta in 931, and Tangier in 951. In 948,

7169-512: The man devoted to war needs the companionship of men not women. The king quarrelled with the church, and particularly the Cistercians , almost as violently as with his wife. As he defeated her, so he drove Archbishop Bernard into exile and replaced the abbot of Sahagún with his brother. He was finally compelled to give way in Castile and León to his stepson, Alfonso VII of Castile , son of Urraca and her first husband. The intervention of Pope Calixtus II brought about an arrangement between

7276-412: The marches along the Christian border, where power depended on the competence of the individual emir. For example, the power of emir Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umawi ( c.  900 ) did not extend beyond Córdoba itself. Raids increased the emirate's size such as one to Corsica in 806. In 818, the inhabitants of the al-Rabad suburb of Córdoba rose against  [ es ] Al-Hakam I . After

7383-527: The mother and regent of Hisham II. Almanzor isolated Hisham in Córdoba, eradicated opposition, and allowed Berbers from Africa to migrate to al-Andalus to increase his base of support. While Hisham II was caliph, he was merely a figurehead. In 996, Almanzor sent an invasion force to Morocco. After three months of struggle, his forces retreated to Tangier . Almanzor then sent out a powerful reinforcement under his son Abd al-Malik, whose armies clashed near Tangier. The Umayyads entered Fes on 13 October 998 once

7490-439: The name Soria may have its origin in the word dauria from the river Durius ( Douro ). The shield of Soria has the following heraldic description: In a field of gules (red), a castle , of argent , crenellated with three battlements, lined up and marbled with sabre, rinsed with azure (blue) and a king's bust crowned with gold and with its attributes coming out of his homage, in its colour; silver embroidery loaded with

7597-416: The nobles who found their account in the confusion. Being a much better soldier than any of his opponents he won the Battle of Candespina and the Battle of Viadangos , but his only trustworthy supporters were his Aragonese, who were not numerous enough to keep Castile and León subjugated. The marriage of Alfonso and Urraca was declared null by the pope, as they were second cousins, in 1110, but he ignored

7704-583: The north of the peninsula were even smaller. The main weapon of the peninsular campaigns, which required speed and surprise, was the light cavalry. To try to counteract them, the Castilians created the role of "villain knights" by ennobling those free men who were willing to keep a horse to increase the mounted units through the Fuero de Castrojeriz of 974. For similar reasons, the Barcelonan count Borrell II created

7811-403: The official reports that his foreign ministries wrote about the annual campaigns. The title of caliph became symbolic, without power or influence. Almanzor's temporal power increased the importance of the military, both as a symbol of the power of Almanzor and an instrument to guarantee the payment of taxes. The chamberlain's court also rivaled that of the caliph. Almanzor's reforms also divided

7918-918: The old man and his young namesake. In 1122 in Belchite, he founded a confraternity of knights to fight against the Almoravids . It was the start of the military orders in Aragon. Years later, he organised a branch of the Militia Christi of the Holy Land at Monreal del Campo . Alfonso spent his first four years as king in near-constant war with the Muslims. In 1105, he conquered Ejea and Tauste and refortified Castellar and Juslibol. In 1106, he defeated Ahmad II al-Musta'in of Zaragoza at Valtierra. In 1107, he took Tamarite de Litera and San Esteban de Litera . Then followed

8025-413: The papal nuncio and clung to his liaison with Urraca until 1114. During his marriage, he had called himself "King and Emperor of Castile, Toledo, Aragón, Pamplona, Sobrarbe, and Ribagorza" in recognition of his rights as Urraca's husband; of his inheritance of the lands of his father, including the kingdom of his great-uncle Gonzalo ; and his prerogative to conquer Andalusia from the Muslims. He inserted

8132-680: The peninsula. At that time al-Andalus was known as Dar Jihad , or "country of jihad". It attracted many zealous volunteers, who made up a small but important portion of the total army. Almanzor's personal guard was made up of Christian mercenaries who also participated in his campaigns in Christian territories. Contemporary figures on the size of the army are contradictory. Some accounts claim that their armies numbered two hundred thousand horsemen and six hundred thousand foot soldiers, while others talk about twelve thousand horsemen, three thousand mounted Berbers and two thousand sūdān , African light infantry. Christian chroniclers record that "ordinarily

8239-518: The population into two unequal groups: a large mass of civilian taxpayers and a small professional military caste, generally from outside the peninsula and not particularally loyal to the polity. Following Almanzor's death in 1002, the institutions he created stagnated under internal divisions from military and political factions competing for power. The power of the chamberlain was retained by Almanzor's sons, Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar , who died in 1008, and Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo . While Abd al-Rahman

8346-473: The realm's independence from Baghdad, the emirate's rulers used the title " emir " or " sultan " until the mid-10th century and recognized the religious authority of the Abbasid Caliphs. For the next century and a half, his descendants continued as emirs of Córdoba, with nominal control over the rest of al-Andalus and sometimes parts of western Maghreb . Real control was always in question, particularly over

8453-499: The rebuilt city was occupied by the Suebi . Later, after the Arab conquest of Spain , it grew in importance due to its proximity to the border of the Christian lands, which in the 8th century had settled along the Duero river. In 869 Soria was the centre of the rebellion of Suleyman ibn-Abus against the emir of Córdoba , who sent his son Hakan to quench it. Alfonso I of Aragon and Navarre,

8560-459: The region of Soria . He began the siege of Calatayud , but left to defeat the army at Cutanda trying to retake Zaragoza. When Calatayud fell, he took Bubierca, Alhama de Aragón, Ariza, and Daroca (1120). In 1123, he besieged Lleida , which was in the hands of the count of Barcelona . From the winter of 1124 to September 1125, he was on a risky expedition to Peña Cadiella deep in Andalusia . In

8667-624: The region. The northern limit of Muslim settlement generally extended along a frontier that ran to the north of the Tagus River in the west, around the Cordillera Central in the center, and before the foothills of the Pyrenees in the east. The region along the western frontier, known as the Lower March and including the modern-day province of Extremadura , was largely rural with the exception of

8774-505: The reign of Alfonso II of Aragon , the Battler's grandnephew, a man came forward claiming to be Alfonso the Battler. The only contemporary references to this event are two letters of Alfonso II addressed to Louis VII of France ; they were carried to Louis by Berengar , the Bishop of Lleida , but are not dated. According to the second of these, the pretender was then living in Louis's domains, meaning

8881-507: The reign of Abd ar-Rahman II in the 9th century, though during the reign of his son, Muhammad I, the Shafi'i and Zahiri schools were also introduced. Malikism eventually became another core characteristic of Andalusi identity and its spread contributed to the Islamization of the country. As elsewhere in the historic Islamic world, Jews and Christians were considered by Muslims to be People of

8988-543: The revolt's suppression, the inhabitants were expelled. Some settled in Fez or Alexandria, while others ended forming the Emirate of Crete in the 820s. Emir Abd al-Rahman I had used Berbers and the saqaliba for a permanent army of 40,000 to end the conflicts that had plagued the emirate. In the time of Emir Al-Hakam I , a palatine guard of 3,000 riders and 2,000 infantry was created made up of Slavic slaves. Under Emir Muhammad I ,

9095-630: The rural highlands were generally the domain of Berber tribes. To the northeast, the Upper March, centered around Zaragoza and the Ebro River valley, contained more cities and a more diverse population, including Arabs, Berbers, and Muwallad s. Among the latter were powerful families who dominated the area's politics throughout the Islamic period. The hills and mountains to the north were generally still inhabited by Christians. In matters of Islamic religion,

9202-475: The soldiers were subject to tribute and ceased to operate under a system of border colonization. The nucleus of the new army was formed by Maghrebi Berber forces. Arabs, Berbers, and Slavs within the army were played off against one another by Almanzor to maintain his power. The massive incorporation of North African horsemen relegated the infantry to sieges and fortress garrisons. This reform led to entire tribes, particularly Berber riders, being moved to

9309-476: The tenth century. Hispano-Romans who converted to Islam, numbering six or seven millions, comprised the majority of the population and also occupied the lowest rungs on the social ladder." While the indigenous Jews, Christians, and Muwallad s were largely organized into family-based social structures, the Arabs and Berbers were organized into a more complex mix of family and tribe loyalties. "Arab" identity in general

9416-481: The throne. His brother's children, Isabella and Peter (who married María Rodríguez, daughter of El Cid ), died in 1103 and 1104 respectively. A passionate fighting-man (he fought twenty-nine battles against Christian or Moor), he was married (when well over 30 years and a habitual bachelor) in 1109 to the ambitious Queen Urraca of León , a passionate woman unsuited for a subordinate role. The marriage had been arranged by her father Alfonso VI of León in 1106 to unite

9523-502: The title of imperator on the basis that he had three kingdoms under his rule. Alfonso's late marriage and his failure to remarry and produce the essential legitimate heir that should have been a dynastic linchpin of his aggressive territorial policies have been adduced as a lack of interest in women. Ibn al-Athir (1166–1234) describes Alfonso as a tireless soldier who would sleep in his armor without benefit of cover, whom when asked why he did not take his pleasure from women, responded that

9630-503: The town was stormed by Sancho VII of Navarre , but later recovered and continued to develop its splendour and trades. Soria lost most of its importance after the unification of Aragón and Castile in 1479, and above all after the decree of exile issued against the Jews in 1492 . In the War of Spanish Succession (early 18th century), Soria sided for Philip V . In 1808 it was captured and set on fire by

9737-429: The train, 26,000 infantry, two hundred scouts or 'police', and one hundred and thirty drummers. The garrison of Córdoba was recorded at 10,500 horsemen, while other forces kept the northern border in dispersed detachments. Other modern studies found the army was between 50,000 and 90,000 under Almanzor. Scholars have argued Almanzor's armies could muster 600,000 laborers and 200,000 horses "drawn from all provinces of

9844-411: The two chief Christian states against the Almoravids , and to supply them with a capable military leader. But Urraca was tenacious of her right as queen regnant and had not learnt chastity in the polygamous household of her father. Husband and wife quarrelled with the brutality of the age and came to open war, even placing Urraca under siege at Astorga in 1112. Alfonso had the support of one section of

9951-484: The two major aspects of Andalusi identity and eventually characterized most of the population. The population of the capital city, Córdoba, most likely surpassed 100,000 in the 10th century, making it the largest city in Europe alongside Constantinople . Tertius Chandler estimated that circa 1000 CE, Córdoba held around 450,000 people. Around the same year, the caliphate occupied four hundred thousand square kilometers and

10058-461: The will to act as a brake on Alfonso VII's ambitions to break it – and yet among the magnates witnessing the will in 1131 there was not a single cleric. In the event it was a will that his nobles refused to carry out – instead bringing his brother Ramiro from the monastery to assume royal powers – an eventuality that Lourie suggests was Alfonso's hidden intent. His final campaigns were against Mequinenza (1133) and Fraga (1134) , where García Ramírez ,

10165-426: Was King of Aragon and Navarre from 1104 until his death in 1134. He was the second son of King Sancho Ramírez and successor of his brother Peter I . With his marriage to Urraca , queen regnant of Castile , León and Galicia , in 1109, he began to use, with some justification, the grandiose title Emperor of Spain , formerly employed by his father-in-law, Alfonso VI . Alfonso the Battler earned his sobriquet in

10272-495: Was Alfonso's attempt to neutralize the papacy's interest in a disputed succession – Aragon had been a fief of the papacy since 1068 – and to fend off Urraca's son from her first marriage, Alfonso VII of Castile , for the papacy would be bound to press the terms of such a pious testament. Generous bequests to important churches and abbeys in Castile had the effect of making the noble churchmen there beneficiaries who would be encouraged by

10379-560: Was a bishopric, its St. Peter's Church became the Co-Cathedral of the bishopric of Osma when that was renamed Roman Catholic Diocese of Osma-Soria on 9 March 1959. The province of Soria has a Minor Basilica , the Marian Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Milagros, in Ágreda . A few kilometres north of the town are the ruins of Numantia , a Celtiberian town whose inhabitants destroyed it rather than let it fall to Scipio . In Soria

10486-480: Was a series of poems lamenting his wife's early death. They formed part of a major collection Campos de Castilla . The firewalking rituals performed at the Sorian village of San Pedro Manrique every June as part of the festival of San Juan have been declared as a tradition of National Tourist Interest and have attracted global attention through ethnographic and scientific studies and media coverage. Although Soria never

10593-535: Was born in Soria, and Alfonso X had his court established when he received the offer to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire . In Soria, the deposed king James IV of Mallorca died, and John I of Castile married. Booming during the Late Middle Ages thanks to its border location and its control over the cattle industry, Soria went into a slow decline over the next few centuries. It was damaged greatly during

10700-404: Was budgeted into three parts: the payment of the salaries and maintenance of the army, the preservation of public buildings, and the needs of the caliph. Abd al-Rahman III was succeeded by his 46-year-old son, Al-Hakam II , in 961. Al-Hakam II continued his father's policy toward Christian kings and North African rebels. Al-Hakam's relied on his advisers more than his father because the caliphate

10807-433: Was found out that he was false he was executed before the city of Barcelona in 1181. Modern historian Antonio Ubieto Arteta has hypothesised that the Aragonese lords of the tenancies of Zaragoza, Calatayud, and Daroca – Pedro de Luesia, Loferrench de Luna, Pedro de Castillazuelo (lord of Calatayud), Pedro Cornel (lord of Murillo de Gállego), and the majordomo Jimeno de Artusilla, all of whom disappear between 1177 and 1181 in

10914-402: Was largely tied to the assertion of Arab ancestry. This lineage was perceived as inherited through the father, meaning that children of Arab men and non-Arab women were still considered Arabs, although the lineage of the mother, if she came from another noble or elite background, could still be seen as prestigious. Beyond the heartland of Cordoba, the makeup of the population varied depending on

11021-469: Was leading a raid on the Christian north, a revolt tore through Córdoba and deposed him, and he was killed when he tried to restore himself to power. The death of Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo in 1009 marked the beginning of the Fitna of al-Andalus , with rivals claiming to be the new caliph, violence sweeping the caliphate, and intermittent invasions by the Hammudid dynasty . Córdoban forces were also joined in

11128-404: Was less prosperous, and there was less money to go around. This style of rulership suited Al-Hakam II since he was more interested in his scholarly and intellectual pursuits than ruling the caliphate. The caliphate reached an intellectual and scholarly peak under Al-Hakam II. Another Fatimid invasion of Morocco occurred in 958, led by the general, Jawhar , and Al-Hassan II had to recognise

11235-582: Was overthrown by the Umayyad Caliphate . The Umayyads had previously conducted small raids on the southern tip of Iberia against the Visigoths, but full-scale conquest did not begin until April of 711. An army led by Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed into Southern Hispania from North Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar . After the crossing, Tariq's troops defeated Visigothic forces at the Battle of Guadalete . Roderic ,

11342-439: Was populated by around three million people. The Iberian Christian states comprised 160,000 square kilometers and 500,000 people. By comparison, at the time of the Muslim invasion, Iberia had an estimated four million inhabitants. Other historians estimate higher at around seven or eight million. Colmeiro estimated in a pre-industrial society, for every million inhabitants, ten thousand soldiers could be mustered. Even assuming

11449-473: Was then named Ramiro's heir. "The result of the crisis produced by the result of Alfonso I's will was a major reorientation of the peninsula's kingdoms: the separation of Aragon and Navarre, the union of Aragon and Catalonia and – a moot point but stressed particularly by some Castilian historians – the affirmation of 'Castilian hegemony' in Spain" by the rendering of homage for Zaragoza by Alfonso's eventual heir, Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona. Sometime during

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