Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Galicia

Galicia is an autonomous community and historical nationality in modern-day northwestern Spain on the Iberian Peninsula, which was a major part of the Roman province known as Gallaecia prior to 409. It consists of the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra. It is bounded on the north by the Cantabrian Sea, to the south by Portugal, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east by principality of Asturias and the community of Castile and León. The archipelago of the Cíes Islands, the Ons archipelago, the Sálvora archipelago and other island such as Cortegada, Arousa, the Sisargas Islands and the Malveiras Islands are also part of Galicia.

Galicia has about 2,795,422 inhabitants which mainly combines the coastal strip between Ferrol and A Coruña in the northwest and between Vilagarcía de Arousa and Vigo in the southwest.

The medieval and modern Kingdom of Galicia derived of the kingdom of the Suebi, founded by king Hermeric in 409. By the 6th century the kingdom of the Suebi was already known as the Kingdom of Galicia, Gregory of Tours being the first chronicler to use this denomination.[1]

Suebic Kings (409–585)

A silver half-siliqua coin of a Suevic king of Galicia from c. 410–500.

First Royal Dynasty (409–456)

Kings during a Suebic Civil War (457–469)
Note: the civil war split the kingdom, and multiple kings ruled smaller regions of Galicia.

Dark Period (469–550)

Final Suevic Period (550–585)

Visigothic Kings (585-712)

The Visigoth kings took control of Galicia in 585, which became the sixth province of the Kingdom of Toledo. Galicia maintained a distinguishable administrative and legal identity up to the collapse of the Visigothic monarchy.

Asturian kings (740-910)

In 740, Alfonso I of Asturias captured Galicia from the Muslims.

Kings of Galicia

In 910, Alfonso III the Great was forced to abdicate in favor of his sons, Ordoño, Fruela and Garcia, who partitioned the kingdom amongst them. Ordoño is the first to adopt the title "King of Galicia".

Ordoñez dynasty (910-1037)

  • Ordoño I (910–924). In 914, Ordoño succeeded Garcia on the thrones of León.
  • Fruela I (924-925). Brother of the former. Upon succeeding Ordoño on the thrones of León and Galicia he reunited his father's realm.
  • Alfonso I (925). Son of the former. Briefly ruled as king before being ousted by his three cousins.
  • Sancho I (925–929). First-born of Ordoño, cousin of the former.
  • Alfonso II (929-931). Brother of the former.
  • Bermudo I (982–999). Crowned as anti-king by the Galician nobility in Santiago de Compostela. Routed Ramiro III of León in the battle of Portela de Areas, after which he acceded to the throne of Leon.
  • Alfonso III (999-1028). Son of the former.
  • Bermudo II (1028-1037). Son of the former.

Jiménez dynasty (1037–1111)

  • Ferdinand I. (1037-1065). Upon his death, Castile, León and Galicia were divided amongst his sons.
  • García II (1065–1071) - reigned in Galicia and in the County of Portugal until he was deposed by his brothers Alfonso and Sancho in 1071, after which he was made prisoner until his death in 1090.
  • Sancho II (1071-1072) - briefly co-reigned as king of Galicia with his brother Alfonso until he was assassinated in 1072.
  • Alfonso IV (1071-1109) - co-ruled Galicia until his brother Sancho was assassinated in 1072, whereupon he succeeded in the throne of Castille also.
  • Urraca (1109-1111). Daughter of the former.

Burgundian dynasty (1111-1369)

13th century depiction of the coat-of-arms of Galicia
  • Alfonso V (1111–1157). Son of the former. In 1111, he was crowned as the mediatized king of Galicia in Santiago de Compostela as his mother's heir apparent. In 1126 he succeeded Urraca as king of León, Castile and Toledo. During his reign, Afonso I of Portugal rebelled against León, which he was a vassal of. From 1152 on Alfonso VII associated his sons to the throne, Ferdinand receiving the title of King of Galicia.
  • Ferdinand II (1157–1188). Son of the former. Acceded to the throne of León upon his father's death in 1157.
  • Alfonso VI (1188–1230). Son of the former. On his death, his kingdom was divided between his daughters, who reigned a few months de jure.
  • Dulce and Sancha, queens of Galicia (1230) de jure
  • Ferdinand III (1230–1252). King of Castile who became King of Galicia after Dulce and Sancha's renunciation of their titles.
  • Alfonso VII (1252–1284). Son of the former.
  • Sancho III (1284–1295). Son of the former.
  • Ferdinand IV (1295–1312). During his early reign, his uncle John of Castile, Lord of Valencia de Campos disputed the title with him and claimed to be king of León, Galicia and Seville.
  • Alfonso VIII (1312-1350). Son of the former.
  • Peter of Castile (1350-1369). Son of the former.

Portuguese House of Burgundy (1369-1371)

House of Trastámara (1371-1555)

  • Henry I (1371-1379) - Son of Alfonso VII.
  • John I (1379–1390) - Son of the former. In 1386, John of Gaunt pressed the claim for his wife (and himself), to the throne of Castile. He successfully invaded Galicia and held most of the country until he was defeated in 1387.
  • Henry II (1390-1406) - Son of the former.
  • John II (1406-1454) - Son of the former.
  • Henry III (1454-1474) - Son of the former.
  • Isabella I (1474-1504) - Daughter of John II. Afonso V of Portugal and Juana la Beltraneja, acclaimed de jure kings of Galicia in 1475, saw their pretensions to the Castilian throne defeated at the Battle of Toro in 1479.
  • Joanna I (1504-1516/1555) - Daughter of the former. Confined and powerless.

House of Habsburg (1555-1700)

16th century depiction of the coat-of-arms of Galicia

House of Bourbon (1700-1808)

House of Bonaparte (1808-1813)

House of Bourbon (1813-1868)

House of Savoy (1870-1873)

House of Bourbon (1874-1931)

House of Bourbon (1975-present)

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ "Quo defuncto, filius eius Eurichus Leuvichildi regis amicitias expetiit, dataque, ut pater fecerat, sacramenta, regnum Galliciensim suscepit. Hoc vero anno cognatus eius Audica, qui sororem illius disponsatam habebat, cum exercitu venit; adpraehensumque clericum facit ac diaconatus sibi praesbiterii ei inponi honorem iobet. Ipse quoque acceptam soceri sui uxorem, Galliciensim regnum obtenuit." Gregory of Tours, Historiarum, VI.43.

Bibliography

  • Carballeira Debasa, Ana María (2007). Galicia y los gallegos en las fuentes árabes medievales. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientifícas. ISBN 978-84-00-08576-6. (in Spanish)
  • De la Gándara, Felipe (1677): Nobiliario, armas, y triunfos de Galicia. Julian de Paredes, Madrid. (in Spanish)
  • Fletcher, Richard. A (1984): Saint James's catapult: the life and times of Diego Gelmírez of Santiago de Compostela. ISBN 978-0-19-822581-2. (in English)
  • García Oro, José (1987): Galicia en los siglos XIV y XV. Fundación "Pedro Barrie de la Maza, Conde de Fenosa", A Coruña. ISBN 84-85728-59-9. (in Spanish)
  • González López, Emilio (1978): Grandeza e Decadencia do Reino de Galicia. Galaxia, Vigo. ISBN 84-7154-303-6. (in Galician)
  • López Carreira, Anselmo (2005): O Reino medieval de Galicia. A Nosa Terra, Vigo. ISBN 978-84-8341-293-0 (in Galician)
  • Portela Silva, Ermelindo (2001): "García II de Galicia, el rey y el reino (1065-1090)". La Olmeda, Burgos. ISBN 84-89915-16-4. (in Spanish)
  • Rodríguez Fernández, Justianiano (1997): García I, Ordoño II, Fruela II, Alfonso IV. Editorial La Olmeda, Burgos. ISBN 84-920046-8-1. (in Spanish)
  • Thompson, E. A. (2002): Romans and barbarians: the decline of the Western Empire. Univ of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-08704-3. (in English)
  • Torres Rodríguez, Casimiro (1977): El Reino de los Suevos. Fundación Barrié de la Maza, A Coruña. ISBN 84-85319-11-7. (in Spanish)
  • Villacañas Berlanga, José Luis (2006) La formación de los reinos hispánicos. Pozuelo de Alarcón: Espasa Calpe. ISBN 84-670-2257-4. (in Spanish)
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