Misplaced Pages

Bermudo III or Vermudo III (c. 1015– 4 September 1037) was the king of León from 1028 until his death. He was a son of Alfonso V of León by his first wife Elvira Menéndez, and was the last scion of Peter of Cantabria to rule in the Leonese kingdom. Like several of his predecessors, he sometimes carried the imperial title: in 1030 he appears as regni imperii Ueremundo principis; in 1029/1032 as imperator domnus Veremudius in Gallecia; and in 1034 as regni imperii Veremundus rex Legionensis. He was a child when he succeeded his father. In 1034 he was chased from his throne by King Sancho III of Pamplona and forced to take refuge in Galicia. He returned to power, but was defeated and killed fighting against his brother-in-law, Ferdinand of Castile, in the battle of Tamarón.

History

Bermudo III was the son of Alfonso V of León by his first wife Elvira Menéndez. He succeeded to the throne of León in 1027. Bermudo married Jimena Sánchez, who was a daughter of King Sancho III of Pamplona.

In 1029, Count García Sánchez of Castile was about to be married to Sancha of León, the elder sister of Bermudo, an arrangement apparently sanctioned by the king of Navarre, when the count was murdered in the city of León by the Velas, a party of Castilian nobles exiled from their own country, who had taken refuge in León. León and Navarre disputed the succession to the Countship of Castile thus left vacant.

Sancho III of Pamplona was married to Muniadona, daughter of Sancho García of Castile, and sister to the murdered count. Sancho claimed the county of Castile in his wife's name and installed in it their son, Ferdinand, as the new count of Castile. He seized the borderlands between the Cea and the Pisuerga rivers, right above León's capital, long a bone of contention between León and Castile. In 1032 Sancho of Pamplona forced a marriage between his son, Fernando of Castile, and Sancha of León, and those lands went to Castile as part of her dowry.

In 1034, Sancho wrested the city of León itself from his son-in-law, Bermudo, who retreated into Galicia. By the time Sancho died in 1035, the meseta north of the Duero was dominated by the Pyrenean pocket kingdom of Navarre. After Sancho's death, Bermudo III was immediately received back into León and soon began a campaign to recover the disputed territory between the Cea and Pisuerga from Castile and his brother-in-law Ferdinand. Bermudo III was killed at the Battle of Tamarón on 4 September 1037. Autopsy of his remains shows that he may have suffered death from infantry spears or pikes, after falling from his horse.

Since the latter died without an heir, the kingdom of León now recognized Sancha and her husband as its rulers, and Ferdinand was anointed king in the royal city on 22 June 1038. The united realm of León and Castile, with its rimlands of Asturias and Galicia, would become the political center of the north Iberian Christian society.

Marriage

By his wife Jimena, daughter of Sancho III of Pamplona, Bermudo had one child, a son named Alfonso, who was born and died in 1030.

See also

• Labio Castle

References

1. González Jiménez 2011, p. 25.
2. Portass 2017, p. 8.
3. Salazar y Acha 1988, pp. 183–192.
4. ^ Amadó, Ramón Ruiz. "León." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 20 May 2015
5. Bernard F. Reilly, The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain, 1031-1157, (Blackwell, 1995), 27.

Bibliography

• González Jiménez, Manuel (2011). "La idea de imperio antes y después de Alfonso VI". Alfonso VI Imperator totius orbis Hispanie (in Spanish). Fernando Suárez y Andrés Gambra, coord. Madrid: Sanz y Torres. ISBN 978-84-92948-45-1.
• Pérez de Urbel, Justo; Del Arco y Garay, Ricardo (1964). España cristiana, comienzo de la reconquista (711-I038). Historia de España. Vol. 6 (2 ed.). Madrid: Espasa Calpe.
• Portass, Robert (2017). The Village World of Early Medieval Northern Spain: Local Community and the Land Market. Boydell.
• Reilly, Bernard F. (1998). The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9788487103032.
• Salazar y Acha, Jaime de (1988). "Una hija desconocida de Sancho el Mayor". Revista Príncipe de Viana (in Spanish) (Anejo). Pamplona: Institución Príncipe de Viana: 183–192. ISSN 1137-7054.

External links

v t e Monarchs of León
Astur-Leonese house	Alfonso III García I Ordoño II Fruela II Alfonso Fróilaz Alfonso IV Ramiro II Ordoño III Sancho I Ordoño IV Sancho I Ramiro III Bermudo II Alfonso V Bermudo III
House of Jiménez	Ferdinand I Sancho II Alfonso VI Urraca
House of Burgundy	Alfonso VII Ferdinand II Alfonso IX Sancha & Dulce Ferdinand III Alfonso X Sancho IV Ferdinand IV Alfonso XI Peter
House of Trastámara	Henry II John I Henry III John II Henry IV Isabella I & Ferdinand V Joanna & Philip I
House of Habsburg	Charles I

v t e Monarchs of Galicia
Suebian kings	Hermeric Rechila Rechiar Aioulf Maldras Framta Richimund Frumar Remismund Hermeneric Veremund Theodemund Chararic Ariamir Theodemar Miro Eboric Audeca Malaric
Astur-Leonese dynasty	Ordoño II Sancho I Bermudo II Alfonso V Bermudo III
House of Jiménez	García II Sancho II Alfonso VI Urraca
House of Burgundy	Alfonso VII Ferdinand II Alfonso IX Sancha & Dulce Ferdinand III Alfonso X Sancho IV Prince John Ferdinand IV Alfonso XI Peter
Portuguese House of Burgundy	Ferdinand I of Portugal
House of Lancaster	John of Gaunt
House of Trastámara	Henry II John I Henry III John II Henry IV Isabella I & Ferdinand V Joanna & Philip I
House of Habsburg	Charles I

• 11th-century Leonese monarchs
• 1010s births
• 1037 deaths
• Spanish military personnel killed in action
• Astur-Leonese dynasty
• Monarchs killed in action
• Burials in the Royal Pantheon at the Basilica of San Isidoro
• Sons of emperors