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The County of Aragon ( an, Condato d'Aragón) or County of Jaca ( an, Condato de Chaca, link=no) was a small
Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...
marcher county in the central Pyrenean valley of the
Aragon river Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sout ...
, comprising
Ansó Ansó is a town and municipality located in the province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census ( INE), the municipality had a population of 523 inhabitants. The municipality includes the towns of Ansó and Fago (7 km. apart ...
,
Echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...
, and
Canfranc Canfranc () is a municipality in the Aragón Valley of north-eastern Spain consisting of two villages, the original village and ''Canfranc Estación'', which developed with the establishment of Canfranc International railway station to serve railw ...
and centered on the small town of
Jaca Jaca (; in Aragonese: ''Chaca'' or ''Xaca'') is a city of northeastern Spain in the province of Huesca, located near the Pyrenees and the border with France. Jaca is an ancient fort on the Aragón River, situated at the crossing of two great ...
(''Iacca'' in
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and ''Chaca'' in Aragonese), an area now part of
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
. It was created by the Carolingians late in the 8th or early in the 9th century, but soon fell into the orbit of the
Kingdom of Navarre The Kingdom of Navarre (; , , , ), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona (), was a Basque kingdom that occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, alongside the Atlantic Ocean between present-day Spain and France. The medieval state took ...
, into which it was absorbed in 922. It would later form the core of the 11th century
Kingdom of Aragon The Kingdom of Aragon ( an, Reino d'Aragón, ca, Regne d'Aragó, la, Regnum Aragoniae, es, Reino de Aragón) was a medieval and early modern kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, ...
.


Carolingian rule

Originally intended to protect the central Pyrenean passes from the
Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...
in the same way that the
Duchy of Vasconia A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a medieval country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference between " ...
and the
Marca Hispanica The Hispanic March or Spanish March ( es, Marca Hispánica, ca, Marca Hispànica, Aragonese and oc, Marca Hispanica, eu, Hispaniako Marka, french: Marche d'Espagne), was a military buffer zone beyond the former province of Septimania, esta ...
were to protect the west and east, Aragon remained largely out of the reach of its nominal Carolingian lords, though it was an expressly Frankish creation and not an ethnically distinct region. The earliest attested local ruler was Oriol (807), probably Frankish, Visigothic or Hispano-Roman. That Aragon was a combined creation of Frankish efforts at Reconquest and the activity of the local Hispano-Visigothic elite to unite the rural populace against the Moors of the
Ebro valley , name_etymology = , image = Zaragoza shel.JPG , image_size = , image_caption = The Ebro River in Zaragoza , map = SpainEbroBasin.png , map_size = , map_caption = The Ebro ...
seems assured. In the first half of the 9th century, under the strong Carolingians, such as
Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
, the county of Aragon was culturally oriented northwards, across the important passes at Echo and Canfranc. The monastery of
San Pedro de Siresa The Abbey of San Pedro de Siresa ( an, Monesterio de Sant Per de Ciresa, es, Monasterio de San Pedro de Siresa) is a monastery in the Valle de Hecho, (Aragon, Spain). It was constructed between the 9th and 13th centuries, and is the northernmost ...
, founded about that time, was a
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
house nourished by the reforms of
Benedict of Aniane Benedict of Aniane ( la, Benedictus Anianensis; german: Benedikt von Aniane; 747 – 12 February 821 AD), born Witiza and called the Second Benedict, was a Benedictine monk and monastic reformer, who left a large imprint on the religious prac ...
. The cultural endowment of the monastery was extensive; by 848 its collection of manuscripts included
Vergil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...
,
Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
,
Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the ''Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...
, Porphyry, Aldhelm, and Augustine of Hippo's ''
De Civitate Dei ''On the City of God Against the Pagans'' ( la, De civitate Dei contra paganos), often called ''The City of God'', is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. The book was in response ...
''.


Navarrese rule

In the later 9th century, the Carolingians ceased to be powerful sovereigns in the outlying regions of their empire and the Moors of the Ebro valley simultaneously ceased being a threat to the Christian population to their north. As Carolingian influence waned, the counts of Aragón sought new allies. In 820 Charlemagne's vassal, Count Aznar I, was ejected from the county by his son-in-law García 'the Bad', who rode to power on the back of troops supplied by
Íñigo Arista Íñigo Arista ( eu, Eneko, ar, ونّقه, ''Wannaqo'', c. 790 – 851 or 852) was a Basque leader, considered the first king of Pamplona. He is thought to have risen to prominence after the defeat of local Frankish partisans at the Battle of ...
, ruler of the fledgling
Kingdom of Pamplona The Kingdom of Navarre (; , , , ), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona (), was a Basque kingdom that occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, alongside the Atlantic Ocean between present-day Spain and France. The medieval state took ...
. He then repudiated his wife in order to marry Íñigo's daughter. In 844, Aznar's son Galindo was forced to make himself a vassal of Íñigo in order to secure his return and succession to the county. Count Aznar II looked south, marrying his daughter to the ''
wali A wali (''wali'' ar, وَلِيّ, '; plural , '), the Arabic word which has been variously translated "master", "authority", "custodian", "protector", is most commonly used by Muslims to indicate an Islamic saint, otherwise referred to by the ...
'' of
Huesca Huesca (; an, Uesca) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon. It is also the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and of the comarca of Hoya de Huesca. In 2009 it had a population of 52,059, almo ...
,
Muhammad al-Tawil Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik al-Tawil ( ar, محمد بن عبد الملك الطويل, died 913 or 914) was a Muwallad Wāli of Huesca and a prominent Muslim lord in the Upper March ( ar, الثغر الأعلى , ''Aṯ-Ṯaḡr al-Aʿlà'') o ...
. The Navarrese also expanded their kingdom to the region south of the Aragón, a zone devastated militarily by the Arabs in the preceding centuries of conflict. The Navarrese fortification of this area severely curtailed the possibility of Aragonese expansion via reconquest by cutting off the obvious route of such conquest. The death of
Galindo Aznárez II Galindo Aznárez II (died 922) was Count of Aragon from 893 to 922. He was the son of Aznar Galíndez II and his wife Onneca Garcés, daughter of King García Íñiguez of Pamplona. Life Galindo succeeded his father as count of Aragon. In 905 he w ...
without surviving legitimate sons resulted in a division of his lands, with
Sobrarbe Sobrarbe is one of the comarcas of Aragon, Spain. It is located in the northern part of the province of Huesca, part of the autonomous community of Aragon in Spain. Many of its people speak the Aragonese language locally known as ''fabla''. Th ...
passing with a daughter to the counts of Ribagorza, while Aragon itself fell under the direct control of the Pamplona crown, king
García Sánchez I García or Garcia may refer to: People * García (surname) * Kings of Pamplona/Navarre ** García Íñiguez of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 851/2–882 ** García Sánchez I of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 931–970 ** García Sánchez II of Pam ...
marrying Andregota Galíndez, another daughter of the defunct count. During the century of direct Navarrese lordship, the diminutive county of Aragon retained a separate administration and its charters referred to it as the "land of the Aragonese lords", and counts were appointed by the kings, starting with the illegitimate son of the last autonomous count. In the 10th century the religious centre of the county moved south to San Juan de la Peña. San Juan, contrary to San Pedro, had been founded by Christian refugees from Moorish
Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
and the monastery had a militant Visigothic character; the war with the Muslims was espoused and the Visigothic rite was the standard of worship. In 922, the Aragonese had finally secured their own bishopric. The old itinerant "bishops of Aragon" (sometimes called
bishops of Huesca The Diocese of Huesca (Latin, ''Oscensis'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church located in north-eastern Spain, in the province of Huesca, part of the autonomous community of Aragón. The Diocese of Huesca ...
or Jaca) were established in the valley of
Borau Borau is a municipality located in the province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * Instituto Nacional d ...
. The bishops regularly took up residence in one of the major monasteries, like San Juan, San Pedro, or San Adrián de Sasave. The location of the see also serves as evidence that the upper valleys in the south of the country were becoming increasingly more populated as the region south of the river Aragón became more fortified and the Moorish threat diminished further. This frontier zone, too, was seeing repopulation in light of militarisation.


Conversion into kingdom

Sancho the Great Sancho Garcés III ( 992-996 – 18 October 1035), also known as Sancho the Great ( es, Sancho el Mayor, eu, Antso Gartzez Nagusia), was the King of Pamplona from 1004 until his death in 1035. He also ruled the County of Aragon and by marriage ...
, who had united most of Christian Iberia under his control, gave lands in Aragon to his illegitimate son, Ramiro as early as 1015. With the deaths of his father in 1035 and brother,
Gonzalo of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza Gonzalo Sánchez ( 1020 – 26 June 1043) was the king of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza, two small Pyrenean counties, from 1035 until his death. He was the son of King Sancho III of Navarre and his wife, Muniadona of Castile. Before his death in 1035, ...
, whose lands he also acquired, in 1043, Ramiro held the nucleus of what would become the
Kingdom of Aragon The Kingdom of Aragon ( an, Reino d'Aragón, ca, Regne d'Aragó, la, Regnum Aragoniae, es, Reino de Aragón) was a medieval and early modern kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, ...
.


List of counts

*???–809: Aureolus (attested 807-809 but probably ruling before 802) *809–820:
Aznar Galíndez I Aznar Galíndez I (also ''Asnar'') (died 839) was a Basque Count of Aragon and Conflent from 809 and Cerdanya and Urgell from 820. Aznar has been confused with Aznar Sánchez, Duke of Gascony, and some authorities have even considered the two like- ...
, deposed in 820 by Pamplona *820–833: García the Bad, installed as vassal by Pamplona *833–844: Galindo Garcés, son of García the Bad *844–867:
Galindo Aznárez I Galindo Aznárez I (died 867) was Count of Aragón from 844 to 867. Biography Galindo was the son of Aznar Galíndez I (and his wife, a woman of unknown name), who had been Count of Aragón from 809 to 820, when a practical joke played by Galindo ...
, son of Aznar Galíndez I, family restored on accepting suzerainty of Pamplona *867–893: Aznar Galíndez II, son of Galindo Aznárez I *893–922:
Galindo Aznárez II Galindo Aznárez II (died 922) was Count of Aragon from 893 to 922. He was the son of Aznar Galíndez II and his wife Onneca Garcés, daughter of King García Íñiguez of Pamplona. Life Galindo succeeded his father as count of Aragon. In 905 he w ...
, son of Aznar Galíndez II From the death of Galindo Aznárez II, the county of Aragon was incorporated within the crown of
Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
''(for kings of Navarre during this period see:
List of Navarrese monarchs This is a list of the kings and queens of Pamplona, later Navarre. Pamplona was the primary name of the kingdom until its union with Aragon (1076–1134). However, the territorial designation Navarre came into use as an alternative name in the l ...
)''. The rulers of Navarre appointed a series of nobles as their (non-sovereign) counts in Aragon. These are poorly documented, but include: *
Guntislo Galíndez Guntislo Galíndez ( 923), also spelled Guntisclo, Gutísculo, Gutisclo or Gutislo, was an illegitimate son of Galindo Aznárez II, the last independent count of Aragon. The name of his mother, one of Galindo's servants, is not known. Galindo died ...
(fl. c. 923), illegitimate son of Galindo Aznárez II * Fortún Jiménez, count from 947 to 958Antonio Ubieto Arteta, ''Historia de Aragón: la formación territorial'' (Zaragoza: Anubar, 1981), p. 19 n. 14. * Gonzalo Sánchez, son of king Sancho II Garcés of Navarre (970–994), count of Aragon under tutelage of his mother
Urraca Fernández Urraca Fernández (died 1007) was queen of León and Navarre as the wife of two kings of León and one king of Navarre between 951 and 994. She acted as regent for her son Gonzalo in the County of Aragon in circa 996-997, and served as co-reg ...


Notes


Sources

*Arco y Garay, Ricardo del. "España Christiana: Hasta el año 1035, fecha de la Muerte de Sancho Garcés III" in ''España Christiana: Comienzo de la Reconquista (711-1038). Historia de España irigida por Don Ramón Menéndez Pidal', vol. 6. Espasa Calpe: Madrid, 1964. *Bisson, Thomas N. ''The Medieval Crown of Aragon: A Short History''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986. . For the county, see pp. 10–11. {{Spanish Kingdoms Medieval Spain Medieval Catalonia History of Aragon