Ramiro III ( 961 – 26 June 985),
king of León
In the reign of Ordoño I of Asturias (850–866), the kingdom began to be known as that of León. In 910, an independent Kingdom of León was founded when the king of Asturias divided his territory amongst his three sons.
Below follows a ...
(966–984), was the son of
Sancho the Fat and his successor at the age of only five.
Reinhart Dozy
Reinhart Pieter Anne Dozy (Leiden, Netherlands, 21 February 1820 – Leiden, 29 April 1883) was a Dutch scholar of French (Huguenot) origin, who was born in Leiden. He was an Orientalist scholar of Arabic language, history and literature.
Biogr ...
, ''Histoire des Musulmans d'espagne'' (1932).
Family
During his minority, the
regency
In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
was in the hands of two nuns: his aunt
Elvira Ramírez, who took the title of queen during the minority, and then his mother
Teresa Ansúrez, who had been put in a convent on her husband's death. As a consequence of this, his reign is known for its support of the clergy.
Reign
Among the acts of his regents during his minority was their ratification of a
peace treaty
A peace treaty is an treaty, agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually country, countries or governments, which formally ends a declaration of war, state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an ag ...
with
Caliph
A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
al-Hakam II
Al-Hakam II, also known as Abū al-ʿĀṣ al-Mustanṣir bi-Llāh al-Hakam b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (; 13 January 915 – 1 October 976), was the Caliph of Córdoba. He was the second Umayyad Caliph of Córdoba in Al-Andalus, and son of Abd-al-R ...
; he also confronted
Viking
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...
s who had invaded
Galicia. With the conclusion of the peace treaty, the
vizier
A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...
Almanzor
Abu ʿĀmir Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Abi ʿĀmir al-Maʿafiri (), nicknamed al-Manṣūr (, "the Victorious"), which is often Latinized as Almanzor in Spanish, Almansor in Catalan language, Catalan and Almançor in Portuguese ( 938 – 8 A ...
invaded his realm.
Upon reaching his majority and after his wedding to Sancha (d. after 983), perhaps daughter of Gómez Díaz, Count of Saldaña, Ramiro tried to institute an absolutist monarchy which resulted in the alienation of the already separatist Galicia and
Castile. This, together with the constant routs experienced at the hands of the
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
s, such as the
Battle of Rueda, the
Battle of Torrevicente and the worst, which took place at
San Esteban de Gormaz
San Esteban de Gormaz is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the provinces of Spain, province of Soria (province), Soria in the autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Spain. Its population is approximately 3,500. The town is located in the ...
under the regency of his aunt in 975, led the Galician nobility in 982 to proclaim
Bermudo II, son of
Ordoño III,
king of Galicia
Galicia (Spain), 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 province ...
. He lost his throne to Bermudo two years later, in 984. He had at least one child with his wife, Sancha Gómez,
Ordoño Ramírez, who married
Cristina Bermúdez, daughter of his rival.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramiro 03 of Leon
10th-century Leonese monarchs
Medieval child monarchs
Astur-Leonese dynasty
960s births
985 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
Burials in the Royal Pantheon at the Basilica of San Isidoro