Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-jbqgn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-29T20:19:10.089Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rotrou of Perche and the Aragonese Reconquest∗

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2016

Lynn H. Nelson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Early in the twelfth century Alfonso I ascended the throne of the young Aragonese kingdom. His brother, Pedro (1096–1104), had already established the momentum of the Aragonese reconquest by overpowering the Moorish kingdom of Huesca. With the accession of Alfonso, however, the movement of expansion was greatly accelerated. Although the early years of his reign were marked by a paralyzing conflict with Castile-León, by 1118 his career of conquest was fairly launched. The Moorish kingdom of Zaragoza fell near the end of that year, and its neighbor, Tudela, followed two months later. Calatayud and Daroca were conquered in 1120. During the winter of 1125–1126 Alfonso's troops ranged freely through the Moslem lands of Valencia, Córdoba, and Granada. Near the end of Alfonso's reign, the kingdoms of Lérida and Valencia were menaced by Aragonese arms, and their end appeared imminent. The king's sudden death in 1134 inaugurated a period of confusion in which many of his advances were wiped out, but his activities had already made him a legend and had made Aragón a major power in the Peninsula.

Type
Articles
Information
Traditio , Volume 26 , 1970 , pp. 113 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © Fordham University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 For the reign of Pedro I, see Ubieto Arteta, A., Colección diplomática de Pedro I de Aragón y de Navarra (Zaragoza 1951).Google Scholar

2 Shortly after his death Alfonso became a millennial figure. See Defourneaux, Marcelin, ‘Louis VII et les soverains espagnols: l'enigme du “pseudo-Alfonse,”’ Estudios dedicados a. Menéndez Pidal VI (Madrid 1956) 647–661; Balaguer, Federico, ‘Alusiones de los Trovadores al pseudo Alfonso el Batallador,’ Argensola 9 (1958) 39–47; Ubieto Arteta, A., ‘La aparición del falso Alfonso el Batallador,’ Argensola 9 (1958) 29–38.Google Scholar

3 Miranda, Ambrosio Huici, ‘Los Banu Hud de Zaragoza, Alfonso I el Batallador y los Almorávides (neuvas aportaciones),’ EEMCA 7 (1962) 7–38; Huici, , Las grandes batallas de la Reconquista durante las invasiones africanas (Almorávides, Almohades y Benemerines) (Madrid 1956) especially 20–76.Google Scholar

4 The best single account of French participation in the Reconquest is Defourneaux, Marcelin, Les Français en Espagne aux XI e et XII e siècles (Paris 1949). The nature of the Barbastro expedition is best illustrated by Bosch Vila, J., ‘Al-Bakri: Dos fragmentos sobre Barbastro,’ EEMCA 3 (1947–1948) 242–261.Google Scholar

5 Vitalis, Ordericus, HE (ed. LePrevost, A., 5 vols.; Paris 1838–1855).Google Scholar

6 For an example of the adulation which Rotrou has received, see Ramon Castro, J., ‘La reconquista de las tierras del Ebro,’ Principe de Viana 7 (1946) 682. For his connection with Roland, see Boissonade, P., Du nouveau sur la Chanson de Roland (Paris 1923) 321.Google Scholar

7 Crónica de San Juan de la Peña (ed. Ubieto Arteta, A.; Valencia 1961); Crónica de los estados peninsulares (Texto del siglo XIV) , (ed. Ubieto Arteta, A.; Granada 1955).Google Scholar

8 The best analysis of the Historia ecclesiastica is Wolter, Hans, Ordericus Vitalis: Ein Beitrag zur kluniazensischen Geschichtsschreibung (Wiesbaden 1955).Google Scholar

9 Both sources which treat directly of this genealogy are in partial error. HE (V 1) supplies the name ‘Beatrice,’ but claims that she was the daughter of the count of Rochfort. Herman of Laon, in ‘De miraculis B. Mariae Laudunensis libri tres,’ Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France 12 (ed. Delisle, Léopold; Paris 1877) 267, omits her name, supplies that of her father, but errs in stating that she married Rotrou rather than Geoffrey.Google Scholar

10 HE III 380.Google Scholar

11 The majority of extant sources have been collected in the Recueil des historiens des croisades (16 vols.; Paris 1841–1906).Google Scholar

12 See David, C. W., Robert Curthose (Cambridge, Mass. 1920).Google Scholar

13 HE V 1–2.Google Scholar

14 HE V 4.Google Scholar

15 HE IV 199.Google Scholar

16 For example, see HE III 421 ff.Google Scholar

17 HE V 4.Google Scholar

18 HE III 380, 423.Google Scholar

19 HE IV 162–163, 177–182.Google Scholar

20 HE IV 200: ‘… impudicis nebulonibus parens, totam illis Normanniam impune dimiserit …. ’ Google Scholar

21 For the sad state of Normandy during the winter of 1104–1105, see HE IV 202.Google Scholar

22 L'Art de vérifier les dates des faits historiques (39 vols.; Paris 1818–1834) Series II, 13 (1818) 176.Google Scholar

23 HE V 3.Google Scholar

24 Ibid.: ‘… Hispani dolum in illos machinati sunt, et de morte suorum auxiliorum, consensu regis, ut opinantur, tractaverunt.’ Google Scholar

25 Ibid. Google Scholar

26 HE IV 220–221. Orderic states that the pillaging lasted from May to the end of September.Google Scholar

27 HE V 3.Google Scholar

28 In the spring of 1106 we find him involved in a complicated lawsuit concerning his attempt to fortify a manor house on the western borders of his county. See L'Art de vérifier les dates…, Series II, 13 (1818) 177.Google Scholar

29 His name is not mentioned in this regard by Orderic, but it should be noted that the HE provides only a summary account of the battle.Google Scholar

30 Rotrou felt discouraged enough to call upon Hildebert, the famous bishop of Le Mans, make a general confession, and commission him to carry a last will and testament to Nogent-le-Rotrou, capital of La Perche, See L'Art de vérifier les dates…, Series II, 13 (1818) 178.Google Scholar

31 HE IV 304–305.Google Scholar

32 HE IV 308–309; L'Art de vérifier les dates…, Series II, 13 (1818) 178.Google Scholar

33 CEP 125–126; CSJP 70–71.Google Scholar

34 E.g., Zurita, Jerónimo, Anales de la Corona de Aragón I (Zaragoza 1610) 85–86 (lib. I, c. 42, sub anno 1114); Abarca, Pedro, Los reyes de Aragón en anales históricos I (Madrid 1682) 164.Google Scholar

35 See note 40 infra for the basis for Zurita's chronology.Google Scholar

36 CSJP 70.Google Scholar

37 CSJP 70–71; CEP 126.Google Scholar

38 CSJP 70 states: ‘… dedit sibi pro hereditate sua et suorum Tutelam.’ CEP 126 is more succinct: ‘… diogela por heretat.’ Google Scholar

39 See Pidal, Ramón Menéndez, Crónicas generates de España (3rd ed.; Madrid 1918) 91.Google Scholar

40 Lacarra, J.M., ‘La conquista de Zaragoza por Alfonso I (18 diciembre 1118),’ Al-Andalus 12 (1947) 65–96; Lacarra, , ‘La fecha de la conquista de Tudela,’ Principe de Viana 7 (1946) 45–54. The fueros granted to Tudela supported the story that the city had been liberated by Rotrou and gave August of 1114 as the date of the event. See Flórez, , España sagrada 50 (Madrid 1866) 387. The true date of February 22, 1119 is provided by MS Calahorra, Archivo Catedral, cod. I, fol. 270vb .Google Scholar

41 To be exact, Zaragoza fell on December 18, 1118; Tudela followed on February 22, 1119.Google Scholar

42 MS Barcelona, Archivo de la Corona de Aragón, Registro 2193, fol. 47v .Google Scholar

43 El Libro de la cadena de Jaca (ed. Sangorrin, Damaso; Zaragoza 1921) 117–120. The correct date of the charter is almost certainly 1123, the error being the result of the copyist's mistaking an X for a V.Google Scholar

44 Zar', Ibn Abi, Rawd Al-Qirtas I (ed. and trans. Huici Miranda, A.; Valencia 1964) 316.Google Scholar

45 HE IV 313 ff.Google Scholar

46 HE IV 324–325.Google Scholar

47 Especially dangerous for Rotrou, since it was clear that Louis had designs upon the castle of L'Aigle, located only a few miles from the borders of La Perche.Google Scholar

48 Cartulaire de l'Abbaye de la Sainte Trinité de Tiron I (ed. Merlet, Lucien; Chartres 1883) 31–32 (Charter number XVII).Google Scholar

49 Haskins, G. H., Norman Institutions (Cambridge, Mass. 1918) 294. Earlier editions of this charter are defective.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

50 HE IV 328: ‘Hoc nempe plus quam civile bellum erat, et necessitudo fratres et amicos atque parentes in ultraque parte concatenabat, unde neuter alteri nocere studebat.’ Google Scholar

51 HE IV 321.Google Scholar

52 See note 38 supra. Google Scholar

53 CEP 106; CSJP 96.Google Scholar

54 See Ubieto Arteta, A., Las fronteras de Navarro. (Pamplona 1953) especially 19–20.Google Scholar

55 L'Art de vérifier les dates…, Series II, 13 (1818) 178–179.Google Scholar

56 Neither chronicle shows a close enough acquaintance with Navarrese affairs for us to believe that the authors had access to any reasonably full Navarrese account.Google Scholar

57 For example, the exalted role played by the ‘Uascones’ at the battle of Alcoraz. See CSJP 62.Google Scholar

58 HE V 4–7.Google Scholar

59 HE V 5: ‘… Toleto et Tudela, necnon Pampelona…. ’ Google Scholar

60 Lacarra, J. M., ‘Alfonso el Batallador y las Paces de Tamara,’ EEMCA 3 (1947–1948) 464.Google Scholar

61 HE V 7. Translation from Vitalis, Ordericus, The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy IV (ed. and trans. Thomas Forester; London 1856) 112–113.Google Scholar

62 del Arco y Garay, Ricardo, ‘Referencias a acaecimientos históricos en las datas de documentos aragoneses de los siglos XI y XII,’ EEMCA 3 (1947–1948) 320–321.Google Scholar

63 This Aragonese control had been established as a result of the marriage of Alfonso el Batallador and Urraca, daughter of Alfonso VI of Castile.Google Scholar

64 Lacarra, , ‘Las Paces…,’ 463.Google Scholar

65 Pidal, Ramón Menéndez, La España del Cid I (5th ed.; Madrid 1956) 528–530.Google Scholar

66 One might also note that Guarin de Les Essarts had become abbot of St. Evroult in 1123.Google Scholar

67 HE V 7.Google Scholar

68 Wolter, , Ordericus Vitalis 71. Wolter dates the completion of this section of the Historia as 1136–1137.Google Scholar