|
The Middle Ages
With the move of the
Royal Court to León in a.d.914, Asturies was no longer the capital it
had been, and once again fell into a profound isolation from the
decision-centres, first in the court of León and later in Castilla. This
loss of influence was to provoke various secessionist movements, the most
notable of which was the rebellion of Count Gonzalo Pelaéz against King
Alfonso VII in the twelfth century, with the consequent Regina in Asturias.
Urraca, the king's illegitimate Asturian daughter, was to be the protaganist of
a later attempt at independence.
In these siglos oscuros or rather the dark ages from the tenth to the
thirteenth centuries, Asturies was obliged by its land-locked isolation to turn
its face to the sea, a move in which the inclusion of San Salvador de
Uviéu as one of the most important landmarks along the pilgrims' route
to Santiago de Compostela was to figure largely, especially after the opening
in 1075 of the Holy Arc and the circulation of stories of the miraculous
consequences of contemplating the Holy Relics. As a consequence of this
pilgrims from all along the European Atlantic coast began to arrive at the
ports of Avilés, LIanes, Villaviciosa and Ribesella, to embark thence
upon the route, and all these ports but especially the first, Avilés,
were to enjoy a healthy commerce with Bayona, La Rochelle, Nantes, the bay of
Bourgneuf, all of which explains the presence of a duty-free area and
documentary evidence of tradespersons such as one Martinus Breton (in the year
1223), and the fact that one of the town's patron saints is St. Thomas (Santo
Tomás) of Canterbury.
The dispersion of the rural population at a time when outside contact came by
sea and not from the interior made political control of the territory on the
part of the supreme power of the king most difficult, and determined royal
politics insofaras the creation of village-towns, each one with a large area of
influence. It was to be the beginning of the first movement towards urban
expansion in the territory, a process which would be continued in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with the consolidation of municipalities, or
conceyos, which were to organise themselves into a Xunta, or assembly for
popular representation.
In 1388, with the marriage of Enrique, eldest son of Juan I of Castilla, to
Catalina of Lancaster, the King gave to his heir the title of Prince of
Asturies, creating thus an institution which survives today and which was
created after the likeness of that of the Prince of Wales, already created one
hundred years earlier.
Last / Next |
|
|