Misplaced Pages

#968031

14-704: Alphons (Latinized Alphonsus , Adelphonsus , or Adefonsus ) is a male given name recorded from the 8th century ( Alfonso I of Asturias , r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula . In the later medieval period it became a standard name in the Hispanic and Portuguese royal families. It is derived from a Gothic name , or a conflation of several Gothic names; from *Aþalfuns , composed of

28-579: A band of warriors to resist Islamic encroachment. When in 722 the Arab commander of Spain sent an army to eliminate this resistance, the Christian army made its stand at a place of many caves known as Covadonga. According to tradition Pelayo retreated to a cave where a hermit had secreted a statue of the Virgin Mary, saved from the Muslim conquest. He prayed to the virgin for victory. In the subsequent battle

42-612: Is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the name of a Marian shrine devoted to her at Covadonga , Asturias . The shrine in northwestern Spain rose to prominence following the Battle of Covadonga in about 720, which was the first defeat of the Moors during their invasion of Spain . A statue of the Virgin Mary, hidden in one of the caves, was believed to have miraculously aided the Christian victory. Our Lady of Covadonga

56-476: Is credited with establishing the shrine of Our Lady of Covadonga , in commemoration of his father in law's victory at the Battle of Covadonga. He and his queen are interred there. Their epitaph reads: Alfonso had four children. Three were through his marriage to Ermesinda , and one, Mauregatus , was born to a Muslim slave, Sisalda. Our Lady of Covadonga Our Lady of Covadonga also named "La Santina "

70-566: Is the co-patron of Asturias, and a basilica was built to house the current statue. Her feast day is 8 September, as it is also the autonomic day of Asturias. Covadonga is a mountainous region in the province of Asturias in the extreme north west of Spain. Following the Islamic Arab invasion of Spain in 711, Roderic , the Christian Visigoth King of Spain was defeated and killed at the Battle of Guadalete . The battle

84-734: The Battle of Covadonga in which he reversed the Moorish conquest of the region. He succeeded Pelagius' son, his brother-in-law, Favila , on the throne after the latter's premature death. Whether Pelagius or Favila were ever considered kings in their own lifetime is debatable, but Alfonso certainly was. He began a lifelong war against the Moors. In 740, he took advantage of the Berber Revolt and expanded his domain. The cities of Lugo and Tuy in Galicia , who had remained unoccupied by muslim forces joined his domain and, in 754, he conquered

98-518: The 12th century until the 15th. Variants of the name include: Alonso (Spanish), Alfonso (Spanish and Italian), Alfons (Dutch, German, Catalan, Polish, Croatian and Scandinavian), Afonso ( Portuguese and Galician ), Alphonse , Alfonse (French and English), etc. Alphonse , Alphonso , Alfonso is occasionally seen as a surname derived from the given name, the latter descending from Asturias and Cantabria . Alfonso I of Asturias He succeeded his brother-in-law Favila , and

112-497: The Catholic (739-757) commanded that a monastery and chapel be built on the site in honor of Our Lady of Covadonga. The sanctuary came to be run by Augustinian canons but was destroyed by fire on 17 October 1777. The shrine was rebuilt piecemeal, until replaced by a great Basilica that was consecrated in 1901. The basilica houses the current statue of Our Lady of Covadonga, dating to the 16th century. Pope John Paul II visited

126-521: The Christians made use of the natural defences. The moorish commander fell in the battle, and his soldiers fled. This victory, considered the first of the Christian reconquista of Spain, established the independence of the Kingdom of Asturias in north west Spain. Pelayo credited the intercession of the Virgin Mary for his victory. And in recognition of this miraculous intercession, King Alfonso I,

140-752: The City of León . He went as far as La Rioja . However, the few urban populations of these frontier regions fled to his northern dominions, leaving a depopulated buffer between the Christian and Muslim states. This created the so-called Desert of the Duero , an empty region between the River Duero and the Asturian Mountains. Alfonso intended it this way; he wished to create an area in which any invading army would find survival difficult. Besides

154-520: The elements aþal "noble" and funs "eager, brave, ready", and perhaps influenced by names such as *Alafuns , *Adefuns and * Hildefuns . It is recorded as Adefonsus in the 9th and 10th century, and as Adelfonsus , Adelphonsus in the 10th to 11th. The reduced form Alfonso is recorded in the late 9th century, and the Portuguese form Afonso from the early 11th and Anfós in Catalan from

SECTION 10

#1732771910969

168-564: The martial aspects, the demographic and cultural effects of this policy on later Asturian, Spanish and Portuguese history is large. It was over a hundred years before the region was repopulated (an event known as the Repoblación ). The Arab writers speak of the kings of the northwest of Iberia as the Beni Alfons (descendants or House of Alfonso), and appear to recognize them as a Galician royal stock derived from Alfonso I. Alfonso

182-530: Was decisive and led to the swift conquest of most of Visigothic Spain. The remnant of the Visigoth nobility retreated to the remote mountains of northern Spain. According to texts written in northern Iberia during the ninth century, they elected in 718 a man named Pelayo , or Pelagius, as their leader. Pelayo's father had been a dignitary at the court of the Visigoth King Egica . Pelayo gathered

196-503: Was succeeded by his son, Fruela I . Alfonso's illegitimate son, Mauregatus , also became king, and his daughter Adosinda was consort to King Silo of Asturias . The dynasty started by Alfonso was known in contemporary Al-Andalus as the Astur-Leonese dynasty . As the son of Duke Peter of Cantabria , Alfonso held many lands in that region. He is said to have married Ermesinda , daughter of Pelagius , who founded Asturias after

#968031