Ramiro I of Asturias

Ramiro I (c.790–850) became King of Asturias in 842 and reigned until his death. Son of Bermudo I, he succeeded Alfonso II.

First, he had to deal with the usurper Nepocian, defeating him at the Battle of the Bridge of Cornellana, by the river Narcea. Ramiro then removed the system of election which allowed his family to be displaced by a faction of nobles. Shortly after his succession, he went to Castile, where he took a wife, presumably the Paterna who was his widow (not Paterna Urraca, the latter being the name of the queen of a later Ramiro). Given the age of his son Ordono I, this must have been a second marriage.

During his turbulent reign, the chronicles relate that he had to fend off attacks from both the Moors and the Vikings. Supposedly, he defeated the former in the legendary Battle of Clavijo. At this battle, Saint James the Greater, the Moor-Slayer, was claimed to have appeared on a white horse, giving rise to his cult in Spain.

In 846, the Christian population of León fled before a Moorish attack, and it was not reoccupied until 856, under Ordono I.

The art and architecture of his reign forms the "Ramirense" phase of Asturian art. His court was the center of great splendor, of which the palace and church of Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo are testimony.

Ramiro died at Liño and was succeeded by his son, the aforementioned Ordoño.

External links

*en icon [http://www.turismo-prerromanico.es/arterural/smnaranco/smnarficing.htm] Spanish Pre-Romanesque Art Guide; Santa María del Naranco.
*en icon [http://www.turismo-prerromanico.es/arterural/smlillo/smlilloficing.htm] Spanish Pre-Romanesque Art Guide; San Miguel de Lillo.
*en icon [http://www.turismo-prerromanico.es/arterural/sclena/sclenaficing.htm] Spanish Pre-Romanesque Art Guide; Santa Cristina de Lena.