is a Latin title meaning "Emperor of All Spain". In Spain in the Middle Ages, the title "emperor" (from Latin imperator) was used under a variety of circumstances from the ninth century onwards, but its usage peaked, as a formal and practical title, between 1086 and 1157. It was primarily used by the kings of León and Castile, but it also found currency in the Kingdom of Navarre and was employed by the counts of Castile and at least one duke of Galicia. It signalled at various points the king's equality with the rulers of the Byzantine Empire and Holy Roman Empire, his rule by conquest or military superiority, his rule over several ethnic or religious groups, and his claim to suzerainty over the other kings of the peninsula, both Christian and Muslim. The use of the imperial title received scant recognition outside of Spain and it had become largely forgotten by the thirteenth century.
The analogous feminine title, "empress" (Latin imperatrix), was less frequently used for the consorts of the emperors. Only one reigning queen, Urraca, had occasion to use it, but did so sparingly.
History
Kings of Asturias One of the earliest references to the Kingdom of Asturias, predecessor of the Kingdom of León, as an empire (imperium) is in the Chronicle of Alfonso III (881), which says that King Silo (774–83) "subjugated the people of Galicia to his imperial rule" (imperium). The reference is clearly to the rule of the Asturian king over several peoples, namely Asturians, Galicians and Basques.Collins 1989, 165.
A surviving charter of 863 refers to Ordoño I as "our lord, residing in the Asturias" (domno nostro Ordonio residente in Asturias), qualifying him as a "commanding prince" (imperante principe). This residential form of title was preferred because the Asturian kingdom at this stage was not ethnically unified or well-defined.Collins 2012, 14.
Kings of León Alfonso III
There exist two diplomas dated to the reign of Alfonso III of Asturias and referring to him as emperor, but both are early twelfth-century fabrications emanating from the scriptorium of the Diocese of Mondoñedo and Bishop Gonzalo, designed to bolster that church's claims in a dispute of 1102.García Gallo 1945, 203, credits Lucien Barrau-Dihigo, "Étude sur les actes des rois asturiens (718–910)", Révue Hispanique, 46 (1919): 91–96, 133–34, and 137–38, with demonstrating the forgery. The first document, dated to 866 or 867, confirmed by Alfonso, who signs as "I, Alfonso, of all Spain emperor, who is unworthily permitted to be called the Catholic".García Gallo 1945, 203: Ego Adefonsus totius Hispaniae imperator, qui licet indigne vocitor Catholicus. The other refers to him simply as "Alfonso, Emperor of Spain" (Adefonsus Hispaniae imperator). The forger may have borrowed these exalted titles from the chancery of Alfonso VI, who was using the title imperator totius Hispaniae at the time. The subscription lists of both these charters (that is, the list of those who witnessed or confirmed them) are compatible with the dates, and it has been suggested that the clauses referring to Alfonso as emperor are derived from authentic (albeit now lost) charters.García Gallo 1945, 203, citing López Ortiz 1942, 69–70.
There exists a letter purportedly written by Alfonso III to the clergy of the Cathedral of Tours in 906, wherein the king is arranging to purchase an "imperial crown made of gold and precious stones, fitting to his dignity" (corona imperialis) kept at Tours.Fletcher 1984, 317–18. Alfonso almost invariably calls himself simply "King Alfonso" (Adefonsus rex) in his surviving charters, but in the letter he uses the elaborate and high-ranking style "Alfonso by the power and assent of Christ king of Spain" (Adefonsus pro Christi nutu at que potentia Hispaniae rex). A similarly grandiose title is given to Alfonso in the contemporary Chronica Prophetica (883): "glorious Alfonso in all the Spains to reign" (gloriosus Adefonsus in omni Spanie regnaturus).Fletcher 1984, 319, citing the Crónica Profética in M. Gómez Moreno (ed.), "Las primeras crónicas de la Reconquista: el ciclo de Alfonso III", Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 100 (1932): 562–628, at 623. The authenticity of the letter is still debated."[I]t has generally been regarded with scepticism by modern historical scholarship", according to Fletcher 1984, 71. It is rejected by Lucien Barrau-Dihigo, "Recherches sur l'histoire politique du royaume asturien (718–910)", Révue Hispanique, 52 (1921): 86–91, according to García Gallo 1945, 203. It has been accepted as genuine by Hermann Hüffer (Hüffer 1930, 11–12 and 48 n. 20, cited in García Gallo 1945, 203) and Carl Erdmann (Forschungen zur politischen Ideenwelt des Frühmittelalters, F. Baethgen, ed. (Berlin: 1951), 31–33, cited in Fletcher 1984, 323).
Besides the apocryphal charters, there are genuine, posthumous documents referring to Alfonso as emperor. In one that dates from 917, in the reign of his son Ordoño II of León, the king confirms as "Ordoño, son of the Emperor Alfonso the Great" (Ordonius, filius Adephonsi Magni imperatoris).García Gallo 1945, 203. A document from 950 can also be cited that refers to Alfonso with the imperial title. The pertinent passage reads: "They put in place a border with Gonzalo, son of our lord emperor Prince Alfonso".García Gallo 1945, 203: Posuerunt terminos cum Gundisalvo filio imperatori nostro domno Adefonso princeps.
Tenth century A royal diploma of 922, where Ordoño II refers to himself as emperor, is the first recorded instance of a Leonese king doing so. The charter reads, "I, the most serene emperor Ordoño" (Ego serenissimus imperator Ordonius).García Gallo 1945, 204. Ordoño II's successor, Ramiro II (931–51), is not titled "emperor" in any contemporary document, but a charter dated 940 and preserved as a copy in the cartulary of the monastery of Eslonza is dated by "our reigning lord and emperor" (regnante domino et imperatore nostro), the reigning king being Ramiro II. Although he apparently avoided the imperial style himself, his subjects and his successor did not. Private documents of his reign commonly refer to him as the "great king" (rex magnus), as in a document of 930 ("reigning Ramiro, prince and great king in León").García Gallo 1945, 204: regnante Ranimiro principe et regis magni in Legione. In a private charter from the first year of Ramiro's son Ordoño III (952), the king is called "our reigning lord prince Ordoño, heir of the lord emperor Ramiro" (regnante principe nostro domno Hordonio, prolis domini Ranimiri imperatoris) and the charter was given "at Simancas in the presence of the emperor" (perrexerunt ad Septemanka in presentia imperatoris). In a charter of 954, Ordoño is described as "most lordly emperor, son of Ramiro" (dominisimo imperatori Ranimiro filius).Rodriguez 1988, 162
Contemporary documents of the reign of Ramiro III of León use the magnified titles basileus and magnus rex ("great king").From a document of 977, cited in García Gallo 1945, 204: "our lord and prince, the great king Lord Ramiro" (Dominus noster et princeps magnus rex dominus Ranemirus). The former is a Latinisation of the Greek for "king" and was the title employed by the Byzantine Emperors. To western European ears it had an imperial inflection. During the regency of Ramiro's aunt, the nun Elvira Ramírez, the king confirmed a document of 1 May 974 as "Flavius Ramiro, prince, anointed great basileus in the kingdom ... I confirm with my own hand. Elvira, basilea, paternal aunt of the king".García Gallo 1945, 204, and Manuel Carriedo Tejeno, "Una reina sin corona en 956–976: la infanta Elvira, hija de Ramiro II", Tierras de León, 39:101 (2001), 122 n. 27: Ranimirus Flavius princeps, magnu[s] Basileus unctus in regno fultus ... mano mea confirmo. Giloira Deo dicata et bas[s]ilea, regis amita. The Roman personal name Flavius, which originally meant "blond", was popular among Romanised barbarians, and the kings of the Visigoths took to using it as a Byzantine-sounding title, to give themselves legitimacy.Norman Roth, Jews, Visigoths and Muslims in Medieval Spain: Cooperation and Conflict, Medieval Iberian Peninsula Texts and Studies, 10 (Leiden: Brill, 1994), 8. Its use in a document of the tenth century harkens back to Visigothic rule and peninsular unity. A judicial document that emanated from the royal court in 976 refers to a certain royal servant as "in the palace of the most lordly king–emperor ... in obedient service to his most lordly emperor".García Gallo 1945, 204: in palacio regis dominissimis imperatoris ... in servicio obediendi dominissimis suis imperatoris.
Eleventh century In the first decades of the eleventh century, the Catalan Abbot Oliba referred to the kings of León, Alfonso V and Bermudo III, as imperatores. Two charters of Sancho Garcés III of Pamplona for the monastic house of San Juan de la Peña, both erroneously dated to 1025, use the same dating clause identify Bermudo III as "emperor in Galicia".The clause is quoted in Martínez Díez 2007, 235, and in García Gallo 1945, 205: et ego Sancius rex tenens culmen potestatis mee in Aragone et in Pampilonia, in Suprarbi et in Ribacorza, in Nagera et in Castella et in Alava, et comes Sancuis Guilelmus in Guasconia, et Belengerius in Barcinona, et imperator donnus Vermudius in Gallecia ("and I, King Sancho, having the head of my power in Aragon and in Pamplona, in Sobrarbe and in Ribagorza, in Nájera and in Castile and in Álava, and Count Sancho William in Gascony, and Berengar in Barcelona, and the emperor Don Bermudo in Galicia"). It is not clear what the imperial title means in this charter, which appears to have been issued before Sancho's conquest of the city of León, when Bermudo was reduced to ruling Galicia, for the conquest came in 1034 and the charter was drawn between Bermudo's accession in 1028 and the death of Duke Sancho VI of Gascony on 4 October 1032.Martínez Díez 2007, 235–36. There exists a charter of 1036 issued by Ramiro I of Aragon, which lists the sovereigns then reigning in Spain thus: "Emperor Bermudo in León, and Count Ferdinand in Castile, and King García in Pamplona, and King Ramiro in Aragon, and King Gonzalo in Ribagorza".García Gallo 1945, 205: Regnante imperator Veremundo in Leione, et comite Fredinando in Castella, et rex Garsea in Pampilonia, et rex Ranimirus in Aragone, et rex Gundesalvus in Ripacorça. This charter is also discussed in detail in Pérez de Urbel 1954, 18–19.
Rulers of León and Castile
Ferdinand I Upon the death of his elder brother García Sánchez III of Navarre in 1054, Ferdinand I of Castile and León gained a position of preeminence among the Christian kings of Iberia. He was first called "emperor" by the notaries employed by his half-brother, Ramiro I of Aragon, the same ones who in 1036 called Ferdinand's predecessor Bermudo III "emperor". In a royal Aragonese charter of that same year, before Ferdinand had even defeated Bermudo and taken his kingdom at the Battle of Tamarón, Ramiro refers to his brother as "emperor in Castile and in León and in Astorga".García Gallo 1945, 226 n. 70: Regnante me Ranimiro ... et Fredelandus imperator in Castella et in Leione et in Astorga ("me, Ramiro, reigning ... and Ferdinand, emperor in Castile and in León and in Astorga"). A similarly-worded charter was issued in 1041 and again in 1061, where the order of kingdoms is reversed and Astorga ignored: "emperor in León and in Castile".This latter, from García Gallo 1945, 226 n. 71, reads "King Ramiro reigning in Aragon ... Ferdinand, emperor in León and in Castile" (Regnante Ramiro rege in Aragonie ... Fredelandus imperator in Leione et in Castella).