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| - According to the chronicles of Alfonso III of Asturias; the first reference to the name "Castile" (Castilla) can be found in a document written during AD 800. The name reflects its origin as a march on the eastern frontier of the Kingdom of Asturias, protected by castles, towers or castra. The County of Castile, bordered in the south by the Montes de Toledo, was re-populated by inhabitants of Cantabria, Asturias, Vasconia and Visigothic and Mozarab origins. It had its own Romance dialect and laws. The first Count of Castile was Rodrigo in 850, under Ordoño I of Asturias and Alfonso III of Asturias. Subsequently, After his son, Diego Rodríguez,'s death, the region was subdivided, separate counts being named to Alava, Burgos, Cerezo & Lantarón, and a reduced Castile. In 931 the County was reunified by Count Fernando González, who rose in rebellion against the Kingdom of León, successor state to Asturias, and achieved an autonomous status, allowing the county to be inherited by his family instead of being subject to appointment by the Leonese king. The minority of Count García II Sánchez led Castile to accept Sancho III of Pamplona, married to the sister of Count García, as feudal overlord. García was assassinated in 1028 while in León to marry the princess Sancha, sister of Bermudo III of León. Sancho III, acting as feudal overlord, appointed his younger son (García's nephew) Fernando as Count of Castile, marrying him to his uncle's intended bride, Sancha of León. Following Sancho's 1035 death, Castile returned to the nominal control of León, but Ferdinand, allying himself with his brother García V of Pamplona, began a war with his brother-in-law Bermudo. At the Battle of Tamarón Bermudo was killed, leaving no surviving offspring. In right of his wife, Ferdinand then assumed the royal title as king of León and Castile, for the first time associating the royal title with the rule of Castile. When Ferdinand I died in 1065, the territories were divided among his children. Sancho II became King of Castile, Alfonso VI, King of León and García, King of Galicia, while his daughters were given towns, Urraca, Zamora, and Elvira, Toro. Sancho II allied himself with Alfonso VI of León and together they conquered, then divided Galicia. Sancho later attacked Alfonso VI and invaded León with the help of El Cid, and drove his brother into exile, thereby reuniting the three kingdoms. Urraca permitted the greater part of the Leonese army to take refuge in the town of Zamora. Sancho laid siege to the town, but the Castilian king was assassinated in 1072 by Bellido Dolfos, a Galician nobleman. The Castilian troops then withdrew. As a result Alfonso VI recovered all his original territory of León, and now also became the king of Castile and Galicia. This was the second union of León and Castile, although the two kingdoms remained distinct entities joined only in a personal union. The sworn oath taken by El Cid before Alfonso VI in Santa Gadea de Burgos regarding the innocence of the Alfonso in the matter of the murder of his brother is well known. Under Alfonso VI, there was an approach to the rest of Europeans kingdoms, including France. He gave his daughters, Elvira, Urraca and Theresa, in marriage to Raymond of Toulouse, Raymond of Burgundy and Henry of Burgundy respectively. In the Council of Burgos in 1080 the traditional Mozarabic rite was replaced by the Roman one. Upon his death, Alfonso VI was succeeded by his daughter the widowed Urraca, who then married Alfonso I of Aragon, but they almost immediately fell out, and Alfonso tried unsuccessfully to conquer Urraca's lands, before he repudiated her in 1114. Urraca also had to contend with attempts by her son (offspring of her first marriage), the king of Galicia, to assert his rights. When Urraca died, this son became king of León and Castile as Alfonso VII. During his reign, Alfonso VII managed to annex parts of the weaker kingdoms of Navarre and Aragón which fought to secede after the death of Alfonso I of Aragon. Alfonso VII refused his right to conquer the Mediterranean coast for the new union of Aragón with the County of Barcelona (Petronila and Ramón Berenguer IV). The centuries of Moorish rule had confirmed the high central tableland of Castile as a vast sheep pasturage; the fact that the greater part of Spanish sheep-rearing terminology was drawn from Arabic underscores the debt. During the 12th century, Europe enjoyed a great advance in intellectual achievements sparked in part by the kingdom of Castile's recovery of the great cultural center of Toledo (1085). There Islamic classics were discovered, and contacts established with the knowledge and works of Muslim scientists. In the first half of the century a program of translations, traditionally called the "School of Toledo", was undertaken which rendered many philosophical and scientific works from the classical Greek and the Islamic worlds into Latin. Many European scholars, including Daniel of Morley and Gerard of Cremona travelled to Toledo to gain further education. The Way of St. James further enhanced the cultural exchange between the kingdoms of Castile and León; and the rest of Europe. The 12th century saw the establishment of many new religious orders, after the European fashion, such as Calatrava, Alcántara and Santiago; and the foundation of many Cistercian abbeys. Alfonso VII restored the royal tradition of dividing his kingdom among his children. Sancho III became King of Castile and Fernando II, King of León. The rivalry between both kingdoms continued until 1230 when Fernando III of Castile received the Kingdom of León from his father Alfonso IX, having previously received the Kingdom of Castile from his mother Berengaria of Castile in 1217. In addition, he took advantage of the decline of the Almohad empire to conquer the Guadalquivir Valley whilst his son Alfonso took the taifa of Murcia. The Courts from León and Castile merged, an event considered as the foundation of the Crown of Castile, consisting of the kingdoms of Castile, León, taifas and other domains conquered from the Moors, including the taifa of Córdoba, taifa of Murcia, taifa of Jaén and taifa of Seville. The House of Trastámara was a lineage that ruled Castile from 1369 to 1504, Aragón from 1412 to today, Navarre from 1425 to today, Brandenburg from the 1470's until today, and Naples from 1453 to 1476. Its name was taken from the Count (or Duke) of Trastámara. This title was used by Henry II of Castile, "lo de las Mercedes", before coming to the throne in 1369, during the civil war with his legitimate brother, King Pedro of Castile. Juan I of Navarra ruled from 1441 to 1453 and upon his death, his son became king of both Navarra and Aragon, later becoming Elector of Brandenburg. In 1474, The House of Habsburg came into power on Castille, after the death of King Alfonso XII, and the previous marriage of now Queen Isabel to Frederick Constantine von Habsburg, also known as Fadrique I of Castille, son of Frederick VII of Austria, the then Holy Roman Emperor.the connections with the Emperor were crucial for the Castillian victory on the First Galician War.With the death of Fadrique in 1513, Austria and Castille went to different sons of his, the eldest, Maximilian, receiving Castille. The House of Habsburg in Castille eventually was toppled in 1586, following Garcia I of Portugal's acquisition of the titles associated with the Castillian crown, on the peace negotiations after the Second Galician War.
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