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| Alfonso I | |
|---|---|
 An 18th-century statue of Alfonso I, byJuan Porcel inMadrid | |
| King of Asturias | |
| Reign | 739–757 |
| Coronation | 739 |
| Predecessor | Favila |
| Successor | Fruela I |
| Born | 693 Cantabria |
| Died | 757 Cangas de Onís,Asturias |
| Burial | |
| Consort | Ermesinda |
| Issue | Fruela I of Asturias Vimarano Adosinda Mauregatus of Asturias |
| Dynasty | Astur-Leonese dynasty |
| Father | Peter of Cantabria |
| Religion | Chalcedonian Christianity |
Alfonso I of Asturias, calledthe Catholic (el Católico), (c. 693 – 757) was the thirdking of Asturias, reigning from 739 to his death in 757. His reign saw a great extension of the Christian domain ofAsturias, reconqueringGalicia andLeón.
He succeeded his brother-in-lawFavila, and was succeeded by his son,Fruela I. Alfonso's illegitimate son,Mauregatus, also became king, and his daughterAdosinda was consort to KingSilo of Asturias. The dynasty started by Alfonso was known in contemporaryAl-Andalus as theAstur-Leonese dynasty.
As the son of DukePeter of Cantabria,[1] Alfonso held many lands in that region. He is said to have marriedErmesinda, daughter ofPelagius.[2] His father-in-law founded Asturias after theBattle of Covadonga in which he reversed theMoorish 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 theBerber Revolt and led thereconquest of Galicia. The cities ofLugo andTuy inGalicia, who had remained unoccupied by Muslim forces[3] joined his domain and, in 754, he conquered the City ofLeón. He went as far asLa Rioja. However, the few urban populations of these frontier regions fled to his northern dominions, leaving a depopulated buffer between theChristian andMuslim states.
This created the so-calledDesert of the Duero, an empty region between the RiverDuero 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 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 theRepoblación).
TheArab writers speak of the kings of the northwest of Iberia as theBeni Alfons (descendants or House of Alfonso), and appear to recognize them as a Galician royal stock derived from Alfonso I. Alfonso is credited with establishing the shrine ofOur 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:[4]
Alfonso had four children. Three were through his marriage toErmesinda, and one,Mauregatus, was born to a Muslim slave, Sisalda.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)| Preceded by | King of Asturias 739–757 | Succeeded by |
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