Ramiro II of León
| Ramiro II | |
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| Reign | 931–951 |
| Predecessor | Alfonso IV |
| Successor | Ordoño III |
| Consort | Adosinda Gutiérrez Urraca of Pamplona |
| Issue | |
| Bermudo Theresa, Queen of Pamplona Ordoño III Sancho I Elvira |
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| Dynasty | Beni Alfons |
| Father | Ordoño II of León |
| Mother | Elvira Mendes |
| Born | c. 900 |
| Died | 1 January 951 (aged 50–51) León |
| Burial | Basilica of San Isidoro |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Ramiro II (c. 900–1 January 951), son of Ordoño II, was King of León from 931 until his death. Initially titular king only of a lesser part of Asturias, he gained the crown of León (and with it, Galicia) after his brother Alfonso IV abdicated in 931. The scant Anales castellanos primeros are a primary source for his reign.
Ramiro was the creator of a Navarrese/Leonese coalition that defeated the Muslims in the Battle of Simancas (939). This victory allowed the advance of the Leonine border of the Duero to the Tormes.
In the last years of his reign, he could not avoid Castilian independence under the direction of Fernán González of Castile, but still in 950 he launched an expedition to the valley of the Edge and defeated the Muslims at Talavera.
He married twice, first to Adosinda Gutierrez, Ramiro's first cousin and the daughter of Gutier Osoriz and Ildonzia Menendez, niece of Ramiro's mother, queen Elvira Menendez and cousin of San Rosendo. By her had sons Bermudo and Ordoño III, and presumably daughter Teresa, wife of García Sánchez I of Pamplona. He secondly married Urraca, sister of García, and had two children, Sancho I and Elvira.
He figures prominently in the romantic poem, the Miragaia, which tells the apocryphal story of Ramiro bedding Ortega, the daughter of a local Arab lord. By her he is given a son Alboazar, the progenitor of the Galician/Portuguese Maya family.[1] This Maya tradition was subsequently linked to another legend, that told in the Cantar de los Siete Infantes de Lara by giving Ramiro and Ortega (sometimes called Ortigueda) a daughter Ortega Ramírez, who is made to marry Gustios Gonzalez, grandfather of the legendary hero Mudarra Gonzalez de Lara. Subsequent elaboration of this legend gave further supposed descendants, but none of these Lara connections are accepted by modern scholars.
[edit] References
- ^ While this Maya founder is a historical individual, he was actually the son of a man named Lovesendo.
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Ramiro II of León
Born: circa 900 Died: 1 January 951 |
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| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by Alfonso IV |
King of León 931–951 |
Succeeded by Ordoño III |
