“It is false that Fernán González was the first independent count of Castile”

by time news

Before admiring the monumentality of Burgos Cathedral, it is necessary to cross the Puerta de Santa María, a kind of triumphal arch from the 14th century whose niches inhabit the key figures in the history of the city and of Castilla itself. If one looks up at the upper floor of the stone altarpiece, one will be able to identify, in the center, the figure of Emperor Carlos I, escorted by two other characters with raised swords: on the right, El Cid; to the left, Fernán González. History —or rather, legend and myth— has given González the string of having become “the first independent count of Castile”, a key event in the configuration of the subsequent Castilian Crown and, ultimately, the seed of what we know today as Spain. But, what would happen if the merits of Fernán González had been excessively embellished and the feat was an invention? Would we be facing a case in which legend has won the game over historical facts?

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“What happens with Fernán González is the same as with El Cid, literature has eaten reality.” It is the reflection of José Ángel Mañas —author of the celebrated novel History’s part The crown three decades ago now—, who has taken on the complicated and arid challenge of novelizing the life of the Castilian hero, when the little that is known about the character “is either very distorted or, in reality, it never happened.” This is how the novel Fernan Gonzalez (La Esfera de los Libros, 2022) travels through the distant 10th century, when the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba occupied most of the peninsula, and gives voice to important figures, such as King Ramiro II of Leon, Queen Toda of Pamplona or the almighty caliph Abderramán III.

When Mañas speaks of “inventions”, he refers to the famous Poem by Fernan Gonzalez which, in reality, is a epic song written three centuries after the historical events, in order to extol the figure and the supposed exploits of the Castilian hero. The writer affirms that the idyllic image offered in the song contrasts with “the clerical vision of the chroniclers”, in which “he is branded as a rebel and is spoken of in a very negative way”. According to the author, the poem is still a quick reaction from the monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza (Hortigüela, Burgos) to the famous composition The life of Saint Millan (13th century), in which Gonzalo de Berceo praises the figure of the founder of the neighboring building in San Millán de la Cogolla (La Rioja).





And here lies another major mistake. Because tradition has tried to associate the foundation of San Pedro de Arlanza with the figure of Fernán González, with a story involved and documents of doubtful authenticity. According to legend, the knight was hunting through the valley of the Arlanza river, chasing a wild boar, when he met the hermit San Pelayo in a cave, who predicted that he would defeat the Muslims. In gratitude for the excellent omen, Fernán González would build a monastery on a small hermitage in the valley. It seems that there was a need to fully link the foundation of the extraordinary building —whose ruins are currently being restored by the Junta de Castilla y León— to the figure of the count.

Arlanza, ‘cradle of Castile’

In fact, Arlanza has gone down in history as the ‘cradle of Castile’. And it can continue to be interpreted that way, although the historical facts say otherwise about its founder. Actually, the work would not be carried out by Fernán González, but by his father, Gonzalo Fernández, Count of Burgos and Castilla, at the beginning of the 10th century. “The poem is out of whack; affirms that González confronted Almanzor, something that is impossible because the Muslim soldier is a contemporary of his son, Garci Fernández ”, asserts José Ángel Mañas. In fact, the novelist only includes a passing reference to Arlanza at the end of the story. “Actually, now I miss in the novel some flashback about the childhood of the count in the monastery of Arlanza, but the narration is very focused on Picón de Lara”, assumes Mañas, referring to the old castle of the counts in Lara de los Infantes, to the south of Burgos, of which only foot “four stones”.





So, in the shifting sands that sustain legend, myth and historical facts, what is true in the topic that accompanies the figure of the Castilian hero? “It is a lie that Fernán González was the first independent count of Castile; nor was he the first count of Castile (Rodrigo was), nor was he ever independent”, José Ángel Mañas emphatically maintains, adding that Fernán González always acted in the shadow of the powerful Kingdom of León and its monarch, Ramiro II. And although, in short, he did not conquer any specific territory either, González did participate in one of the most decisive battles in the Reconquest along with those of Covadonga (year 722) and Las Navas de Tolosa (1212). In Simancas (939) he fought alongside Ramiro II to stop the ‘wild order’ of Abderramán III, and thus strengthen the dominance of the Christian kingdoms in the north of the peninsula.





In any case, José Ángel Mañas does not hesitate to attribute an enormous historical merit to the medieval knight, that of resistance. “He was someone who ruled Castilla for 40 years, he forged it, as the subtitle of the book points out. From that moment, the county of Castilla would become the spearhead of all the territories in the area, ”he specifies. Because Castilla would offer, affirms the novelist, two vital elements for the expansion of a kingdom in the making: the long-awaited freedom and new lands to work.

From Medina Azahara to the Zamora Boat

From the heritage point of view, the novel Fernan Gonzalez chart an equally exciting journey. It is the time in which Abderramán III directs the omnipotent caliphate in Córdoba, from where he builds the palatine city of Medina Azahara. A lavish city destined, especially, to show the caliphal power and the desire to dazzle foreign rulers. Hence, between the years 936 and 976 —the four decades that are used in construction— no materials or ornaments were spared to raise, among other buildings, the so-called Salón Rico, one of the main attractions of the ruins that were declared Heritage of Humanity in 2018 and whose tourist pull has been uncovered in recent years.

And since there is no good novel that does not develop a suggestive love story, Mañas has rescued the distant figure of Aurora, a young woman from Pamplona who ended up in the harem of Alhakén II —successor of Abderramán III—, where she became one of the characters most influential. Beyond confronting the great caliph with his successor, the story of Aurora (Subh for Muslims) straddles between Umayyads and Castilians. “Subh’s character existed, the license that I have allowed myself is that I have made her a little younger and that she met Count Fernán González, something that did not happen,” Mañas is sincere.



Aurora, Subh, Alhakén III… In reality, the story has managed to put a face to the unknown characters that appear mentioned in a small cylindrical ivory casket, which is preserved in the National Archaeological Museum: the Zamora Boat (year 964). Because the inscription in Arabic that registers the cover of the pyx reflects that that beautiful piece —one of the most delicate of its category— was the gift that Alhakén II offered to Subh in gratitude for having given birth to his firstborn, the future Caliph Hisham II. Today, the ivory piece shines in a display case located in the room dedicated to the heritage of the ancient Christian kingdoms of the National Archaeological Museum.

Curiously, the historical-artistic legacy related to Count Fernán González has ended up in ruins or a victim of ‘self-plunder’. Sonada was the sale of the paintings from the palatine chamber of the Monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza which, due to the negligence of the Spanish cultural authorities, would end up being sold, uprooted and disseminated among museums in the United States and the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, where today two of the emblems of the “cradle of Castile” are preserved: the castle that symbolized the county and a majestic griffin, perhaps a metaphor for the protector of the greatest treasure of the monastery, the very seed of the future Crown.

A historic license

Not even José Ángel Mañas himself, despite his intention to demystify the Castilian hero, could escape the temptation to close the novel with a historical license that will be familiar to the reader. no mind to do spoiler At the end of the story, the author does resort to the legend of Fernán González’s Arabian horse and hawk, which end up in the hands of the ephemeral king of León Sancho el Crasso and which, in the end, will represent a debt that would be exchanged for the mythologized (and never conquered) freedom of the Castilian count.

Likewise, it will draw the attention of those interested in past exploits to see Mañas’s own signature in a historical novel. Actually, it is almost more natural for the Madrid writer to talk about the deeds of ancient heroes in novels like The Hispanic (Arzalia, 2020) or pelayo (La Esfera de los Libros, 2021) that reflects the concerns and concerns of the protagonists of his successful neorealist novels (Historias del Kronen, Mensaka), Well, he was already thinking about these questions in his youth, while he was studying History at the Complutense University of Madrid. “My goal is for people to enjoy the story, trying to respect the characters as much as possible. The Spanish Middle Ages are tremendously complex and I believe that the historical novel is fulfilling an important popularizing function, ”he asserts. And with respect to Fernán González, Mañas recommends the study of his importance for the current country in the classroom because, even devoid of the legend, his historical weight in difficult times was decisive.

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