Competition in the frontiers of the Asturian kingdom: the comites of Castile, Lantarón and Álava (860-940)

Following the increasing military pressure from Al-Andalus, the northeastern borders of the Kingdom of Asturias became a frontier territory which was characterised by well-defined social hierarchies. The surviving, and very fragmented, sources from the period confirm that this was common throughout the Christian North, as there are references to a consistent number of comites who were active in various territories characterised by different political identities, such as Lantarón, Cerezo, Álava and Castile. Thus, far for being marginal, the period of aristocratic rivalry documented between 860 and 940, shows a great deal of political action concerning the borders of the Asturian kingdom. Moreover, the centrality of rural wealth, military activities and familiar relationships between aristocrats is central to understand notions of power and governance in a period which culminated in the sudden expansion of Castile under the rule of Fernán González. Throughout a systematic study of narrative sources and charters copied in Castilian cartularies from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, this paper will examine such a complex time of competition among military chieftains.