Kingdom of León

The Kingdom of León was the Christian kingdom of northwest Iberia, lasting from 910 to 1230 and the mother of both Castile and Portugal. It was born when the princes of Asturias moved their capital from Oviedo to the Roman walls of León, dividing old Alfonso III's realm among his sons. For three centuries its kings fought on two fronts: Moors to the south, Vikings and fellow Christians to the flanks, holding the pilgrimage road to Santiago and the high meseta towns. León's fate was to beget greater powers than itself. In 1139 its western county, Portugal, broke away under Afonso Henriques and never returned. The eastern lands hardened into Castile, at first a county, then a kingdom, and in 1230 Ferdinand III of Castile inherited León through his mother and joined the two crowns forever. León lived on as a title and a proud region, briefly independent again in 1296, but history marched under Castile's banner toward a united Spain.