The two political spaces analysed in this chapter (kingdoms of Castile and Navarre) dig
their medieval roots in the Christian kingdoms formed in the north of the Iberian
Peninsula between the eighth and the tenth centuries. The Kingdom of Castile (or Castile
and León) was the successor of the small Kingdom of Asturias, which emerged in the
northwest of the Iberian Peninsula in the eight century; it came to be known as the
Kingdom of León after its territorial consolidation north of the Douro River in the tenth
century. Its eastern frontier march, bordering with the valley of the Ebro, was the County
of Castile, a de facto independent polity from the tenth century. For its part, the Kingdom
of Pamplona (known as Kingdom of Navarre from 1162 onwards) was formed in the ninth
century in the western Pyrenees, north of the Ebro, and became the dominant Christian
polity in the Iberian Peninsula during the reign of Sancho III (1004-1035). After the death
of this monarch in 1035, the territories that he had controlled through inheritance
(Kingdom of Pamplona and counties of Aragón and Ribagorza) or marriage (County of
Castile) were distributed among his children.
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