'Ordoño II' (c.
873–
924,
León) was king of
Galicia from
910 and of
León from
914 until his death. He was the second son of the King
Alfonso III the Great and his wife,
Amulina of Navarre (called Jinema after his marriage).
His father sent him to
Zaragoza to be educated in the court of the
Banu Qasi. Upon Alfonso's death in 910, his sons divided the
kingdom of Asturias.
León went to
García, Galicia to Ordoño, and
Asturias to
Fruela. Asturian primacy was nevertheless recognised, though Ordoño was of a harder temperament than his brothers. Upon his brother García's death in
Zamora in
914, he succeeded him in
León.
Ordoño continued thereafter the expansion of the Christian polity of his forefathers on two fronts. In the west of his territiories, he sacked
Mérida and
Évora and forced the
Muslim governor of the region to buy his retreat.
In the east of his territories, he united with
Sancho I Garcés,
king of
Navarre, against the
emir of Córdoba,
Abd-ar-Rahman III. The Moors were destroyed at
San Esteban de Gormaz (
917).
Arnedo and
Calahorra were taken the next year from the Banu Qasi. The reaction of Abd-ar-rahman, however, was not light. In
920, he put to march and army to recover
Osma and San Esteban de Gormaz. He crossed into Navarre and destroyed the Christians at
Valdejunquera and took captive the
bishops of
Tui and
Salamanca. Though intending to crush
Pamplona itself, he turned around to deal with his immense booty.
Ordoño II—who had come at King Sancho's request—attributed the loss to the absence of the
counts of
Castile, who had not come at his call. He brought them together at
Tejares and had them killed. The Christian counteroffensive was immediate, occupying
La Rioja and incorporating into Navarre
Nájera and
Viguera.
Ordoño married
Sancha, daughter of
Sancho I of Pamplona. He died in 924 without descendants of age and the final surviving brother of his family,
Fruela, the
king of Asturias, succeeded him in his two realms, thus reuniting their father's patrimony.
References
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Genealogy
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El ocaso de una voz regia
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