warriors from France.
The French connection was symptomatic of a wider process: the Europeanization
of Spain. Initially the Christian kingdoms had been isolated islands of Visigothic
culture. But already in the tenth century, pilgrims from France, England, Germany,
and Italy were clogging the roads to the shrine of Saint James (Santiago de
Compostela); in the eleventh century, monks from Cluny and other reformed
monasteries arrived to colonize Spanish cloisters. Alfonso VI actively reached out
beyond the Pyrenees, to Cluny—where he doubled the annual gift of 1000 gold
pieces that his father, Fernando I, had given in exchange for prayers for his soul—
and to the papacy. He sought recognition from Pope Gregory VII as “king of Spain,”
and in return he imposed the Roman liturgy throughout his kingdom, stamping out
the traditional Visigothic music and texts.
In 1085 Alfonso made good his claim to be more than the king of Castile and
León by conquering Toledo. (See Map 5.5.) After his death, his daughter Queen
Urraca (r.1109–1126) ruled in her own right a realm larger than England. Her strength
came from many of the usual sources: control over land, which, though granted out
to counts and others, was at least in theory revocable; church appointments; an army
—everyone was liable to be called up once a year, even arms-bearing slaves; and a
court of great men to offer advice and give their consent.
