Town · Kingdom of Castile · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Oreja (Order of Santiago)

Castle on the Tajo above Aranjuez, taken by Alfonso VII in 1139 and held by the Order of Santiago (a gift of Alfonso VIII in the 1170s; the date is not checked here).

Raided by al-Mansur in 1196 and 1197.

Who holds it

Name
Gonzalo Rodríguez
Title
Master of the Order of Santiago, lord of the place
Since
1195 (standard lists)
Born
not pinned
Family
not pinned
Confidence
medium

Standard list of masters (years only: 1195-1204); medium confidence.

Lord in 1200

The Order of Santiago.

Overlord

The Order of Santiago, under Alfonso VIII

How things stand that morning

Held by the Order.

Wealth

The Tajo crossing.

Military

Castle over the Tajo. Raided 1196 and 1197.

Council

Village council under the Order.

Communities

Castilian settlers.

Militia

The Order's garrison.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Point placed at Ontígola; the castle ruin lies a few km away.

On the map: Point only, at the municipality of Ontígola where the castle ruin stands.

Primary sources for Castile

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Annals of Toledo and other short Iberian annals (12th and 13th centuries; Anales Toledanos I to 1219). Florez's volume 23 gathers the short annals of the peninsula. Read online
  • Chronicle of the World (Lucas of Tuy), Lucas de Tuy (1236, for Queen Berenguela). The Leonese counterpart to Rodrigo, written at San Isidoro for Berenguela. Read online
  • Latin Chronicle of the Kings of Castile, Anonymous, probably Juan of Osma, chancellor of Castile (about 1223 to 1239). The chancellor's chronicle of Alfonso VIII's reign, detailed from the 1190s. Read online
  • Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
  • The Complete History: the passages on the Maghreb and al-Andalus, Ibn al-Athir (about 1220 to 1231, at Mosul). The year entries for 595 to 597 of the Hijra (late 1198 to 1201) record the death of Yaqub al-Mansur, the accession of al-Nasir and the opening of Yahya ibn Ghaniya's war in Ifriqiya; the following years follow Yahya and the Ghuzz captain Qaraqush through Tripoli, Gabès and Mahdia to al-Nasir's reconquest in 1206, with the best eastern account of Qaraqush's career. Read online
  • The Garden of Pages: a History of the Kings of the Maghreb and of the City of Fez, Ibn Abi Zar al-Fasi (completed in 1326 at Fez, for the Marinid sultan Abu Said Uthman). The Almohad chapters give a brisk dated narrative of al-Mansur's death and burial, al-Nasir's accession and the Banu Ghaniya troubles, with the kind of detail (coinage, public works at Fez and Rabat, prices, plagues) that a Fez compiler cared about, and the annals of Fez supply the city's governors and markets. Read online
  • The Wondrous Account of the History of al-Andalus and the Maghreb, Ibn Idhari al-Marrakushi (about 1312, at Marrakesh). The Almohad section is the fullest year-by-year narrative of the caliphate around 1200: the last campaigns and the death of Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur in January 1199, the accession of his son Muhammad al-Nasir, the renewed war of the Banu Ghaniya in Ifriqiya under Yahya ibn Ishaq and his ally Qaraqush, the Almohad losses of Mahdia and Tunis a few years later, and al-Nasir's reconquest of Ifriqiya in 1205 to 1206 followed by the appointment of Abd al-Wahid ibn Abi Hafs as governor. Read online
  • Deeds of Philip Augustus, Rigord (about 1186 to 1206, in stages). The French court's own chronicle for the year, from the monk of Saint-Denis who called himself the king's chronographer. Read online

13 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.

Sources and studies

  1. Castilian-Leonese War (1196-1197) (Wikipedia, citing Fitz 2002, Reilly 1993, Martínez 2021 and others)
  2. Julio González, El reino de Castilla en la época de Alfonso VIII (Madrid, 1960), 3 vols.

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.