Sigüenza, the bishop's town

Who holds it

Name

Rodrigo

Title

Bishop of Sigüenza, lord of the town

Since

1192

Born

not pinned

Family

not pinned

Confidence

medium

Episcopal lists give Rodrigo as bishop 1192-1221; the campaign Church notes do not name him, so check against the Church map.

Lord in 1200

The bishop of Sigüenza, Rodrigo (bishop 1192-1221).

Overlord

The bishop, under Alfonso VIII of Castile

How things stand that morning

Held by its bishop under the king, quiet.

Wealth

Tithes and rents of the see, the town's market, wool, and salt rights in the district (not pinned).

Military

The bishop's castle above the town. Alarcos (19 July 1195): Alfonso VIII fought with his household, the magnates and town militias; the sources used here do not say whether this town's militia was in the field.

Fuero

The bishop's charter for his town (12th century; terms not pinned).

Council

A council of the bishop's town; the bishop appoints or confirms its officers (details not pinned).

Communities

Castilian settlers and cathedral clergy; a Jewish community is attested later (not pinned for 1200).

Fairs and markets

Market; none pinned.

Militia

The bishop's men and the town's horsemen serve in the king's host when summoned.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Episcopal lordship is certain; the bishop's name is from standard lists, not checked against a 1200 charter.

On the map: Only the bishop's town and its immediate land; the see's scattered estates belong to the Church map.

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.