CONSPIRACY IN THE SOTONERA
(1058)

The war between the taifa kingdoms of Toledo and Zaragoza, from
which Garci'a of Navarre had been able to profit so handsomely,
ended with the death of Suleiman ibn Hud in 1046.(1) Suleiman
had divided his realms among his five sons: Yusuf in Le'rida,
Lubb in Huesca, Mundir in Tudela, Muhammad in Calatayud, and
Ahmad in Zaragoza. During the next few years, Ahmad strove to
oust or subjugate his brothers, and re-unite the realm. Huesca
was the first to fall; indeed, Lubb may never have asserted his
independence, since he seems never to have struck his own
coinage. The last coins of an independent Calatayud were struck
in 1047/1048, and those of Tudela in 1050/1051.(2) Only Yusuf of
Le'rida, surnamed al-Muzaffar, was able to hold out for any
length of time, losing power only a few years before Ahmad's
death in 1081.

This period of fraternal strife would have offered Ramiro
numerous opportunities for aggrandizement, but he seems to have
taken little advantage of them. He certainly could not have been
unaware of the possibilities of the situation. In about 1051,
al-Muzaffar wished to send aid to his brother Mundir of Tudela,
who was beset by famine and increasing pressure from Ahmad.(3) 
Given the impossibility of his moving men and supplies from
Le'rida to Tudela across Ahmad's lands, al-Muzaffar applied to
Ramiro, offering to pay him well to be allowed to pass through
Aragonese territory. Ramiro agreed, and a large body of cavalry
and a caravan of supplies set out from Le'rida. Learning of these
arrangements, Ahmad sent a messenger to Ramiro, offering to
double al-Muzaffar's payment to be allowed to set an ambush for
the Le'ridan force. Ramiro agreed, and Ahmad destroyed his
brother's caravan. The Aragonese were allowed to make prisoners
of the survivors and to gather booty from the field. Ahmad's
power and prestige began to grow as a result of this stroke, and
he took the title al-Muqtadir ("the powerful").(4)

There is no evidence that, apart from this episode, Ramiro took
any particular advantage of the critical period when al-
Muqtadir's power was not yet consolidated and his rivals still
constituted a threat. Indeed, none of the sons of Sancho el
Mayor appear to have attempted to improve upon this situation,
and it is difficult to avoid the suspicion that al-Muqtadir had
succeeded in purchasing some guarantee of non-intervention.(5)
When Ramiro finally did move against the Muslims, it was
indirectly and with some caution.

On 28 April 1057, Ramiro was at the castle of Marcuello, where he
granted some properties to Sancho Gali'ndez.(6) It is probable,
however, that he had more extensive business in the district. 
Marcuello, lying midway between Loarre and Murillo de Ga'llego,
formed part of a line of fortresses defending the approach to
Aragon through the narrow gorge of the Ga'llego, and at the same
time formed a salient threatening the northwestern portion of the
plain of Huesca known as the Sotonera. The Sotonera, defended by
the Muslim positions of Ayerbe and Puibolea, had close contacts
with Aragon. The district was the home of many Mozarabs, at
least some of whom had relatives in Aragon.(7) Moreover, there
was considerable disaffection among the populace at this time. A
few years earlier, Ferriol of Bolea had become a monk in the
monastery of San Juan de la Pe~a and had issued a charter that
read, in part:

   This is the charter that I don Ferriol of Bolea , and my
   brothers are making. In our time, many evils came upon us
   and we fled from the presence of the pagans. If they saw
   that any people possessed anything, they would lay charges
   against them before the king of the Saracens, and levy great
   fines upon them, so that each one might pay [as much as] a
   thousand metcals of gold. This is what they did to Abiminna
   of Bolea, Ferracint of Anzano, Adabnoric of Arbane's, and to
   many others whose names it would be too long to write. When
   we had seen so many evils come upon us, we fled to San Juan
   with our possessions. Many others, whom it would be long to
   name, came with us at that time.(8)

It would appear that, under a corrupt local administration, many
of the leading Mozarab families of the district had either been
ruined or forced to flee. It may have been that the scribe Ramio
ibn Lope of Bolea, who later wrote a charter for Bancio, abbot of
San Juan de Pano, fled to Aragon at this time.(9) It is clear
that there were many substantial people, both in Aragon and the
Sotonera, who would have welcomed a Christian conquest of the
district and the restoration of their lands. It is probable
that, in the spring of 1057, Ramiro was laying plans with these
people for just such a coup de main. If guarantees of non-
intervention had indeed been given to al-Muqtadir, Ramiro could
not be held responsible for an uprising in the lands of Huesca,
nor could he be expected to refuse if the Christian populace of
those lands asked him to rule them.

The key to the conspiracy was abd-Allah, castellan of the Muslim
fortress of Puibolea, located about two miles from Bolea itself. 
It may be surmised from later events that the plan was for abd-
Allah to gain control of Puibolea and to turn it over to the
insurgents in the name of King Ramiro. Abd-Allah's father would
then help them seize Bolea itself to serve as the rallying point
for a general insurrection. The Aragonese garrisons of Loarre,
Marcuello, Murillo de Ga'llego, and Ag"uero would then move out
in support of the rebels. The plan depended upon popular support
and the element of surprise. The two elements were incompatible. 
To succeed, the cooperation of so many people had to be secured
that the secret was bound to be betrayed and the element of
surprise lost. This appears to have been exactly what happened.
The plot probably matured in the summer of 1058.(10) Abd-Allah
succeeded in controlling Puibolea and turning it over to the
Christians in King Ramiro's name,(11) but the plan seems to have
gone awry after that. The Muslims appear to have been forewarned
and were victorious in the fighting that took place that night in
Bolea, a struggle in which abd-Allah's father was killed in his
own home. There is no evidence that the general uprising ever
took place, or that the Aragonese garrisons intervened.  Abd-
Allah, and probably many others, fled to Aragon, where he was
well-received by King Ramiro, was baptized, and was given the
Christian name of Sancho by the king. Ramiro further favored
Sancho/abd-Allah in a charter given at the village of Triste. 
Ramiro here granted him freedom from taxes on any of his family's
properties he could acquire. The king further stated:

   ... and if God should sometime give the fortress of Bolea to
   the Christians, let whatever king there shall be [at that
   time] give you some houses and their properties, similarly
   free and quit and clear, that you may keep them while you
   live, and after your death let them remain tax-free for
   whomever it may please you [to transfer them].

The king's words suggest two things. First, that Sancho's family
home in Bolea had been destroyed, or it would have been promised
that that property would be restored to him. Second, Ramiro had
made it clear that he had no intention of again involving himself
in the affairs of the Sotonera. Its reconquest would be the
achievement of some future king.

Abd-Allah's later career was a sad one. His immediate rewards
had been meager indeed. His family estates were granted tax-free
status, but they were now in the hands of his enemies, and his
new lord had no plans to liberate them. Abd-Allah had become
simply another refugee and apparently lived from day to day on
Ramiro's generosity. His testament, written in 1079, 
chronicles the decline of his fortunes:

   I, abd-Allah, who was of the castle of Puibolea, for the
   love of Christ turned the aforesaid castle over to the
   Christians and to King Ramiro. The king then changed my
   name and called me Sancho. He did me much good during his
   life. After his death, I became ill and fell into great
   want. All of my friends deserted me except you, my cousins
   Galindo and Johannes. You took me and placed me in your
   monastery of San Genesio of Aquilue', and you took care of
   me. Likewise you took me with you to Castile and clothed
   and kept me. Therefore, I now make this deed over to you... 
   Whenever God gives us our lands and places them into the
   hands of the Christians, you may demand the property of my
   mother and father... lands and vineyards, gardens and olive
   groves, homes and all of those things that belong to me..."

These words have a certain poignancy. Abd-Allah/Sancho had given
up his friends and faith in a desperate enterprise, but traitors
are warmly welcomed and soon ignored, and bold ventures that
fail are soon forgotten. Abd-Allah ended his life as an emigre',
living on the charity of his relatives, and turning over in his
mind memories of the groves and gardens, vineyards and lands he
had lost. The Aragonese had turned their back on abd-Allah and
the Sotonera. Perhaps the fiasco had left a bad taste in
Ramiro's mouth. In any event, he quickly turned his attention
eastward.

               NOTES

1. For developments within the taifa kingdom of Zaragoza, see
Afif Turk, El reino de Zaragoza en el siglo XI de Cristo (V de
la He'gira)  (Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Isla'micos en Madrid,
1978.), pp. 75 ff. For the date of Suleiman's death, Ibid., p.
73, n. 2.

2. For the date of these events, see Ibid., pp. 76-78.Ibid., p.
75 and n. 3.Some Muslim authors hold that he assumed this title
only after the reconquest of Barbastro in 1065. See Abu 'Ubayd
al-Bakri,  Geografi'a de Espa~a (Kitab al-masalik wa-l-mamalik),
trans. Eliseo Vidal Beltra'n  (Textos Medievales, 53. Zaragoza:
Anubar, 1982), p. 27.

3. Al-Muqtadir was quite willing to deal with the Christians, a
policy he had learned from his father during the latter's wars
with Yahya of Toledo. In 1058, there may have been "Basque"
warriors in his army. See Turk, El reino de Zaragoza, p. 80. In
1069 and 1073, he entered into formal agreements with Sancho of
Navarre to purchase protection. See Jose' Mari'a Lacarra,  "Dos
tratados de paz entre Sancho el de Pen~ale'n y Mocta'dir de
Zaragoza, 1069 y 1073," Estudios de historia navarra (Pamplona:
Ediciones y Libros, 1971), pp. 83-82. He was also willing to
employ the Cid and his forces, and purchased the permission of
Alfonso VII to attack Valencia. See Turk, El reino de Zaragoza,
pp. 115-116.

4. DRI, no. 61, dtd. 28 April (1057).

5. This may be assumed from DSR2, no. 47, dtd. 1079 (which
Dura'n, De la Marca Superior, p. 170 and Ramiro I, p. 60
discusses as 1069). Here the convert Sancho/ Abd-Allah of Bolea
refers to his cousins, Galindo and Johannes, monks of the
monastery of San Genesio of Aquilue'.

6. CSJP, no. 82, dtd. 1043. The date cannot be correct, and
Dura'n, De la Marca Superior, p. 171 and Ramiro I, pp. 60-61,
assumes that it dates from after the attempted coup in the
Sotonera and represents the result of Muslim repression of the
Mozarabs of the district. The final protocol cites Garci'a of
Navarre and al-Muqtadir of Zaragoza, so the document must date
from the period 1046-1054. Ubieto views it as a falsification,
but there is no clear internal evidence for so doing.

7. CSJP, no. 161, dtd. 19 March 1061.

8. Abd-Allah had fled to Aragon by late August of 1058. 

9. See CSJP, no. 145, dtd. 24 August 1058.

10. Abd-Allah's testament states that he placed the castle, "...
in manibus christianorum et Regi Ranimiro..." See DSR2, no. 47,
dtd. 1079. 

11. It hardly seems likely that Ramiro was personally present. 
His grant to abd-Allah, CSJP, no. 145, dtd. 24 August 1058,
states that abd-Allah had placed the fortress, "... in manus de
Christiani et illo posuisti ingenuo in tota mea terra..."