Carmen de Cantabria

Carmen I (Carmen de Cantabria; 6 May 772 - 22 July 820) also known as Carmen of Asturias was Queen of Asturias from 804 until her death in 820. She was the eldest child of King Veremondo I of Asturias. Compared to her father who was interested in commerce and the arts, Carmen was noted for being a competent swordsman as well as being highly educate, compared to many women of her own social stature. Being crowned by Pope Marinus in August 804, Carmen quickly exerted her authority by removing all of her father's council and appoint new loyalists into positions of power, this would lead to a rebellion which she would brutally crush. Much like her father, Carmen was a deeply religious Catholic, though her faith was rumoured to go further than her father's and is better described as verging on zealous. This can be seen with reports that Carmen awoke in July 816 with stigmata on her wrists and feet. In February 807 Carmen ordered the expulsion of every single Jew in Asturias, which was to be completed within several months. Under Carmen much of the Cathar and Lollard heresies within the Asturian Kingdom's borders would be wiped out, in one of the most notable instances of genocide in the dark ages. Under her the nation would fight two major conflicts, the most notable being the conquest of Beja in 811 from the Umayyads. Carmen was known as an advocate of urban investment, as under he reign numerous cities were planned and would be constructed over the coming decades. The latter period of her reign would see the Slow Fever Epidemic of 814-17 ravish much of Iberia, though she herself was unharmed. The mother of two children, the product of her marriage to the Byzantine prince Eudokimos, an alleged homosexual known for his foul temper and gluttony. She would die of natural causes in 22 July 820, being succeeded by her son Nunno. Carmen is widely regarded as one of the strongest Asturian monarchs, though her religious intolerance and borderline religious zealotry has made her a controversial figure in contemporary times. One notable story, popular with Spanish schoolchildren, is of how Carmen entered her father's mausoleum soon after his burial, and proceeded to sever his head, which was embalmed and used a relic by future generations of the de Cantabria family.

Early Life
Born as the daughter of King Veremondo of Asturias his consort, Queen Munia of Asturia on 6th May 772, she would be the first of four children born to the Asturian monarch. She would be christened by Pope Stephen III several weeks after her birth in June 772, after a deal was signed between the Church & Veremondo which gave up the state's role in episcopal appointments. A precocious child, court chronicles note that Carmen was a competent swordsman and was able to wield a sword to devastating effect of her opponents during practice duels. The favourite of her father, Carmen far outshone her siblings with her beauty, intelligence, physical ability and wit. After being educated to a high level at court, she would be wed shortly after her sixteenth birthday to Prince Eudokimos of the Byzantine Empire. Like many marriages of the time among nobles, this was an arranged marriage agreed by her father and his Byzantine counterpart.

Carmen was recorded as having been underwhelmed by her husband who was an alleged homosexual known for his foul temper and gluttony. Indeed it is alleged that the the couple only consummated their marriage thrice, once on their wedding night, once nine months before the birth of their first child and once nine months before the birth of their second child. Indeed the window between the births of the first and second child was around sixteen years and may have been as a result of a push to secure the throne for a male heir, which was succeeded. Carmen's first child, a daughter named Windildia was born in 790 when she was eighteen years old. Having a firm dislike of much of the court and her husband, Carmen would spend much of her time doting on her new daughter, which would preoccupy her for much of the coming years until her appointment as the spymaster of her father. From this position she would set up an intricate spy-ring which would exist well into her reign and which forced many courtiers and nobles to live in fear of offending the Queen.

Succession Crisis
Starting in 798 and lasting until 801, the Asturian Kingdom, and in particular the royal household, was rocked by an internal schism which would become known as the 'Succession Crisis'. The crisis' roots went back several years to the birth of the second child of King Veremondo, Aloito, a son. Owing to the Asturias' succession law being one of an elective absolute monarchy, it was generally assumed that the King's successor would be Carmen. Indeed this was felt exceedingly likely owing to Aloito being a particularly unwell child, who would suffer from cancer in the latter period of his life. The birth of two further sons would seemingly complicate succession laws in the Kingdom. Veremondo's youngest son, Monnio de Cantabria, was removed from succession owing to his intentions to become a monk. With this and the death of Aloito in 794 from abdominal cancer, it was apparent that only Froila or Carmen would succeed the King. Despite being married and with a child, Carmen was pushed aside by succession laws which favoured a younger male sibling who was married over an older female sibling. Froila's expected rule was seen as quite likely when his wife became pregnant in 800 with a daughter. Froila would however fall ill and die shortly after the birth of his daughter, thus leaving Carmen as the heir apparent to Veremondo. Veremondo's favouring of a female heir is considered strange for the time period, though it is thought that this was as a result of the weak willed nature of his sons compared to his opinionated and intelligent daughter. Indeed court chronicles written after the King's death note that Prince Froila was noted for his timid nature and inability to wield a sword correctly, as opposed to the effective melee skills of his sister. The death of Froila in 801 would end the crisis period. Carmen would remain the heir apparent of her father until his death in 804 in the arms of his wife and Carmen's mother.

Early Reign
Taking the throne and being crowned by Pope Marinus on the 19th August 804, many male nobles and courtiers did not know what to make of the new monarchy. Some would underestimate her as a result of her gender, while others had been quite fearful of the new monarch since her appointment as her father's spymaster several years prior. The new Queen's steel was seen soon after her coronation when her she called together her father's council and informed all its members that they were, with immediate effect, relieved of their offices. Some, fearful of making a mistake were relieved by this, other more senior figures were incensed and would soon after threaten a rebellion against the young Queen. Calling their bluffs, Carmen refused to rescind her order and a variety of Counts and Lords, headed by Favila of Asturias would rise in open rebellion against Carmen in late 804. In a particularly brutal civil war that lasted for the next two years, Carmen's forces gradually gained the upper hand and either captured or slayed in battle various of the rebel leaders, including Favila at the Battle of Viveiro in early 806. When the conflict ended it became apparent that Carmen was not like her forgiving father, with the Queen ordering the summary execution of the rebel leaders after a hasty trial. Introducing a new brutal execution method called skewer stake or humorously Carmen's Rotisserie, the rebel leaders were executed by being impaled on a spike, and while still alive being burnt to death by a fire below them. This grizzly and brutal execution method would continue to be used for those convicted of high treason and regicide within Asturias for centuries to come. This would dissuade many nobles and peasants alike from rising up against Carmen, who in the space of two years had managed to achieve what her father had failed to do for over the first decade of his rule - achieve complete dominance and control.

Carmen would further exert her power when she would issue an edict in 807 ordering the expulsion of all the Jews from the Asturias by Christmas of that year. While the expulsion of the Jews several decades prior by Charlemagne in the Holy Roman Empire had been done for mainly economic reasons, no such reasoning was needed for her edict. Carmen inherited a sizeable budget surplus from her father, which she would maintain throughout her reign. Rather her reasoning for removing the Jews from the Kingdom were for purely anti-semitic reasons, owing to her religiously intolerant beliefs and refusal to allow any form of religious minorities to exist within her Kingdom. Indeed from surviving personal letters and from the edict itself, written by the Queen, the language of 'Christ killers' makes it quite clear her feelings towards Jews within her Kingdom. Most Jews would leave the country 'willingly', those who didn't were forcibly removed and had their assets and possessions stripped from them. In some instances they would lose their lives due to the frenzy among law enforcement and those seeking to loot their residences for what possessions remained. Muslims located in the the Portucales territory that her father had reconqusted from the Umayyads (who by this time had imploded into a civil war), were giving a similar edict the year after. This would incense surrounding Umayyad dignitaries who began to urge their Emir to push for a conquest of the occupied territories of Portucales, something the leadership was unable to do due to its precarious state at home. Carmen's zealous and intolerant approach and outlook to life can be seen with a story recounted in court chronicles which tell of a childhood friend being warmly received at court by the Queen. Over the course of dinner the friend revealed they were a follower of the new Cathar heresy, which they began to tell the Queen about. Without a moment's notice the Queen ordered the seizing of her hitherto friend, who would within a few days be executed for heresy by garroting - Queen Carmen reasoned that using a skewer stake was too much for her childhood friend.

In the same year as the expulsion of the Jews, Queen Carmen would announce a series of bureaucratic reforms, namely the institution of a less centralised system of monetary policy & civil governance. This would grant power to a series of Región governed by a series of new Lords & Counts who governed these demesnes on behalf of Queen Carmen. This new system was brought into effect as a result of the inefficient manner the country had been governed in since the noble revolt of 804-6 which left much of the country being run centrally due to the absence of a local Lord, Count or Duke. Most of these new nobles were supporters of Carmen who had been handpicked by the Queen to institute her own policies in each of their respective Regións. This would help ensure that taxation was done in a more effective manner, and would also help with recruitment for the Asturian army, in the event that the tensions with the Moors to the south would boil over into open conflict. Indeed under Carmen the treaty of friendship and alliance with the Holy Roman Empire was renewed under the new Holy Roman Emperor, Louis Karling. This alliance would prove instrumental when Queen Carmen decided to unilaterally call the Beja War, in a bid to reclaim the south-western territory around the city of Lisbon, then occupied by the Umayyads.

Years of Iron
Wanting to prove herself as a military leader, Carmen would unilaterally declare the Beja War in early 809. Beja, the territory to the south of Portucales and centred around the city of Lisbon, was long a coveted target for the Queen who had long sought to replicate her father's success on the battlefield and to prove herself in the male-dominated world. Gaining the support of the Holy Roman Emperor Louis, she would march of Lisbon personally at the head of an army of around seven thousand men, including several thousand Bulgarian mercenaries. With backup assistance in the west from Holy Roman troops, the Christian forces were able to occupy much of the disputed territory, while Holy Roman troops sieged much of the east while defending Asturias with a vanguard of Asturian troops in the north. Unlike the conflict over Portucales, the Umayyads would gain the assistance of the large and powerful Caliphate of Africa, which began preparations to send a large invasion force to land in Grenada in the south. When news of this met the Christian forces they began a frenzied push to occupy as much territory as possible before the African forces landed, in the hopes of forcing a peace treaty on their terms. With more Holy Roman reinforcements from the north, much of the east and west of Iberia was occupied by the Christian troops. In 811 the Christian troops would score a major victory at the Battle of Caceres in central Iberia, where Christian forces led in part by Carmen would repel an equally sized Moorish force. Soon after this the Umayyads were forced to sign a peace treaty with Carmen after it was apparent that the African troops would not arrive in time. The treaty was signed with the caveat that the rights of the Muslim peoples of the newly conquered territories would be respected. Within a year many of them would instead be evicted from their homes with little warning on the orders of Carmen. Those who didn't leave were summarily killed by her troops. All the while the truce with the Umayyads ensured they couldn't do any sort of action in return. A rebellion and insurrection in the Djazairid Sultunate occupied territory of Navarra was launched by the Asturian knight and adventurer Pedro de Irujo in 813. Gaining financial and militaristic aid and support from various Counts & Lords in Asturias, he would gain a similar backing from Queen Carmen in early 813. This moves was interpreted by the Djazairids as an act of war, and they summarily declared war on Asturias in retaliation. Gaining the backing and support of Emperor Louis once again, Carmen fought a mainly defensive war. This was confirmed as the correct strategy after the defeat of the Holy Roman army at the Battle of Barcelona in 814 by a large pan-Muslim force. The rebellion would last until 816 with limited involvement of Carmen and her armies, who she told to only focus on the defence of the realm and not engage in any form of incursion into Djazairid Muslim territories. The conflict would end in status quo ante bellum with no real repercussions for either side, though ti would leave Carmen deeply annoyed that more territory had not been 'rescued' from the Djazairid Muslims. Nonetheless the conflict had little affect on the internal affairs of Asturias, which were more focused on urban and economic investment, as well as the initial outbreak of the Slow Fever Epidemic in 814 which would ravage the Kingdom for the next three years.

Later Reign
After nearly a year of fighting in the Beja War, Queen Carmen was informed in January 810 that her husband, Prince Eudokimos, had died on the 27th December of the prior year. The Queen has been recorded by accounts of the conflict in court chronicles to have been unmoved by the death of her spouse, and appeared to be more concerned about ensuring that her daughter, Winidilda take on responsibility of being acting-Regent while she was away on the battlefield. Queen Carmen would not remarry and would remain a widow until her death in July 820. In 811 she would lay the groundwork for a series of cities, cathedrals and castles across the Kingdom, in a bid to advance the nation's economic and urban prosperity. Many of these cities exist to this day and are major urban hubs in the north-west of Iberia.

Much of the remaining period of Carmen's rule was dominated by the Slow Fever Epidemic of 814-17 which ravaged much of Asturias, north-eastern Iberia and southern France. Queen Carmen was unaffected by the outbreak owing to her seclusion with courtiers in the royal palace. During the epidemic in 816 the Queen would have an occurrence of stigmata, bodily marks, pain and bleeding in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ. The blood flowing from the stigmata purportedly smelled of perfume or flowers, a phenomenon mentioned in stories of the lives of several saints and often referred to as the odour of sanctity. Many Catholics have argued that the stigmata was regarded as evidence of the holiness of Carmen and the divine approval of her actions in ridding the Asturias of all non-Catholic entities. Some have pointed to the fact that her father, Veremondo had been beatified as a Saint and argue that this fact and the stigmata on Queen Carmen must be related. In addition to this religious matter, Carmen would double down in her bids to hunt down and persecute religious minorities, this time turning her focus to the sizeable Lollard population in Santiago, which she would wipe off the face of the map in 818 with a campaign of pillaging and murder of those Lollards who did not escape or covert in advance.

Death & Legacy
Carmen lived in remarkably good health until her sudden death on the 22nd July 820 at the age of 48. Despite suggestions that she had been poisoned by either a Muslim or Jewish assassin, it seems likely that the Queen died of natural causes as opposed to fowl play. While not as beloved as her father, she was widely respected and admired by many within the Asturias, who would pay their respects to her over the mourning period. She would be succeeded by her younger child and son, Nunno the Black, who became the first male ruler in nearly two decades.

Carmen has a complex reputation in modern Spain. Widely seen as one of the nation's most important figures and a popular figures for centuries, especially among feminist and women's groups for her ability to wield power in a male dominated world, she has become increasingly controversial in contemporary times due to her persecution of various religious minorities and her general religious intolerance, in particular her anti-Semitic beliefs. Queen Carmen is nonetheless held up as a popular figure by many Spaniards, with her birthday of the 6th May being celebrated as national holiday in the form of 'Queen Carmen's Day'. A poll conducted by the RTVE in 2001 for the 'Greatest Spaniard' would find Queen Carmen coming in as the third most popular figure - she was the highest rated leader of the nation.

Carmen is the subject of the the Italian epic opera Carmen (complete title La regina guerriera, vale a dire Carmen delle Asturie, la conquistatrice del maomettano, literally The Warrior Queen, namely Carmen of Asturias, the vanquisher of the Mohammedan) written in 1827. The opera, in four acts with music by the composer Giuseppe Pasquini. The opera, loosely based on the life and legend of Queen Carmen tells the story of the Beja War and her leading military role. The play also touches on her struggle to gain the throne, the noble rebellion and her religious laws. A staple of the standard operatic repertoire, Carmen continues to be performed worldwide to this day and remains one of the most-performed operas worldwide.

Family Life
Carmen was married to Prince Eudokimos of the Byzantine Empire from 788 until his death in 809. The union produced two children a daughter, Winidilda, born in 790 and a son, Nunno, born in 806. Owing to the nation's elective succession laws she was succeeded by her son after her death in 820, despite her daughter being sixteen years older than her brother. A harsh figure to many, she was a loving mother who doted on her two children, a rare form of warmth that was awarded to virtually no one else, especially her husband with whom she had effectively separated from by the time of his death in 809. Queen Carmen is the source of multiple urban legends and stories in Spain, the most notable being one that persists about the preserved head of her father, Saint Veremondo. According to the legend the King's head was severed after the embalming and burial process by Carmen with her allegedly entering the royal crypt late at night and severing it with one clean sweep with a Scimitar that her father had gained in the Portucales Reconquista War. The preserved head was then carried in a silk bag by Carmen until her death, as a religious relic, especially after his beatification. The head, which is used on the town crest of Santander, is currently in possession of the Spanish National Museum, and proves to be one of the most popular exhibits among native and foreign visitors alike.