Autobiography - The Galindo Group

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Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 198 As far back as the year 778 the intrigues and confederacies had grown so complicated that Charlemagne, encouraged by some Arab princes discontent with their Caliph, agreed to march south to stop the Moslem invasion. He reached as far south as the old Roman city of Caesar-Augustus, by then already called Zaragoza, but only a few of those who were supposed to come out in his support did so. Notable among them was Galindo, the Christian Count of Cerdagne, an enclave in the Eastern Pyrenees generally overlapping with present day Andorra and extending to its south. This loyal Count is the first forebear to carry my name that I have been able to identify. He is also the first of a long line of counts and kings of the many neighboring counties that eventually became the Kingdoms of Aragon and Castile. His exploits seem to have extended to the famous battle of Roncesvalle, which was immortalized in the French epic Chanson de Roldan. The Pyrenees Mountain Range runs approximately east to west for about 272 miles separating the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of Europe. Starting at the Mediterranean Cape Creus and ending at the Bay of Biscay’s Cape Higuer, this mass of mountains were the stage on which my earliest ancestors played the drama of their lives. Going from East to West along the Pyrenees, the Catalan territories led by Barcelona, and the counties of Cerdagne, Urgel, Pallars, Ribagorza, Sobrarbe, Aragon and Navarre were part of what in the Middle Ages was known as the Spanish March, or buffer zone set up by Charlemagne to provide a barrier against further Muslim invasions. They were administered by Counts generally dependent of the Duke of Toulouse. Possibly before Celtic tribes arrived in times immemorial, native people known as Basques populated the Spanish March at the western end of the Pyrenees, where they meet the Cantabric Mountains. Even then these people proved to be difficult neighbors, as demonstrated by their historically famous defeat of Charlemagne’s rearguard at Roncesvalle. Further to the west, Cantabric Northern Castile, Leon, Asturias and Galicia formed the southern beaches of the Bay of Byscay and marked the lands that the Moors never took. It was to these Cantabrian and Pyrenees territories that the Spanish Christian nobility retreated. It was from there that the “Reconquista” of Spain was first organized. The leading noblemen in all northern Spain appear to have been mostly of Visigothic origin, and after conversion to Christianity they became known for their unquestioning acceptance of the faith and adherence to Roman law. The western kingdoms of Galicia, Asturias and to some degree Leon, because of their greater geographical distance from the Teutonic Franks, maintained these traditions fairly constantly and considered the king’s land part of the realm, and therefore indivisible upon his death. Protected by the Cantabrian Mountains, these provinces did not connect with anything but the sea to the north, and therefore were neither an easy target nor a path to more riches for the conquering Saracens. As a result they remained more peaceful and unmolested by the Moslems, but also remained in the cultural and economical backwaters of Spain. Autobiography.doc 198 of 239
Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 199 However, the Eastern territories in the Pyrenees were more influenced by their Frankish neighbors who did not practice primogeniture and were desired by the Saracens who lusted for France’s riches. These were determining factors in prolonging the Moors presence in the Iberian Peninsula. The social effects caused by consolidation of power under one king followed by disintegration among his heirs upon his death, coupled to able Moslem diplomacy and armed intervention, conspired to keep a hodge-podge of smaller kingdoms battling each other for almost four centuries. The process known as “Reconquista” took an additional almost four centuries of warfare. With all certainty, Spain’s northern territories were led by counts or overlords related by their descent from just a few noble families. With less certainty, although with ever growing information, I have been able to stitch together lines of descent of the earlier Spanish noblemen who carried genes emanating from the first known Galindo counts. Considering that the personages I discuss lived 1200 to 900 years ago at a time when written records were not very abundant and their storage and preservation even more limited, the possibilities for error in genealogic lines is immense, but the results are worth the try. By the year 860, one of Galindo Count of Cerdagne’s relatives named Galindo I Aznarez (?-867) was Count of Aragon. The Galindo name appears generation after generation among the noblemen of Cerdagne, Aragon, Ribagorza, Navarre and Castille until Galindo II Aznarez (863-922) Count of Aragon, who seems to have had only two daughters. The bloodline expands into French Aquitaine through his oldest daughter, Tota Galindona who married Bernard Unifred, heir to the Count of Pallars-Ribagorza. It goes into the houses of Aragon and Castile through his youngest daughter Endregoto Galindo of Aragon. It appears that later descendents of Tota Galindona returned the genes to the line of the kings of Aragon and Castile. Endregoto was the mother of Sancho Abarca (the Sandal) II of Navarre (935-994), who picked up the name because he was the first overlord in the Pyrenees to provide his foot soldiers with leather-soled shoes. As I mentioned, Galindo II Aznarez didn’t have any sons, which caused the disappearance of the Galindo name from the chain of future kings of Aragon, Navarre and Castile. Sancho Abarca’s grandson, Sancho III “The Great” of Navarre (991-1035), completed the consolidation, for the first time since the Moor invasion, of the counties of Ribagorza, Sobrarbe, Aragon, Pamplona, Navarre and Castile under the authority of just one man – himself. He was called the King of all the Spains. His young nephew and ally, Alfonso V, was the king of Leon. Had Reconquista been the unifying force that it became two centuries later, this could have been a momentous occasion to engage in a propitious war against the Moors. But at the time it appears that the Moors were, in some cases, allies, and the enemies more often were Franks, Basques and other neighboring Christian lords, frequently sons, brothers or cousins. Autobiography.doc 199 of 239
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