Castile
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A former kingdom in modern-day Spain, Castile (Spanish: Castilla; usually pronounced Cast-EEL in English) now compromises the regions of Old Castile in the north-west, and New Castile in the center of the country. It gradually merged with its neighbors to become the Kingdom of Spain. Modern Spanish monarchs are numbered according to the system of Castile.
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Castilians as an ethnic group
Over millennia, most Spaniards have intermixed heritage but due to its past political dominance, and present-day cultural dominance, Castilian language has been taken as main feature of "ethnicity". Castilian language spread throughout the entire mesa of central Spain during the conquest of Muslim lands, carried out principally by the kingdom of Toledo which was renamed "New Castile". Their language, (modern day Spanish) has been adopted as the language of Spain although it is still referred to as "Castilian" in Spain and frequently in Latin America. The Castilian regions roughly coincide with the mesas of north-central Spain, historically sparsely populated highlands. For nationalist parties in the Basque country and Catalonia, Castilians are the inhabitants of all those regions of Spain where "Castilian" language is spoken. Castilian identity is now defined negatively rather than positively. The main reason for this is that Castilian nationalism was the first to be destroyed by the Spanish Crown during the revolt and war of the Castilian communities against the Spanish Monarchy, between 1520 and 1521. From a non-Castilian point of view, Castilian identity is thus excluded from "historical nationalities" of Spain such as Catalonia, the Basque regions and other Castilian-speaking regions which due to historical reasons have their own identity, culture and dialects such as the 8 million strong Andalusian region, and the Canary islands. Both Andalusia and the Canary islands experienced an early Castilian colonisation and subsequent immigration, but survival and absorption of local populations allowed for a culture particular to those regions. Certain regions are not considered Castilian, such as Valencia and the Balearic Islands because historically they belong to the Crown of Aragon and because their local language is Catalan. Galicians are not considered to be Castilian, although their region was annexed by the Crown of Castile. Navarre, a historical kingdom in its own right has Basque-speaking areas in the north and more Castilian-speaking areas in the south whereas Extremadura is considered to be Castilian in the north and Andalusian in the south. The list goes on with Murcians, Leonese, Manchegos etc... but establishing whether these people are to be considered "Castilian" is a more difficult matter.
Andalusian Antonio Machado, perhaps one of Spain's greatest poets, describes best the place of Castile and Castilians in Spanish history.
Castilla miserable, ayer dominadora,
envuelta en sus andrajos desprecia cuanto ignora.
¿Espera, duerme o sueña? ¿La sangre derramada
recuerda, cuando tuvo la fiebre de la espada?
Todo se mueve, fluye, discurre, corre o gira;
cambian la mar y el monte y el ojo que los mira.
¿Pasó? Sobre sus campos aún el fantasma yerra
de un pueblo que ponía a Dios sobre la guerra.
Antonio Machado, 'A orillas del Duero'
History
Historically, the Castilian Kingdom and people were the architects of the Spanish State by a process of expansion to the South against the Muslims and of marriages, wars, assimilation, and annexation of their smaller Eastern and Western neighbours. From the advent of the Bourbon Monarchy following the War of the Spanish Succession until the arrival of parliamentary democracy in 1977, the Castilian language alone had an official status in the Spanish State.
Previously an eastern county of the kingdom of León, Castile in the 11th century became an independent realm with its capital at Burgos and later Valladolid, and the leading force in the northern Christian states' 400-year Reconquista ("reconquest") of central and southern Spain from the Muslim rulers who had dominated the peninsula since the 8th century.
The capture of Toledo in 1085 added New Castile to the crown's territories, and the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212) heralded the Muslim loss of most of the south. León was finally reunited with Castile in 1230, and the following decades saw the capture of Córdoba (1236), Murcia (1243) and Seville (1248). By the Treaty of Alcaçovas with Portugal on March 6, 1460, the ownership of the Canary Islands was transferred to Castile.
The dynastic union of Castile and Aragon in 1469, when Ferdinand II of Aragon wed Isabella of Castile, would eventually lead to the formal creation of Spain as a single entity in 1516 when their grandson Charles V assumed both thrones. See List of Spanish monarchs and Kings of Spain family tree.
Nowadays many people consider that the territory traditionally regarded as Castile is now divided into the Spanish autonomous communities of Cantabria, Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Madrid and La Rioja, although this territory was conquered by Castile's Crown and separated of Navarrese Kingdom. However, the territory of the Castilian Crown actually comprised all other autonomous comunities within Spain with the exception of Aragon, Balearic Islands and Catalonia, which all belonged to the late Crown of Aragon, and Navarre, heir of the older Kingdom of the same name.
Language
The language of Castile emerged as the primary language of Spain — known to many of its speakers as castellano and in English as Castilian, but more often as Spanish. See Names given to the Spanish language.
See also
- Early history of the Kingdom of León
- Later history of Spain
- List of Castile Kings
- Castile soap
Two places in the United States of America have been named after this kingdom: Village of Castile and Town of Castile. Both are located in the state of New York.af:Kastilië an:Castiella ca:Castella cs:Kastilie de:Kastilien es:Castilla eo:Kastilio eu:Gaztela fr:Castille gl:Castela hr:Kastilija it:Castiglia he:קסטיליה nl:Kastilië ja:カスティーリャ nn:Castilla no:Castilla pl:Kastylia pt:Castela ru:Кастилия sr:Кастиља fi:Kastilia sv:Kastilien