The
Kingdom of Galicia (, ) was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire northwest of the
Iberian Peninsula. Founded by
Suebic king
Hermeric in the year 409, the Galician capital was established in
Braga, being the first kingdom which adopted Catholicism officially and minted its own currency (year 449). After the temporal rule of the
Visigothic monarchs (585-711), Galicia became a part of the newly founded Christian kingdoms of the Northwest of the peninsula,
Asturias and
Leon, while occasionally achieving independence under the authority of its own kings.
Compostela became capital of Galicia in the eleventh century, while the separation of Portugal (1128) determined its southern boundary. The accession of Castilian King
Ferdinand III to the Leonese kingdom in 1230 brought Galicia under the control of the
Crown of Castile, the kingdom of Galicia becoming an administrative division within the larger realm.
Galicia resisted central control, supporting a series of alternative claimants, including John of León, Galicia and Seville (1296),
Ferdinand I of Portugal (1369) and
John of Gaunt (1386), and was not brought firmly into submission until the
Catholic Monarchs subjugated Galicia by force of arms in 1486. The kingdom of Galicia was then administered within the
Crown of Castile (1486–1715) and later the Crown of Spain (1715–1833) by a Supreme
Junta (Council) that briefly exercised full autonomy when Galicia...
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