The historiography on the Asturian-Leonese expansion across the Meseta do Douro has emphasised the exclusive role played by the monarchy in organising this territory and imposing authority over the peasant communities that survived the destruction of the Kingdom of Toledo. Nevertheless, this perception is subject to distortion due to overemphasising the royal political framework and downplaying the particular trend prevailing among local entities. Thus, in this speech, I seek to group the initiatives of the different high medieval leaders according to their contexts of action and thereby observing the interrelationships ongoing amongst them and delineating specific dynamics with their respective spatial and temporal fluctuations.

About the author: Gonzalo J. Escudero Manzano holds a History degree from the University of Salamanca and an international doctorate in History and Archaeology from the Complutense University of Madrid. His main line of work deals with the foundation, expansion and implantation of Asturian-Leonese power over rural communities, with particular attention to the roles of royal delegates and local representatives. He has co-organised various debates and seminars on medieval studies and participates in different research projects on peasant societies in the north-western peninsular over this period. He is currently studying the relations between the populations of the medieval Douro border region and the Kingdom of Leon and the Caliphate of Cordoba, following receipt of a Spanish university restructuring support contract financed by the Spanish Ministry of Universities.