García de Ayerbe facts for kids
García Miguel de Ayerbe (died 4 September 1332) was an important nobleman and church leader from Aragon. He served as the bishop of León from April 1318 until he passed away. In the 1320s, he wrote a detailed plan for a new crusade to take back the Holy Land.
Life of García Miguel de Ayerbe
We don't know much about García's early life. He was from Aragon, and his father's name was Miguel. He likely came from a noble family connected to Ayerbe. Before becoming a bishop, he was a canon (a type of priest) and sacristan (in charge of church items) at the cathedral of Zaragoza. Later, he was a camerarius (a financial officer) in Tarragona.
In April 1318, García was chosen as the bishop of León. This happened after the position had been empty for 16 months. He soon got involved in an old argument with the abbey of Sahagún about who had authority over certain lands. The abbey said they were independent. This argument lasted for years, but in 1328, Pope John XXII decided in García's favor.
In 1320, parts of the cathedral were burned during fights between different groups. The city of León had supported a prince named Juan for the throne. García seemed to be close to Juan's son, Juan el Tuerto. Some people at the royal court thought García was an outsider.
In 1324, García played a big part in building a new wall around the area that had grown outside the old Roman city walls. He also worked to copy important documents that confirmed León's special rights from the king. Some of the original documents had been destroyed in the 1320 fire.
García died on 4 September 1332. His death was recorded in the official lists of both Zaragoza and León.
García's Writings
Between 1323 and 1328, García wrote a book in Latin (the language of scholars at the time). In this book, he suggested a new crusade to take back the Holy Land for Christians. We don't know why he wrote it, or if someone asked him to. It was probably meant for King Charles IV of France. The book was also translated into Old French. Its short name is Informacio.
Three copies of his book still exist today:
- One Latin copy from the time of Charles IV is in Paris at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
- An Old French copy, also likely made for Charles IV, is in Paris at the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève.
- Another copy of the Latin version is in Glasgow at the University Library.
García's book starts with a short history of past crusades. He talks about famous ones like the First Crusade and the Seventh Crusade. He also mentions the campaign of Charlemagne in the Holy Land, which he saw as the first crusade. He believed that the Byzantine Empire (an old empire in the East) was often tricky.
His plan for a new crusade needed peace between powerful kingdoms like France, Aragon, Castile, and Sicily. He thought this peace could happen through royal marriages. For example, he suggested a marriage between King Alfonso XI and Joan of Navarre.
García's plan showed his Spanish background. He suggested getting 2,000 soldiers from Spain and Gascony. The first part of his plan involved an army of hired soldiers in ships called galleys. They would try to get a foothold in the mountains of Syria. If they were pushed back, they would go to Rhodes and Cyprus. Only after this would the main crusader army come as backup. Wood for building could be brought from Rhodes and Cyprus.
García imagined crusaders traveling both by land and by sea. He thought the land route would let them conquer the Byzantine Empire, which he believed would team up with the Turks against the crusaders. He hoped that the Ilkhanate (a Mongol kingdom) would stop the Turks from helping their allies. He knew that the Ilkhanate could be an ally because they disliked the Mamluks even more. However, he didn't know that the Ilkhanids and Mamluks had already signed a peace treaty in 1323. He also thought it would only take a year to defeat both the Byzantines and Turks, which was very unrealistic.
For sea travel, García suggested that the fleets stop often to let people and animals rest on land. He even told the king to practice swimming! This shows he might not have had much experience or trust in sea journeys.
Besides his crusade book, García also wrote an Ecclesiastical Constitution for his diocese in 1319 and a letter in 1324.
