terrible general
Almanzor, Leon became the recognized capital of Asturias.

When the Christian wave first spread over the Iberian peninsula in the
time of the Romans, the fortress Legio Septima, established by
Trajanus's soldiers, had already grown in importance, and was considered
one of the promising North Spanish towns.

The inhabitants were among the most fearless adherents of the new faith,
and it is said that the first persecution of the martyrs took place in
Leon; consequently, it is not to be wondered at that, as soon as
Christianity was established in Iberia, a see should be erected on the
blood-soaked soil of the Roman fortress. (First known bishop, Basilides,
252 A. D.)

Marcelo seems to have been the most stoically brave of the many Leonese
martyrs. A soldier or subaltern in the Roman legion, he was daring
enough to throw his sword at the feet of his commander, who stood in
front of the regiment, saying:

"I obey the eternal King and scorn your silent gods of stone and wood.
If to obey Caesar is to revere him as an idol, I refuse to obey him."

Stoic, with a grain of sad grandeur about them, were his last words when
Agricolanus condemned him to death.

"May God bless you, Agricolano."

And his head was severed from his body.

The next religious war to be waged in and around Leon took place
between Christians and the invading Visigoths, who professed a doctrine
called Arrianism. Persecutions were, of course, ripe again, and the
story is told of how the prior of San Vicente, after having been
beheaded, appeared in a dream to his cloister brethren trembling behind
their monastic walls, and advised them to flee, as otherwise they would
all be killed,--an advice the timid monks thought was an explicit order
to be immediately obeyed.

The conversion of Recaredo to Christianity--for political reasons
only!--stopped all further persecution; during the following centuries
Leon's inhabitants strove to keep away the Arab hordes who swept
northwards; now the Christians were overcome and Allah was worshipped in
the basilica; now the Asturian kings captured the town from Moorish
hands, and the holy cross crowned the altar. Finally the dreaded infidel
Almanzor burnt the city to the ground, and retreated to Cordoba. Ordono
I., following in his wake, rebuilt the walls and the basilica, and from
thenceforward Leon was never again to see an Arab army within its gates.

Prosperity then smiled on the city soon to bec