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Eylo or Gilo (
fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...
868) is the first attested
count of Álava Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility.L. G. Pine, Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty'' ...
. He is known from the chronicle of
Sampiro Sampiro (''c''. 956 – 1041) was a Leonese cleric, politician, and intellectual, one of the earliest chroniclers of post-conquest Spain known by name. He was also the Bishop of Astorga from 1034 or 1035 until his death. According to some sour ...
, written in the first third of the eleventh century, which presents him as a rebellious subject of the
Kingdom of Asturias The Kingdom of Asturias was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the nobleman Pelagius who traditionally has been described as being of Visigothic stock. Modern research is leaning towards the view that Pelagius was of Hispano-Roman ...
, strongly suggesting that he was not appointed count by the king but was instead the leader of a rebellion. After King Alfonso III marched an army into Álava, the people submitted and Eylo was taken into captivity and brought back to Alfonso's capital of
Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...
. Sampiro presents the story of Eylo immediately after his account of the usurpation of Fruela, which took place in 866–67 and which forced Alfonso III to take refuge in Álava. In these years, there were also major attacks on Álava from the
Emirate of Córdoba An emirate is a territory ruled by an emir, a title used by monarchs or high officeholders in the Muslim world. From a historical point of view, an emirate is a political-religious unit smaller than a caliphate. It can be considered equivalen ...
to the south. The Emir Muhammad I launched a major raid ending in a pitched battle in 866 and his son al-Hakam invaded the region again the next year. It is unlikely, therefore, that Eylo's rebellion took place before 868. The '' Chronicle of Albelda'', written around 881 in neighbouring
Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...
, refers to "much time having passed" in 873 since the rebellion, although it does not mention Eylo by name. Sampiro's chronicle is preserved in two twelfth-century copies: that made by
Pelagius of Oviedo Pelagius (or Pelayo) of Oviedo (died 28 January 1153) was a medieval ecclesiastic, historian, and Forgery, forger who served the Diocese of Oviedo as an auxiliary bishop from 1098 and as bishop from 1102 until his deposition in 1130 and again from ...
for his ''Chronicon regum Legionensium'' and that made for the ''
Historia silense The ''Historia silense'', also called the ''Chronica silense'' or ''Historia seminense'', and more properly ''Historia legionense'', is a medieval Latin narrative history of the Iberian Peninsula from the time of the Visigoths (409–711) to the f ...
''. They differ in the spelling of the count's name. The copy of Pelagius uses Eylo (
accusative In grammar, the accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to receive the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: "me", "him", "her", " ...
''Eylonem'') and the ''Silense'' uses Gilo (''Gilonem''). It is possible that the obscure Eylo is the same person as the next known count of Álava, Vela Jiménez, active in 882–83. The name Vela (or Beila) appears in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
documents in various
declension In linguistics, declension (verb: ''to decline'') is the changing of the form of a word, generally to express its syntactic function in the sentence by way of an inflection. Declension may apply to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and det ...
s as ''Vigila'', ''Vigilonis'' and ''Vigilonem''. If the spelling ''Gilonem'' is the more authentic for the earlier count (and ''Eylonem'' a corruption), it may represent a shortened form of ''Vigilonem'' (Vela). If they are the same person, then Alfonso III must at some point have released his prisoner and put him back in power.


Primary source

This is Pelagius' version of Sampiro's account: :A messenger from Álava arrived, announcing that their hearts had been inflamed against the king; hearing this the monarch disposed to march towards �lava Impelled by the fear that his arrival produced, they quickly recognised their obligations and lowered their heads in supplication before him and promised him that they would remain faithful to his kingship and his authority, and that they would do whatever he ordered them. In this way he subjugated to his own power an Álava hat wasstretched out before him. Eylo, who was presented as their count, he took to Oviedo in irons. :Ipso vero istis satagente operibus, nuntius ex Alavis venit, eo quod intumuerant corda illorum contra regem. Rex vero haec audiens, illuc ire disposuit; terrore adventus ejus compulsi sunt, et subito jura debita cognoscentes, supplices colla ei submiserunt, pollicentes se regno et ditioni ejus fideles existere, et quod imperaretur efficere; sicque Alavam obtentam proprio imperio subjugavit. Eylonem vero, qui comes illorum videbatur, ferro vinctum secum Ovetum attraxit.


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Bibliography

* * * * {{refend Counts of Álava 9th-century Asturian nobility 9th-century births 9th-century deaths