The revolt begins...

While Diego Gelmirez was a force to be reckoned with, he had a lot to handle with the bourgeoisie of his diosese. As we have already seen, Arias Pérez and members of the "Brotherhood" had ways of swaying the Bishop of Compostela in their direction against the Conde de Traba. Those members of the town who counted for anything wanted their bishop to consider their needs first, even before the building of their cathedral; and they would go to any lengths to make sure that Diego was aware of their influence with the Queen, Urraca.

Urraca was continuing her fight with the Battler - with occasional so-called "reconciliations": meaning that they recognised for a while that a truce was less expensive than pursuing each other's forced from one side of the north of Spain to the other. The Pope had anulled the martriage on grounds of "consanguinity": that is, they shared a great grandfather and shouldn't have married in the first place. Not, in this author's opinion anyway, that they were getting up to any hanky panky and probably never had, the Battler's view being that a soldier should only associate with men.

In 1116, Santiago was not a very good place to be - not if your name was Diego Gelmirez. The powerful middle class led by Arias Pérez rebelled against the Bishop with the Queen's open encouragement. Things had never been very harmonious between Urraca and Diego Gelmirez of Santiago de Compostela. Urraca still had not recognised Alfonso Raimundez in the way that the Traba lord and the Bishop wanted her to. Urraca was a bulldog and she held on to her kingdom with jaws firmly clenched.

With the Queen's backing, the citizens rose up against Diego Gelmirez and made him a virtual prisoner in his Bishop's Palace. Threats of ex-communication were ignored. The rents from the Cathedral's properties were diverted to the Queen and this left Diego with no real authority in Compostela. The few supporters of Diego circled the wagons.
Something had to give.
Or someone...
.