CASTILE & LEON UNDER ALFONSO VI

Kingdoms of Castile and León at the death of Alfonso VI

Alfonso VI "el valiente" (1072-1109)

King of Castile, León, Toledo & Galicia. His nickname means "the valiant".

His reign can be divided in three parts:

The first one is marked with the fights for the inheritance of Fernando I, father of Alfonso. Fernando I was king of Castile & Leon, nevertheless, the leonese noblemen didn't want to be under the governement of a castilian king, so he decided to divide his kingdoms. At his dead, the first son (Sancho) heired the kingdom of Castile, and the second one (Alfonso VI) heired León. The third son (García) received the new kingdom of Galicia, and his daughters (Elvira & Urraca) heired the cities of Toro & Zamora. Theoretically, that was the logic decission: the first son received the fatherly inheritance, and the second one the motherly inheritance. But León, as heir of the ancient hispanic-gothic kingdom could claim for its supremacy over the other iberic states, so Sancho thought he had to heir it.

After the battles of Llantada (1068) and Golpejera (1072) Sancho conquered the kingdom of Leon, while Alfonso refugeed at the court of the muslim king of Toledo, Al-Mamún.

The same year, Sancho was murdered by Vellido Dolfos, when he tried to take the city of Zamora, so Alfonso was finally the king of Castile and León (before that, he was compeled by the castilian noblemen, leaded by Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, "El Cid", to swear he wasn't involved with the murder of his brother, before accept him. He did so, but Rodrigo was exiled afterly). García was imprisoned and Alfonso united all the inheritance of Fernando I.

During this second period, Alfonso repopulated the frontier lands: to do so, he received french inmigrants who settled at those lands: their influence carried out an important cultural task by Europeanizing Alfonso's dominions. Influences from across the Pyrenees showed themselves in the introduction of the Romanesque style in art, the adoption of the Roman instead of the Mozarabic liturgy, the replacement of Visigothic by Carolingian script, and the support that Alfonso gave to Cluniac monasticism, as well as in his reconstruction and safeguarding of the pilgrim road to Santiago.

He claimed the sovereign over the other iberian states, and used the title of "emperor of the two religions" (moslem & christian). Specially, he got involved in the politics of the muslim kingdoms, supporting his friend Al-Mamun, who conquered Valencia or Cordoba. After the death of Al-Mamun (1075), he conquered the kingdom of Toledo. The muslim kings of the South, alarmed for that conquest, and for the "parias" (financial tributes) they had to pay him, clame for the help of the almoravids (a North-African tribe) that entered Spain, commanded by Yusuf. They defeated Alfonso at the battle of Zalaca/Sagrajas (23 October 1086).

After the battle of Zalaca, it starts a large period od decline. The almoravids conquest most of muslim Spain, which escapes from the control of Alfonso, while he loose many of the conquered lands. It also led to a reconciliation with Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid. Alfonso entrusted El Cid with the occupation and defense of eastern Spain, and Rodrigo carried out this task with great success. Between 1086 and 1109 Alfonso suffered constant defeat by the Almoravids; in the last battle, that of UclÅs in 1108, he lost the cities of Consuegra, Cuenca, Ocaña and Hueste, and ho lost too his only son, Sancho. He arranged later for his daughter, Urraca, to marry Alfonso I of Aragon so that the war against the Almoravids should be continued after his death, even though it meant that Leon and Castile would be ruled by an Aragonese prince.

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Alfonso VI "the Valiant" CASTILE & LEON (King)