Alfonso VII (1 March 1105 – 21 August 1157), called
the Emperor, became the King of Galicia in 1111 and King of León and Castile in 1126. He was crowned "
Emperor of All the SpainsThe title of Imperator Hispaniae was borne, traditionally, by the monarchs of León, from at least the tenth century...
" in 1135. He was the son of Urraca of León and
Raymond of BurgundyRaymond of Burgundy was the fourth son of William I, Count of Burgundy and was Count of Amous. He came to the Iberian Peninsula for the first time during the period 1086-1087 with Eudes I, Duke of Burgundy...
, the first of the
House of BurgundyThe Anscarids or Anscarii or the House of Ivrea were a medieval Frankish dynasty of Burgundian origin which rose to prominence in Italy in the tenth century, even briefly holding the Italian throne. They also ruled the County of Burgundy in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and it was one of their...
to rule in
HispaniaHispania was the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior...
.
Alfonso was a dignified and somewhat enigmatic figure. His rule was characterised by the renewed supremacy of the western kingdoms of Christian
HispaniaHispania was the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior...
over the eastern (
NavarreThe Kingdom of Navarre , originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean....
and
AragónThe Kingdom of Aragon was an old kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon , in Spain...
) after the reign of
Alfonso the BattlerAlfonso I , called the Battler or the Warrior , was the king of Aragón and Navarre from 1104 until his death in 1134. He was the second son of King Sancho Ramírez and successor of his brother Peter I...
. He also sought to make the imperial title meaningful in practice, though his attempts to rule over both Christian and Muslim populations was even less successful. His hegemonic intentions never saw fruition, however. During his tenure,
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
became
de facto independent, in 1128, and was recognized as
de jure independent, in 1143. He was a patron of poets, including, probably, the
troubadourA troubadour was a composer and performer of Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
MarcabruMarcabru is one of the earliest troubadours whose poems are known. There is no certain information about him; the two vidas attached to his poems tell different stories, and both are evidently built on hints in the poems, not on independent information.According to the brief life in MS...
.
Succession to three kingdoms
In 1111,
Diego GelmírezDiego Gelmírez or Xelmírez was the second bishop and first archbishop of Compostela in Galicia. He is a prominent figure in the history of Galicia and an important historiographer of the Spain of his day...
, Bishop of Compostela, and the count of Traba crowned Alfonso King of Galicia in the cathedral of
Santiago de CompostelaSantiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the north west of Spain in the Province of A Coruña, it was a "European City of Culture" for the year 2000...
. He was but a child at the time, but his mother had already (1109) succeeded to the united throne of León-Castile-Galicia and desired to assure her son's prospects and groom him for his eventual succession. By 1125 he had inherited the formerly Muslim Kingdom of
ToledoToledo is a municipality located in central Spain, 70 km south of Madrid. It is the capital of the province of Toledo and of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha...
. On 10 March 1126, after the death of his mother, he was crowned in León and immediately began the recovery of the
Kingdom of CastileKingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
, which was then under the domination of Alfonso the Battler. By the
Peace of TámaraThe Peace of Támara also known as the Pact of Támara was a peace treaty signed in Támara de Campos in June 1127 which delimited the territorial domains of Alfonso I of Aragón and Alfonso VII of Castile ....
of 1127, the Battler recognised Alfonso VII of Castile. The territory in the far east of his dominion, however, had gained much independence during the rule of his mother and experienced many rebellions. After his recognition in Castile, Alfonso fought to curb the autonomy of the local barons.
When Alfonso the Battler, King of Navarre and Aragón, died without descendants in 1134, he willed his kingdom to the military orders. The aristocracy of both kingdoms did not accept this and García Ramírez, Count of
MonzónMonzón is a small town in the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It has a population of 17,050. It is located in the northeast and adjoins the rivers Cinca and Sosa....
was elected in Navarre while Alfonso pretended to the throne of Aragón. The nobles chose another candidate in the dead king's brother,
Ramiro IIRamiro II , called the Monk, was King of Aragon from 1134 until 1137. He was the youngest son of Sancho Ramírez, King of Aragon and Navarre, and Felicia of Roucy....
. Alfonso responded by occupying La Rioja, conquering
ZaragozaZaragoza, also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza province and of the autonomous community and former Kingdom of Aragon, Spain...
, and governing both realms in unison. From this point, the arms of Zaragoza began to appear in those of León.
In several skirmishes, he defeated the joint Navarro-Aragonese army and put the kingdoms to vassalage. He had the strong support of the lords north of the
PyreneesThe Pyrenees are a range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain...
, who held lands as far as the River Rhône. In the end, however, the combined forces of the Navarre and Aragón were too much for his control. At this time, he helped
Ramon Berenguer III, Count of BarcelonaRamon Berenguer III the Great was the count of Barcelona, Girona, and Osona from 1082 , Besalú from 1111, Cerdanya from 1117, and Provence, in the Holy Roman Empire, from 1112, all until his death in Barcelona in 1131...
, in his wars with the other
Catalan countiesThe Catalan counties were the administrative divisions of the eastern Carolingian Marca Hispanica created after its Frankish conquest. The various counties roughly defined what came to be known as the Principality of Catalonia....
to unite the old
Marca HispanicaThe Marca Hispanica was a buffer zone beyond the province of Septimania, created by Charlemagne in 795 as a defensive barrier between the Umayyad Moors of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Kingdom....
.
Imperial rule
A vague tradition had always assigned the title of emperor to the sovereign who held León. Sancho the Great considered the city the
imperiale culmen and minted coins with the inscription
Imperator totius Hispaniae after being crowned in it. Such a sovereign was considered the most direct representative of the Visigothic kings, who had been themselves the representatives of the
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
. But though appearing in charters, and claimed by Alfonso VI of León and
Alfonso the BattlerAlfonso I , called the Battler or the Warrior , was the king of Aragón and Navarre from 1104 until his death in 1134. He was the second son of King Sancho Ramírez and successor of his brother Peter I...
, the title had been little more than a flourish of rhetoric.
In 1135, Alfonso was crowned "Emperor of All the Spains" in the Cathedral of León. By this, he probably wished to assert his authority over the entire peninsula and his absolute leadership of the
ReconquistaThe Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims...
. He appears to have striven for the formation of a national unity which
HispaniaHispania was the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior...
had never possessed since the fall of the Visigothic kingdom. The elements he had to deal with could not be welded together. The weakness of Aragon enabled him to make his superiority effective, although
Afonso I of PortugalAfonso I or Alfonso I , or also Affonso or Alphonso or Alphonsus , sometimes rendered in English as Alphonzo or Alphonse, depending on the Spanish or French influence, more commonly known as Afonso Henriques , nicknamed the...
never recognised him as
liegeFeudalism is a decentralized sociopolitical structure in which a weak monarchy attempts to control the lands of the realm through reciprocal agreements with regional leaders...
, thereby affirming Portugal's independence. In 1143, he himself recognised this
status quo and consented to the marriage of
Petronila of AragonPetronila Ramírez , whose name is also spelled Petronilla or Petronella , was Queen of Aragon from 1137 until 1164. She was the daughter and successor of Ramiro II and Agnes of Aquitaine.Petronila came to the throne through special circumstances...
with Ramon Berenguer IV, a union which combined Aragon and Catalonia into the
Crown of AragonThe Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon.At the height of its power by the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain, Southwestern France, as well as...
.
Reconquista
Alfonso was a pious prince. He introduced the
CisterciansThe Order of Cistercians is a Roman Catholic religious order of enclosed monks. They are sometimes also called the White Monks, in reference to the colour of the habit, over which a black scapular or apron is sometimes worn...
to
HispaniaHispania was the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior...
by founding a monastery at
FiteroFitero is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain.The Monastery of Fitero is situated here.-External links:*...
. He adopted a militant attitude towards the
MoorsThe description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of Muslim people of Berber, Black African and Arab descent from North Africa, some of whom came to conquer and occupy the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. The North Africans termed it Al Andalus, comprising most...
of
Al-AndalusAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
, especially the
AlmoravidsThe Almoravids are a Berber dynasty of Sahara, which lived between the current Senegal and south of the current Morocco It is affiliated to the Berber tribe of Sanhadja and Lemtuna...
. From 1139, Alfonso led a series of
crusadesThe Crusades were a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 years, between...
subjugating the Almoravids. He took the fortress of Oreja near
ToledoToledo is a municipality located in central Spain, 70 km south of Madrid. It is the capital of the province of Toledo and of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha...
and, as the
Chronica Adefonsis ImperatorisThe Chronica Adefonsi Imperatoris, meaning "Chronicle of Alfonso the Emperor", was a chronicle of the reign of Alfonso VII of León, Emperor of Spain, lasting from 1126 to 1157...
tells it:
In 1144, Alfonso advanced as far as
Córdoba||-||-||}Córdoba is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. Located at 37.88° North, 4.77° West, on the Guadalquivir river, it was founded in ancient Roman times as Corduba by Claudius Marcellus...
. Two years later, the Almohads invaded and he was forced to refortify his southern frontier and come to an agreement with the Almoravid Ibn Ganiya for their mutual defence. When
Pope Eugene IIIPope Blessed Eugene III , born Bernardo da Pisa, was Pope from 1145 to 1153. He was the first Cistercian to become Pope.-Early life:...
preached the
Second CrusadeThe Second Crusade was the second major crusade launched from Europe. It was called in 1145, in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098...
, Alfonso VII, with García Ramírez of Navarre and Ramon Berenguer IV, led a mixed army of Catalans and
FranksThe Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic tribal confederation first attested in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul...
, with a
GenoeseGenoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000...
-Pisans navy, in a crusade against the rich port city of
AlmeríaAlmería is the capital of the province of Almería, Spain. It is located in southeastern Spain on the Mediterranean Sea.-History:The name "Almería" stems from Andalusian Arabic المرية Al-Mariyya: "The Mirror", comparing it to the "The Mirror of the Sea".The city was founded by caliph Abd ar-Rahman...
, which was occupied in October 1147. It was Castile's first Mediterranean seaport. In 1151, Alfonso signed the
Treaty of TudilénThe Treaty of Tudilén was signed between Alfonso VII of León and Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona in 1151 at Tudilén, near Aguas Caldas in Navarre, modern Baños de Fitero, then just Fitero. The pact recognised the Aragonese conquests south of the Júcar and the right to expand in and annex the...
with Ramon Berenguer. The treaty defined the zones of conquest in Andalusia in order to prevent the two rulers from coming into conflict. Six years later, Almería entered into Almohad possession. Alfonso was returining from an expedition against them when he died in pass of Muradel in the
Sierra MorenaThe Sierra Morena is a mountain range which stretches for 400 km East-West across southern Spain, forming the border of the central plateau of Iberia, and providing the watershed between the valleys of the Guadiana to the north and the Guadalquivir to the south.Situated within the province of...
, possibly at
Viso del MarquésViso del Marqués is a municipality in Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It has a population of 3,002....
(
Ciudad RealCiudad Real is a city in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain with a population of 73,124. It is the capital of the province of Ciudad Real. It has a stop on the AVE high-speed rail line and has begun to grow as a long-distance commuter suburb of Madrid. A high capacity airport has been built to serve...
).
Legacy
Alfonso was at once a patron of the church and a protector, though not a supporter of, the Muslims, who were a minority of his subjects. His reign ended in an unsuccessful campaign against the rising power of the Almohads. Though he was not actually defeated, his death in the pass, while on his way back to
ToledoToledo is a municipality located in central Spain, 70 km south of Madrid. It is the capital of the province of Toledo and of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha...
, occurred in circumstances which showed that no man could be what he claimed to be — "king of the men of the two religions." Furthermore, by dividing his realm between his sons, he ensured that Christendom would not present the new Almohad threat with a united front.
Family
In November 1128, he married
BerenguelaBerenguela or Berengaria of Barcelona was Queen consort of Castile, León and Galicia She was the daughter of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona and his third wife Douce I, Countess of Provence....
, daughter of Ramon Berenguer III. She died in 1149. Their children were:
- Sancho III of Castile
Sancho III of Castile was King of Castile and Toledo for one year, from 1157 to 1158. During the Reconquista, in which he took an active part, he founded the Order of Calatrava...
(1134-1158)
- Ramon, living 1136, died in infancy
- Ferdinand II of León
Ferdinand II was King of León and Galicia from 1157 to his death.Born in Toledo, Castile, he was the son of King Alfonso VII of Castile and León and of Berenguela, of the House of Barcelona. At his father's death, he received the León and Galicia, whil ehis brother Sancho receiving Castile and...
(1137-1188)
- Constance
Constance of Castile may refer to:* Constance of Castile, Queen of France, wife of Louis VII of France* Constance of Penafiel , wife of Alfonso XI of Castile and Pedro I of Portugal* Infanta Constance of Castile, claimant to the throne of Castile...
(c.1138-1160), married Louis VII of FranceLouis VII, called the Younger or the Young, , was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet...
- Sancha
Sancha of Castile was daughter of Alfonso VII of León and Castile and his first wife Berenguela of Barcelona. She was a member of the House of Burgundy-Spain....
(c.1139-1179), married Sancho VI of NavarreSancho VI Garcés , called the Wise , was the king of Navarre from 1150 until his death in 1194....
- García (c.1142-1145/6)
- Alfonso (c.1144-by 1149)
In 1152, Alfonso married Richeza of Poland, the daughter of Ladislaus II the Exile. They had:
- Ferdinand, (1153-1157)
- Sancha (1155-1208), the wife of Alfonso II of Aragón
Alfonso II or Alfons I , called the Chaste or the Troubadour, was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1162 until his death. He was the son of Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona and Petronilla of Aragon and the first King of Aragon who was also Count of Barcelona...
.
Alfonso also had two mistresses, having children by both. By an Asturian noblewoman named Guntroda Pérez, he had an illegitimate daughter, Urraca (1132-1164), who married García Ramírez of Navarre, the mother retiring to a convent in 1133. Later in his reign, he formed a liaison with Urraca Fernández, widow of count Rodrigo Martínez and daughter of Fernando García of Hita, an apparent grandson of García Sánchez III of Navarre, having a daughter Stephanie 'the Unfortunate' (1148-1180), who was killed by her jealous husband, Fernan Ruiz de Castro.
External links
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