Ferdinand II (1137 – 22 January 1188) was
King of León and
GaliciaKingdom of Galicia is the name of two distinct entities within the Iberian Peninsula. In the first period, it was a barbarian monarchy ruled by the Suebi, a Germanic-speaking people who entered the Western Roman Empire in 406. Their kingdom corresponded to the Roman province of Gallaecia in the...
from 1157 to his death.
Born in
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...
,
CastileA former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbors to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain with the Crown of Aragon and the Crown of Navarre...
, he was the son of King Alfonso VII of Castile and León and of
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....
, of the
House of BarcelonaThe House of Barcelona was a medieval dynasty that ruled the County of Barcelona continuously from 878 and the Crown of Aragon from 1137 . According to one proposed genealogy, they were the Bellonids; certainly since the twelfth century they have been regarded as the descendants of Wifred the Hairy...
. At his father's death, he received the
León Kingdom of León was an independent country situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 AD when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their main seat from Oviedo to the city of León...
and
GaliciaKingdom of Galicia is the name of two distinct entities within the Iberian Peninsula. In the first period, it was a barbarian monarchy ruled by the Suebi, a Germanic-speaking people who entered the Western Roman Empire in 406. Their kingdom corresponded to the Roman province of Gallaecia in the...
, whil ehis brother
SanchoSancho 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...
receiving
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...
and
ToledoThe Kingdom of Toledo was the juridical definition of a Christian medieval kingdom in what is now central Spain, created after Alfonso VI of León's capture of Toledo in 1085.-Background:...
. Ferdinand earned the reputation of a good
knightA knight was a "gentleman soldier" or member of the warrior class of the Middle Ages in Europe. In other Indo-European languages, cognates of cavalier or rider are more prevalent suggesting a connection to the knight's mode of transport...
and hard fighter, but did not display political or organising faculty.
He spent most of his first year as king in the attempt to conquer Castile against Sancho.
Ferdinand II (1137 – 22 January 1188) was
King of León and
GaliciaKingdom of Galicia is the name of two distinct entities within the Iberian Peninsula. In the first period, it was a barbarian monarchy ruled by the Suebi, a Germanic-speaking people who entered the Western Roman Empire in 406. Their kingdom corresponded to the Roman province of Gallaecia in the...
from 1157 to his death.
Born in
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...
,
CastileA former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbors to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain with the Crown of Aragon and the Crown of Navarre...
, he was the son of King Alfonso VII of Castile and León and of
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....
, of the
House of BarcelonaThe House of Barcelona was a medieval dynasty that ruled the County of Barcelona continuously from 878 and the Crown of Aragon from 1137 . According to one proposed genealogy, they were the Bellonids; certainly since the twelfth century they have been regarded as the descendants of Wifred the Hairy...
. At his father's death, he received the
León Kingdom of León was an independent country situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 AD when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their main seat from Oviedo to the city of León...
and
GaliciaKingdom of Galicia is the name of two distinct entities within the Iberian Peninsula. In the first period, it was a barbarian monarchy ruled by the Suebi, a Germanic-speaking people who entered the Western Roman Empire in 406. Their kingdom corresponded to the Roman province of Gallaecia in the...
, whil ehis brother
SanchoSancho 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...
receiving
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...
and
ToledoThe Kingdom of Toledo was the juridical definition of a Christian medieval kingdom in what is now central Spain, created after Alfonso VI of León's capture of Toledo in 1085.-Background:...
. Ferdinand earned the reputation of a good
knightA knight was a "gentleman soldier" or member of the warrior class of the Middle Ages in Europe. In other Indo-European languages, cognates of cavalier or rider are more prevalent suggesting a connection to the knight's mode of transport...
and hard fighter, but did not display political or organising faculty.
He spent most of his first year as king in the attempt to conquer Castile against Sancho. In 1158 the two brother met at Sahagun, and peacefully solved the heritage matters. However, Sancho died in the same year, being succeeded by his child son
Alfonso VIIIAlfonso VIII , called the Noble or el de las Navas, was the King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo. He is most remembered for his part in the Reconquista and the downfall of the Almohad Caliphate...
; Ferdinand tried unsuccessfully to be named his tutor. The boundary troubles with Castile restarted in 1164: he then met at Soria with the Lara family, who represented Aldonso, and a truce was established, allowing him to move against the Muslim Almoravids who still held much of southern Spain, and to capture the cities of
AlcántaraAlcántara is a municipality in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain, on the Tagus, near Portugal. The toponym is Spanish word for "drain" from the Arabic al-QanTarah [القنطرة] meaning the bridge. It is famed for its Roman bridge of the same name of six symmetrical arches, 194 m/670 feet...
and Alburquerque. In the same year, Ferdinand defeated King
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...
, who, in 1163, had occupied
SalamancaSalamanca is a city in western Spain, the capital of the province of Salamanca, which belongs to the autonomous community of Castile and Leon...
in retaliation for the repopulation of the area ordered by the King of León.
In 1165 he married Urraca, daughter of Afonso of Portugal. However, strife with Portugal was not put to an end by this move. In 1168 Afonso again felt menaced by Ferdinand II's repopulation of the area of
Ciudad RodrigoCiudad Rodrigo is a small cathedral city in Salamanca Province in western Spain ....
: he then attacked Galicia, occupying
TuiAs a noun, Tui may refer to:* Tu'i , a title of nobility in Polynesia and some of Melanesia* Tui Awards, New Zealand's annual music industry awards* Tui , a brand of New Zealand beer produced by Tui Breweries...
and the territory of
Xinzo de LimiaXinzo de Limia , is a town in the province of Ourense, Autonomous Community of Galicia, Spain. It lies on the important Autovia das Rias Baixas in the fertile valley of Antela, approximately 33 km from Verín and 43 km from Ourense...
, former fiefs of his mother. However, as his troops were also besieging the Muslim citadel of
BadajozBadajoz is the capital of the Spanish province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana, and the Madrid–Lisbon railway. The population in 2007 was 145,257.Badajoz is the see of a bishopric...
, Ferdinand II was able to push the Portuguese out of Galicia and to rush to Badajoz. When Afonso saw the Leonese arrive tried to flee, but he was disabled by a broken leg caused by a fall from his horse, and made prisoner at one the city's gate. Afonso was obliged to surrender as his ransom almost all the conquests he had made in Galicia in the previous year. In the peace signed at Pontevedra the following year, Ferdinand got back twenty five castle, and the cities of
CáceresCáceres may refer toPlaces* Cáceres in Spain**Cáceres which covers the province* Cáceres, Spain, the capital of Cáceres Province* Cáceres, Antioquia, municipality in Colombia...
, Badajoz,
TrujilloThe name Trujillo is shared by several different places:*Trujillo, Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain*Trujillo, Valle del Cauca, a municipality in the Valle del Cauca department in Colombia*Trujillo, Colón, the capital of Colón department, Honduras...
,
Santa CruzSanta Cruz may refer to-Argentina:*Puerto Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz province*Santa Cruz River *Santa Cruz Province -Bolivia:...
and
MontánchezMontánchez is a town in Spain, in the province of Caceres, Extremadura.It is situated at , some 702 metres above sea level. The municipality has an approximate population of just over 2,000.....
, previously lost by León. When in the same years the Almoravids laid siege to the Portuguese city of
Santarém-In Portugal:* Santarém District, a district in Portugal* Santarém Municipality, a municipality* Santarém, Portugal the seat of the above district* Roman Catholic Diocese of Santarém, Portugal-Other:* Santarém cheese, a Portuguese goat cheese...
, Ferdinand II came to help his father-in-law, and helped to free the city from the menace.
Also in 1170, Ferdinand created the military-religious Order of Santiago de Compostela, with the task to protect the pilgrim travelling to the tomb of the apostle James in the cathedral of Compostela. The order had its seat first in Cáceres and then in
UclésUclés is a municipality located in the province of Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 287 inhabitants....
.
In 1175 pope Alexander VII considered Ferdinand II and Urraca of Portugal as third grade relatives, and forced them to divide. The King remarried to Teresa Nuñez de Lara, daughter of count Nuño de Lara. In 1178 war against Castile broke out. Ferdinand surprised his nephew Alfonso VIII, occupied Castrojeriz and
DueñasDueñas may refer to:*Dueñas, Iloilo, Philippines*Dueñas, Palencia, Spain...
. The war was settled in 1180 with the peace of Tordesillas. In the same year his wife Teresa died while bearing their second son.
In 1184, after a series of failed attempts, the Almoravid caliph
Yusuf ibn TashfinYusuf ibn Tashfin was a king of the Berber Almoravid empire in North Africa and Al-Andalus .-Succession to power:...
invaded Portugal with an army recruited in Northern Africa and, in May, besieged Afonso I in Santarém; the Portuguese were helped by the arrival of the armies sent by the archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, in June, and by Ferdinand II in July.
In 1185 Ferdinand married for the third time to Urraca López de Haro (daughter of Lope Díaz, lord of
BiscayBiscay is a province of the Basque Country in Spain.It is generally accepted that Bizkaia, the original Basque term, is a correlate of bizkar Biscay is a province of the Basque Country in Spain.It is generally accepted that Bizkaia, the original Basque term, is a correlate of bizkar Biscay ' onMouseout='HidePop("8976")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Nájera">Nájera
Nájera is a small city located in the "Rioja Alta" district of La Rioja, Spain on the river Najerilla. Nájera is a stopping point on the Way of St James .-History:...
and
HaroHaro may refer to:*Bob Haro, a former freestyle BMX rider;*Melissa Haro, model for Elite Model Management;*Haro River, a river of Pakistan;*Haro, La Rioja, a town in Spain;*Haro family, a noble Spanish family, lords of the mentioned town;...
]), who was his mistress since 1180. Urraca tried in vain to have
Alfonso IXAlfonso IX , was king of León and Galicia, from the death of his father Ferdinand II in 1188 until his own death...
, first son of Ferdinand II, declared illegitimate, to favour her son Sancho.
Ferdinand II died in 1188 at
BenaventeBenavente may refer to: Benavente, Portugal— a municipality in Portugal Benavente, Zamora— a municipality in Zamora province, Spain Benavente, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico one of the five Barrios that make up Hormigueros.As a surname...
, while returning from a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. He was buried in the cathedral of Compostela.
Family
By Urraca, married, around 1165, Ferdinand had his son and successor:
- Alfonso IX
Alfonso IX , was king of León and Galicia, from the death of his father Ferdinand II in 1188 until his own death...
.
Following her repudiation, he formed a relationship with Teresa Fernández de Traba, daughter of count Fernando Pérez de Traba, and in August 1179 he married her, having:
- Ferdinand (1178-1187), legitimized through his parents' subsequent marriage
- child, b. and d. 6 February 1180, whose birth led to the death of its mother
He then formed a liaison with
Urraca López de HaroUrraca López de Haro was the Queen consort of León .She was daughter of Count Lope Díaz de Haro, Lord of Biscay and his wife Aldonza Ruiz...
, daughter of
Lope Díaz I de HaroLope Díaz I de Haro was the fourth Lord of Biscay . He was an important magnate in Castile during the reign of the Emperor Alfonso VII and in the kingdom of his son and grandson. Between 1147 and 1168 he is recorded as governing Old Castile on behalf of the crown.-Political career:Lope was the...
, who he married in May 1187, having:
- García (1182-1184)
- Alfonso, b.1184, legitimized through the subsequent marriage of his parents, died before his father.
- Sancho (1186-1220), lord of Fines
External links