Ordoño IV, called
the Wicked or
the Bad (c. 926–Córdoba, 962), son of
Alfonso IV of LeónAlfonso IV , called the Monk, was King of León from 925 and King of Galicia from 929, until he abdicated in 931....
and nephew of
Ramiro IIRamiro II , son of Ordoño II, was King of León from 931 until his death. Initially titular king only of a lesser part of Asturias, he gained the crown of León after his brother Alfonso IV abdicated in 931...
, was the king of León from 958 until 960, interrupting the reign of Sancho the Fat for a two year period. He was aided in acquiring the throne by Fernán González, count of Castile, whose daughter he married, for the Leonese nobles, as well as the disaffected Galician and Castilian ones, had grown sick of the obese Sancho. They were defeated, however, through
NavarreNavarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
se intervention in 960.
Upon losing his throne, he fled first to
AsturiasThe Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
, then
BurgosBurgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...
, where he abandoned his wife and lost the support of the Castilian count, and finally to the court of the caliph of Córdoba, where he pleaded for aid, but the caliph treated him in a manner corresponding to his own pathetic grovelling and his pleas were unanswered at his death, still dethroned. From these final two acts of his life he receives his nickname.
During the short period of his reign, he was married, for political reasons, to
UrracaUrraca Fernández , infanta of Castile and daughter of Count Fernán González, was the queen consort of two Kings of León and one King of Navarre between 951 and 994...
, daughter of Fernán González. She bore him no children.