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JosephSmithSr.
So shall it be with my father: he shall be called a prince over his posterity, holding the keys of the patriarchal priesthood over the kingdom of God on earth, even the Church of the Latter Day Saints, and he shall sit in the general assembly of patriarchs, even in council with the Ancient of Days when he shall sit and all the patriarchs with him and shall enjoy his right and authority under the direction of the Ancient of Days. |
SANCHEZ, King Alfonso VIII[1]
1155 - 1214 (58 years) 
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Name SANCHEZ, Alfonso Prefix King Suffix VIII Birth 11 Nov 1155 Soria, Castile-León, Spain 
Gender Male _TAG Reviewed on FS Burial Oct 1214 Burgos, Spain Death 6 Oct 1214 Gutierre Munoz, Avila, Spain Headstones 
Submit Headstone Photo Person ID I51753 Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith Last Modified 19 Aug 2021
Father ALFONSEZ, Sancho III , b. 1134, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spaind. 31 Aug 1158, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain (Age 24 years) Mother NAVARRE, Queen Blanche Garcia , b. Abt 1139, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain Pamplona, Navarra, Spaind. 24 Jun 1158, Castile, Spain (Age 19 years) Marriage 4 Feb 1155 Catahorra, Logrono, Spain Notes - MARRIAGE: Also shown as Married 30 Jan 1151
Family ID F16001 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family ENGLAND, Princess Eleanor , b. 13 Oct 1162, Falaise, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France Falaise, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, Franced. 31 Oct 1214, Burgos, Castile-León, Spain (Age 52 years) Marriage 22 Sep 1177 Burgos, Castile-León, Spain Notes - ~SEALING_SPOUSE: Also shown as SealSp 4 May 1955, SLAKE.
Children3 sons and 8 daughters Family ID F15225 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 24 Jan 2022
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George Wilding and sister Sarah Wilding
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Notes - Alphonse VIII (né le 11 novembre 1155, mort le 5 octobre 1214) est un roi de Castille et de Tolède. Roi très jeune, dépossédé par des familles nobles, il reprend ensuite son territoire avant de relancer la Reconquista. Par sa fille Blanche de Castille, il est le grand-père de Saint-Louis.
Biographie
Il perd très jeune ses deux parents, le roi Sanche III de Castille et Blanche de Navarre, fille du roi de Navarre García V dit le Restaurateur. Il accède au trône en 1158, à l'âge de trois ans, à la mort de son père le roi Sanche III. L'enfant-roi est alors un enjeu entre les deux partis nobiliaires qui se disputent le pouvoir, les Lara et les Castro. Son oncle, le roi de León Ferdinand II réclame également la régence, ce qui conduit à une quasi-guerre civile. Alphonse est sauvé par un écuyer de la maison royale qui l'emmène dans les villes loyales du nord de la Castille, San Esteban de Gormaz et Ávila. Il doit reconquérir son royaume par la force dès son adolescence. Il reconquiert par surprise la capitale Tolède des mains des Lara.
Pour unifier la noblesse castillane derrière lui, il relance la reconquista ; il obtient de l'Aragon une répartition à son avantage des terres à reconquérir dans le sud de la Péninsule Ibérique au traité de Cazola. Il annexe la Rioja et mène une grande expédition des souverains hispaniques en 1212. Elle aboutit à la bataille de Las Navas de Tolosa qui brise le pouvoir des Almohades.
Alphonse VIII est le fondateur de la première université espagnole : le studium generale de Palencia, qui disparaît après sa mort. Il fonde aussi l'ordre d'Alcántara.
Mariage et descendance
Il se marie en 1176 avec Aliénor Plantagenêt, fille d'Henri II d'Angleterre et d'Aliénor d'Aquitaine, dont les possessions en font le plus grand souverain du moment. Ils ont douze enfants, dont quatre filles qui deviennent reines :
Bérengère, reine de Castille (1180-1246) après son frère Henri, mariée à Conrad II de Souabe, duc de Souabe, puis à Alphonse IX, roi de León
l'infant Sanche
l'infante Sancha (1182-1184)
l'infante Urraque (1186-1220), mariée à Alphonse II de Portugal
l'infante Blanche (1188-1252), mariée à Louis VIII de France et Régente de ce royaume durant la minorité et les Croisades de son fils Louis IX (1226 à 1235+)
l'infant Ferdinand (1189-1211)
l'infante Mafalda (1191-1204)
l'infant Henri (1192-1190s)
l'infante Constance
l'infante Aliénor (1202-1244), princesse de Castille, mariée à Jacques Ier d'Aragon
Henri Ier (1204-1217), roi après son père.
l'infante Constance († 1243), abbesse de Las Huelgas
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alfonso VIII
King of Castile and Toledo
Reign 31 August 1158 – 5 October 1214
Predecessor Sancho III
Successor Henry I
Consort Eleanor of England
among others... Issue
Berengaria I of Castile
Urraca, Queen of Portugal
Blanche, Queen of France
Eleanor, Queen of Aragon
Henry I of Castile
House of Burgundy
Father Sancho III of Castile
Mother Blanche of Navarre
Born 11 November 1155
Soria
Died 5 October 1214 (aged 58)
Gutierre-Muñoz
Burial Las Huelgas, Burgos
Religion Roman Catholicism
Alfonso VIII (11 November 1155 – 5 October 1214), called the Noble or el de las Navas, was the King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo.[1][2] He is most remembered for his part in the Reconquista and the downfall of the Almohad Caliphate. After having suffered a great defeat with his own army at Alarcos against the Almohads,[3] he led the coalition of Christian princes and foreign crusaders who broke the power of the Almohads in the Battle of the Navas de Tolosa in 1212, an event which marked the arrival of a tide of Christian supremacy on the Iberian peninsula. His reign saw the domination of Castile over León and, by his alliance with Aragon, he drew those two spheres of Christian Iberia into close connection. Alfonso was born to Sancho III of Castile and Blanche, daughter of García Ramírez of Navarre, in Soria on 11 November 1155.[4] He was named after his grandfather Alfonso VII of Castile. His early life resembled that of other medieval kings. His father died in 1158 when his mother was also dead. Though proclaimed king when only three years of age, he was regarded as merely nominal by the unruly nobles to whom a minority was convenient. Immediately, Castile was plunged into conflicts between the various noble houses vying for ascendancy in the inevitable regency. The devotion of a squire of his household, who carried him on the pommel of his saddle to the stronghold of San Esteban de Gormaz, saved him from falling into the hands of the contending factions. The noble houses of Lara and Castro both claimed the regency, as did the boy's uncle, Ferdinand II of León. In 1159 the young Alfonso was put briefly in the custody of García Garcés de Aza, who was not wealthy enough to support him. In March 1160 the Castro and Lara met at the Battle of Lobregal and the Castro were victorious, but the guardianship of Alfonso and the regency fell to Manrique Pérez de Lara. Alfonso was put in the custody of the loyal village Ávila. At barely fifteen, he came forth to do a man's work by restoring his kingdom to order. It was only by a surprise that he recovered his capital Toledo from the hands of the Laras. In 1174, he ceded Uclés to the Order of Santiago and afterwards this became the order's principal seat. From Uclés, he began a campaign which culminated in the reconquest of Cuenca in 1177. The city surrendered on 21 September, the feast of Saint Matthew, ever afterwards celebrated by the citizens of the town. Alfonso took the initiative to ally all the major Christian kingdoms of the peninsula — Navarre, León, Portugal, and Aragon — against the Almohads. By the Treaty of Cazola of 1179, the zones of expansion of each kingdom were defined. After founding Plasencia (Cáceres) in 1186, he embarked on a major initiative to unite the Castilian nobility around the Reconquista. In that year, he recuperated part of La Rioja from the Kingdom of Navarre. In 1195, after the treaty with the Almohads was broken, he came to the defence of Alarcos on the river Guadiana, then the principal Castilian town in the region. At the subsequent Battle of Alarcos, he was roundly defeated by the caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf al-Mansur. The reoccupation of the surrounding territory by the Almohads was quickly commenced with Calatrava falling first. For the next seventeen years, the frontier between Moor and Castilian was fixed in the hill country just outside Toledo. Finally, in 1212, through the mediation of Pope Innocent III, a crusade was called against the Almohads. Castilians under Alfonso, Aragonese and Catalans under Peter II, Navarrese under Sancho VII, and Franks under the archbishop of Narbonne, Arnaud Amalric, all flocked to the effort. The military orders also lent their support. Calatrava first, then Alarcos, and finally Benavente were captured before a final battle was fought at Las Navas de Tolosa near Santa Elena on 16 July. The caliph Muhammad an-Nasir was routed and Almohad power broken. Alfonso was the founder of the first Spanish university, a studium generale at Palencia, which, however, did not survive him. His court also served as an important instrument for Spanish cultural achievement. His marriage (Burgos, before 17 September 1177)[5] with Eleanor (Leonora), daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, brought him under the influence of the greatest governing intellect of his time. Troubadours and sages were always present, largely due to the influence of Eleanor.
Alfonso died at Gutierre-Muñoz and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Henry I, named after his maternal grandfather. Alfonso was the subject for Lion Feuchtwanger's novel Die Jüdin von Toledo (The Jewess of Toledo), in which is narrated an affair with a Jewish subject in medieval Toledo in a time when Spain was known to be the land of tolerance and learning for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The titular Jewish woman of the novel is based on Alfonso's historical paramour, Rahel la Fermosa. Alfonso is portrayed in the 1919 film The Jewess of Toledo by Franz Höbling.
With Eleanor of England he had 11 children:[6]
Berengaria Burgos, 1 January/ June 1180
Las Huelgas near Burgos,
8 November 1246
Married firstly in Seligenstadt on 23 April 1188 with Duke Conrad II of Swabia, but the union (only by contract and never solemnized) was later annulled. Married in Valladolid between 1/16 December 1197 with King Alfonso IX of León as her second wife.[7] After their marriage was dissolved on grounds of consanguinity in 1204, she returned to her homeland and became regent of her minor brother King Henry I. Queen of Castile in her own right after the death of Henry I in 1217, immediately abdicated in favor of her son.
Sancho Burgos, 5 April 1181 / 26 July 1181
Heir of the throne since his birth, died aged three months.
Sancha 20/28 March 1182 /3 February 1184/ 16 October 1185 Died in infancy.
Henry 1184 Heir of the throne since his birth, died either shortly after being born or in infancy. His existence is disputed among sources.
Urraca 1186/ 28 May 1187
Coimbra, 3 November 1220
Married in 1206 to Alfonso, who succeeded his father in 1212 as King Alfonso II of Portugal.
Blanche Palencia, 4 March 1188 - Paris, 27 November 1252
Married in the Abbaye de Port-Mort near Pont-Audemer, Normandy on 23 May 1200 with Prince Louis, who succeeded his father in 1223 as King Louis VIII of France. Regent of the Kingdom of France during her son's minority (1226–1234) and during his absence on the Seventh Crusade.
Ferdinand Cuenca, 29 September 1189 - Madrid, 14 October 1211
Heir of the throne since his birth. On whose behalf Diego of Acebo and the future Saint Dominic travelled to Denmark in 1203 to secure a bride.[8] He died soon after returning from campaigning against the Moors.
Mafalda Plasencia, 1191 Salamanca, 1211
Betrothed in 1204 to Infante Ferdinand of Leon, eldest son of King Alfonso IX and stepson of her oldest sister.
Constance 1195 Las Huelgas, 1243
A nun at the Cistercian monastery of Santa María la Real at Las Huelgas in 1217, she later became Abbess of her community.
Eleanor 1202 Las Huelgas, 1244
Married in Ágreda on 6 February 1221 with King James I of Aragon. After her marriage was dissolved on grounds of consanguinity in April 1229, she became a nun at the Cistercian monastery of Santa María la Real at Las Huelgas.
Henry Valladolid, 14 April 1204 - Palencia, 6 June 1217
Only surviving son, he succeeded his father in 1214 aged ten under the regency firstly of his mother and later his oldest sister Berengaria. Married in Burgos before 29 August 1215 with Infanta Mafalda of Portugal, the union was unconsummated and dissolved in 1216 on grounds of consanguinity. Soon after his divorce, he was betrothed to his step-niece, Infanta Sancha of León, eldest daughter of King Alfonso IX, but, before the marriage could be solemnized, he was killed when he was struck by a tile falling from a roof.
BIO: victor of Los Navas de Tolesco.
** from http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/CASTILE.htm#AlfonsoVIIIdied1214B, as of 11/102014
Infante don ALFONSO de Castilla, son of SANCHO III "el Deseado" King of Castile & his wife Infanta doña Blanca de Navarra (Soria 11 Nov 1155-Gutiérre Múñoz near Arévalo 6 Oct 1214, bur Cistercian monastery Santa María la Real “de las Huelgas” near Burgos). The Anales Toledanos record the birth “noche de S. Martin…Viernes” in 1155 of “el Rey D. Alfonso”[729]. The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines names "Aldefonsus rex Castelle et Toliti" as son of "rex Sanctius"[730]. He succeeded his father 1158 as ALFONSO VIII “el Noble/él de las Navas” King of Castile, Toledo and Extremadura. His father's choice of Gutierre Fernández de Castro as tutor of Infante don Alfonso was challenged by the Lara family after the infant's accession, which triggered a war of rivalry in Castile between the Castro and Lara families[731]. He ruled through the regency of his uncle Fernando II King of León until 1169, disputed by the Castro and Lara families. "Aldefonsus…Toleti, Castella et extremature rex et dominus" granted holiday days to "monasterio Sancti Zoyli de Carrione" to Cluny by charter dated [11 Nov] 1169[732]. Recaptured Álava, Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa from the Moors. Defeated at Alarcón 18 Jul 1195 by the King of Morocco who helped the Almohades defend Seville. Taking advantage of his weakness, the Kings of Navarre and León invaded Castile, all parties being reconciled 1199 and agreeing to fight the Moors as a common cause. Alfonso VIII successfully led another crusade against the Almohades, culminating in victory at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa 1212. King Alfonso VIII was the first king to bear the arms of Castile. The Annales Compostellani record the death “III Non Oct” in 1214 of “Aldefonsus Rex Castellæ”[733]. The Chronicon Bernardi Iterii records the death 15 Oct 1214 of "Ildefonsus rex de Castella"[734]. The Anales Toledanos record the death 5 Oct 1214 “en una aldea de Avila” of “el Rey D. Alfonso”[735].
m (Betrothed [1168/69], Burgos Sep, before 17, 1177) ELEANOR of England, daughter of HENRY II King of England & his wife Eléonore Dss d’Aquitaine (Domfront, Normandy 13 Oct 1162-Burgos 25 Oct 1214, bur Cistercian monastery Santa María la Real “de las Huelgas” near Burgos). Her betrothal to "Aldefonso regi Castellæ" is recorded by Matthew of Paris in 1168[736]. Ralph de Diceto´s Abbreviationes Chronicorum record in 1169 that “Alienor filia regis” married “Adelfunso regi Castellæ”[737]. Robert of Torigny records the marriage in 1170 of "Alienor filia Henrici regis Anglorum" and "Amfurso imperatore", commenting that he was not yet fifteen years old[738]. Alfonso VIII King of Castile "cum uxore mea Alionor regina et cum filiabus meis Berengaria et Sancia Infantissis" exchanged property with the Templars by charter dated 26 Jan 1183[739]. The Crónica Latina records that “el rey de Castilla” married “la hija del…rey Enrique, doña Leonor” and that his father-in-law had promised him Gascony[740]. The Annales Compostellani record the death “II Kal Nov” in 1214 of “Regina Alienor uxor Aldefonsi Regis Castellæ”[741]. The Anales Toledanos record the death “viernes el postrimo dia de Octubre” in 1214 of “la Reyna Doña Lionor, muggier del Rey D. Alfonso”[742].
King Alfonso VIII & his wife had [thirteen] children:
1. Infanta doña BERENGUELA de Castilla (Burgos Jan/Jun 1180-Las Huelgas, near Burgos 8 Nov 1246, bur Las Huelgas, Cistercian monastery of Santa María la Real). m firstly (contract Seligenstadt 23 Apr 1188, marriage not consummated) KONRAD von Staufen Herzog von Rothenburg, son of Emperor FRIEDRICH I “Barbarossa” & his second wife Béatrice Ctss de Bourgogne (Feb/Mar 1172-murdered Durlach 15 Aug 1196, bur Kloster Lorsch). m secondly (Valladolid [1/16] Dec 1197, annulled 1204) as his second wife, her first cousin, ALFONSO IX King of León, son of FERNANDO II King of León & his first wife Infanta dona Urraca de Portugal (Zamora 15 Aug 1171-Villanueva de Sarría 24 Sep 1230, bur Santiago de Compostela, Cathedral Santiago el Mayor).
2. Infante don SANCHO Infante de Castilla (Burgos 5 Apr 1181-26 Jul 1181, bur Las Huelgas, Cistercian monastery of Santa María la Real).
3. Infante don ENRIQUE de Castilla (1182 before Jul-before Jan 1184).
4. Infanta doña SANCHA de Castilla (20/28 Mar 1182-[3 Feb 1184/16 Oct 1185], bur Las Huelgas, Cistercian monastery of Santa María la Real).
5. Infante don FERNANDO de Castilla (before Jan 1184-young).
6. [Infante don SANCHO de Castilla ([1184/85]-1199).
7. Infanta doña URRACA de Castilla ([1186/28 May 1187]-Coimbra 3 Nov 1220, bur Cistercian monastery of Santa María de Alcobaça). m (1206) Infante dom AFONSO de Portugal, son of SANCHO I “o Pobledor” King of Portugal & Infanta doña Dulcia de Aragón (Coimbra 23 Apr 1185-Coimbra 25 Mar 1223, bur Cistercian monastery of Santa María de Alcobaça). He succeeded his father in 1212 as AFONSO II “o Gordo” King of Portugal.
8. Infanta doña BLANCA de Castilla (Palencia [1188/89] before 4 Mar-Paris 27 Nov 1252, bur Notre-Dame de Maubuisson). m (Abbaye de Port-Mort near Pont-Audemer, Normandy 23 May 1200) LOUIS de France, son of PHILIPPE II “Auguste” King of France & his first wife Isabelle de Hainaut (Paris, Palais Royal 3 Sep 1187-Château de Montpensier-en-Auvergne 8 Nov 1226, bur église de l'Abbaye royale de Saint-Denis). He succeeded his father in 1223 as LOUIS VIII King of France.
9. Infante don FERNANDO de Castilla (Cuenca 29 Nov 1189-Madrid 14 Oct 1211, bur Las Huelgas, Cistercian monastery of Santa María la Real).
10. Infanta doña MAFALDA de Castilla (1191-Salamanca 1204, bur Salamanca Cathedral). Betrothed (1204) to Infante don FERNANDO de León, son of ALFONSO IX King of Leon & his first wife Infanta dona Teresa de Portugal ([1192/93]-Aug 1214, bur Santiago de Compostela, Cathedral of Santiago el Mayor).
11. Infanta doña CONSTANZA de Castilla ([1195]-Las Huelgas 1243, bur monastery of Santa María la Real at Las Huelgas). Nun at the Cistercian monastery of Santa María la Real at Las Huelgas 1217, later Abbess.
12. Infanta doña LEONOR de Castilla ([1202]-Burgos 1244, bur monastery of Santa María la Real at Las Huelgas). m (Agreda 6 Feb 1221, separated end Apr 1229 on grounds of consanguinity) as his first wife, JAIME I “el Conquistador” King of Aragon, Conde de Barcelona, son of PEDRO II King of Aragon & his wife Marie de Montpellier (Montpellier 1 Feb 1208-Valencia 27 Jul 1276, bur Poblet, monastery of Nuestra Señora).
13. Infante don ENRIQUE de Castilla (Valladolid 14 Apr 1204-Palencia 6 Jun 1217, bur Las Huelgas, Cistercian monastery of Santa María la Real). m (Burgos 1215 before 29 Aug, separated 1216 for consanguinity) Infanta dona MAFALDA de Portugal, daughter of SANCHO I “o Pobledor” King of Portugal & his wife Infanta doña Dulcia de Aragón (-Amarente, Rio Tinto 1 May 1256, bur Cistercian convent of Arouca). Betrothed ([1216]) to his second cousin Infanta doña SANCHA de León, daughter of ALFONSO IX King of León & his first wife Infanta dona Teresa de Portugal (Autumn 1191-Villabuena before 1243, bur monastery of Villabuena de Carracedo).
** from Wikipedia listing for Alfonso VIII of Castile, as of 11/10/2014
Alfonso VIII (11 November 1155[1] – 5 October 1214), called the Noble or el de las Navas, was the King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo.[2][3] He is most remembered for his part in the Reconquista and the downfall of the Almohad Caliphate. After having suffered a great defeat with his own army at Alarcos against the Almohads,[4] he led the coalition of Christian princes and foreign crusaders who broke the power of the Almohads in the Battle of the Navas de Tolosa in 1212, an event which marked the arrival of a tide of Christian supremacy on the Iberian peninsula.
His reign saw the domination of Castile over León and, by his alliance with Aragon, he drew those two spheres of Christian Iberia into close connection.
Regency and civil war
Alfonso was born to Sancho III of Castile and Blanche, in Soria on 11 November 1155.[5] He was named after his grandfather Alfonso VII of León and Castile, who divided his kingdoms between his sons. This division set the stage for conflict in the family until the kingdoms were re-united by Alfonso VIII's grandson, Ferdinand III of Castile.[6]
His early life resembled that of other medieval kings. His father died in 1158. Though proclaimed king when only three years of age, Alfonso was regarded as merely nominal by the unruly nobles to whom a minority was convenient. Immediately, Castile was plunged into conflicts between the various noble houses vying for ascendancy in the inevitable regency. The devotion of a squire of his household, who carried him on the pommel of his saddle to the stronghold of San Esteban de Gormaz, saved him from falling into the hands of the contending factions. The noble houses of Lara and Castro both claimed the regency, as did the boy's uncle, Ferdinand II of León. In 1159 the young Alfonso was put briefly in the custody of García Garcés de Aza, who was not wealthy enough to support him. In March 1160 the Castro and Lara met at the Battle of Lobregal and the Castro were victorious, but the guardianship of Alfonso and the regency fell to Manrique Pérez de Lara.
Alfonso was put in the custody of the loyal village Ávila. At barely fifteen, he came forth to do a man's work by restoring his kingdom to order. It was only by a surprise that he recovered his capital Toledo from the hands of the Laras.
Marriage and Foreign Relations
During the regency, his uncle Sancho VI of Navarre took advantage of the chaos and the king's minority to seize lands along the border, including much of La Rioja. In 1170, Alfonso sent an embassy to Bordeaux to Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine to seek the hand of their daughter Eleanor.[7] Due to the bride's young age of 9, the marriage was finalized at Burgos, before 17 September 1177.[8] The marriage treaty helped provide Alfonso with a powerful ally against his uncle. In 1176, Alfonso asked his father-in-law to arbitrate the disputed border territories. While Alfonso received back much which had been taken from him, he did have to pay significant monetary compensation.[7]
In 1186, he recuperated part of La Rioja from the Kingdom of Navarre.[citation needed]
In 1187, Alfonso negotiated with Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor who was seeking to marry his son Conrad to Alfonso's eldest child and heir, Berengaria. In April of 1188 they agreed on a treaty in Seligenstadt which made clear that she was the heir of Castile after any sons of Alfonso, and that Conrad would only co-rule as her spouse. This became relevant in her ultimate succession to the throne, even though the marriage to Conrad was never consummated and later annulled. The treaty also documented traditional rights and obligations between the sovreign and the nobles in Castile. In July of 1188, Alfonso convened his court in Carrión de los Condes to allow the nobles to review and ratify the treaty. At that court, Alfonso knighted both Conrad and Alfonso IX of León, who would ultimately marry Berengaria. The younger Alfonso had come to seek the support and acknowledgement of his ascent to the throne of León from his older cousin. The elder Alfonso granted this in exchange for acknowledgement that the king of Castile was overlord of the king of León.[9]
The relationship between the cousins Alfonso continued to be filled with conflict. In 1194, the papal legate negotiated a treaty between them to temporarily end the conflict. However, after Castile was defeated at the Battle of Alarcos, the younger Alfonso seized the opportunity to again attack his cousin. Castille defended itself with papal support. A more lasting peace was achieved finally by the older Alfonso's daughter Berengaria getting married to the younger Alfonso in 1197.[10] The annulment of this marriage by the pope drove the younger Alfonso to again attack his cousin in 1204, but treaties made in 1205, 1207, and 1209 each forced him to concede further territories and rights.[11][12] The treaty in 1207 is the first existing public document in the Castilian dialect.[13]
Around 1200 when his brother in law John was on the English throne, Alfonso began to claim that Gascony was part of Eleanor's dowry, though there was nothing in the marriage treaty to indicate this. In 1205, he invaded, hoping to make good on his claim. By 1208, he gave up on the venture, though his heirs would come back to this claim generations later.[14]
Reconquista
In 1174, he ceded Uclés to the Order of Santiago and afterwards this became the order's principal seat. From Uclés, he began a campaign which culminated in the reconquest of Cuenca in 1177. The city surrendered on 21 September, the feast of Saint Matthew, ever afterwards celebrated by the citizens of the town.
Alfonso took the initiative to ally all Christian kingdoms of the peninsula — Navarre, León, Portugal, and Aragon — against the Almohads. By the Treaty of Cazola of 1179, the zones of expansion of each kingdom were defined.
After founding Plasencia (Cáceres) in 1186, he embarked on a major initiative to unite the Castilian nobility around the Reconquista.
In 1195, after the treaty with the Almohads was broken, he came to the defence of Alarcos on the river Guadiana, then the principal Castilian town in the region. At the subsequent Battle of Alarcos, he was roundly defeated by the caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf al-Mansur. The reoccupation of the surrounding territory by the Almohads was quickly commenced with Calatrava falling first. For the next seventeen years, the frontier between Moor and Castilian was fixed in the hill country just outside Toledo.
Finally, in 1212, through the mediation of Pope Innocent III, a crusade was called against the Almohads. Castilians under Alfonso, Aragonese and Catalans under Peter II, Navarrese under Sancho VII, and Franks under the archbishop of Narbonne, Arnaud Amalric, all flocked to the effort. The military orders also lent their support. Calatrava first, then Alarcos, and finally Benavente were captured before a final battle was fought at Las Navas de Tolosa near Santa Elena on 16 July. The caliph Muhammad an-Nasir was routed and Almohad power broken.
Cultural legacy
Alfonso was the founder of the first Spanish university, a studium generale at Palencia, which, however, did not survive him. His court also served as an important instrument for Spanish cultural achievement.
Alfonso died at Gutierre-Muñoz[15] and was succeeded by his surviving son, Henry I.
Alfonso was the subject for Lion Feuchtwanger's novel Die Jüdin von Toledo (The Jewess of Toledo), in which is narrated an affair with a Jewish subject in medieval Toledo in a time when Spain was known to be the land of tolerance and learning for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The titular Jewish woman of the novel is based on Alfonso's paramour, Rahel la Fermosa.[16] Scholars continue to debate the historical truth of this relationship.[17] The 1919 film The Jewess of Toledo by Franz Höbling is also based on this relationship.[18]
Children
With Eleanor[19] Alfonso had 11 children:[20]
Name Birth Death Notes
Berengaria Burgos,
1 January/
June 1180 Las Huelgas near Burgos,
8 November 1246 Married firstly in Seligenstadt on 23 April 1188 with Duke Conrad II of Swabia, but the union (only by contract and never solemnized) was later annulled. Married in Valladolid between 1/16 December 1197 with King Alfonso IX of León as his second wife.[21] After their marriage was dissolved on grounds of consanguinity in 1204, she returned to her homeland and became regent of her minor brother King Henry I. Queen of Castile in her own right after the death of Henry I in 1217, quickly abdicated in favor of her son Ferdinand III of Castile who would re-unite the kingdoms of Castile and León.
Sancho Burgos,
5 April 1181 26 July 1181 Heir of the throne since his birth, died aged three months.
Sancha 20/28 March 1182 3 February 1184/
16 October 1185 Died in infancy.
Henry 1184 1184? Heir of the throne since his birth, died either shortly after being born or in infancy. His existence is disputed among sources.
Urraca 1186/
28 May 1187 Coimbra,
3 November 1220 Queen of Alfonso II of Portugal
Blanche Palencia,
4 March 1188 Paris,
27 November 1252 Married to Louis VIII of France
Ferdinand Cuenca,
29 September 1189 Madrid,
14 October 1211 Heir of the throne since his birth. On whose behalf Diego of Acebo and the future Saint Dominic travelled to Denmark in 1203 to secure a bride.[22] Ferdinand was returning through the San Vicente mountains from a campaign against the Muslims when he contracted a fever and died.[23]
Mafalda Plasencia,
1191 Salamanca,
1211 Betrothed in 1204 to Infante Ferdinand of Leon, eldest son of Alfonso IX and stepson of her oldest sister.
Eleanor 1200[24] Las Huelgas,
1244 Married in Ágreda on 6 February 1221 with James I of Aragon.
Constance c. 1202[24] Las Huelgas,
1243 A nun at the Cistercian monastery of Santa María la Real at Las Huelgas in 1217, she became known as the Lady of Las Huelgas, a title shared with later royal family members who joined the community.[24]
Henry Valladolid,
14 April 1204 Palencia,
6 June 1217 Only surviving son, he succeeded his father in 1214 aged ten under the regency firstly of his mother and later his oldest sister. He was killed when he was struck by a tile falling from a roof.
Notes
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Anales Toledanos
Roth 1994, p. 128.
Titles of the European kings
Vann 2003, p. 62.
Vann 2003, p. 61.
Shadis 2010, p. xix.
Shadis 2010, p. 25-31.
Cawley, Charles, Medieval Lands Project on Alfonso VIII of Castile, marriage and issues, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, retrieved August 2012,[better source needed]
Shadis 2010, p. 52-56.
Shadis 2010, p. 61-62.
Shadis 2010, p. 78-84.
Túy 2003, p. 324, 4.84.
Wright 2000.
Shadis 2010, p. 31.
Ricardo del Arco y Garay, Sepulcros de la Casa Real de Castilla
Marrache 2009.
Shadis 2010, p. 48-50.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0956166/
Crónica Latina
Vann 2003, p. 63.
New International Encyclopedia, Vol.13, (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1915), 782.
Vicaire, pp. 89–98.
Osma 1997, p. 55-56, vol.20.
Shadis 2010, p. 4.
References
Marrache, Abraham S. (2009). La Historia de Fermosa, la amante de Alfonso VIII. Madrid: Hebraica Ediciones.
Osma, Juan (1997). "Chronica latina regum Castellae". In Brea, Luis Charlo. Chronica Hispana Saeculi XIII. Turnhout: Brepols.
Roth, Norman (1994). Muslims in Medieval Spain: Cooperation and Conflict. Brill.
Shadis, Miriam (2010). Berenguela of Castile (1180–1246) and Political Women in the High Middle Ages. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-23473-7.
Túy, Lucas (2003). Rey, Emma Falque, ed. Chronicon mundi. Turnhout: Brepols.
Vann, Theresa M. (2003). "Alfonso VIII, King of Castile". In Gerli, E. Michael. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia. Routledge.
Vicaire, M.-H. (1938). "Une ambassade dans les Marches". In Mandonnet, Pierre. Saint Dominique: l'idée, l'homme et l'oeuvre Vol. 1. Paris: Desclée De Brouwer.
Wright, Roger (2000). El tratado de Cabreros (1206): estudio sociofilológico de una reforma ortográfica. London: Queen Mary and Westfield College.
Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
COSTA, Ricardo da. "Love and Crime, Chastisement and Redemption in Glory in the Crusade of Reconquest: Alfonso VIII of Castile in the battles of Alarcos (1195) and Las Navas de Tolosa (1212)". In: OLIVEIRA, Marco A. M. de (org.). Guerras e Imigrações. Campo Grande: Editora da UFMS, 2004, p. 73-94 (ISBN 85-7613-023-8).
** from The Making of Spain (Gabriel Jackson) p 81
Not until the last years of the long reign of Alfonso VIII of Castile were Christian armies able to win a major victory over the Muslims. The renewed rivalry between Leon and Castile effectively prevented the Castilian king from mobilizing the full military potential of the north, and after his stunning defeat by the Almohads at Alarcos in 1195, his fellow Christian sovereigns formed temporary diplomatic alliances against him. But in the year 1212 a great Christian army, with French contingents as well as representatives of all the peninsular kingdoms, joined in a crusade patronized by pope Innocent III.
At the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, at one of the crucial passes leading from the Meseta of New Castile to the valley of the Guadalquivir, the Christian literally destroyed the Almohad army. Because of severe droughts in the ensuing few years, and perhaps in part also because of the stench and disease caused the the thousands of unburied corpses, the Christians did not proceed to an immediate occupation of the captured towns; but when Alfosno VIII died in 1214 the path was clearly open for a full Christian conquest of al-Andalus.
** from Encyclopedia of World History (William Langer, 1962) p 234
Castile 1158-1214. Alfonso VIII. After a series of successrul atacks on the Moslems, Alfonso was overwhelimingly defeated (Alacros, 1195) by the Almohades, then at the zenith of their power. Leon and Navarre promptly invaded Castile, but Alfonso triumphed over them, and, with the aid of Pope Innocent III and the clergy, began the preparation of a unified general assault on the Moslems which led to the greatest victory of the reconquest, Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), son followed by the decline of the Almohade power in Spain and Africa and by Christian dissension.
- Alphonse VIII (né le 11 novembre 1155, mort le 5 octobre 1214) est un roi de Castille et de Tolède. Roi très jeune, dépossédé par des familles nobles, il reprend ensuite son territoire avant de relancer la Reconquista. Par sa fille Blanche de Castille, il est le grand-père de Saint-Louis.
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Sources - [S72] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ancestral File (TM), (June 1998 (c), data as of 5 JAN 1998).
- [S72] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ancestral File (TM), (June 1998 (c), data as of 5 JAN 1998).
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