, Alfonso Viii Of Castile

Alfonso VIII (11 November 1155[1] – 5 October 1214), called the Noble orel de las Navas, was the King of Castile from 1158 to his death and Kingof Toledo.[2][3] He is most remembered for his part in the Reconquistaand the downfall of the Almohad Caliphate. After having suffered a greatdefeat with his own army at Alarcos against the Almohads,[4] he led thecoalition of Christian princes and foreign crusaders who broke the powerof the Almohads in the Battle of the Navas de Tolosa in 1212, an eventwhich marked the arrival of a tide of Christian supremacy on the Iberianpeninsula.

His reign saw the domination of Castile over León and, by his alliancewith Aragon, he drew those two spheres of Christian Iberia into closeconnection.

Alfonso was born to Sancho III of Castile and Blanche, in Soria on 11November 1155.[5] He was named after his grandfather Alfonso VII ofCastile. His early life resembled that of other medieval kings. Hisfather died in 1158. Though proclaimed king when only three years of age,Alfonso was regarded as merely nominal by the unruly nobles to whom aminority was convenient. Immediately, Castile was plunged into conflictsbetween the various noble houses vying for ascendancy in the inevitableregency. The devotion of a squire of his household, who carried him onthe pommel of his saddle to the stronghold of San Esteban de Gormaz,saved him from falling into the hands of the contending factions. Thenoble houses of Lara and Castro both claimed the regency, as did theboy''s uncle, Ferdinand II of León. In 1159 the young Alfonso was putbriefly in the custody of García Garcés de Aza, who was not wealthyenough to support him. In March 1160 the Castro and Lara met at theBattle of Lobregal and the Castro were victorious, but the guardianshipof Alfonso and the regency fell to Manrique Pérez de Lara.

Alfonso was put in the custody of the loyal village Ávila. At barelyfifteen, he came forth to do a man''s work by restoring his kingdom toorder. It was only by a surprise that he recovered his capital Toledofrom the hands of the Laras.

In 1174, he ceded Uclés to the Order of Santiago and afterwards thisbecame the order''s principal seat. From Uclés, he began a campaign whichculminated in the reconquest of Cuenca in 1177. The city surrendered on21 September, the feast of Saint Matthew, ever afterwards celebrated bythe citizens of the town.

Alfonso took the initiative to ally all the major Christian kingdoms ofthe peninsula — Navarre, León, Portugal, and Aragon — against theAlmohads. By the Treaty of Cazola of 1179, the zones of expansion of eachkingdom were defined.

After founding Plasencia (Cáceres) in 1186, he embarked on a majorinitiative to unite the Castilian nobility around the Reconquista. Inthat 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 thedefence of Alarcos on the river Guadiana, then the principal Castiliantown in the region. At the subsequent Battle of Alarcos, he was roundlydefeated by the caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf al-Mansur. The reoccupation of thesurrounding territory by the Almohads was quickly commenced withCalatrava falling first. For the next seventeen years, the frontierbetween Moor and Castilian was fixed in the hill country just outsideToledo.

Finally, in 1212, through the mediation of Pope Innocent III, a crusadewas called against the Almohads. Castilians under Alfonso, Aragonese andCatalans under Peter II, Navarrese under Sancho VII, and Franks under thearchbishop of Narbonne, Arnaud Amalric, all flocked to the effort. Themilitary orders also lent their support. Calatrava first, then Alarcos,and finally Benavente were captured before a final battle was fought atLas Navas de Tolosa near Santa Elena on 16 July. The caliph Muhammadan-Nasir was routed and Almohad power broken.

Alfonso was the founder of the first Spanish university, a studiumgenerale at Palencia, which, however, did not survive him. His court alsoserved as an important instrument for Spanish cultural achievement. Hismarriage (Burgos, before 17 September 1177)[6] with Eleanor, daughter ofHenry II of England, brought him under the influence of the greatestgoverning intellect of his time.

Alfonso died at Gutierre-Muñoz[7] and was succeeded by his eldestsurviving son, Henry I.

Alfonso was the subject for Lion Feuchtwanger''s novel Die Jüdin vonToledo (The Jewess of Toledo), in which is narrated an affair with aJewish subject in medieval Toledo in a time when Spain was known to bethe land of tolerance and learning for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Thetitular Jewish woman of the novel is based on Alfonso''s historicalparamour, Rahel la Fermosa.

Alfonso is portrayed in the 1919 film The Jewess of Toledo by FranzHöbling.

With Eleanor[8] Alfonso had 11 children:[9]
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 withDuke Conrad II of Swabia, but the union (only by contract and neversolemnized) was later annulled. Married in Valladolid between 1/16December 1197 with King Alfonso IX of León as his second wife.[10] Aftertheir marriage was dissolved on grounds of consanguinity in 1204, shereturned to her homeland and became regent of her minor brother KingHenry I. Queen of Castile in her own right after the death of Henry I in1217, immediately abdicated in favor of her son Ferdinand III of Castilewho would united the kingdoms of Castile and León.
Sancho Burgos,
5 April 1181 26 July 1181 Heir of the throne since his birth, died agedthree 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 shortlyafter 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 Diegoof Acebo and the future Saint Dominic travelled to Denmark in 1203 tosecure a bride.[11] He died soon after returning from campaigning againstthe Moors.
Mafalda Plasencia,
1191 Salamanca,
1211 Betrothed in 1204 to Infante Ferdinand of Leon, eldest son ofAlfonso IX and stepson of her oldest sister.
Constance 1195 Las Huelgas,
1243 A nun at the Cistercian monastery of Santa María la Real at LasHuelgas in 1217, she later became Abbess of her community.
Eleanor 1202 Las Huelgas,
1244 Married in Ágreda on 6 February 1221 with James I of Aragon.
Henry Valladolid,
14 April 1204 Palencia,
6 June 1217 Only surviving son, he succeeded his father in 1214 aged tenunder the regency firstly of his mother and later his oldest sister. Hewas killed when he was struck by a tile falling from a roof.