Alfonso Sánchez (Castilla) de Castilla (1155 - 1214)

Born 11 Nov 1155 in León, Spain

Ancestors

Husband of Eleanor Plantagenet — married 22 Sep 1177 in Burgos, Burgos, Castilla-Leon, Spain

Descendants

Died 6 Oct 1214 at age 58 in Gutierre-Muñoz, Avila, Castilla-Leon, Spain

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Burial

Burial: Huelgas, Burgos, Spain

Note: Ancestor of Richard of York.

He was born on 11 November 1155 at Soria, Castile - León, Spain.4,5 He was the son of Sancho III Alfonsez "el Deseado", rey de Castilla and Princess Blanche Garcés de Navarre.3 King of Castile at Spain between 1158 and 1214.6,7 Styled Rex Toleti et Castelle.8 A contract for the marriage of Alfonso VIII Sánchez "el de Las Navas", rey de Castilla and reina de Castilla Eleanor d' Anjou was signed in 1169 at Burgos, Castile - León, Spain. Alfonso VIII Sánchez "el de Las Navas", rey de Castilla married reina de Castilla Eleanor d' Anjou, daughter of Henri II "Courtmanteau", roi d' Angleterre and Aliénor d' Aquitaine, reine d' Angleterre, on 22 September 1177 at Burgos, Spain.4,9,3 Alfonso VIII Sánchez "el de Las Navas", rey de Castilla and Alfonso II "el Casto" , rey de Aragón y Cataluña were made a pact in 1179. This pact of Cazorla fixed the future zones of reconquest for the two countries. Alfonso VIII Sánchez "el de Las Navas", rey de Castilla and reina de Castilla Eleanor d' Anjou were founded the Monasterio de las Huelgas, a Cistercian monastery, in 1187 at Burgos, Castile - León, Spain. Alfonso VIII Sánchez "el de Las Navas", rey de Castilla abandoned at the last minute by the fellow Christian Kingdoms of Navarre and Leon (ruled by a cousin) which led to a great Muslim victory in 1195 at the Battle of Alarcos.10 He was defeated by Abû Yûsuf Ya'qûb of the Almohads, a new Berber dynasty which invaded the muslim power vacuum in al-Andalus, in Alarcos, on the Córdoba-Toledo road in July 1195 at the Battle of Alarcos.11 Alfonso VIII of Castile, with the assistance of Sancho VII of Navarre, and Pedro II of Aragon, joined by troops from Portugal and Leon (but not the King, Alfonso the Barbarian, who again betrayed Castile), led a victory against the Moors which was the culmination of the Reconquest of Spain by the Christians. On 16 July 1212 at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. He was a witness where Alfonso IX "el Barboro", rey de León repeated his betrayal against his cousin's kingdom of Castile, but this time Castile was saved by others, on 16 July 1212 at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa.10 Alfonso VIII Sánchez "el de Las Navas", rey de Castilla was able, with the assistance of fellow Christian Kingdoms, to finally defeat the Almohads decisively at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, near Bailén in northern Andalusia, the same spot where Scipio had defeated the Carthaginians more than a millennium before, on 16 July 1212.11 He died on 6 October 1214 at Gutierra Munoz, Avila, Castile, Spain, at age 58 years, 10 months and 25 days.4,3,5 He was the predecessor of rey de Castilla Henrique I Alfonsez; King of Castile.6,7 Alfonso VIII Sánchez "el de Las Navas", rey de Castilla was buried in the Monasterio de las Huelgas, Burgos, Castile - León, Spain.

Citations

[S206] With additions and corrections by Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. and assisted by David Faris Frederick Lewis Weis, Weis: AR 7th ed., 113-27.

[S204] Roderick W. Stuart, RfC, 83-27.

[S270] C. W. Previté-Orton sCMH II, pg. 824, genealogy table 22, the Castile and Aragon, 1033-c. 1300, (a) the House of Castile, 1033-1284.

[S245] LDS.

[S172] Various Encyclopaedea Britannica.

[S261] Regnal Chronologies, online http://www.hostkingdom.net/regindex.html

[S653] PoH, online http://www.friesian.com/

[S1319] Velde: Royal Styles, online http://www.heraldica.org/topics/royalty/royalstyle.htm

[S269] C. W. Previté-Orton sCMH I, pg. 608-609, genealogy table 17, the Normans and Plantagenets (to Edward III).

[S446] Melveena McKendrick, History of Spain, pg. 68.

[S515] Thomas F. Glick, Islamic and Christian Spain, pg. 47.

[S269] C. W. Previté-Orton sCMH I, pg. 462, genealogy table 13, the Capetian Dynasty (to St. Louis).

[S187] Royal Genealogy Database, online http://www.dcs.hull.ac.uk/public/genealogy/

[S450] Joaquin Veríssimo Serrão História de Portugal, pg. 399 - though he says filha de Afonso VII de Castela e irma da rainha Branca, mulher de Louis VIII, re de Franca. this is obviously Alfonso VIII of Castile..

[S270] C. W. Previté-Orton sCMH II, pg. 825, genealogy table 22, the Castile and Aragon, 1033-c. 1300, (b) the House of Aragon, 1033-1327.

He went on the crusade and was the victor of Los Navas De Tolosa.

"Ancestors/Descendants of Royal Lines" (Contributors: F. L. Jacquier (History of Charlemagne by Christian Settipani); L. Orlandini, ManuelAbranches de Soveral, Reynaud de Paysac, F.L. J P de Palmas (Aurejacet Tournemire; Frankish line; The Complete Peerage, Jacquier (Genealogy of Lewis Carroll, Justin Swanstrom, The Royal Families of England Scotland & Wales by Burkes Peerage; Debrett's Peerage & Baronage; Tableof descendants French Canadian Genealogical Society; Families of Monfort-sur-Risle & Bertrand de Bricquebec; The Dukes of Normandy, XXXXI),A. Brabant ("Dynastie Montmorency, Michel d'Herbigny), Paul Leportier,Claude Barret, H.R. Moser (Burke Peerage), O.Guionneau, L.B. de Rouge, E. Polti, N. Danican (Britain's Royal Families; Buthlaw, Successionof Strathclyde, the Armorial 1961-62) A.Terlinden (Genealogy of theexisting British Peerage, 1842), L. Gustavsson, C. Cheneaux, E. Lodge,S.Bontron (Brian Tompsett), R. Dewkinandan, H. de la Villarmois, C. Donadello; Scevole de Livonniere, H. de la Villarmois, I. Flatmoen,P. Ract Madoux (History of Morhange; Leon Maujean; Annuaire de Lorraine, 1926; La Galissonniere: Elections d'Arques et Rouen), Jean de Villoutreys (ref: Georges Poull), E. Wilkerson-Theaux (Laura Little), O. Auffray, A. Brabant (Genealogy of Chauvigny of Blot from "Chanoine Prevost Archiviste du Diocese de Troyes Union Typographique Domois Cote-d'Or 1925), Emmanuel Arminjon (E Levi-Provencal Histoire de l'Espagne Andalouse), Y. Gazagnes-Gazanhe, R. Sekulovich and J.P. de Palmas ("notes pierfit et iconographie Insecula", Tournemire), H de Riberolles (Base Tournemire), Franck Veillon; ,(Histoire Généalogique de la Maison de Hornes, Bruxelles 1848; Notice Historique Sur L'Ancien Comté de Hornes, Gand 1850; Europäische Stammtafeln, Marburg 1978); E.Driant / "LaMaisonde Damas" par Hubert Lamant, 1977 (Bibliothèque municipale d'Eaubonne)

........... http://geneastar.org.

ALPHONSO VII., "the Emperor" (1126-1157), is a dignified and somewhat enigmatical figure. A vague tradition had always assigned the title of emperor to the sovereign who held Leon as the most direct representative of the Visigoth kings, who were themselves the representatives of the Roman empire. But though given in charters, and claimed by Alphonso VI. and the Battler, the title had been little more than a flourish of rhetoric. Alphonso VII. was crowned emperor in 1155 after the death of the Battler. The weakness of Aragon enabled him to make his superiority effective. He appears to have striven for the formation of a national unity, which Spain had never possessed since the fall of the V'isigoth kingdom. The elements he had to deal with could not be welded together. Alphonso was at once a patron of the church, and a protector if not a favourer of the Mahommedans, who formed a large part of his subjects. His reign ended in an unsuccessful campaign against the rising power of the Almohades. Though he was not actually defeated, his death in the pass of Muradel in the Sierra Morena, while on his way back to Toledo, occurred in circumstances which showed that no man could be what he claimed to be---"king of the men of the two religions." His personal character does not stand out with the emphasis of those of Alphonso VI. or the Battler. Yet he was a great king, the type and to some extent the victim of the confusions of his age--Christian in creed and ambition, but more than half oriental in his household.

Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor of England

http://edwardthesecond.blogspot.com/2007/09/some-women-of-castile.html

The story begins in Burgos, Northern Spain, in September 1177, with the marriage of two of Edward II's great-great-grandparents: Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor of England (their wedding is also said to have taken place in 1170; this was presumably a marriage by proxy). Alfonso was born in Soria on 11 November 1155, the son of King Sancho III of Castile and Blanca of Navarre, the daughter of García VII of Navarre. Alfonso VIII succeeded his father as King of Castile on 31 August 1158, not yet three years old.

Eleanor was the second daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, born in Domfront, Normandy, on 13 October 1162. At the time of their wedding, Alfonso and Eleanor were almost twenty-two and almost fifteen respectively. Their marriage was to prove extremely successful. Alfonso's reign is beyond the scope of this post, but he was one of the great Spanish kings, and Queen Eleanor was her husband's chief counsellor. She bore him twelve children, of whom five (Sancho, Sancha, Mafalda, Enrique and Constanza) died young. Their eldest surviving son and heir, infante don Fernando, died of a fever on 14 October 1211, aged not quite twenty-two, which plunged Castile into deep mourning and must have been a terrible blow to his parents.

Alfonso VIII died at Gutiérre Múñoz on 6 October 1214, in his late fifties, succeeded by his youngest child and only surviving son, Enrique I. Enrique was born on 14 April 1204, so was only ten when he became King of Castile. Alfonso had left instructions that Queen Eleanor was to act as Regent for their son, but she was so devastated by grief that she became ill and only outlived him by several weeks. Instead, their daughter Berenguela acted as Regent.

Alfonso VIII (11 November 1155 - 5 October 1214), called the Noble or Él 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. After having suffered a great defeat with his own army at Alarcos against the Almohads, 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 an irreversible tide of Christian supremacy on the Iberian peninsula.

His reign saw the domination of Castile over León and, by his alliance with Aragón, he drew those two spheres of Christian Iberia into close connection.

ALFONSO DE CASTILE (1155 - 1214)

Alfonso De Castile (aka Alfonso VIII), king of Castile and grandson of Alfonso VII, is a great name in Spanish history, for he led the coalition of Christian princes and foreign crusaders who broke the power of the Almohades at the battle of the Navas de Tolosa in 1212.

His personal history is that of many medieval kings. He succeeded to the throne, in infancy, on the death of his father, Sancho. Though proclaimed king, he was regarded as a mere name by the unruly nobles to whom a minority was convenient. 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 of Castro and Lara, or of his uncle Ferdinand of León, who claimed the regency.

The loyalty of the town of Ávila protected his youth. He was barely fifteen when 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. His marriage with Leonora of Aquitaine, daughter of Henry II of England, brought him under the influence of the greatest governing intellect of his time. Alfonso VIII was the founder of the first Spanish university, the studium generale of Palencia, which, however, did not survive him.

During his reign, Castile annexed the province of Logroño.

In 1176, Alfonso married Eleonor Plantagenet, daughter of King Henry II of England and his wife Eleonor of Aquitaine. He was known as The Good.

Children

With Eleanor, he had 12 children:

Berenguela, or Berengaria, (1180-1246)

Sancho (1181)

Sancha (1182-1184)

Urraca (1186-1220), married Alfonso II of Portugal

Blanch (1188-1252), married Louis VIII of France

Ferdinand (1189-1211), on whose behalf Diego of Acebo and the future Saint Dominic travelled to Denmark in 1203 to secure a bride[1]

Mafalda (1191-1204)

Henry (born 1192), died young (1190s)

Constance (born 1196), died young (late 1190s)

Eleanor (1202-1244), married James I of Aragon

Henry (1204-1217), successor

Constance (died 1243), abbess of Las Huelgas