Alphonse VI of Castille

Alphonse VI of Castille , called Valiant the , born before June 1040, died on July 1st 1109, king de Castille (1065-1109), king de León (1072-1109) with died of his/her brother, king de Tolède (1085-1109) by conquest and king de Galice (1090-1109) with died of different sound brother. He was the son of Ferdinand Ier de Castille, of León and Asturies and Sancha de León.

Biography

He took the name of Alphonse VI like successor of kings de León. In Castille, it should be called Alphonse IV. But all kings de Castille, in their number of reign, take account of the numbers of kings de Leon, the kingdom of Leon being older than that of Castille.

When Ferdinand Ier de Castille and of León, father of Alphonse, dies in 1065, the kingdom is divided between its three sons. Alphonse, known as the Valiant one, receives the kingdom of León. After a fratricidal war with its elder, Sanche II, it there asseoit its capacity and manages to unify the Castilian kingdom.

In 1069, it made pay tribute with Abbad III, king of Seville under the dynasty of the Abbadides.

Extremely of this success, it launches out in the reconquest of Moslem Spain (or Reconquista), divided since the collapse of the Califat of Cordoue into independent principalities (reyes of taifas). Supported by the monks of Cluny and the pope Gregoire VII, Alphonse, married to Constance of Burgundy, fact call to the Burgundian knights. In 1085, after a four year old seat, Tolède is taken.

However, the Moslem princes call with their help the Almoravides which cross the Straits of Gibraltar and put in rout Alphonse VI at Zallaka, in October 1086. But Almoravides do not succeed in drawing advantage from their military victories, like those of Consuegra (1097) and of Malagón (1100). Cid Campeador, with the service of Alphonse, symbolizes this Christian resistance to Islam.

Many novels of Chevalerie illustrated its name. In the Chanson de geste of the Cid, he plays the role allotted by the medieval poet to the largest kings and to Charlemagne itself. He is in turn the oppressor and the heroic and been obstinated victim - the ideal type of guard which the Jongleur S and the Troubadour S. sang He is the hero of a chanson de geste which just like the primitive Spanish songs, the songs of Bernard del Carpio and does not caption it Infants de Lara do not exist any more but in fragments incorporated in the Chronique of Alphonse Wise the.

With a little indulgence, Alphonse VI is introduced as a strong man who acts as a king whose interests are the law and the order and who is the chief of a nation in reconquest. Alphonse married twice. His second wife was Constance of Burgundy. Before that, it had been promised in marriage to Agathe, girl of William the Conqueror. Under the influence, one says, of his wife Constance, it established the Ordre of Cisterciens in Spain, establishing them with Sahagún and chooses a French cistercian Bernard like first archbishop of Tolède after the reconquest.

Marriages and descent

Ep. 1069 Agnes of Poitiers, Repudiated 1079, girl Geoffroi Guillaume VI Duke Aquitaine
Ep. …. Ximena de Guzman
Ep. 1081 Constancy of Burgundy, girl of Robert Ier Duke Burgundy and Ermengar de Hélie of Saumur
Ep. 1093 Berthe of Burgundy, girl of the Count Guillaume Ier of Burgundy and Etiennette of Longwy Metz
Ep. 1098 Zaida, girl of the Emir Abulkasim Muhammad Ben Abbad Al' tanmid of Seville

It Maria her daughters Urraque legitimates it and Therese de León the illegitimate one with French princes and by all means supported the French influence - the greatest force civilized in Europe. It brought also the Spain closer to the papacy and decided to replace the old rite of holy Isidore, the Rite Mozarab by the Roman Rite. On another side, it was very open to the Arab influence. It protected its subjects Moors and beat currency with inscriptions in Arab letters. After the death of Constancy, he perhaps married and lived certainly with Zaida; it is said that he was the Al Mutamid son-in-law, king Moor of Seville. His wife Isabelle was perhaps this Zaida which would have converted with the Christianity under the name of Marie or of Isabelle.

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