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- Alfonso IX de Leónb (Zamora, Kingdom of León, August 15, 11711 -Sarria, Kingdom of León, September 24, 1230) was the last king of León as an independent kingdom, from 1188 until his death in 1230 His son Fernando III of León and Castilla definitively united the kingdoms of León and Castilla in 1230.
Son of Fernando II and Urraca de Portugal, 1 had difficulties to seize power due to the intrigues of his stepmother Urraca López de Haro, who aspired to enthrone her own son, the Infante Sancho. Throughout his reign he had numerous conflicts and tensions with his cousin Alfonso VIII of Castile. Due to these, he was absent in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, despite which he carried out a great activity of reconquest, recovering the cities of Cáceres for Christianity, in April 1229,2 Mérida and Badajoz, in the spring of 1230.3 and in general the entire western half of present-day Extremadura.
He first married Teresa of Portugal, a marriage that was annulled by consanguinity and later with Berenguela de Castilla, from whom he had the infant Fernando. After this marriage was also annulled, Berenguela took his son to his native land and managed to make him king of Castile upon the death of Henry I in 1217. Due to this, father and son distanced themselves and, apparently, Alfonso's hostility IX towards the Castilians led him to leave the kingdom in the hands of Sancha and Dulce, the daughters of his first wife, Teresa of Portugal, instead of those of his first-born. However, Fernando's mother negotiated with Teresa of Portugal the delivery of a life pension to Sancha and Dulce in exchange for their rights and Fernando - who had threatened his stepsisters with attacking the kingdom if his demands were not met - succeeded his father as King of León, uniting both crowns with the so-called Concordia de Benavente.
Access to the throne and beginning of the reign
When his father died in January 1188, Alfonso IX, who was then seventeen years old, 4 found enormous difficulties in accessing a throne that belonged to him by birthright. On the one hand, there was his stepmother Urraca López de Haro, who wanted to eliminate him, since she wanted his son Sancho to be the one who inherited the kingdom, despite having been born later. Urraca argued that Alfonso IX had no right to the throne because the marriage between his parents had been annulled. To this was added the desire of the neighboring kingdoms of Portugal and Castile to divide the Kingdom of León. However, everything was resolved in favor of Alfonso IX, because Urraca did not get support for the end of it among the Leonese.
The beginning of the reign was extremely complicated as the Portuguese and Castilians coveted the lands of the Kingdom of León to the east and west, while the Almohads posed great danger to the south. As if foreign threats were not enough, the new monarch found that the kingdom was bankrupt because of the policy that his father had carried out during his reign. With this situation, the monarch, who was barely seventeen years old, summoned the famous Cortes de León in 1188 in which the representatives of the cities were summoned for the first time to intervene in State affairs. Representatives of the nobility, clergy and popular classes from León, Galicia, Asturias and Extremadura attended, thus being the first representative courts of Europe and the world.5
Courts of Leon
The courts were summoned in the spring of 1188, probably in the first half of April, since on the 27th of this same month, Alfonso IX confirmed all his privileges to the bishop of Oviedo. The Cortes met in the cloister of San Isidoro under the presidency of the Leonese king.6 All the bishops of the kingdom were present, including the archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, who was the highest religious authority of the kingdom, in addition to the nobles and the representatives of the cities of the kingdom of León, who for the first time were summoned to an act of these characteristics. The cities represented were León, Oviedo, Salamanca, Ciudad Rodrigo, Zamora and Astorga, also including others such as Toro, Benavente, Ledesma and some others.
The reason for which the representatives of the cities were summoned was undoubtedly the pressing need to solve the serious economic situation suffered by the Kingdom. The fact that the inhabitants of the cities enjoyed great economic prosperity and that collaboration with the nobility in this regard was too complicated, motivated the king to call the representatives of the cities to attend these Courts. Thus, Alfonso IX managed, without involving the nobility, to generate more resources for the Kingdom, resources more and more necessary due to the growing expense caused by wars with neighbors; in return he promised to improve the administration of justice and eliminate abuses of power by the nobility.
Territorial conflicts
Castile
Recently crowned Alfonso IX, in June 1188 he met with his cousin Alfonso VIII of Castile in Carrión, with the intention of initiating good relations with Castile that would allow a lasting peace. The meeting consisted of a ceremony to make Alfonso IX a knight, and as was customary in these cases, Alfonso IX kissed the hand of the Castilian king, receiving from him the sword and belt of a knight. In the same ceremony, Prince Conrad of Swabia, son of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire, was knighted. The prince had come with the aim of marrying the Infanta Berenguela, daughter of Alfonso VIII, something that he could not do due to her opposition.
Alfonso VIII of Castile, later, breaking the pact, entered Leonese territory with his troops and seized several places that had never belonged to Castile, among them, Valencia de Don Juan and Valderas. Thus began hostilities with the Kingdom of León, invading territories that would mark the foreign policy of Alfonso IX.
In 1211 Alfonso returned Alcañices castle to the Templars.
Portugal
Sancho I of Portugal to the west entered the territory of León with the same objective as Castile: to seize the lands of the Kingdom of León. Thus, the kingdom was surrounded between two fronts that threatened its destruction.
Alfonso IX, seeing the situation, realized the grave danger that his Kingdom was running. In this way, to find a solution, he used diplomacy and immediately began to seek support in Portugal. He first met with Sancho I of Portugal and arranged the marriage with the king's daughter, Infanta Teresa, who would later be called Santa Teresa of Portugal. As both were grandchildren of Alfonso Enríquez, the first king of Portugal, marriage between them was prohibited. However, the marriage lasted three years, in which they had three children: Dulce, Fernando and Sancha.
The wedding, for the aforementioned reasons, did not please some ecclesiastics, who, taking action on the matter, informed Pope Celestine III, who had recently been consecrated, on April 14, 1191, this being one of the first cases with which he inaugurated the pontificate. Celestino was ruthless and called the marriage incest, later pronouncing a sentence of excommunication and interdict. The excommunication affected the kings of León and Portugal, while the interdict affected both kingdoms.
Huesca League
In a troubled time, the King of Portugal proposed to his Aragonese counterpart a pact to defend himself from Castile. The king of Aragon, fearful of Castile, proposed to the Portuguese king that the pact be extended to the Kingdom of Navarra and the Kingdom of León. The pact between these four kingdoms, called the "League of Huesca", consisted of a compromise by which none of the signatory monarchs would go to war without their mutual consent. Alfonso IX, on his part, signed the treaty due to the little confidence he had in Alfonso VIII, King of Castile, who despite Carrión's agreement still did not return the Leon seats that he still retained.
Pact with the Almohads
In 1191, Alfonso IX, fearful of the danger posed by the great power of the Almohads, signed a five-year truce due to the impossibility of facing such a dangerous enemy. Pope Celestine III was quick to react to this pact. In this way, he excommunicated the king of León to punish him for his pact with the Almohads. And even he did more: he proceeded to grant the same graces to those who fought against the Kingdom of León as those received by those who participated in the Crusades, thus leaving the Leonese subjects relieved of obedience to the king.
Thus, Portugal, believing that the end of the Kingdom of León was near, took the opportunity to attack the kingdom, hoping, as years ago, to expand its dominions at the expense of the Kingdom of León. Galicia invaded with the help of several Galician nobles, taking Tuy and Pontevedra, populations that later returned to the Kingdom of León.
Alfonso VIII of Castile, for his part, with the help of Portugal and Aragon, took advantage of the bull to also attack the Kingdom of León. He penetrated from the south and attacked Benavente, failing in his conquest. He later advanced north to Astorga, a city which he also attacked, failing in the attempt again. After leaving a path of destruction in his wake, he arrived at the gates of the city of León, which he is even able to access, contenting himself with the capture of Puente Castro, a town near the city, after several days of brutal attacks. After occupying this town, the Castilian king looted and destroyed the Jewish quarter and its synagogue, enslaving part of its inhabitants.
When Alfonso IX received help from the Arabs in 1195 in the form of money and troops, he decided to counterattack Castile, reaching Carrión. In this way and considering Alfonso IX that the humiliation suffered by the act of kissing the hand of the Castilian monarch was repaired and to confirm the cancellation of that, he made himself a knight again. Alfonso VIII of Castile also made a pact with the Almohads to avoid greater evils.
The pontifical legacy, aware of the bad relations between the kingdoms of León and Castile, wanted to mediate in the conflict. Thus, he got both kings to meet in Tordehumos, province of Valladolid, where a peace treaty was signed on April 20, 1194, in which the Castilian king was obliged to immediately return three castles from León (those of Alba, Luna and Portilla) and, at his death, all those that Castile had taken from León after the death of Fernando II of León (Valderas, Bolaños, Villafrechós, Villarmentero, Siero de Riaño and Siero de Asturias) .10 In the treaty, Alfonso IX He promised to marry Berenguela, eldest daughter of the King of Castile. The wedding was celebrated with great splendor in the church of Santa María de Valladolid, at the beginning of December 1197.
The defeat of Alarcos
The danger to the Christian kingdoms from the south was evident, and any move by the Almohads was viewed with great concern. It was a priority to eliminate this threat once and for all. Thus, Alfonso VIII of Castile asked Alfonso IX for help to eliminate this threat, but without considering the return of the Leonese squares that he still held in his power. Then the Leonese monarch denied him such support. Thus he hoped to defeat only the Almohads and not share his glory with the Leonese monarch. In this way, the Christian and Muslim armies met on July 19, 1195 in Alarcos. The battle ended in a resounding defeat for the Christian army.
Alfonso IX was very close to the battle when the Castilian king decided to attack, but not close enough so that the Leonese troops could intervene in the combat and do something to defeat the Muslims. However, once the defeat was consummated, Alfonso IX met in Toledo with his cousin the Castilian king to demand that he comply with the agreement and return the Leonese places in his power. Alfonso VIII refused, and the Leonese king left the meeting indignant.
Las Navas de Tolosa
Once again, the Almohads represented a threat that had to be eliminated to ensure the survival of the peninsular Christian kingdoms. This motivated the archbishop of Toledo, Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, to inform the new Pope Innocent III, who began some negotiations. On February 16, 1212, the Pope sent a bull to the King of Castile to inform him of the advisability of starting a war against the Almohads. The Castilian monarch replied that he would make a crusade against the Mohammedans.
The initiative thus passed to the Kingdom of Castile. The Castilian monarch, who had suffered the serious defeat of Alarcos, knew that he needed the collaboration of the other Christian kingdoms of the peninsula if he wanted to be victorious in this endeavor. In this way, while Alfonso VIII was in Madrid preparing the battle with his son, who would die before the battle was fought, messengers were sent to Navarra, Aragon and León.
In Castile, the might of the Kingdom of León was feared, as it had recently demonstrated its power, defeating the Portuguese in battle. And furthermore, in the conscience of the Castilian king the fact of what the Leonese king would do to regain the Leonese territories, which despite all the pacts, was still in his power was concerned. He feared that Alfonso IX would put the return of all the usurped territories as a condition to participate in the battle, or that, in the event that the Leonese king did not go to battle, he would take advantage of his absence to recover them.
Therefore, Alfonso VIII requested the mediation of the pope, to avoid any attack from Leon. Innocent III agreed and threatened with excommunication anyone who dared to violate the peace while the Castilians fought against the Muslims. This fact contrasts with what happened years ago, when the same pope had forced the Castilian monarch, without success, to return those castles to Alfonso IX. The king of León, who was eager to go to battle, summoned a Regia Curia that recommended that he demand conditions to participate in the campaign, and thus, Alfonso IX responded to his Castilian counterpart that he would gladly come as soon as the territories that were returned to him they belonged.
Meanwhile, Alfonso VIII of Castile set the meeting of the troops in Toledo as a starting point. The Castilian troops were joined by those of Aragon and Navarre, as well as a large number of French, Italian and other European knights. The kings of León or Portugal did not attend the battle, but they allowed their vassals to join the battle. In this way, many Leonese, Asturians and Galicians participated in the battle.
Just as Alfonso VIII had feared, the Leonese king proceeded to recover what was his. In order not to violate the Pope's edict and avoid excommunication, he dedicated himself to recovering only those places that were within the borders of León, thus avoiding confrontation in Castilian lands. When Alfonso VIII returned from the battle and found the fait accompli, he could do nothing. Moreover, he invited the kings of León and Portugal to sign a peace treaty, which was signed in Coimbra. There was even a new pact in which Alfonso VIII returned the Leonese squares of Peñafiel and Almanza to Alfonso IX.
Reconquest
After the struggles with Castile ended after the death of Alfonso VIII, Alfonso IX resumed his reconquest plans. At the end of 1218 the Leonese monarch organized an expedition to Muslim lands, in which Gascon crusaders and the Orders of Calatrava and Alcántara participated, 12 with the intention of conquering Cáceres; nevertheless, the city was well defended and, after a siege of three and a half months, the Christian armies had to withdraw.13
In a second incursion into Muslim lands, Alfonso IX met a new enemy, which was none other than Portugal, who longed for the same lands that the Leonese monarch wanted for his kingdom. In this way, the Portuguese attacked the Leonese troops in Braga and Guimarães and were defeated on both occasions. On June 13, 1219, both kingdoms signed a new peace treaty to end hostilities. After these victories against the Portuguese, Alfonso IX made a raid through Muslim lands to Seville, where he defeated the Muslims and collected a great loot.
In 1221 the knights of the Order of Alcántara managed to surrender the city of Valencia de Alcántara, which would give a new impetus to the Leonese reconquest.14 The following year, the capture of Cáceres was attempted again, again failing. The king again besieged the city in 1223, 1225 and 1226 (year in which Badajoz would also be tried to surrender without success), until, finally, Cáceres fell in April 1229.14 15
The city of Cáceres was the key piece in the Muslim front. This, together with the serious defeat inflicted in 1230 on the army of Ibn Hud that was going to help Mérida, resulted in the fall of many Extremadura cities and the abandonment of others by their Andalusian defenders.14 Thus, in 1230 they would be conquered Mérida —after a long siege—, 15 Badajoz, Elvas —both abandoned by the defenders— and Baldala (current Talavera la Real) .15 That same year, Montánchez was handed over to the Order of Santiago.15
After this campaign, Alfonso IX went to Santiago de Compostela to visit the Apostle Santiago, for whom he felt great devotion, to thank him for his protection and help in the reconquest. On the way, he became seriously ill in Villanueva de Sarria and died shortly after, on September 24, 1230. He was buried in the cathedral of Santiago, next to his father, as recorded in his will.
Management of the Kingdom of León during his reign
Resettlement
Alfonso IX applied a repopulation policy based on the knowledge of the actions that his predecessors had carried out, thus choosing the one that had been most convenient. He applied above all techniques similar to those that Alfonso III and Ramiro II followed in his day. Not only did he dedicate himself to repopulating new areas, but he also strengthened those already populated through Fueros to improve the government and the development of the towns and cities of the Kingdom of León.
He thus granted privileges to Tuy, Lobera and Puentecaldelas and repopulated Mellid, Monforte de Lemos and Villanueva de Sarria in Galicia. In Asturias he granted fueros to Llanes16 after repopulating it and exempted Oviedo from paying the port of entry from Oviedo to León, and he also repopulated Tineo. Finally, in León he granted privileges to Carracedelo, Villafranca del Bierzo, Bembibre, Laguna de Negrillos and Puebla de Sanabria and repopulated Villalpando.
He also re-founded La Coruña in 1208, transferring the inhabitants of the nearby town of El Burgo to the current location of the Old City, rebuilding the city and granting it the privileges of the Fuero de Benavente.16 Thus, La Coruña becomes an enclave that it depends directly on the king, free from vassalage to the clergy or the feudal lords who distributed the rest of the Galician territory.
Economic resources
The base of the economy of the Kingdom was based on agriculture and livestock, and aware of this, Alfonso IX promulgated several laws at the beginning of his reign to favor wine-growing and logging activities, as well as cows and other work animals. , in order to boost existing activities and diversify the Kingdom's economy in a way. During his reign, in the humid areas of the kingdom, such as Asturias and Galicia, livestock flourished, while in the Douro area agriculture did the same.
The production of cereal, quite abundant in the Duero area, was insignificant in Asturias and Galicia, these territories having problems even to supply wheat to the churches, which needed it to carry out religious consecration. Given this shortage, it is not surprising that eating wheat bread was considered a great luxury in these territories, especially in the cities. Cereal production throughout the kingdom was mainly limited to wheat and rye, although other products such as vegetables, flax, and legumes were also produced. The animals used in agriculture were cows and oxen, being replaced in the plains of Tierra de Campos by mules, known as beasts by the locals.
Wine was produced throughout the Kingdom; Even so, some production points stand out: the Ribadavia region in Orense, Villafranca in León, Toro in the province of Zamora and the Ribera de Duero and Tierra de Campos. Fishing was also an important resource throughout the kingdom, as many people engaged in both sea and river fishing.
In Asturias, apple production was enormous, and as there was normally a large surplus, it was used to produce cider. Alfonso IX was surprised when he was told that several Asturian monastic communities were harvesting apples and then making cider for the whole year.
One of the great achievements of the management of Alfonso IX was the marked decline in power held by the nobles compared to previous times and to other Kingdoms, due to the policy followed by the Leonese monarch.
The University of Salamanca
One of the most important and remarkable acts of Alfonso IX in the Kingdom of León was the creation of the General Study of Salamanca, based on the cathedral schools that had already been operating for almost a century. In those days the schools in the cathedrals of the kingdoms of Spain were normal.
In 1208, Bishop Tello Téllez de Meneses had created a General Study in Palencia (which ended up becoming a University in 1263, when it was about to disappear), a study where the Leonese had difficulty going due to the continuous clashes between León and Castilla . For this reason, Alfonso IX decided, in 1218, to create another General Study in Salamanca. Years later, Fernando III would give it a great boost and Alfonso X of Castile would finally make it the first university in Europe to hold that title, on May 6, 1254.
The problem of succession
The early death of the infant Fernando, son of Alfonso IX with Queen Teresa, disrupted the plans of the Leonese monarch. Alfonso IX, who had been married twice, had two sons. The first dead, there was another, also named Fernando, who he had had with Queen Berenguela. His appointment as King of Castile changed things again.
After that, Alfonso IX thought of his daughters, the infantas Sancha and Dulce, from his first marriage to Queen Teresa.17 Thus, it seems that he intended to deposit his widow and his daughters Sancha and Dulce de los Rights of the kingdom, as can be deduced from documents subsequent to 1217.18 The Order of Santiago, created by the Leonese monarchs, would act as guarantor of the will. In 1218, however, the pope confirmed Ferdinand III as heir to the kingdom.18 However, Ferdinand III claimed the rights that he claimed to have as the son of the previous marriage. While the infantas were received as sovereigns in Zamora, Fernando entered Toro, with the support of the Leonese episcopate; Finally, he agreed to a large sum with his sisters so that they would renounce their possible rights in the so-called "Concordia de Benavente" (December 11, 1230), which put an end to the inheritance conflict.18 In exchange, they recognized Fernando's right to the Leonese throne. 18
Marriages and descendants
He married for the first time in 1191 in the city of Guimarães with Infanta Teresa of Portugal, 11 daughter of King Sancho I of Portugal and Queen Dulce de Aragón. 19 Between 1191 and 1196, the year in which the marriage was dissolved For kinship reasons, three children were born:
Sancha (1191-before 1243)
Fernando (1192/1193-August 1214).
Sweet (1193 / 1194-1248).
In December 1197 he married the Infanta Berenguela of Castile, daughter of King Alfonso VIII and Queen Leonor Plantagenet, in the church of Santa María de Valladolid.11 Five children were born from this marriage:
Leonor (d. 1202).
Constanza (d. 1242), nun in the Monastery of Las Huelgas de Burgos.
Fernando III (1199 / 1201-1252). He occupied the Castilian throne in 1217, upon the death of Henry I, and the Leonese throne in 1230, upon the death of his father.
Alfonso (1202-1272). Señor de Molina y Mesa for his first marriage to Mafalda González de Lara.
Berenguela (m. 1235). She married in 1224 with Juan de Brienne, king-regent of Jerusalem later regent of the Latin Empire of Constantinople.
After the annulment of his first marriage and before marrying Berenguela, King Alfonso had a love affair, which lasted about two years, with Inés Íñiguez de Mendoza —daughter of Íñigo López de Mendoza and his wife María García — 25 with whom he had a daughter born around 1197:
Urraca Alfonso de León, lady consort of Vizcaya for her marriage to Lope Díaz II de Haro.
He had another relationship with a Galician noblewoman, Estefanía Pérez de Faiam, to whom in 1211 the king donated a royal in Orensean lands where his family, according to his will dated in 1250, had many properties as well as in the north of Portugal. She was the daughter of Pedro Menéndez Faiam, who confirmed several royal documents granted by King Alfonso IX, and the granddaughter of Menendo Faiam, who also stole several royal diplomas from King Fernando II issued in Galicia as of 1155. Estefanía married after their relationship with the king with Rodrigo Suárez from whom he had descendants. In her will, she ordered her to be buried in the Fiães monastery in northern Portugal on the banks of the Miño.
Alfonso IX and Estefanía were parents of:
Fernando Alfonso de León (b. 1211), 27, who died in his youth.
According to the historian and medievalist Julio González, after his relationship with Estefanía, the king had a Salamanca lover of unknown origin named Maura, whom he had:
Fernando Alfonso de León (d. 1278). He was dean of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, 29 archdeacon of the cathedral of Salamanca and canon of the cathedral of León.
From his relationship between 1214 and 1218 with the Portuguese nobleman Aldonza Martínez de Silva, daughter of Martín Gómez de Silva, Señor de Silva, and his wife Urraca Rodríguez, 30 three children were born:
Rodrigo Alfonso de León (d. After 1252), lord of Aliger and Castro del Río and major advance of the Andalusian frontier, married Inés Rodríguez, daughter of Rodrigo Fernández de Valduerna "el Feo", lord of Cabrera and Ensign of King Alfonso
Aldonza Alfonso de León (d. After 1267). She married Count Pedro Ponce de Cabrera, son of Count Ponce Vela de Cabrera and Countess Teresa Rodríguez Girón.
Teresa Alfonso de León. She married Nuño González de Lara "el Bueno", lord of the Casa de Lara.
The most enduring relationship of King Alfonso IX, which began in 1218 and lasted until his death in 1230, was with Teresa Gil de Soverosa. A member of the Portuguese nobility, Teresa was the daughter of Gil Vázquez de Soverosa and María Aires de Fornelos. They were the parents of four children, all of them born between 1218, the year the relationship began, and 1230, the year the king died:
Sancha Alfonso de León (d. 1270). She married Simón Ruiz de los Cameros, lord of the Cameros and son of Rodrigo Díaz de los Cameros and Aldonza Díaz de Haro. She later professed as a nun in the convent of Santa Eufemia de Cozuelos de Ojedat she had founded.
María Alfonso de León (d. After July 1275) She contracted a first marriage with Álvaro Fernández de Lara. According to the count of Barcelos, after being widowed, she was a concubine of her nephew, King Alfonso X of Castile, from whom shd a daughter named Berenguela and later married Suero Arias de Valladares.
Martín Alfonso de León (d. 1268/1272), husband of María Méndez de Sousa, founders of the monastery of Sancti Spiritus in Salamanca. There were no offspring from this marriage.
Magpie Alfonso de León (d. After 1280). According to the Count of Barcelos, Urraca married for the first time with Romeo García de Aragón, lord of Tormos, Pradilla and El Frago, and later with Pedro Núñez de Guzmán, 41st major advance of Casa, son of Guillén Pérez de Guzmán and his wife María González Girón,
Alfonso IX of León died in the Galician municipality of Sarria on September 24, 1230, at the age of fifty-nine, when he was making a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.
He was buried in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, where his father, King Fernando II, had been buried. The tomb of King Alfonso is located in the Chapel of the Relics of the cathedral, where the Royal Pantheon of the Seo Compostela is located. On a smooth stone sepulcher is placed the recumbent statue that represents the late king, who appears dressed in a tunic and mantle, his forehead girded with a royal crown, and his head is represented with curly hair and a beard, with the right arm of the sovereign raised and placed at the height of his head, while his left hand rests on his chest. The recumbent statue of the king is similar to that of his father, King Ferdinand II of León, which has led many historians to doubt which of the two tombs to assign to each of the two monarchs.
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1171 - 1230 (59 years)
Queen Berengaria I de Castilla
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