Alfonso VI, Castilebyname ALFONSO THE BRAVE, Spanish ALFONSO EL BRAVO king of Leon (1065-70) and king of reunited Castile and Leon (1072-1109), who by 1077 had proclaimed himself "emperor of all Spain" (imperator totius Hispaniae). His oppression of his Muslim vassals led to the invasion of Spain by an Almoravid army from North Africa (1086). His name is also associated with the national hero of Spain, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid), who was alternatively his enemy and indifferent supporter.

Alfonso was the second son of King Ferdinand I and his wife Sancha; he was educated by Raimundo, later the bishop of Palencia, and by Pedro Ansúrez, the count of Carrión. On his death in 1065, Ferdinand left to Alfonso the kingdom of Leon together with tribute paid by the Muslim kingdom of Toledo. These possessions aroused the envious hostility of Alfonso's elder brother, Sancho II, who had inherited the kingdom of Castile and the tribute of Saragossa. Alfonso was defeated by his brother in two battles; after the defeat at Llantada (1068) he managed to retain his kingdom, but after that at Golpejera (1072) he was captured and exiled, living for a short while at the court of his vassal Ma'mun, the Muslim king of Toledo. Soon Alfonso's sister Urraca stirred up a rebellion in Leon, and Sancho besieged her in the walled city of Zamora. During the siege, he was killed, perhaps at Urraca's instigation. She was clearly on Alfonso's side, and some modern historians have even suggested that they had an incestuous relationship. (See New Castile.)

With Sancho's death, Alfonso recovered his own kingdom of Leon and inherited (1072) that of Castile. He also occupied Galicia, which Sancho had kept from their younger brother García; Alfonso kept García in prison until his death. A late story, in which it is alleged that Alfonso took an oath in St. Gadea's Church, Burgos, that he had had no share in Sancho's murder, probably reflects Castilian reluctance to accept him as king.

Alfonso's reign now entered on a period of success. He seized the Rioja and the Basque provinces and received the feudal homage of Sancho Ramírez for the region of Navarre to the north of the Ebro River. By 1077 he had assumed the title imperator totius Hispaniae, in which role other Christian kings accepted him. He then began the conquest of Toledo and, after a long siege, occupied it in May 1085. This was a vital conquest, which recovered for Christian Spain one of the most important historical, strategic, and cultural centres of the peninsula, one that had been in the possession of the Muslims since the early 8th century.

During this period Alfonso regularly exacted parias, heavy financial tributes, from the Muslim ta'ifah kingdoms in return for protection against their other enemies. By thus depriving them of their wealth, he hoped to weaken them so that they would eventually cede their independence without fighting. As a result of his exactions, Christian Spain was flooded with Muslim gold, which was spent on warfare and donations to shrines, churches, and monasteries. The demand for tribute caused the ta'ifah kings to tax their subjects heavily, producing popular discontent and disturbances and contributing to the weakness that caused the surrender of Toledo. The Muslim ruler al-Mu'tamid of Seville took a desperate decision and called for the help of Yusuf ibn Tashufin, the Almoravid (Berber) amir of North Africa, and his Saharan tribes. The Amir disembarked in Algeciras at the end of July 1086 and a few months later, on October 23 at Zallaqah, near Badajoz, inflicted a terrible defeat on Alfonso VI. Alfonso appealed for help to the rest of Christendom, and a small crusade was organized as a result; the crusaders did not reach Alfonso's lands but wasted their energies and resources in an unsuccessful siege of the Muslim outpost of Tudela. (See muluk at-tawa'if.)

The defeat at Zallaqah seriously lessened Alfonso's influence over the ta'ifah kingdoms. It also led to a reconciliation with Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid. Their relationship had been difficult from the start, because El Cid had taken a prominent part in the campaigns of Sancho against Alfonso; although El Cid at first attended Alfonso's court, suspicions deepened, and since 1081 he had been in the service of the Muslim king of Saragossa. Alfonso entrusted El Cid with the occupation and defense of eastern Spain, and Rodrigo carried out this task with great success. Between 1086 and 1109 Alfonso suffered constant defeat by the Almoravids; in the last battle, that of Uclés in 1108, he lost his only son, Sancho. It was characteristic of his indomitable spirit that he at once arranged for his daughter, Urraca, to marry Alfonso I of Aragon so that the war against the Almoravids should be continued after his death, even though it meant that Leon and Castile would be ruled by an Aragonese prince.

Though his reign was politically unsuccessful, Alfonso VI carried out an important cultural task by Europeanizing his dominions. Alfonso married Constance of Burgundy, and influences from across the Pyrenees showed themselves in the introduction of the Romanesque style in art, the adoption of the Roman instead of the Mozarabic liturgy, the replacement of Visigothic by Carolingian script, and the energetic support that Alfonso gave to Cluniac monasticism, as well as in his reconstruction and safeguarding of the pilgrim road to Santiago.






Alphonso VI was "a sovereign of strong personal character" {-Encycl.Brit., 1956, 1:687} He was king of León, 1065-1109, and of Castile, 1072-1109; He captured Toledo, ancient capital of the Visigoths, from the Moors, 1085. This expanded his rule to the Tagus River and the center of the Iberian peninsula. He welcomed the Cluniac monks and pressed for adoption of the Roman liturgy instead of the Mozarabic. His daughters married French nobles, resulting in establishment of the Burgundian dynasties in Castile, Leon and Portugal. He reigned 1065-1109.

On his father's death, in 1065, he was made King of Leon while his
brother Sancho was made King of Castile. Sancho, annoyed with the
succession arrangements, attacked Alphonso and absorbed his realm later
that year.
He fled into exile at the court of Yahia I, King of Toledo, and
returned after Sancho was killed at the seige of Zamora in 1072, then as
King of Leon and Castile, he embarked on a series of agressive campaigns
against the petty kings of Muslim Spain.
As the most powertful Christian monarch in tha peninsula, he assumed
the title "Emperor of all Spain" in 1077, and achieved his greatest
triumph when he captured Toledo in 1085.
In his early campaigns, he was ably assisted by his talented
subject, Rodrigo Diaz de Bolivar, later known as "El Cid", but Diaz'
successes made Alphonso jealous, so he sent Diaz into exile in 1081.
The fall of Toledo so frightened the remaining Muslim kingdoms of
Spain that they called on the fearsome and fanatic Almorvid tribes of
Morocco for aid in 1085-6.
Most of Alphonso's conquests were lost in the ensuing bitter
struggle with the Moorish invaders, beginning with his defeat by Yusef
ibn Tashfin at Sagrajas on Oct. 23, 1086. Although El Cid defeated Tashfin's Almorvids at Valencia in 1094, Alphonso suffered a second Defeat at Ucles, where his son and heir, (the
offspring of Alphonso's laison with the daughter of the Muslim king of
Seville) was killed in 1108. Desperate for a strong ruler to succeed him,
he married his daughter, Urraca, to Alphonso I of Aragon soon after, and
died. A vigourous and resourceful ruler, he was able and broad-minded.
Concerned with reforming the Spanish church, he brought in monks from the
Clusiac order to help him restructure it, but these monks and the French
knights who came to help fight the Muslims opposed his easygoing
religious tolerance. He left behind a strong and well-governed realm.

Some sources say died 20 June 1109. Emperor of Spain. Suceeded Castile 6 Oct 1072. Conquered Toledo 25 May 1085, Madrid 1085, Lisbon 1093 Acceded 27 Dec 1065

References: [AR7],[Omnibus],[Augustan],[Paget1],[ES],[Talbot1], [WallopFH],[MRL],[Theroff],[PlantagenetA]