King Alfonso IX OF LEÓN (1166-1230)

	Alfonso IX, King of Leon		Alfonso IX, from the Tumbo A cartulary of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

Name:	Alfonso IX OF LEÓN 1
Sex:	Male
Name Prefix:	King
Nickname:	"Baboso" or "the Slobberer"
Father:	Fernando II OF LEÓN (1137-1188)
Mother:	Urraca OF PORTUGAL (1150?-1188)

Individual Events and Attributes

Birth	1166	Zamora
Occupation (1)	frm 22 Jan 1188 to 24 Sep 1230 (age 21-64)	King of León
Child Count		22
Occupation (2)	frm 1188 to 1230 (age 21-64)	King of Galica
Group/Caste Membership		House of Burgundy (Anscarids/Ivrea/Capetian)
Religion		Roman Catholic
Death	1230 (age 63-64)	Villanueva de Sarria
Burial		Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

Marriage

	Statue of Berenguela of Castile in Madrid (1753)		Castle Doña Berenguela in Bolaños de Calatrava Spain		Ferdinand III in a 13th century miniature		Saint Ferdinand III

Spouse	Berengaria OF CASTILE (1180-1246)
Children	Fernando III OF CASTILE (1201-1252)
Status	Divorced
Marriage	1197 (age 30-31)

Individual Note

Alfonso IX (15 August 1171 – 23 or 24 September 1230) was king of León and Galicia from the death of his father Ferdinand II in 1188 until his own death. According to Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406), he is said to have been called the Baboso or Slobberer because he was subject to fits of rage during which he foamed at the mouth.

 

Biography

Alfonso was born in Zamora, the only son of King Ferdinand II of León and Urraca of Portugal.[1] He took a part in the work of the reconquest, conquering the whole of Extremadura (including the cities of Cáceres and Badajoz).

 

He took steps towards modernizing and democratizing his dominion, founding the University of Salamanca in 1212. And in 1188 summoning the first parliament reflecting full representation of the citizenry ever seen in Western Europe, the Cortes of León.[2]

 

The convening of the Cortes de León in the cloisters of the Basilica of San Isidoro would be one of the most important events of Alfonso's reign. The difficult economic situation at the beginning of his reign compelled Alfonso to raise taxes on the underprivileged classes, leading to protests and a few towns revolts. In response the king summoned the Cortes, an assembly of nobles, clergy and representatives of cities, and subsequently faced demands for compensatory spending and greater external control and oversight of royal expenditures. Alfonso's convening of the Cortes is considered by many historians, including Australia's John Keane,[3] to be instrumental to the formation democratic parliaments across Europe.

 

The Cortes' 1188 session predates the first session of the Parliament of England, which occurred in in the thirteenth century.

 

In spite of the democratic precedent represented by the Cortes and the founding of the University of Salamanca, Alfonso is often chiefly remembered for the difficulties his successive marriages caused between him with Pope Celestine III. He was first married in 1191 to his cousin, Teresa of Portugal,[2] who bore him two daughters, and a son who died young. The marriage was declared null by the papal legate Cardinal Gregory.

 

After Alfonso VIII of Castile was defeated at the Battle of Alarcos, Alfonso IX invaded Castile with the aid of Muslim troops.[2] He was summarily excommunicated by Pope Celestine III. In 1197, Alfonso IX married his second cousin, Berenguela of Castile, to cement peace between León and Castile. For this act of consanguinity, the king and the kingdom were placed under interdict by Celestine.[4]

 

The Pope was, however, compelled to modify his measures by the threat that, if the people could not obtain the services of religion, they would not support the clergy, and that heresy would spread. The king was left under interdict personally, but to that he showed himself indifferent, and he had the support of his clergy. Berenguela left him after the birth of five children, and the king then returned to Teresa, to whose daughters he left his kingdom in his will.

 

Children

 

Alfonso's children by Theresa of Portugal[5] were:

 

1) Ferdinand (ca. 1192-August 1214, aged around 22), unmarried and without issue

2) Sancha (ca. 1193-1270), unmarried and without issue

3) Dulce, also called Aldonza (1194/ca. 1195-ca./aft. 1243), unmarried and without issue

 

His eldest daughter, Sancha, was engaged to her cousin King Henry I of Castile, but Henry died in 1217 before the marriage could be solemnized. After his heir, from his first marriage (Ferdinand of León) died in 1214, Alfonso wanted to dis-inherit the eldest son from his second marriage (Ferdinand III of Castile).[citation needed] King Alfonso IX invited the former King Consort of Jerusalem John of Brienne to marry his daughter Sancha and thus inherit the Leonese throne through her.

 

However, his former second wife, Queen Berengaria of Castile sabotaged this plan by convincing John of Brienne to marry her own daughter by Alfonso, Berengaria of León, instead.

 

Though unmarried and pious spinster, Sancha was the nominal heiress of León-Galicia on her father's death in 1230. Sancha was easily set aside by negotiations, including a good single woman dowry between the former first wife and the former second wife. Sancha became a nun at Cozollos, where she died in 1270; she was later beatified. Her sister Dulce-Aldonza spent her life with her mother in Portugal.

 

Alfonso's children by Berengaria of Castile were:[6]

 

4) Eleanor (1198/1199-31 October 1210)

5) King Ferdinand III the Saint (1200–1252)

6) Alfonso, 4th Lord of Molina (1203–1272)

7) Berengaria of León (1204–1237), married John of Brienne

8) Constance (1 May 1200 or 1205-7 September 1242), became a nun at Las Huelgas, Burgos, where she died

 

Alfonso also fathered many illegitimate children, some fifteen further children born out of wedlock are documented.

 

Alfonso's children by Aldonza Martínez de Silva[7][8] (daughter of Martin Gomez de Silva & Urraca Rodriguez), later married to Diego Froilaz, Count of Cifuentes:

 

9) Pedro Alfonso of León, 1st Lord of Tenorio (ca. 1196/ca. 1200-1226), Grand Master of Santiago, married N de Villarmayor, and had issue

10) Alfonso Alfonso of León, died yong

11) Fernando Alfonso of León, died young

12) Rodrigo Alfonso of León (ca. 1210-ca. 1267), 1st Lord of Aliger and Governor of Zamora, married ca. 1240 to Inés Rodriguez de Cabrera (ca. 1200-), and had issue

13) Teresa Alfonso of León (ca. 1210-), wife of Nuno Gonzalez de Lara, el Bueno, señor de Lara

14) Aldonza Alonso of León (ca. 1212/ca. 1215-1266), wife, first, of Diego Ramírez Froilaz, nephew of her stepfather, without issue, and, second, of Pedro Ponce de Cabrera, (ca. 1210-), and had issue, ancestors of the Ponce de León family.

 

Alfonso's child by Inés Iñíguez de Mendoza (born c. 1180) (daughter of Lope Iñiguez de Mendoza, 1st Lord of Mendoza (ca. 1140-1189) and wife Teresa Ximénez de los Cameros (ca. 1150-)):

 

15) Urraca Alfonso of León (ca. 1190/ca. 1197-), first wife ca. 1230 of Lopo II Díaz de Haro (1192-15 December 1236), 6th Sovereign Lord of Viscaya and had issue, including Mécia Lopes de Haro.

Alfonso's child by Estefánia Pérez de Limia, daughter of Pedro Arias de Limia and wife, subsequently wife of Rodrigo Suárez, Merino mayor of Galicia, had issue):

 

16) Fernando Alfonso of León (born c. 1211), died young

 

Alfonso's children by Maua, of unknown origin:

 

17) Fernando Alfonso of León (ca. 1215/1218/1220-Salamanca, 1278/1279), Archdean of Santiago, married to Aldara de Ulloa and had issue

 

Alfonso's children by Teresa Gil de Soverosa (born c. 1170) (daughter of Dom Gil Vasques de Soverosa & first wife Maria Aires de Fornelos):

 

18) María Alfonso of León (ca. 1190/1200/1222-aft. 1252), married as his second wife Soeiro Aires de Valadares (ca. 1140-) and had issue and Álvaro Fernández de Lara (ca. 1200-) and had female issue, later mistress of her nephew Alfonso X of Castile

19) Sancha Alfonso of León (1210/ca. 1210-1270), a Nun after divorcing without issue Simón Ruíz, Lord of Los Cameros

20) Martín Alfonso of León (ca. 1210/ca. 1225-1274/ca. 1275)

21) Urraca Alfonso of León (ca. 1210/1228-aft.1252, married twice, first to García Romeu of Tormos, without issue, then Pedro Guillén de Guzmán

 

Alfonso's other illegitimate child, mother unknown:

 

22) Mayor Alfonso de León, married Rodrigo Gómez de Trava, without issue

 

NOTES:

1 Medieval Iberia: an encyclopedia, Ed. E. Michael Gerli and Samuel G. Armistead, (Routledge, 2003), 54.

2 a b c Medieval Iberia: an encyclopedia, 54.

3 [1]

4 Moore, John Clare, Pope Innocent III (1160/61-1216): To root up and to plant, (BRILL, 2003), 70-71

5 Echols, Anne and Marty Williams, An Annotated index of Medieval Women, (Markus Weiner Publishing Inc, 1992), 400-401.

6 Medieval Iberia: an Encyclopedia, 162.

7 Ruano, Ruano and Joannes Ribadas, Casa de la Cabrera en Córdoba, (1779), 34.

8 Doubleday, Simon R., The Lara family: crown and nobility in medieval Spain, (Harvard University Press, 2001), 158.

 

SOURCES:

Doubleday, Simon R., The Lara family: crown and nobility in medieval Spain, Harvard University Press, 2001.

Echols, Anne and Marty Williams, An Annotated index of Medieval Women, Markus Weiner Publishing Inc, 1992.

Medieval Iberia: an encyclopedia, Ed. E. Michael Gerli and Samuel G. Armistead, Routledge, 2003.

Moore, John Clare, Pope Innocent III (1160/61-1216): To root up and to plant, BRILL, 2003.

Ruano, Ruano and Joannes Ribadas, Casa de la Cabrera en Córdoba, 1779.²

Note on Marriage to Berengaria OF CASTILE

annulled 1204

Sources

1	Weis, Frederick Lewis & Sheppard, Walter Lee, Jr, "Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700: Lineages from Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert the Strong, and other Historical Individuals". p 111, 110-28; 114, 114-25.

2	"Wikipedia". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_IX_of_Le%C3%B3n.