KINGDOMS OF CASTILE AND LEON (1037-1156 A.D.)
1037 Ferdinand (I) the Great, king of Leon and Castile. He establishes his capital at Leon; confirms and adds to the laws of Alfonso V; subdues the rebellious barons, and engages in a war with his brother Garcia III of Navarre, who at the
1054 battle of Atapuerca is defeated and slain.
1055 Ferdinand takes Cea and other fortresses from the Mohammedans. Viseu and Lamego taken (1057), and
1064 Coimbra. The king of Toledo becomes a vassal of Leon. Valencia and Andalusia invaded by Ferdinand. On his death
1065 Sancho II becomes king of Castile. Alfonso VI king of Leon and Garcia king of Galicia. Ferdinand’s daughters, Urraca and Elvira, receive Zamora and Toro.
1068 Battle of Golpejara on the Pisuerga. Alfonso defeats Sancho, but on the arrival of the Cid is in his turn defeated by Sancho.
1071 At the battle of Valpellage Sancho defeats Alfonso VI and imprisons him in a monastery, whence he escapes to Toledo. Garcia then seizes the lands of Urraca,
1072 but is attacked at Santarem by Sancho, who is at first defeated and taken prisoner, but afterwards released by the Cid. The Castilians in their turn defeat and capture Garcia, who is either held prisoner or made tributary. Sancho now besieges his sister Urraca in Zamora, but is assassinated before the walls.
1073 Alfonso VI returns, is elected at Burgos, and acknowledged by Leonnese, Castilians, and Galicians, but an oath is exacted of his innocence of Sancho’s death. The oath is administered by the Cid, who incurs Alfonso’s lasting enmity. Garcia kept prisoner.
1074 Expedition of Alfonso to aid the king of Toledo in resisting the king of Cordova. Alfonso invades Portugal, and makes several Mohammedan governors tributary. Marriage of the Cid and Ximena.
1077 The Council of Burgos declines to accept the Roman ritual, but the supremacy of Rome is acknowledged by Alfonso.
1081 The Cid banished for waging independent war against the king of Granada. He takes service with the Mohammedan ruler of Saragossa.
1084 Toledo is taken by Alfonso from Yahya ben Ismail after a siege of two years, and becomes the capital of the kingdom. Alfonso in return for its surrender promised to maintain Yahya in possession of Valencia, but failed to do so.
1086 Battle of Zallaka. Yusuf, king of the Almoravids, comes to the aid of the Spanish Moors, and defeats the forces of Castile, Aragon, and Barcelona. Alfonso resumes the offensive. The Cid is said to have been active in all these wars: after being banished by Alfonso he carried on hostilities on his own account, and after his restoration to favour was foremost in the great siege of Toledo, after which he again waged war on his own account, subduing many Moorish chiefs, including the kings of Saragossa and Valencia. The latter being deposed and slain by a rival,
1094 the Cid laid siege to the city and took it after a long and famous siege. He was in
1100 his turn twice besieged there, and after his death (1099) the Moors regained possession.
1108 Yusuf’s successor Ali inflicted a severe defeat on Alfonso in the battle of Ucles or Urcesia.
1109 Urraca, daughter of Alfonso VI, succeeds to Castile and Leon. Her second husband Alfonso I of Aragon, el Batallador, is recognised as Alfonso VII of Castile and Leon, and assumes the title of emperor of Spain. Alfonso Raymond, Urraca’s son by her first marriage, inherits Galicia. Domestic quarrels and war between Urraca and her husband. A party declares for Alfonso Raymond, and after a long period of civil war and anarchy he is recognised on Urraca’s death as
1126 Alfonso (VII) Raymond (also called Alfonso VIII). Peace arranged between him and his stepfather.
1134 On the latter’s death at Fraga the king of Castile protects Aragon from the Moors, and occupies several Aragonese fortresses, which he only restores to Aragon as fiefs.
1135 The rulers of Navarre, Barcelona, and Toulouse do Alfonso homage. He assumes the title of emperor of all Spain. War with Navarre and the count of Portugal.
1140 Tourney of Valdevez. The Castilian knights defeated by the Portuguese. Alfonso Henriques of Portugal assumes the title of king. Alliance between Castile and Aragon for the partition of Navarre fails.
1143 A formal treaty between Alfonso Raymond and Alfonso Henriques of Portugal recognises the latter as king of Portugal.
1146 Castile and Aragon come to the aid of the Almoravids against the Almohads and
1147 aided by the fleets of Pisa and Genoa take Almeria. The Christian frontiers are advanced to the Sierra Morena.
1156 The knightly order of San Julian del Pereyro, afterwards called of Alcantara, founded to resist the Moors.