Sancho Alfónsez
Encyclopedia
Sancho Alfónsez (ca. 1093 – 29 May 1108) was the only son of Alfonso VI of Castile and León and his heir from May 1107, eventually co-ruling from Toledo
. He predeceased his father, being killed while trying to escape the field of the Battle of Uclés. His death, on his first recorded military expedition, precipitated a succession crisis that ended with the accession of his elder half-sister Urraca and her husband, Alfonso the Battler
, already King of Navarre and Aragon, to the throne of Kingdom of Castile
-León
.
was the mother of Alfonso's only son, but he is confused about the origins of Zaida. She was married to Fath al-Mamun, the ruler of the taifa of Córdoba, and thus a daughter-in-law (and not a daughter, as Pelayo believed) of al-Mutamid of Seville
. Her husband died in March 1091 and Alfonso's relationship with her began later that year or in 1092, probably while the queen, Constance of Burgundy
, who had provided no son, was seriously ill. She died in Autumn 1093. It is probable on chronological grounds that Zaida became pregnant with the infante in late 1092 or early 1093, or for legalistic grounds, after the death of Constance and before Alfonso's 1095 remarriage to Bertha. According to the reports of her epitaph, she died in childbirth on 13 September (either a Monday or Thursday), but whether the child was Sancho is unknown. Though illegitimate—his mother was a Muslim
mistress and the queen was still alive—his birth must have dashed the hopes of Raymond
, the Count of Galicia and son-in-law of the king, who, according to the Chronicon Compostellanum
, had been promised the kingdom.
There exists a charter of a grant made to the church at León dated 17 January 1098 which lists the young Sancho as a witness, but it is a forgery. Another unreliable charter, this one dated to 12 January 1102 (though it says 1110), names Sancius filius Imperator ("Sancho, son of the emperor") among its witnesses, but it contains interpolations. Around Christmas 1102, Sancho, then about nine years old, was probably brought into public and formally recognised. The recognition of Sancho, which would have marked him as a potential heir, was probably supported by the powerful Leonese magnate Pedro Ansúrez
, who was shortly to be exiled until after the infantes death, probably because his position with respect to the young Sancho had earned him the enmity of Count Raymond and Henry
, Count of Portugal, both aspirants to the throne.
to mediate a land dispute between Santiago de Compostela and Mondoñedo. Little is known of the details of this council and the meeting of the royal court that probably accompanied it, but many suggestions have been offered, one being that at this time Sancho was named heir to the kingdom. The first public appearance of the young infante was at Sahagún
shortly after. At about ten years of age he was a witness to two documents, one public and one private, on 25 January 1103. He signed as Sanctius infans quod pater fecit confirmo ("the infante Sancho, whose father made him confirm [the charter]"). He thereafter figures more and more in royal charters. Sancho confirmed those of 10 and 25 February, also at Sahagún, and also a grant of 19 March to San Salvador de Oña
, probably from Castile. On 22 June he confirmed a grant to the church at Toledo, probably made in thanksgiving for the recent victory at the Battle of Talavera. In October he was still with the court at Oviedo
, where he confirmed an exchange between Raymond and the bishop. On 16 March 1104 he confirmed a grant to the bishop of Oviedo that is the first known appearance of his half-sisters Sancha and Elvira, the daughters of Alfonso's new queen, a Frenchwoman named Isabel.
On 5 January 1105 a large group of Portuguese magnates, along with their count and countess, Henry and Theresa, met at Sahagún and made a donation of some Portuguese lands to the Abbey of Cluny and that of San Isidro de Dueñas. Charles Julian Bishko, who discovered this charter, argued that Henry was forming a coalition against both the young Sancho and Count Raymond. This, however, presumes the absence of Alfonso from his own court. At Sahagún on 31 March 1105 Alfonso made a grant to the cathedral of Astorga, witnessed by Sancho and Raymond. Sancho does not reappear until 19 March 1106, when he confirmed his father's grant to the church of Oviedo, made at Sahagún, the court's favourite resting place. He then confirmed a private charter at Sahagún on 18 January 1107. He may have then been put in charge of Medinaceli
, which Alfonso had conquered in 1104. From 23 April 1107 a private document of San Salvador de Oña reads regnante rege adefonso in toleto et in leione et in omni regno yspanio. Santius filius. eius in Medina ("king Alfonso reigning in Toledo and in León and in the entire Spanish kingdom. Sancho, his son, [reigning] in Medinaceli"). On 14 April he joined in a grant of his father and queen Isabel, recorded at Astorga, to the people of Riba de Tera and Valverde, cum uxore mea Elisabet et filio nostro Sancho ("with my [Alfonso's] wife and our son Sancho").
, followed by Bishko, redated the charter to 1105 on the basis of the Historia Compostelana
, a date which would lend support to the theory of a pacto sucessório (pact of succession) between Henry and Raymond in the spring of that year. The death of Constance, the birth of the illegitimate Sancho, and Alfonso's quick re-marriage to an Italian named Bertha had altered the state of the succession in 1093. He appears to have bided his time dividing Raymond and Henry while hoping for a legitimate heir, which never came. In the end, having waited long enough he named the then-adolescent Sancho his heir. On 27 May 1107 Raymond died. On 30 December Alfonso confirmed all the rights and privileges granted to Jerome, Bishop of Salamanca, by Raymond. Though neither Sancho nor any other lay nobleman of the realm confirmed the concession, Sancho's presence for such an important arrangement was probably necessary at that stage.
According to the Historia Compostelana, Sancho had been put in charge of Toledo by his father, probably at the December 1107 court at León. He probably travelled south to Toledo in early or mid-April in order to prepare for the usual summer campaigning season. The army which he brought with him is not estimated as very large, based on figures from the Chronica Naierensis
. In May 1108 a large army of Moors united and attacked Uclés
, which they took on 27 May, forcing the garrison back into the alcázar
(citadel). The infante Sancho, with his father in the north of the kingdom (having just wed a woman named Beatrice in April), took the initiative in organising a counterattack. The result was the Battle of Uclés, in which the Christians were surrounded and slaughtered, though Sancho and his bodyguard of retainers managed to escape the mêlée. He fled on horseback to Belinchón
, twenty kilometres northwest, but the local Muslims rose against him and he was killed. García Álvarez, Alfonso's alférez
from 1100 to 1107, who had been appointed guardian of Sancho, may be the García who was, according to Rodrigo Jiménez's
De rebus Hispaniae
, cut down while defending the infante.
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
. He predeceased his father, being killed while trying to escape the field of the Battle of Uclés. His death, on his first recorded military expedition, precipitated a succession crisis that ended with the accession of his elder half-sister Urraca and her husband, Alfonso the Battler
Alfonso the Battler
Alfonso I , called the Battler or the Warrior , was the king of Aragon and Navarre from 1104 until his death in 1134. He was the second son of King Sancho Ramírez and successor of his brother Peter I...
, already King of Navarre and Aragon, to the throne of Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
-León
Kingdom of León
The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León...
.
Childhood, 1093–1103
According to Pelayo of Oviedo, the Moorish princess ZaidaZaida of Seville
Zaida of Seville was a refugee Muslim princess who was a mistress and then perhaps queen of Alfonso VI of Castile.She is said by Iberian Muslim sources to have been the daughter-in-law of Al Mutamid, the Muslim King of Seville, wife of his son Abu al Fatah al Ma'Mun, Emir of Cordoba,...
was the mother of Alfonso's only son, but he is confused about the origins of Zaida. She was married to Fath al-Mamun, the ruler of the taifa of Córdoba, and thus a daughter-in-law (and not a daughter, as Pelayo believed) of al-Mutamid of Seville
Taifa of Seville
The Taifa of Seville was a short lived medieval kingdom, in what is now southern Spain and Portugal. It originated in 1023 and lasted until 1091, and was under the rule of the Arab Abbadid family.-History:...
. Her husband died in March 1091 and Alfonso's relationship with her began later that year or in 1092, probably while the queen, Constance of Burgundy
Constance of Burgundy
Constance of Burgundy was the daughter of Duke Robert I of Burgundy and Helie de Semur-en-Brionnais. She was Queen consort of Castile and León by her marriage to Alfonso VI of Castile. She was the granddaughter of King Robert II of France, the second monarch of the French Capetian dynasty...
, who had provided no son, was seriously ill. She died in Autumn 1093. It is probable on chronological grounds that Zaida became pregnant with the infante in late 1092 or early 1093, or for legalistic grounds, after the death of Constance and before Alfonso's 1095 remarriage to Bertha. According to the reports of her epitaph, she died in childbirth on 13 September (either a Monday or Thursday), but whether the child was Sancho is unknown. Though illegitimate—his mother was a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
mistress and the queen was still alive—his birth must have dashed the hopes of Raymond
Raymond of Burgundy
Raymond of Burgundy was the fourth son of William I, Count of Burgundy, and was Count of Amous. He came to the Iberian Peninsula for the first time during the period 1086–1087 with Odo I, Duke of Burgundy...
, the Count of Galicia and son-in-law of the king, who, according to the Chronicon Compostellanum
Chronicon Compostellanum
The Chronicon Compostellanum is a narrative Latin chronicle of the history of Spain from the arrival of the Visigoths until the death of Queen Urraca of León on 15 March 1126. It was probably written shortly after this date, and probably in Galicia...
, had been promised the kingdom.
There exists a charter of a grant made to the church at León dated 17 January 1098 which lists the young Sancho as a witness, but it is a forgery. Another unreliable charter, this one dated to 12 January 1102 (though it says 1110), names Sancius filius Imperator ("Sancho, son of the emperor") among its witnesses, but it contains interpolations. Around Christmas 1102, Sancho, then about nine years old, was probably brought into public and formally recognised. The recognition of Sancho, which would have marked him as a potential heir, was probably supported by the powerful Leonese magnate Pedro Ansúrez
Pedro Ansúrez
Pedro Ansúrez was a Castilian count of Liébana, Saldaña and Carrión in the closing decades of the eleventh century and the opening decades of the twelfth. He is considered the founder and first lord of Valladolid....
, who was shortly to be exiled until after the infantes death, probably because his position with respect to the young Sancho had earned him the enmity of Count Raymond and Henry
Henry, Count of Portugal
Henry of Burgundy, Count of Portugal was Count of Portugal from 1093 to his death. He was brother of Hugh I, Duke of Burgundy, and Odo I, Duke of Burgundy, all sons of Henry, the heir of Robert I, Duke of Burgundy. His name is Henri in modern French, Henricus in Latin, Enrique in modern Spanish...
, Count of Portugal, both aspirants to the throne.
Early public life, 1103–1107
In early January 1103 a church council was held in the royal presence at Carrión de los CondesCarrión de los Condes
Carrión de los Condes is a municipality in the province of Palencia, part of the Autonomous Community of Castile and León, Spain.It is 40 kilometers from Palencia, on the Way of Saint James.-History:...
to mediate a land dispute between Santiago de Compostela and Mondoñedo. Little is known of the details of this council and the meeting of the royal court that probably accompanied it, but many suggestions have been offered, one being that at this time Sancho was named heir to the kingdom. The first public appearance of the young infante was at Sahagún
Sahagún
Sahagún can refer to:*Sahagún, Spain, a town and monastery in Léon, Spain. Cradle of the Mudéjar architecture*Sahagún, Córdoba, the second town in population in Córdoba Department, Colombia, also called "The Cultural City of Cordoba"People...
shortly after. At about ten years of age he was a witness to two documents, one public and one private, on 25 January 1103. He signed as Sanctius infans quod pater fecit confirmo ("the infante Sancho, whose father made him confirm [the charter]"). He thereafter figures more and more in royal charters. Sancho confirmed those of 10 and 25 February, also at Sahagún, and also a grant of 19 March to San Salvador de Oña
San Salvador de Oña
San Salvador de Oña is a monastery in Oña, in the province of Burgos, central Spain.It was founded in 1011 by Sancho García, count of Castile, for his daughter Tigridia. In 1033 it was assigned to the Cistercian Order. In 1506 it went to the Benedictines of Valladolid. It was damaged during the...
, probably from Castile. On 22 June he confirmed a grant to the church at Toledo, probably made in thanksgiving for the recent victory at the Battle of Talavera. In October he was still with the court at Oviedo
Oviedo
Oviedo is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city....
, where he confirmed an exchange between Raymond and the bishop. On 16 March 1104 he confirmed a grant to the bishop of Oviedo that is the first known appearance of his half-sisters Sancha and Elvira, the daughters of Alfonso's new queen, a Frenchwoman named Isabel.
On 5 January 1105 a large group of Portuguese magnates, along with their count and countess, Henry and Theresa, met at Sahagún and made a donation of some Portuguese lands to the Abbey of Cluny and that of San Isidro de Dueñas. Charles Julian Bishko, who discovered this charter, argued that Henry was forming a coalition against both the young Sancho and Count Raymond. This, however, presumes the absence of Alfonso from his own court. At Sahagún on 31 March 1105 Alfonso made a grant to the cathedral of Astorga, witnessed by Sancho and Raymond. Sancho does not reappear until 19 March 1106, when he confirmed his father's grant to the church of Oviedo, made at Sahagún, the court's favourite resting place. He then confirmed a private charter at Sahagún on 18 January 1107. He may have then been put in charge of Medinaceli
Medinaceli
Medinaceli is a municipality and town in the province of Soria . Its name derives from the Arabic toponym madīnat sālim . The town is named after one Salim bin Waral, head of a Masmuda Berber family which settled there in the 8th century....
, which Alfonso had conquered in 1104. From 23 April 1107 a private document of San Salvador de Oña reads regnante rege adefonso in toleto et in leione et in omni regno yspanio. Santius filius. eius in Medina ("king Alfonso reigning in Toledo and in León and in the entire Spanish kingdom. Sancho, his son, [reigning] in Medinaceli"). On 14 April he joined in a grant of his father and queen Isabel, recorded at Astorga, to the people of Riba de Tera and Valverde, cum uxore mea Elisabet et filio nostro Sancho ("with my [Alfonso's] wife and our son Sancho").
Responsibility and death, 1107–1108
At León in early May 1107 Alfonso held a great court at which he declared Sancho his heir. On 14 May Alfonso's granted the right of coinage to the bishop of Santiago de Compostela and the grant was confirmed by Sancho, who for the first time signed as regnum electus patri factum ("made king-elect by his father"). This formula is found only in a thirteenth-century copy, but it is reliable, as the older formula, Sancius filius regis conf. ("Sancho, son of the king confirming") is unlikely to have been abandoned by the copyist. Claudio Sánchez-AlbornozClaudio Sánchez-Albornoz y Menduiña
Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz y Menduiña was an eminent Spanish medieval historian, statesman, and a leader of the Spanish Republican government in Exile during the rule of Francisco Franco.- Education and Early Career :...
, followed by Bishko, redated the charter to 1105 on the basis of the Historia Compostelana
Historia Compostelana
The anonymous Historia Compostelana is based on the relation of events by a writer in the immediate circle of Diego Gelmírez, second bishop then first archbishop of Compostela, one of the major figures of the Middle Ages in Galicia...
, a date which would lend support to the theory of a pacto sucessório (pact of succession) between Henry and Raymond in the spring of that year. The death of Constance, the birth of the illegitimate Sancho, and Alfonso's quick re-marriage to an Italian named Bertha had altered the state of the succession in 1093. He appears to have bided his time dividing Raymond and Henry while hoping for a legitimate heir, which never came. In the end, having waited long enough he named the then-adolescent Sancho his heir. On 27 May 1107 Raymond died. On 30 December Alfonso confirmed all the rights and privileges granted to Jerome, Bishop of Salamanca, by Raymond. Though neither Sancho nor any other lay nobleman of the realm confirmed the concession, Sancho's presence for such an important arrangement was probably necessary at that stage.
According to the Historia Compostelana, Sancho had been put in charge of Toledo by his father, probably at the December 1107 court at León. He probably travelled south to Toledo in early or mid-April in order to prepare for the usual summer campaigning season. The army which he brought with him is not estimated as very large, based on figures from the Chronica Naierensis
Chronica Naierensis
The Chronica Naierensis or Crónica najerense was a late twelfth-century chronicle of universal history composed at the Benedictine monastery of Santa María la Real in Nájera...
. In May 1108 a large army of Moors united and attacked Uclés
Uclés
Uclés is a municipality located in the province of Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 287 inhabitants....
, which they took on 27 May, forcing the garrison back into the alcázar
Alcázar
An alcázar , alcácer or alcàsser is a type of castle in Spain and Portugal. The term derives from the Arabic word القصر meaning "fort, castle or palace"; and the Arabic word is derived from the Latin word, 'castrum', meaning an army camp or fort...
(citadel). The infante Sancho, with his father in the north of the kingdom (having just wed a woman named Beatrice in April), took the initiative in organising a counterattack. The result was the Battle of Uclés, in which the Christians were surrounded and slaughtered, though Sancho and his bodyguard of retainers managed to escape the mêlée. He fled on horseback to Belinchón
Belinchón
Belinchón is a municipality in Cuenca Province, Castile-La Mancha, central Spain.Here the heir to the Castilian Crown, Sancho Alfónsez, was assassinated in a Moorish uprising on 29 May 1108....
, twenty kilometres northwest, but the local Muslims rose against him and he was killed. García Álvarez, Alfonso's alférez
Alférez
Alférez is a junior officer rank also used in Spain, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. The variant Alferes is used in Portugal and was formerly also used in Brazil. A naval variant, Frigate Alférez, is used in Spain, Dominican Republic and Peru. "Alférez" is often translated as ensign...
from 1100 to 1107, who had been appointed guardian of Sancho, may be the García who was, according to Rodrigo Jiménez's
Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada
Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada was a Navarrese-born Castilian Roman Catholic bishop and historian....
De rebus Hispaniae
De rebus Hispaniae
De rebus Hispaniae or Historia gothica is a history of the Iberian peninsula written in Latin by Archbiship of Toledo Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada en the first half of the thirteenth century on behalf of King Ferdinand III of Castile....
, cut down while defending the infante.
Sources
- Reilly, Bernard F. 1982. The Kingdom of León-Castilla under Queen Urraca, 1109–1126. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Reilly, Bernard F. 1988. The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI, 1065–1109. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Salazar y Acha, Jaime de. 1992. "Contribución al estudio del reinado de Alfonso VI de Castilla: algunas aclaraciones sobre su política matrimonial." Anales de la Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genealogía, 2:299–336.
- Salazar y Acha, Jaime de. 2007. "De nuevo sobre la mora Zaida." Hidalguía: la Revista de Genealogía, Nobreza y Armas. 54:225–242.
External links
- Castile and León, Counts and Kings: Chapter 2. Kings of Castile and León, 1035–1217 at the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy's (FMG) Medieval Lands Project