| History |
Alfonso V was born in 996, the son of Vermudo II \'el Gotoso\', king of León, and his second wife Elvira Garcia of Castile. Called \'the Noble\', he reigned from 999 to 1028. Abbot Oliva (c.971-1046) called him Emperor of all Hispania.
Because of his youth at his father\'s death in 999, his mother acted as a regent, together with Conde Menendo Goncalves. She retired in 1007 and became a nun. He began the work of reorganising the Christian kingdom of the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula after a most disastrous period of civil war and Arab inroads. Enough is known of him to justify the belief that he had some of the qualities of a soldier and a statesman.
In 1015 Alfonso married Elvira Menendez, daughter of the former co-regent Conde Menende Goncalves and his wife Toda Moniz de Coimbra. Their daughter Sancha would have progeny, marrying Fernando I \'the Great\', king of Castile. Elvira died in 1022, and the following year Alfonso married Urraca Garcés de Navarre, daughter of Garcia IV Sanchez \'el Tremulo\', king of Navarre, and Jimena Fernández. Their daughter Jimena married but did not have progeny.
Alfonso\'s name, and that of his first wife Elvira Menendez, are associated with the grant of the first franchises of León, in 1017. He was killed by an arrow while besieging the town of Viseu in northern Portugal, then held by the Muslims. His son Vermudo III succeeded him but did not have progeny. The sons of his daughter Sancha and Fernando I of Castile began a line of kings of who ruled both Castile and León in some generations, but only one of the kingdoms in others. The last monarch of both kingdoms was Isabella I \'the Catholic\', queen of Castile and León (1451-1504). [1] |
Ellie Wood Keith Genealogy
996 - 1028 (32 years)