Alfonso IX of León

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

Alfonso IX (15 August 1171, Zamora – 23 September or 24, 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, 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.

Alfonso was 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 was also the most modern king of his time, founding the University of Salamanca in 1212 and summoning in 1188 the first parliament with representation of the citizenry ever seen in Western Europe, the Cortes of León.^[2]

In spite of all the above - some of whose significance became evident only later - this king is often remembered mainly for the difficulties into which his successive marriages led him with Pope Celestine III. He was first married in 1191 to his cousin Teresa of Portugal,^[3] 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.^[4] He was summarily excommunicated by Pope Celestine III. In 1197, Alfonso IX married his second cousin Berenguela of Castile to cement peace between Leon and Castile. For this act of consanguinity, the king and the kingdom were placed under interdict by Pope Celestine III.^[5]

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 Teresa of Portugal^[6] were:

• 1) Fernando (ca. 1192-August 1214, aged around 22), unmarried and without issue
• 2) Blessed Sancha (ca. 1193-1270)
• 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, (Fernando de Leon y Portugal) died in 1214, Alfonso wanted to dis-inherit the eldest son from his second marriage (Fernando de Leon y Castilla).^{[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 Berenguela of Castile sabotaged this plan by convincing John of Brienne to marry her own daughter, Berenguela of Leon, instead.

Though unmarried and pious spinster, Sancha was the nominal heiress of Leon-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 Consort Queen of Leon mother in Portugal.

Alfonso's children by Berenguela of Castile were:

• 4) Leonor (1198/1199-31 October 1210)
• 5) King Fernando III the Saint (1200-1252), named also Fernando III de Castilla y Leon after 1230 when his father Alfonso IX de Leon died.
• 6) Alfonso, 4th Lord of Molina (1203-1272)
• 7) Berenguela of Leon (1204-1237), married John of Brienne
• 8) Constanza (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 da Silva^[7][8] (daughter of Martim Gomes da Silva & Urraca Rodrigues):

• 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 notorious Ponce de León family.

Alfonso's child by Inés Iñíguez de Mendoza (ca. 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

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 (ca. 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 Dona Teresa Gil de Soverosa (ca. 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)
• 22) Urraca Alfonso of León (ca. 1210/1228-aft.1252, married twice, first to García Romeu of Tormos, without issue, then Pedro Guillén de Guzmán y González Girón

Alfonso's other illegitimate child, mother unknown:

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

Notes

References

• 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 Cordoba, 1779.

Further Reading

• Florez, Enrique. Reinas Catolicas, 1761
• This article incorporates text from the article "Alphonso IX" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Szabolcs de Vajay, "From Alfonso VIII to Alfonso X" in Studies in Genealogy and Family History in Tribute to Charles Evans on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday, 1989, pp. 366-417.
• Sánchez Rivera, Jesús Ángel, “Configuración de una iconografía singular: la venerable doña Sancha Alfonso, comendadora de Santiago”, Anales de Historia del Arte, nº 18 (2008), Madrid, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, pp. 167-209.