Alfonso VI of León and Castile "the Brave", King of Castile, León, and Navarre

1040 - 1109  (69 years)

• Name	Alfonso VI of León and Castile
  Relationship	with Robert Alan Roy
  Birth	Jun 1040  [3]
  General Information	From Wikipedia: In the cultural field, Alfonso VI promoted the safety of the Camino de Santiago and promoted the Cluniac Reforms in the monasteries of Galicia, León and Castile. In the spring of 1073, he made the first concession of a Leonese monastery to the Order of Cluny. The monarch replaced the Mozarabic or Toledan rite with the Roman one. In this respect it is a common legend that Alfonso VI took Mozarabic and Roman breviaries and threw them into the fire. When only the Roman breviary burned, the king threw the Mozarabic one into the fire, thus imposing the Roman rite.[citation needed] Alfonso VI, the conqueror of Toledo, the great Europeanizing monarch, saw in the last years of his reign how the great political work that he had carried started to be dismantled due to Almoravid attacks and internal weaknesses. Alfonso VI had fully assumed the imperial idea of León and his openness to European influence had made him aware of the feudal political practices which, in the France of his time, reached their most complete expression. In the conjunction of these two elements, Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz sees the explanation of the grant of the iure hereditario (sharing the kingdom between the two daughters and the son instead of bequeathing all to the only son, more typical of Navarrese-Aragonese tradition) of the Counties of Galicia and Portugal to her two Burgundian sons-in-law, Raymond and Henry. After a few years, that decision led to the independence of Portugal and the possibility of an independent Galicia under Alfonso Raimúndez, which ultimately did not materialize when the infante became King Alfonso VII of León.  [6]
  Crowned	1065 (Age 25)  [3, 6]
  In 1065, he was crowned the King of León. In 1072, he was crowned the King of Castile.
  Military	1085 (Age 45)  [3]
  He conquered Toledo and Madrid in 1085 and Lisbon in 1093.
  Living	28 May 1108 (Age 68)	Astorga Cathedral, Astorga, Castile and León, Spain   [6]
  Alfonso and Beatrice appeared together on 28 May 1108 in the Astorga Cathedral.
  Death	1 Jul 1109	Toledo, Castile–La Mancha, Spain   [3, 5, 6]
  Burial	—	The Monastery of Sahagún, Sahagún, Castile and León, Spain   [3]
  	From Wikipedia: The mortal remains of the king were deposited in a stone sepulcher, which was placed at the feet of the church of the Royal Monastery, until the reign of Sancho IV, who deemed it unseemly that his ancestor was buried at the foot of the temple and ordered the tomb to be moved inside and placed in the church's transept, near the tomb of Beatriz, Dowager Lady of Los Cameros and daughter of Infante Frederick of Castile who had been executed by orders of his brother, King Alfonso X the Wise in 1277. The sepulcher that contained the remains of the king, now disappeared, was supported on alabaster lions, and was a large ark of white marble, eight feet long and four wide and tall, being covered by a smooth black lid. The tomb was usually covered by a silk tapestry, woven in Flanders, bearing the image of the king crowned and armed, with the representation of the arms of Castile and León on the sides, and a crucifix at the head of the tomb.[72] The tomb that contained the remains of Alfonso VI was destroyed in 1810, during the fire at the Royal Monastery of San Benito. The mortal remains of the king and those of several of his wives were collected and preserved in the abbey chamber until 1821, when the monks were expelled, and were then deposited by the abbot Ramón Alegrías in a box, which was placed in the southern wall of the chapel of the Crucifix until January 1835, when the remains were collected again and placed in another box and taken to the archive where the remains of the wives of the sovereign were at that time. The purpose was to place all the royal remains in a new sanctuary that was being built at that time.[72] However, when the Royal Monastery of San Benito was dissolved in 1835, the monks delivered the two boxes with the royal remains to a relative of one of them, who kept it hidden until 1902, when these were discovered by Rodrigo Fernández Núñez, a professor at the Institute of Zamora Rodrigo. The mortal remains of Alfonso VI are now in the Monastery of the Benedictine nuns of Sahagún, at the foot of the temple, in a smooth stone ark and with a cover of modern marble, and in a nearby sepulcher, equally smooth, lies the remains of several of the king's wives. [6]
  Siblings	4 Siblings
  1. Urraca of Zamora   2. Sancho II of Castile and León "the Strong"   3. Elvira of Toro + 4. Alfonso VI of León and Castile "the Brave", King of Castile, León, and Navarre,   b. Jun 1040   d. 1 Jul 1109, Toledo, Castile–La Mancha, Spain  (Age 69 years) ▻ Agnes of Aquitaine, Queen of León and Castile,  m. 1073/74 ;   Jimena Muñoz, a royal concubine;   Constance of Burgundy,  m. 1080/81 ;   Zaïda of Seville "Isabel", Princess of Seville and Dania;   Berta of Burgundy,  m. Aft 25 Nov 1093 ;   Isabel;   Beatrice of Aquitaine,  m. 1108   5. García II of Galicia
  Person ID	I2980	| Roy Line, Boudreau Line
  Last Modified	23 May 2023

  
  

  Father	Ferdinand I "the Great", King of Castile and León,   b. Between 1016 and 1018, Spain d. 27 Dec 1065, León, Castile and León, Spain (Age 49 years)
  Mother	Sancha of León,   b. 1013, León, Castile and León, Spain d. 8 Nov 1067, León, Castile and León, Spain (Age 54 years)
  Marriage	Between Nov 1032 and Dec 1032
  Age at Marriage	He : ~ 16 years and 11 months - She : ~ 19 years and 11 months.
  Family ID	F2369	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Agnes of Aquitaine, Queen of León and Castile,   b. 1052   d. 6 Jun 1078 (Age 26 years)
  Engaged	1069  [6]
  They were betrothed when Agnes was barely 10 years old and so it was necessary to wait until she reached age 14 for the official wedding.
  Marriage	1073/74  [1, 3, 6]
  Age at Marriage	He : ~ 33 years and 6 months - She : ~ 22 years.
  Complier's Note	1077
  According to Wikipedia: Orderic Vitalis, an English chronicler of the 12th century, said that the marriage of Agnes and Alfonso VI had been annulled in 1080 for reasons of consanguinity, and that Agnes was remarried in 1109 to Count Elias I of Maine. Reilly suggests that the marriage had been annulled in 1077, probably because of the lack of children.[50] However, Gambra disagrees and believes that there are no reliable sources to support this assertion. In addition to being implied by Orderic, the alleged repudiation appears only in a volume of L'art de vérifier les dates and, according to Gambra, "it is impossible, in the absence of better references, to grant credit to the assertion of Agnes' repudiation".[83][g] In addition, he indicates that Lucas de Tuy, in his Chronicon mundi, indicates that the Queen was buried in Sahagún. Finally, he points out that "If such an important event had taken place, it would not make much sense [...] that Alfonso VI immediately married another princess who was a member of Agnes' family".[83] Agnes and the king's next wife, Constance, were cousins in the third degree, both of them descendants of William III, Duke of Aquitaine.[85] Salazar y Acha concludes that Orderic is in error, and that it was Beatrice, the last wife of Alfonso VI, who as his widow married the Count of Maine.
  Family ID	F2366	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	7 Jul 2021

  
  

  Family 2	Jimena Muñoz, a royal concubine   d. 1128
  Marriage	Not married  [1, 6]
  Children	1. Elvira Alfónsez,   b. Abt 1079   d. Aft Apr 1157 (Age 78 years) [Father: natural,Mother: natural] + 2. Teresa Alfónsez of Castile and León,   b. Abt 1080   d. 1 Nov 1130 (Age 50 years) [Father: natural,Mother: natural]
  Family ID	F9111	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	7 Jul 2021

  
  

  Family 3	Constance of Burgundy,   b. 8 May 1046   d. Jan 1093 to Feb 1093 (Age 46 years)
  Marriage	1080/81  [1, 3, 6, 7]
  	The marriage appears to have been orchestrated via the Cluniac connections at Alfonso's court. [7]
  Age at Marriage	He : ~ 40 years and 6 months - She : ~ 34 years and 7 months.
  Children	+ 1. Urraca "la Temeraria", Infanta of Castile and León, Countess of Galicia,   b. Apr 1079, Burgos, Castile and León, Spain d. 8 Mar 1126, Saldaña, Palencia, Castile and León, Spain (Age 46 years)   2. child   d. young   3. child   d. young   4. child   d. young   5. child   d. young   6. child   d. young
  Family ID	F2363	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	7 Jul 2021

  
  

  Family 4	Zaïda of Seville "Isabel", Princess of Seville and Dania,   b. Abt 1070, Dénia, Valencian Community, Spain d. 12 Sep 1107, Spain (Age 37 years)
  Marriage	not married  [2, 4, 6]
  Children	1. Sancho Alfónsez,   b. Abt 1093   d. 29 May 1108 (Age 15 years) [Father: natural,Mother: natural]
  Family ID	F2365	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	8 Jul 2021

  
  

  Family 5	Berta of Burgundy   d. Bef 15 Jan 1100
  Marriage Contract	25 Nov 1093  [6]
  On 25 November 1093 Alfonso VI contracted a third marriage with Berta.
  Marriage	Aft 25 Nov 1093  [1, 3, 6]
  Age at Marriage	He : 53 years and 5 months - She : ??.
  Children	They had no children.
  Family ID	F2367	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	7 Jul 2021

  
  

  Family 6	Isabel   d. Abt 1107
  Marriage	yes date unknown  [6]
  Children	1. Sancha,   b. Abt 1102   d. Bef 10 May 1125 (Age 23 years)   2. Elvira or Gelcira,   b. Abt 1103   d. 8 Feb 1135 (Age 32 years)
  Family ID	F9114	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	6 Jul 2021

  
  

  Family 7	Beatrice of Aquitaine   d. 1110
  Marriage	1108  [1, 3, 6]
  Age at Marriage	He : ~ 67 years and 6 months - She : ??.
  Family ID	F2368	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	7 Jul 2021

  
  

• Notes

  Birth: Weis (1982) gives his birth date as 1030. [5]

  
  

• Event Map		Child - Urraca "la Temeraria", Infanta of Castile and León, Countess of Galicia - Apr 1079 - Burgos, Castile and León, Spain Living - 28 May 1108 - Astorga Cathedral, Astorga, Castile and León, Spain Death - 1 Jul 1109 - Toledo, Castile–La Mancha, Spain Burial - — - The Monastery of Sahagún, Sahagún, Castile and León, Spain  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Photos

  Alfonso VI of León and Castile 13th century miniature of Alfonso VI from the Tumbo A codex at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

  
  

• Sources

  [S2208] Evans, Charles F. "The Princess Zaida", (New Haven, Connecticut: The American Genealogist, Volume 39, 1963). [S2210] Kelley, David H. "A Mediæval Miscellany", (New Haven, Connecticut: The American Genealogist, Volume 69, 1994). [S60] Stuart, Roderick W. Royalty for Commoners, The Complete Known Lineage of John of Gaunt, Son of Edward III, King of England, and Queen Philippa Fourth Edition, (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2002). [S2207] Washington, George. "The Princess Zaïda", (New Haven, Connecticut: The American Genealogist, Volume 38, 1962), Use with Caution. [S59] Weis, Frederick Lewis. Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists Who Came to New England Between 1623 and 1650 Fifth Editionif, (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982). [S304] Wikipedia, Alfonso VI of León and Castile. [S304] Wikipedia, Constance of Burgundy.