Alfonso VIII de Castilla Rey de Castilla ^{1 2 3}

   Another name for Alfonso was Alfonso VIII o de Castilla.

  General Notes:

ALFONSO de Castilla, son of SANCHO III "el Deseado" King of Castile & his wife Infanta doña Blanca de Navarra (Soria 11 Nov 1155-Gutiérre Múñoz near Arévalo 6 Oct 1214, bur Cistercian monastery Santa María la Real "de las Huelgas" near Burgos). The Anales Toledanos record the birth "noche de S. Martin…Viernes" in 1155 of "el Rey D. Alfonso". The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines names "Aldefonsus rex Castelle et Toliti" as son of "rex Sanctius". He succeeded his father 1158 as ALFONSO VIII "el Noble/él de las Navas" King of Castile, Toledo and Extremadura. His father's choice of Gutierre Fernández de Castro as tutor of Infante don Alfonso was challenged by the Lara family after the infant's accession, which triggered a war of rivalry in Castile between the Castro and Lara families. He ruled through the regency of his uncle Fernando II King of León until 1169, disputed by the Castro and Lara families. "Aldefonsus…Toleti, Castella et extremature rex et dominus" granted holiday days to "monasterio Sancti Zoyli de Carrione" to Cluny by charter dated [11 Nov] 1169. Recaptured Álava, Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa from the Moors. Defeated at Alarcón 18 Jul 1195 by the King of Morocco who helped the Almohades defend Seville. Taking advantage of his weakness, the Kings of Navarre and León invaded Castile, all parties being reconciled 1199 and agreeing to fight the Moors as a common cause. Alfonso VIII successfully led another crusade against the Almohades, culminating in victory at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa 1212. King Alfonso VIII was the first king to bear the arms of Castile. The Annales Compostellani record the death "III Non Oct" in 1214 of "Aldefonsus Rex Castellæ". The Chronicon Bernardi Iterii records the death 15 Oct 1214 of "Ildefonsus rex de Castella". The Anales Toledanos record the death 5 Oct 1214 "en una aldea de Avila" of "el Rey D. Alfonso".

m (Betrothed [1168/69], Burgos Sep, before 17, 1177) ELEANOR of England, daughter of HENRY II King of England & his wife Eléonore Dss d'Aquitaine (Domfront, Normandy 13 Oct 1162-Burgos 25 Oct 1214, bur Cistercian monastery Santa María la Real "de las Huelgas" near Burgos). Her betrothal to "Aldefonso regi Castellæ" is recorded by Matthew of Paris in 1168. Ralph de Diceto´s Abbreviationes Chronicorum record in 1169 that "Alienor filia regis" married "Adelfunso regi Castellæ". Robert of Torigny records the marriage in 1170 of "Alienor filia Henrici regis Anglorum" and "Amfurso imperatore", commenting that he was not yet fifteen years old. Alfonso VIII King of Castile "cum uxore mea Alionor regina et cum filiabus meis Berengaria et Sancia Infantissis" exchanged property with the Templars by charter dated 26 Jan 1183. The Crónica Latina records that "el rey de Castilla" married "la hija del…rey Enrique, doña Leonor" and that his father-in-law had promised him Gascony. The Annales Compostellani record the death "II Kal Nov" in 1214 of "Regina Alienor uxor Aldefonsi Regis Castellæ". The Anales Toledanos record the death "viernes el postrimo dia de Octubre" in 1214 of "la Reyna Doña Lionor, muggier del Rey D. Alfonso".

King Alfonso VIII & his wife had [thirteen] children: Berengaria, Sancho,
Enrique, Sancha, Fernando, [Sancho], Urraca, Blanca, Fernando, Mafalda, Constanza, Leonor and Enrique.
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Alfonso VIII, byname EL DE LAS NAVAS (Spanish: He of Las Navas) (b. 1155--d. Oct. 6, 1214, Burgos, Castile), king of Castile from 1158, son of Sancho III, whom he succeeded when three years old, and grandson of Alphonso VII, is a great name in Spanish history, for he led the coalition of Christian princes and foreign crusaders which broke the power of the Almohades at the battle of the Navas de Tolosa in 1212. His personal history is that of many mediaeval kings. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, Sancho, at the age of a year and a half. Before Alfonso came of age his reign was troubled by internal strife and the intervention of the kingdom of Navarre in Castilian affairs. Though proclaimed king, he was regarded as a mere name by the unruly nobles to whom a minority was convenient. The devotion of a squire of his household, who carried him on the pommel of his saddle to the stronghold of San Esteban de Gormaz, saved him from falling into the hands of the contending factions of Castro and Lara, or of his uncle, Ferdinand of Leon, who claimed the regency. The loyalty of the town of Avila protected his youth. He was barely 15 when he came forth to do a man's work by restoring his kingdom to order. Throughout his reign he maintained a close alliance with the kingdom of Aragon, and in 1179 he concluded the Pact of Cazorla, which settled the future line of demarcation between Castile and Aragon when the reconquest of Moorish Spain was completed. From 1172 to 1212 he was engaged in resistance to the Moorish Almohad invaders, who defeated him in 1195. In the same year the kings of Leon and Navarre invaded Castile, but Alfonso defeated them with the aid of King Peter II of Aragon. It was only by a surprise that he recovered the capital, Toledo, from the hands of the Laras. In 1212 Alfonso secured a great victory at Las Navas de Tolosa over the Almohad sultan and thereby broke Almohad power in Spain. His marriage with Leonora of Aquitaine, daughter of Henry II of England, brought him under the influence of the greatest governing intellect of his time. Alphonso VIII was the founder of the first Spanish university, the 'studium generale' of Palencia, which, however, did not survive him.

[Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1961 ed., Vol. 1, p. 687-8, ALPHONSO VIII; Encyclopaedia Britannica CD '97] ⁴

Alfonso married Eleanor of England, daughter of Henri d'Anjou King of England (Henry II) and Aliénor d'Aquitaine Duchesse d'Aquitaine, before 17 Sep 1177 in Catedral de Burgos, Plaza Santa Maria, Burgos, Castilla y León, ES. (Eleanor of England was born on 13 Oct 1162 in Château de Domfront, Domfront, Orne, Basse-Normandie, FR,^{6 7} died on 25 Oct 1214 in Burgos, Castilla y León, 09001, ES ^{7 8} and was buried in Monasterio de Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, Burgos, Castilla y León, 09001, ES.)