Dulce Of LEON

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: IX Alfonso
• Birth: 1166
• Birth: 15 Aug 1171, Zamora, Leon, Spain
• Fact: Between 1188 and 1230, King of Leon
• Death: 1229

Notes:

Family History Records show their marriage was annuled. King of Leon 1188-1230.

Alfonso IX (August 15, 1171 ? September 23 or 24, 1230), first cousin of Alfonso VIII of Castile and numbered next to him as being a junior member of the family, is said by Ibn Khaldun to have been called the Baboso or Slobberer because he was subject to fits of rage during which he foamed at the mouth, was the king of LeÛn from the death of his father Ferdinand II in 1188 until his own death.

Alfonso was the only son of King Ferdinand II of LeÛn and Urraca of Portugal. Though he took a part in the work of the reconquest, this king is chiefly remembered by the difficulties into which his successive marriages led him with the pope. He was first married in 1191 to his cousin Teresa of Portugal, who bore him two daughters, and a son who died young.

The marriage was declared null by the pope, to whom Alfonso paid no attention till he was presumably tired of his wife. It cannot have been his conscience which constrained him to leave Teresa, for his next step was to marry Berenguela of Castile in 1197, who was his second cousin. For this act of contumacy the king and kingdom were placed under interdict.

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 by will.

Alfonso's children by Teresa of Portugal were:

Sancha (c. 1192-1270)
Dulce, also called Aldonza (c. 1195-c.1243)
Fernando (1204-August 1214)
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. Wanting to disinherit his eldest son, Fernando, King Alfonso invited John of Brienne to marry his daughter Sancha and thus inherit the Leonese throne. However, Queen Berenguela convinced John of Brienne to marry one of her daughters instead. Though she was the nominal heiress on her father's death in 1230, Sancha was easily set aside by Berenguela and Fernando. Sancha became a nun at Cozollos, where she died in 1270; she was later beatified. Her sister Dulce-Aldonza spent her life with their mother in Portugal.

Alfonso married Teresa Of PORTUGAL. Teresa (daughter of Sancho I King Of PORTUGAL and Dulce Of BARCELONA) was born in 1181; died in 1250. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Was the first King to use the royal symbol of the lion in a truly heraldic form.
• Fact: Between 1157 and 1188, King of Leon
• Fact: 1157, King of Galicia and Extremadura

Notes:

Family History records show their marriage was annuled.

Ferdinand married Urraca Of PORTUGAL between 1160 and 1165, and was divorced in 1175. Urraca (daughter of Affonso I and Matilde Of SAVOY) was born about 1150 in Portugal; died on 16 Oct 1188 in Valladolid, Spain; was buried in Monastery of Saint Juan Bautista of the Knights of St. John. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: "The Popular"

Notes:

Sancho I, King of Portugal (pron. IPA /'s?~?u/), Sanctius I in English, nicknamed the Populator (Port. o Povoador), second king of Portugal, was born on November 11, 1154 in Coimbra and died on March 26, 1212 in the same city. He was the third but only surviving son of Afonso I Henriques of Portugal by his wife, Mafalda of Savoy. Sancho succeeded his father in 1185. He used the title King of Algarve and/or Silves between 1189 and 1191

In 1170, Sancho was knighted by his father, King Afonso I, and from that time he became his second in command, both administratively and military. At this time, the independence of Portugal (declared in 1139) was not firmly established. The kings of LeÛn and Castile were trying to annex the country and the Catholic church was late in giving its blessing and approval. Due to this Afonso I had to search for allies within the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal made an alliance with the kingdom of Aragon and together they fought Castile and LeÛn. To secure the agreement, Prince Sancho of Portugal married, in 1174, princess Dulce Berenguer, younger sister of king Alfonso II of Aragon. Aragon was thus the first Iberian kingdom to recognize the independence of Portugal.

With the death of Afonso I in 1185, Sancho I became the second king of Portugal. Coimbra was the centre of his kingdom; Sancho terminated the exhausting and generally pointless wars against his neighbours for control of the Galician borderlands. Instead, he turned all his attentions to the South, against the Moorish communities that still thrived. With Crusader help he took Silves in 1191. Silves was an important city of the South, an administrative and commercial town with population around 20,000 people. Sancho ordered the fortification of the city and built a castle that is today an important monument of Portuguese heritage. However, military attention soon had to be turned again to the North, where LeÛn and Castile threatened again the Portuguese borders. Silves was again lost to the Moors.

Sancho I founded the city of Guarda in 1199.

Sancho I dedicated much of his reign to political and administrative organization of the new kingdom. He accumulated a national treasure, supported new industries and the middle class of merchants. Moreover, he created several new towns and villages and took great care in populating remote areas in the northern Christian regions of Portugal, notably with Flemings and Burgundians ? hence the nickname the Populator. The king was also known for his love of knowledge and literature. Sancho I wrote several books of poems and used the royal treasure to send Portuguese boys to study in European Universities.

Sancho married Dulce Of BARCELONA. Dulce (daughter of Raymond IV BERENGER and Petronilla I Of ARAGON) was born about 1159 in Barcelona, Spain; died in 1198; was buried in Igreja Da Santa Cruz, Coimbra, Cimbra Protugal. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: Dulce Berenguer Aldonza