General Notes

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]