Alfonso (The Emperor) of Castile VII 
Alfonso, known as The Emperor, was born on March 1st, 1105.1 The Emperor's father was Count of Galicia and Amans Raymond de Macon and his mother was Urraca Jiminez. His paternal grandparents were Count of Burgundy William (The Great) de Macon I and Stephenie Etienette de Longwy; his maternal grandparents were Alfonso (The Brave) Jiminez of Castile and Leon VI and Constance Capet-Burgundy. He was an only child. He died at the age of 52 on August 21st, 1157 in Fresneda.1 General Notes
Alfonso VII of Castile (March 1, 1104/5 - August 21, 1157) , nicknamed the Emperor, was the king of Castile and Leon since 1126, son of Urraca of Castile and Count Raymond (the third?) of Burgundy.
He is a dignified and somewhat enigmatical figure. A vague tradition had always assigned the title of emperor to the sovereign who held Leon as the most direct representative of the Visigoth kings, who were themselves the representatives of the Roman empire. But though given in charters, and claimed by Alfonso VI of Castile and Alfonso of Aragon the Battler, the title had been little more than a flourish of rhetoric.
Alfonso VII was crowned emperor in 1155 after the death of the Battler. The weakness of Aragon enabled him to make his superiority effective. He appears to have striven for the formation of a national unity, which Spain had never possessed since the fall of the Visigoth kingdom. The elements he had to deal with could not be welded together.
Alfonso was at once a patron of the church, and a protector if not a favourer of the Muslims, who formed a large part of his subjects.
His reign ended in an unsuccessful campaign against the rising power of the Almohades. Though he was not actually defeated, his death in the pass of Muradel in the Sierra Morena, while on his way back to Toledo, occurred in circumstances which showed that no man could be what he claimed to be---"king of the men of the two religions." His personal character does not stand out with the emphasis of those of Alfonso VI. or the Battler. Yet he was a great king, the type and to some extent the victim of the confusions of his age--Christian in creed and ambition, but more than half oriental in his household.
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Ancestor Pedigree Chart
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*There are earlier generations for the ancestor(s) indicated. See their page(s) for details (click name)
- b.0936 d.0971
- b.0958 in Lombardy, Italy d.21 Sep 1026 in Dijon, France
- b.0952 d.0991
- b.0986 d.03 Sep 1057
- b.0931 in Reims, Marne, France d.15 Mar 0973 in France
- b.0963 in Rheim, Marne, France d.05 Mar 1005
- b.0930
- b.1020 in Bourgogne, France d.11 Nov 1087 in Besancon, Doubs, Franche-Comte, France
- b.28 Aug 0933 in Faecamp, Normandie d.20 Nov 0996 in Faecamp, Normandie
- b.0958 in Fecamp, Normandy, France d.28 Aug 1026 in Fecamp, Seine Inferieure, France
- b.0945 in Normandie d.1031 in Normandy, France
- b.0990 in Rouen, Seine-Inferieure, Normandy, France d.16 Oct 1017 in Normandy, France
- b.0927 in Bretagne, France d.27 Jun 0992 in Conquereuil, Bretagne, France
- b.0956 in Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France d.16 Jun 1017 in Rouen, Seine-Inferieure, Normandy, France
- b.0952 in Anjou, France d.27 Jun 0992 in Penthiève, Bretagne, France
- b.1067 in Bourgogne, France d.24 May 1107 in Grajal
- b.0900 d.18 Dec 0972
- b.0962 d.1033
- b.0945
- b.1000 d.1048
- b.0930 d.20 Aug 0997
- b.0950 in Ohningen, Konstanz, Baden, Germany d.1032
- b.0932 d.14 Aug 1014
- b.1031 in Longwy, Meuthe-et-Mosel, France d.30 Jun 1109
- b.0935 d.1019
- b.0971 in Carcassone, Aude, France d.1037
- b.0929 d.1011
- b.1002
- b.0950 d.1000
- b.0975 d.1038
- b.0954
- b.01 Mar 1105 d.21 Aug 1157 in Fresneda
- d.1000
- b.0985 d.18 Oct 1035
- d.1035
- b.1017 d.27 Dec 1065
- b.1040 d.30 Jun 1109
- b.0953 d.Sep 0999
- b.0996 d.07 Aug 1028
- b.0951 in Castilla-Leon, Spain d.Dec 1017
- b.1013 d.1067
- b.0931 in Spain d.03 May 0995 in Cordoba, Andalusia, Spain
- b.0991 d.02 Dec 1022
- b.0930 d.0970
- b.1082 d.1126
- b.0938 d.24 Aug 0996 in Paris, France
- b.27 Mar 0972 in Orleans, France d.20 Jul 1031 in France
- b.0952 in France d.1004 in France
- b.1011 d.21 Mar 1076
- b.0947 in Poitiers, Aquitaine d.Sep 1037
- b.0974 d.1032
- b.0917 in Rouen, Seine-Inferieure, Normandy, France d.14 Oct 0962
- d.1092
- b.0940 in Semur, Cote-D'or, France d.1000
- b.0970 d.1032
- b.0970 in Chalons, Champagne, France d.1010
- b.1016
- b.0946 d.15 Oct 1002
- b.0980
- d.~ 1016
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Details of The Emperor's family with Richeza of Poland Piast
Details of The Emperor's family with Berenguela of Barcelona
Page last modified 3/5/2016