ALPHONSO VII., "the Emperor" (1126-1157), 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 Alphonso
VI. and the Battler, the title had been little more than a
flourish of rhetoric. Alphonso 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. Alphonso 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 Alphonso 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.
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed
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