ALPHONSO VI. (1065-1109) we come to a sovereign of
strong personal character. Much romance has gathered round his
name. In the cantar de gesta of the Cid he plays the part
attributed by medieval poets to the greatest kings, to Charlemagne
himself. He is alternately the oppressor and the victim of
heroic and self-willed nobles--the idealized types of the patrons
for whom the jongleurs and troubadours sang. (For the events of
his reign see the article SPAIN: History.) He is the hero
of a cantar de gesta which, like all but a very few of the
early Spanish songs, like the cantar of Bernardo del Carpio
and the Infantes of Lara, exists now only in the fragments
incorporated in the chronicle of Alphonso the Wise or in ballad
form. His flight from the monastery of Sahagnn, where his
brother Sancho endeavoured to imprison him. his chivalrous
friendship for his host Almamun of Toledo, caballero aunique
moni, a gentleman although a Moor, the passionate loyalty of
his vassal Peranzules and his brotherly love for his sister
Urraca of Zamora, may owe something to the poet who took him for
hero. They are the answer to the poet of the nobles who
represented the king as having submitted to take a degrading
oath at the hands of Ruy Diaz of Bivar (the Cid), in the church
of Santa Gadea at Burgos, and as having then persecuted the
brave nian who defied him. When every allowance is made,
Alphonso Vl. stands out as a strong man fighting for his
own hand, which in his case was the hand of the king whose
interest was law and order and who was the leader of the
nation in the reconquest On the Arabs he impressed himself
as an enemy very fierce and astute, but as a keeper of his
word. A story of Mahommedan origin, which is probably no
more historical than the oath of Santa Gadea, tells of how
he allowed himself to be tricked by Ibn Ammar, the favourite
of Al Motamid, the king of Seville. They played chess for
an extremely beautiful table and set of men, belonging to Ibn
Ammar. Table and men were to go to the king if he won.
If Ibn Ammar gained he was to name the stake. The latter
did win and demanded that the Christian king should spare
Seville. Alphonso kept his word. Whatever truth may lie
behind the romantic tales of Christian and Mahommedan, we know
that Alphonso represented in a remarkable way the two great
influences then shaping the character and civilization of
Spain. At the instigation, it is said, of his second
wife. Constance of Burgundy, he brought the Cistercians
into Spain, established them in Sahagun, chose a French
Cistercian, Bernard, as the first archbishop of Toledo after
the reconquest in 1085, married his daughters, legitimate and
illegitimate, to French princes, and in every way forwarded
the spread of French influence--then the greatest civilizing
force in Europe. He also drew
Spain nearer to the papacy,
and it was his decision which established the Roman ritual
in place of the old missal of Saint Isidore--the so-called
Mozarabic. On the other hand he was very open to Arabic
influence. He protected the Mahommedans among his subjects and
struck coins with inscriptions in Arabic letters. After the
death of Constance he perhaps married and he certainly lived
with Zaida, said to have been a daughter of "Benabet" (Al
Alotamid), Mahommedan king of Seville. Zaida, who became a
Christian under the name of Maria or Isabel, bore him the only
son among his many children, Sancho, whom Alphonso designed
to be his successor, but who was slain at the battle of
Ucles in 1108. Women play a great part in Alphonso's life.
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed
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