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Preceded by Ferdinand IV |
King of Castile and León 1367 - 1369 |
Succeeded by Peter 'the cruel' I of Castile |
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Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes ensued over who would hold regency, which were resolved in 1313. Once Alfonso was declared an adult in 1325, he began a reign that would serve to strengthen royal power. His achievements include solving the problems of the Gibraltar Strait and the conquest of Algeciras.
Known as the Avenger or the Implacable, and 'He of Salado River.' Battle of Rio Salado 1340.
Alfonso XI never went to the insane lengths of his son Pedro of Castile, but he could be bloody in his methods. He killed for reasons of state without form of trial. It may be that his early death, during the Great Plague of 1350, at the Siege of Gibraltar, only averted a desperate struggle with Peter, though it was a misfortune in that it removed a ruler of eminent capacity, who understood his subjects well enough not to go too far. He was the only European monarch to die during the Black Death.
In Valladolid on 28 November 1325, Alfonso XI of Castile married the young Constanza Manuel. They were married for only two years when Alfonso had the marriage dissolved. He then married in 1328 to Maria of Portugal. He openly neglected his wife Maria and had an ostentatious passion for Eleanor of Guzman, who bore him ten children. After Alfonso's death, his widow Maria had Eleanor arrested and later killed.
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With Maria:
With Eleanor:
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Categories: House of Bourgogne | Battle of Rio Salado