Alfonso VII of León and Castile

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 V'isigoth

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 Mahommedans, 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.

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Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed