Alfonso I “the Battler” of Aragon: Hero, Villain, or Both?

This episode explores a series known as "Heroes or Villains in Medieval Iberia where the audience decides if a certain historical character is a hero, a villain or if it is more complicated than one over the other.

Alfonso was the son of Sancho V Ramírez. He was persuaded by Alfonso VI of Leon and Castile to marry the latter’s heiress, Urraca, widow of Raymond of Burgundy. In consequence, when Alfonso VI died (1109) the four Christian kingdoms were nominally united and Alfonso I took his father-in-law’s imperial title. The union failed, however, because Leon and Castile felt hostility toward an Aragonese emperor; because Urraca disliked her second husband; and because Bernard, the French Cluniac archbishop of Toledo, wanted to see his protégé, Alfonso Ramírez (infant son of Urraca and her Burgundian first husband), on the imperial throne. 

At Bernard’s prompting, the Pope declared the Aragonese marriage void, but Alfonso continued to be involved in civil strife in the central kingdom until he eventually gave up his claims in favour of his stepson after the death of Urraca (1126). Despite these embroilments, he achieved spectacular victories against the Moors, capturing Saragossa in 1118 and leading a spectacular military raid far into southern Andalusia in 1125. 

In his campaigns he received much help from the rulers of the counties north of the Pyrenees, resulting in the involvement of Aragon in the affairs of southern France. Alfonso was fatally wounded in battle at Fraga in 1134. Deeply religious, he bequeathed his kingdom to the Templars and the Hospitallers, but his former subjects refused to accept the donation, and the kingdoms eventually came under the control of the counts of Barcelona.

Description above was taken from Britannica.

And so at the end we look at his achievements, his shortcomings and we put him on a scale to see who he really was and how he is viewed today.

For more information on Dr. Lincoln and his awesome work check out these links below to his book and other writings!

KING ALFONSO VIII OF CASTILE : GOVERNMENT, FAMILY, AND WAR

Edited by Miguel Gómez, Kyle C. Lincoln and Damian J. Smith

https://www.fordhampress.com/9780823284146/king-alfonso-viii-of-castile/

Academia Profile: https://norwich.academia.edu/KyleLincoln