Alfonso XI of Castile and Leon
Title: | 4th Monarch of Castile and Leon |
Term in office: | 1312–1350 |
Predecessor: | King Fernando IV |
Successor: | King Pedro I |
Birth: | |
Date: | 1311 |
Place: | |
Death: | |
Date: | 1350 |
Place: | |
Profession: | ... |
Relgious Affiliation: | Catholic |
Alfonso XI of Castile and Leon (August 13, 1311 - March 26/27, 1350) was the king of Castile and Leon, the son of Fernando IV.
He is variously known among Castilian kings as the Avenger or the Implacable, and as "he of the Rio Salado." The first two names he earned by the ferocity with which he repressed the disorder of the nobles after a long minority; the third by his victory over the last formidable African invasion of Spain in 1340.
Alfonso XI never went to the insane lengths of his son Peter I, but he could be bloody in his methods. He killed for reasons of state without form of trial, while his open neglect of his wife, Maria of Portugal, and his ostentatious passion for Leonora de Guzman, who bore him a large family of sons, set Peter an example which he did not fail to better. It may be that his early death, during the great plague of 1350, at the siege of Gibraltar, only averted a desperate struggle with his legitimate son, 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.
Preceded by: Fernando IV |
King of Castile and Leon | Succeeded by: Pedro I |