ALFONSO I., of CASTILE (VI. of Leon), 1030-1109; surnamed "the valiant." Leon was given to him by his father, while Sancho, the eldest son, received Castile; and Gar cia, youngest of the three, was given a part of Galicia and Portugal. War soon began among them, and in 1068 Sancho defeated A. in a bloody battle on the Pisurga. Three years later A. defeated Sancho on the Carrion; hut during the night Sancho was rein forced, it is said, by the renowned Cid, Roderigo Diaz de Bivar, nearly exterminated the Leonese army, took A. prisoner, compelled him to abdicate, and shut him up in a monas tery. A. escaped and sought shelter with the Moorish king of Toledo. Sancho took possession of Leon and immediately went against Garcia, defeating and capturing him at Santarem. In 1073, Sancho was secretly killed, and A., upon solemnly declaring himself innocent of the murder, was reinstated in his kingdom of Leon, to which was added Castile. His brother Garcia, who was preparing to recover the throne of Galicia, was treacherously invited to A.'s court, made a prisoner, and ten years afterwards died in
confinement. A. now ruled over nearly all of his father's kingdom, and went to the assistance of the Moorish king who had befriended him, and whose kingdom was invaded by the Cordovans. A.'s gratitude ended with the death of the old king; he did not scru ple to attack the son, and soon captured the city of Toledo. A. was monarch of nearly the whole of Spain, when a powerful Almoravide army from Africa, with the assistance of the king of Seville, gave him a terrible defeat, in 1086, near Zalaca. He recovered after a time, but in 1108 the Moors destroyed his army and killed his only son. The next year A. died, and was succeeded by his daughter Uracca, who became the wife of Alfonso I. of Aragon. By an illegitimate daughter A. became an ancestor of the king of Portugal.