Sancho IV (Castile)

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Statue of Sancho IV in Retiro Park in Madrid

Sancho IV de Borgoña, el Bravo ( the brave ; * 1257 or 1258, † April 25, 1295 in Toledo ), was king of León and Castile . He was a son of Alfonso the Wise and Violante of Aragon , daughter of King James I .

Life

An older son of Alfonso the Wise, Ferdinand de la Cerda (1255–1275), could not take the throne because he died before his father. Alfons decreed in his will that the rule should pass to the eldest son of Ferdinand, Alfonso de la Cerda , and disinherited his second son Sancho. But his wish was never granted.

Sancho rose to the rank of king in April 1284, regardless of his father's orders, and was crowned in Toledo. He was recognized by the majority of the people and the nobility, but there was also a considerable following of the Infants of la Cerda, who demanded the execution of the will. The reign of Sancho was therefore marked by internal power struggles and feuds. One of his most important opponents was the Infante Juan, the brother of Alfonso X, who was with Lope Diaz III. de Haro, the Prince of Biscay . King Sancho had de Haro executed and his uncle Juan thrown into dungeon. According to the historians, he also gave the order to execute 4,000 followers of the Infante de la Cerda in the city of Badajoz , 400 more in Talavera and numerous others in Ávila and Toledo.

City gate with plaque in honor of the fighters of Tarifa

After these events he pardoned his uncle Juan, who after a short time rose again against Sancho. A fight broke out in Tarifa . Juan called the Merinids from Morocco to help and they besieged the place, whose administrator Guzmán the Good , ruler of León, led the defense. The defense of the city, and in particular the innocent death of Guzmán's son, became legend. Tarifa was fiercely defended and the Merinids withdrew to Morocco. Thus both the ambitions of Juan and those of the Sultan of Morocco, who had planned an invasion, were crushed.

When James II ascended the throne of Aragón, the kingdoms drew closer together, strengthening the Reconquista . Sancho IV was a friend and teacher of the Infante Don Juan Manuel .

Sancho died in 1295 and was succeeded by his nine-year-old son Ferdinand. At first he was under the tutelage of his mother Maria de Molina, who successfully countered the claims of other infants. The rivalry with the Infante de la Cerda and their allies continued.

Marriage and offspring

Sancho IV married María de Molina (1265–1321) in 1282 and they had several children together:

• Isabella of Castile (* 1283, † 1328)

1. ∞ James II , King of Aragon
2. ∞ Johann III. , Duke of Brittany

• Ferdinand IV of Castile (* 1285, † 1312), husband of Constance of Portugal
• Alfonso (* 1286, † 1291)
• Enrique (* 1288, † 1299)
• Pedro of Castile (* 1290, † 1319), husband of Mary of Aragon
• Felipe of Castile (* 1292, † 1327), husband of his cousin Margarita de la Cerda
• Beatrix of Castile (* 1293, † 1359) ∞ Alfons IV of Portugal

Anecdotes

• Sancho IV was hunting in the province of Zamora when a partridge was found on a hill (the Raposero ). The partridge tried to hide in a gorse bush, and when the king was looking for the prey, he found a picture of the Virgin Mary. The clergy were called and it was decided to take the picture to the Church of San Antolín in Zamora. The king ordered a church to be built at the site. He also granted a privilege to 12 settlers, who from now on were "vassals of the Queen of Heaven" on condition that they settle in that place. The twelve settlers who came from Palencia founded a village called La Hiniesta , which still exists today.
• Although he was the son of Alfonso the Wise, Sancho could neither read nor write.
• On June 8, 1288 King Sancho was in Alfaro to meet with Lope Díaz III. de Haro, Lord of Biscay , and Juan Alfonso López de Haro I, Prince of Cameros , to discuss castles and women. When the conversation turned into an argument, Sancho ordered Lope de Haros to be arrested. Thereupon the count got up and said: "Prisoner? How? The devil! Oh, you mine!", Took a knife with his hand and moved with drawn knife to the door at which the king stood ... the riflemen and Knights, who saw the count go against the king, injured the count and struck his arm with the sword and cut it off, and the arm and the knife fell to the ground; and they clubbed his head so that he fell dead to the ground . (According to the Crónica del reinado de Sancho IV el Bravo . Claudio Sánchez Albornoz - Aurelio Viñas. Lecturas históricas españolas. Madrid 1981. Page 152f. ISBN 84-321-2086-3 .)

title

At the end of his reign, Sancho IV was King of Castile, Toledo, León, Galicia, Seville, Cordoba, Murcia, Jaén and the Algarve.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Títulos de los reyes europeos ( Memento from February 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

Commons : Sancho IV of Castile  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Alfonso X.	King of Castile and León 1284–1295	Ferdinand IV.