Ferdinand I of Leon

From Freepedia

Ferdinand I of Castile, known as El Magno or "the Great," (d. 1065), was King of Castille and King of Léon from 1035 to 1065.

Ferdinand was the eldest son of Sancho III of Navarre. He was barely in his teens when he was put in possession of Castile in 1028 with his father's backing, on the murder of the last Count, as the heir of his mother Munia , daughter of a previous count of Castile and sister of the deceased count. The count, Don García, was about to be married to Doña Sancha, sister of Bermudo, king of León, but was assassinated as he was entering the church of St.John Baptist in León by a party of Castilian nobles, exiles from their own land, who had taken refuge in Leon.

Ferdinand now married Sancha of Leon instead. He reigned in Castile with the title of king from 1033. His father King Sancho died in 1035, and Ferdinand became the "high king" of the dynasty. In 1038, when his brother-in-law Bermudo was killed in battle with Ferdinand at Tamaron, Ferdinand took possession of León as well, by right of his wife who was the heiress presumptive of Bermudo. He overran the Moorish section of Galicia, and set up his vassal as count in what is now northern Portugal. With northern Spain consolidated, Ferdinand, in 1039, proclaimed himself emperor of Hispania. The use of the title was resented by the emperor Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor and Pope Victor II in 1055, as implying a claim to the headship of Christendom, and as a usurpation on the Holy Roman Empire. It did not, however, mean more than that the sovereign of León was the chief of the princes of the peninsula, and that Spain was independent of the Holy Roman Empire. Ferdinand's brothers Garcia V of Navarre and Ramiro I of Aragon opposed his power, but were killed in ensuing battles.

Ferdinand died on the feast of Saint John the Evangelist, June 24 1065, in León, with many manifestations of ardent piety, having laid aside his crown and royal mantle, dressed in the robe of a monk and lying on a bier covered with ashes, which was placed before the altar of the church of Saint Isidore. At his death, Ferdinand divided up his kingdom between his 3 sons, Sancho, Alfonso, and Garcia, and his two daughters, Elvira and Urraca. By giving them his dominion, he wanted them to abide by the split in the kingdom and respect his wishes. However, Sancho (born 1030), being the oldest, believed that he deserved more of the kingdom, and therefore sought to gain possession of the divided parts of the kingdom that had been given to his siblings.

Preceded by: Sancho I	King of Castile	Succeeded by: Sancho II
Preceded by: Bermudo III	King of Leon	Succeeded by: Alfonso VI

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.