Alfonso VI of León and Castile

King of León (1065 to 1109), of Castile (1072 to 1109), and of Galicia (1071 to 1109)

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Lived 1040–1109, aged 69Spain

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47 languages
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Era
1040–1109
Aged 69

Summary

Updated 2026-06-11

He conquered Toledo in 1085 and declared himself the most victorious king in Spain—then spent the next twenty-four years losing battles to the Almoravid armies his triumph had provoked.

Biography

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Alfonso VI inherited León in 1065, added Galicia in 1071, and took Castile in 1072, uniting the Christian kingdoms of northwest Iberia under one crown. His seizure of Toledo in 1085—the old Visigothic capital—marked the high point: he styled himself most victorious king of Toledo, Spain, and Galicia, and with El Cid's capture of Valencia the realm's reach seemed unstoppable. But the Toledo conquest summoned the Almoravids north from Africa, and the tide turned. Alfonso's forces were crushed at Sagrajas in 1086, again at Consuegra in 1097, and at Uclés in 1108, where his only son and heir, Sanc…

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