Alfonso VI of León and Castile

Alfonso VI was king of León and Castile in the second half of the 5th/11th century, the ruler who took Toledo from its Muslim king in 1085 and whose advance brought the Almoravids into al-Andalus. The Encyclopaedia of Islam has no article under his name; he appears throughout its articles on the taifa kingdoms, Toledo, the Almoravids and al-Zallaqa. This record gathers those mentions. Another Alfonso of Castile is recorded separately as Alfonso XI. ²

The article on the Dhu 'l-Nunids says that in 464/1072 the king of Toledo, al-Ma'mun, received Alfonso VI after Alfonso's brother Sancho of Castile had defeated him at Golpejera, and kept him as a guest in Toledo for nine months. ⁴ The article on Toledo describes how al-Ma'mun's grandson al-Qadir, deserted by his old Muslim allies, sought Alfonso's protection and paid ever larger tribute for it. ¹

The articles describe a Christian advance exploiting the quarrels among the party kings. ⁵ Alfonso's counsellor on Muslim affairs was Sisnando Davidiz, who earlier served al-Mu'tadid and Ferdinand I, and who is credited with the policy of extracting tribute, the parias. ⁶ The vizier Ibn Ammar of Seville is said to have favoured a policy built on Alfonso's support, to the point of being thought a traitor, and a plan to take Granada with Alfonso's help failed. ⁷ When Alfonso sent an expedition against Seville, Ibn Ammar made peace for a doubled tribute. ⁵

Alfonso began to invest Toledo in 473/1080. Two years later he sent a mission to collect the tribute owed by al-Mu'tamid; its members were insulted and its Jewish treasurer, Ibn Shalib, was put to death for refusing debased coin. Alfonso then invaded the kingdom of Seville, raided the Aljarafe and the district of Sidona, and reached Tarifa, where the article says he made a boast of having reached the farthest limit of the land. ²

Al-Qadir, the article on Toledo says, burdened his subjects with taxes to pay Alfonso, executed notables and his minister Ibn al-Hadidi, and had to flee to Huete. The kingdom was offered to al-Mutawakkil of Badajoz, who took possession in 472/1077; Alfonso retook Toledo soon after for his Muslim ally, which the article calls a pretence. On 27 Muharram 478/25 May 1085, after a treaty al-Qadir could not refuse, Alfonso entered Toledo on his own account. ¹ The article says the loss had a great moral effect on Christians and Muslims alike and, more than anything, led to the first Almoravid invasion the next year. ¹ The event is recorded as the Franks' taking of Toledo. After it Alfonso demanded lands that had belonged to the Dhu 'l-Nunid kingdom from al-Mu'tamid, and the article on al-Mu'tamid adds that the taifa rulers, al-Mu'tamid at their head, were forced to seek the help of Yusuf ibn Tashfin. ²

The article on the Almoravids calls the fall of Toledo the point of no return. ⁸ Yusuf ibn Tashfin crossed over, and the announcement of the crossing alone made Alfonso lift his siege of Saragossa. ⁹ The article on the Hudids similarly says a Castilian attack on Saragossa ended when an Almoravid army appeared nearby. ¹⁰ The battle took place at al-Zallaqa (Sagrajas) near Badajoz on Friday 12 Rajab 479/23 October 1086. According to the eyewitness account of the Zirid Abd Allah ibn Buluggin, summarised in the article, Alfonso was eager to fight while Yusuf was reluctant. Ibn Abi Zar is cited for the claim that Alfonso escaped with about five hundred men, though the article warns that the details in later Arabic chronicles are exaggerated. It concludes that the defeat cost him many seasoned troops, checked the Reconquista and stopped the tribute from the taifa emirs, but that the Almoravids did not try to recover Toledo. ³ The battle has its own record, al-Zallaqa.

The article on al-Sid says Alfonso VI, probably at the urging of García Ordóñez, accused the Cid of keeping part of the gifts he had collected at Seville and banished him after an expedition against Toledo that the Cid had undertaken without his consent. ¹¹ After a brief reconciliation in 1084 the Cid returned to Castile in 1089 and was received with honour by his sovereign. ¹¹ After the Cid's death his widow Jimena abandoned Valencia on Alfonso VI's advice when he came to relieve it, and the Almoravids entered the ruined city on 15 Rajab 495/5 May 1102. ¹² See the Cid.

The articles read give no birth or death date. Wikidata lists June 1040 and 1 July 1109 (with a second, estimated 30 June 1109); they are marked as tradition here. The Encyclopaedia's accounts of Alfonso's boast at Tarifa and of the number of survivors at al-Zallaqa come from later sources and are reported, not endorsed.