death_date birth_date reign father house death_place title coronation image name spouses predecessor birth_place issue type successor mother religion burial_place article_title
21 august 1157 01 march 1105 1126 -- 1157 raymond of burgundy house of ivrea sierra morena emperor and galicia of all spain king of león , castile 1135 in the cathedral of león tumboa kralik.jpg alfonso vii berenguela of barcelona richeza of poland urraca caldas de reis sancho , queen of france sancha , queen of navarre sancha iii , queen of aragon urraca , queen of navarre -lrb- of illegitimate -rrb- stephanie alfonso -lrb- illegitimate -rrb- castile ferdinand ii of león constance monarch sancho -rrb- iii -lrb- castile -rrb- ferdinand ii -lrb- león urraca of león and castile roman catholicism cathedral of toledo alfonso vii of león and castile

alfonso vii of león and castile

alfonso vii -lrb- 1 march 1105 -- 21 august 1157 -rrb- , born alfonso raimúndez , called the emperor -lrb- `` el emperador '' -rrb- , became the king of galicia in 1111 and king of león and castile in 1126 .
alfonso first used the title `` emperor of all spain '' , alongside his mother urraca , once his mother vested him with the direct rule of toledo in 1116 .
alfonso later held another investiture in 1135 in a grand ceremony reasserting his claims to the imperial title .
he was the son of urraca of león and raymond of burgundy , the first of the house of burgundy to rule in the iberian peninsula .
alfonso was a dignified and somewhat enigmatic figure .
his rule was characterised by the renewed supremacy of the western kingdoms of christian iberia over the eastern -lrb- navarre and aragón -rrb- after the reign of alfonso the battler .
he also sought to make the imperial title meaningful in practice , though his attempts to rule over both christian and muslim populations was even less successful .
his hegemonic intentions never saw fruition , however .
during his tenure , portugal became `` de facto '' independent , in 1128 , and was recognized as `` de jure '' independent , in 1143 .
he was a patron of poets , including , probably , the troubadour marcabru .
