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66-594: This stage of the Meseta history is the least known, although a series of archeological sites, such as Los Tolmos de Caracena in Soria , Cogeces del Monte in Valladolid , Abia de la Obispalia in Cuenca , and some others, allow to describe Protocogotas culture as a formation stage of Cogotas I culture. This culture, which existed around 1700—1550 BC, is also known as Cogeces horizon, and

132-505: A heliocentric understanding in astronomy. Because of this work, the lunar crater Alphonsus is named after him. One famous, but apocryphal, quote attributed to him upon his hearing an explanation of the extremely complicated mathematics required to demonstrate Ptolemy 's theory of astronomy was "If the Lord Almighty had consulted me before embarking on creation thus, I should have recommended something simpler." Gingerich (1990) says that

198-500: A compilation of chronicles , the Crónica general , completed in 1264. This chronicle sought to establish a general history and drew from older chronicles, folklore and Arabic sources. This work enjoyed renewed popularity starting in the sixteenth century, when there was a revival of interest in history; Florián de Ocampo published a new edition and Lorenzo de Sepúlveda used it as the chief source of his popular romances . Sepúlveda wrote

264-594: A daughter of Philip of Swabia, gave him a claim through the Hohenstaufen line. Alfonso's election as German king by the prince-electors misled him into complicated schemes that involved excessive expense but never succeeded. Alfonso never even traveled to Germany, and his alliance with the Italian Ghibelline Lord Ezzelino IV da Romano deprived him of the initial support of Pope Alexander IV . His rival, Richard of Cornwall , went to Germany and

330-606: A daughter, Beatrice . In 1240, he married Mayor Guillén de Guzmán, but the marriage was later annulled and their issue declared illegitimate. In the same period (1240–1250) he conquered several Muslim strongholds in Al-Andalus alongside his father, such as Murcia , Alicante and Cadiz . In 1249, Alfonso married Violant , the daughter of King James I of Aragon and Yolande of Hungary , although betrothed already in 1246. Alfonso succeeded his father as King of Castile and León in 1252. The following year he invaded Portugal, capturing

396-477: A field of gules (red), a castle , of argent , crenellated with three battlements, lined up and marbled with sabre, rinsed with azure (blue) and a king's bust crowned with gold and with its attributes coming out of his homage, in its colour; silver embroidery loaded with the following legend: "Soria Pura Cabeza de Estremadura", written in saber letters. The king in the coat of arms is Alfonso VIII , born in Soria, and

462-517: A form of this alleged quotation was mentioned (but rejected) as early as the 16th century by the historian Jerónimo de Zurita , and that Soriano Viguera (1926) states that "nothing of the sort can be found in Alfonso's writings." Nevertheless, Dean Acheson (U.S. Secretary of State, 1949–1953) used it as the basis for the title and epigraph of his memoir Present at the Creation. Alfonso also commissioned

528-673: A good example when including the Mediterranean diet in its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It is claimed that in Roman times there was a castle called Oria, purportedly named after a Greek knight called Doricus. Based on this folk etymology, some historians guessed that the first inhabitants of this city might have been the Dorians . Archaeology has not confirmed that story. Instead it has suggested that

594-625: A military campaign in lower Andalusia. Writing in Estoria de España , Alfonso describes having seen St. James on a white horse with a white banner and a legion of knights fighting a war above the soldiers of Spain. This vision of a heavenly army fighting in Jerez and participation in military campaigns likely left Alfonso X with a high degree of knowledge and respect for military operations and chivalric knights. Alfonso's respect for chivalry can also be seen in his writing of Spanish law. Spanish Chivalric conduct

660-531: A number of romances having Alfonso X as their hero. Alfonso's court compiled in Castilian a work titled General Estoria . This work was an attempt at a world history that drew from many sources and included translations from the Vulgate Old Testament mixed with myths and histories from the classical world, mostly Egypt, Greece, and Rome. This world history was left incomplete, however, and so it stops at

726-703: Is Alfonso's Cantigas de Santa Maria (song CLXXXVII) from XII A.C. In this depiction, three rectangular hórreos of Gothic style are illustrated. Alfonso also had the Libro de ajedrez, dados, y tablas ( "Libro de los Juegos" (The Book of Games) ) translated into Castilian from Arabic and added illustrations with the goal of perfecting the work. It was completed in 1283. The Libro de juegos contains an extensive collection of writings on chess , with over 100 chess problems and chess variants . Alfonso X commissioned or co-authored numerous works of music during his reign. These works included Cantigas d'escarnio e maldicer and

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792-448: Is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria . Its population is 38,881 ( INE , 2017), 43.7% of the provincial population. The municipality has a surface area of 271,77 km , with a density of 144.97 inhabitants/km . Situated at about 1065 metres above sea level, Soria is

858-789: Is based on the Bell Beaker substrate influenced by either El Argar or Atlantic Bronze . Although Protocogotas culture was not represented by finds in La Cogotas, it did have characteristic traits later displayed in Cogotas I. Characteristic of this culture is black ceramics with various techniques: incised geometric motifs, incised-printed geometric motifs, - also called "dot and line" or zipper ( es:Cerámica de Boquique ), and excise geometric motifs with or without inlays of white or red paste. Vessels were relatively small, flat-based, conic, rough, supposedly used as kitchen ware. The culture extended roughly over

924-683: Is formed by the city, and four rural hamlets: Las Casas, Oteruelos , Pedrajas and Toledillo ; both Oteruelos and Pedrajas were small municipalities later absorbed by Soria by the 1970s. The shape of the municipality is highly irregular and it is not even continuous, as it comprises three disjointed areas. Soria has an oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb ). Due to its altitude, winters in Soria are very cold by Spanish standards (3.2 °C (38 °F) in January) with almost 84 frost days per year. Summers are dry and warm (average 20.5 °C (69 °F) in July) with

990-598: Is still unclear. Among other material culture objects there were daggers, flat axes, copper alloy axes, sickles, granite grindstones, spindle whorls etc. Like other similar settlements, Cogotas of that time was divided into several functional districts, including several cattle enclosures and a necropolis . Cattle husbandry played an important role in the life of Vettones , which was probably reflected in their zoomorphic verraco statues. Three individuals linked with Cogotas I remains were tested: an individual from Cueva de los Lagos (Aguilar del Río Alhama, La Rioja province) had

1056-532: Is the Museo Numantino , devoted to the archaeological remains of this and other sites in the province. The city is served by the Soria Railway Station , with daily services to Madrid via Guadalajara . There are also many bus lines to neighbouring cities. A new highway has reduced the trip to Madrid by car down to 2 hours. Soria sits on the banks of Douro river, in its upper course. Its municipality

1122-671: The Alphonsus crater on the Moon is named after him. He also sponsored the work of historians who, for the first time since Isidore of Seville in c600CE, placed Spain in the context of world history. As a lawmaker he introduced the first vernacular law code in Castile, the Siete Partidas . He created the Mesta , an association of sheep farmers in the central plain, but debased the coinage to finance his claim to

1188-499: The Battle of Écija against the Moroccan and Granadan invasion armies, leaving two infant sons. Alfonso's second son, Sancho , claimed to be the new heir, in preference to the children of Ferdinand de la Cerda, basing his claim on an old Castilian custom, that of proximity of blood and agnatic seniority . Alfonso preferred to leave the throne to his grandsons, but Sancho had the support of

1254-754: The Virgin Mary . One of the miracles Alfonso relates is his own healing in Puerto de Santa María . Violante was twelve or thirteen years old at the time of her marriage to Alfonso; she produced no children for several years and it was feared that she was barren. Alfonso almost had their marriage annulled, but they went on to have eleven children: Alfonso X also had several illegitimate children. With Mayor Guillén de Guzmán , daughter of Guillén Pérez de Guzmán and of María González Girón, he fathered: With Elvira Rodríguez de Villada, daughter of Rodrigo Fernández de Villada , he fathered: With María Alfonso de León , his aunt,

1320-600: The election of 1257 , a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germany on 1 April. He renounced his claim to Germany in 1275, and in creating an alliance with the Kingdom of England in 1254, his claim on the Duchy of Gascony as well. Alfonso's scientific interests—he is sometimes nicknamed the Astrologer ( el Astrólogo )—led him to sponsor the creation of the Alfonsine tables , and

1386-498: The German crown. He fought a successful war with Portugal , but a less successful one with Granada . The end of his reign was marred by a civil war with his eldest surviving son, the future Sancho IV , which continued after his death. Born 23 November 1221 in Toledo, Kingdom of Castile, Alfonso was the eldest son of Ferdinand III and Elizabeth (Beatrice) of Swabia . His mother

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1452-465: The Muslims of southern Iberia and north Africa—was a Castilian version of the animal fable Kalila wa-Dimna , a book that belongs to the genre of wisdom literature labeled Mirrors for Princes : stories and sayings meant to instruct the monarch in proper and effective governance. The primary intellectual work of these scholars centered on astronomy and astrology. The early period of Alfonso's reign saw

1518-795: The Spanish Duero basin, the upper half of the Ebro river, and the Spanish Tajo basin. Chronology of Cogotas I: In the early 1st millennium BC the Iberic peninsula was invaded by the Celts and other Indo-European tribes, which occupied the central and western parts of the peninsula and created new cultures on the ruins of the older ones. One of them were Vettones , most probably of Celtic origin. Characteristic for Cogotas II cultures are verraco statues. These are stone bovine statues situated on pasture lands, whose exact usage

1584-531: The Spanish promotional bank, has made an equity investment in the project. The project plans to provide 80 GWh of renewable energy per year, which will heat 8,000 homes, saving 28,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Alfonso X Alfonso X (also known as the Wise , Spanish : el Sabio ; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile , León and Galicia from 1 June 1252 until his death in 1284. During

1650-464: The annual Cross Internacional de Soria meeting – one of Spain's most prestigious cross country running competitions. The European Youth Orienteering Championships were held in Soria in July 2010. Soria has a biomass district heating plant called Red de Calor de Soria , which uses woodchip residue fuel from the local timber industry. Venture capital firm AXIS, part of Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO),

1716-524: The birth of Christ. The main significance of this work lies in the translations from Latin into Castilian. Much like his chronicles, the ability of Alfonso's court to compile writings from a variety of cultures and translate them into Castilian left a historic impact on Spain. Alfonso X is credited with the first depiction of an hórreo , a typical granary from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The oldest document containing an image of an hórreo

1782-606: The border of the Christian lands, which in the 8th century had settled along the Duero river. In 869 Soria was the centre of the rebellion of Suleyman ibn-Abus against the emir of Córdoba , who sent his son Hakan to quench it. Alfonso I of Aragon and Navarre, the Battler seized the territory away from the sphere of the Kingdom of León, controlling the territory from 1109 to 1134, entrusting

1848-655: The castle's keep on the castle's bell tower, is represented in the bell of San Gil with his entire body at the foot of the castle, leaving through its door. The first recorded inhabitants in the area of Soria were the Celtiberians , around the 4th century BC. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , the rebuilt city was occupied by the Suebi . Later, after the Arab conquest of Spain , it grew in importance due to its proximity to

1914-471: The coast. It is the coldest Spanish provincial capital. The city's professional football club is called CD Numancia . Two of Spain's foremost runners of the late 20th century lived and trained in Soria: Fermín Cacho , a gold medallist at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics , and Abel Antón , a two-time World Champion in the marathon . The area in which they trained, Monte Valonsadero, is now host to

1980-403: The country (as wool became Castile's first major exportable commodity and reported a trade surplus, called "white gold", as the wool amount was critical to the health of the population during the winter), and eventually its privileges were to prove a deadly wound in the Castilian economy. One side effect of the quickly expanding sheep herds was the decimation to the Castilian farmland through which

2046-460: The current authorities aims to strengthen the local economy pivoting on Soria's tourism potential, and has also launched a programme of reconstruction for the neighbouring villages. The poet Antonio Machado (1875–1939) spent five years in Soria teaching French in a secondary school, before moving to Segovia nearer Madrid. These years in Soria proved significant in his literary development. He married and lost his wife there and discovered much about

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2112-414: The daytime temperature usually around 29 °C (84 °F). Temperatures above 35 °C (95 °F) are not rare in summer, while lows can go under 10 °C (50 °F) at nights. It has scant rainfall (512 mm per year) and spring is the wettest season. The low rainfall is in spite of its high elevation as the maritime Atlantic low-pressure systems are often blocked by the mountains closer to

2178-558: The derived Y-chromosome haplogroup R1b-DF27; an individual from the Tordillos site (Aldeaseca de la Frontera, Salamanca province) had Y-DNA haplogroup R1b-M269, were the individual found at La Requejada site (San Román de Hornija, Valladolid province) had the clade R1b-P312. Other individuals found in the area and time of Cogotas I Culture were: a male from the Valdescusa site (Hervías, La Rioja province), whom had also R1b-M269, where two males of

2244-620: The end, after Richard's death, the German princes elected Rudolph I of Habsburg (1273), Alfonso being declared deposed by Pope Gregory X . In 1275 Alfonso tried to meet with his imperial vicar in Italy, William VII of Montferrat (who had succeeded Ezzelino) and his Ghibelline allies in Piedmont and Lombardy to celebrate the victory against the Guelph Charles I of Anjou and be crowned in Lombardy; he

2310-538: The extensive written use of the Castilian language instead of Latin as the language used in courts, churches, and in books and official documents (although his father, Ferdinand III , had begun to use it for some documents). This translation of Arabic and Classic documents into vernacular encouraged the development of Spanish sciences, literature, and philosophy. From the beginning of his reign, Alfonso employed Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars at his court, primarily for

2376-501: The faith. A reaction in his favor was beginning in his later days, but he died defeated and deserted at Seville in 1284, leaving a will, by which he endeavored to exclude Sancho, and a heritage of civil war. In 1273, he created the Mesta , an association of some 3,000 petty and great sheep holders in Castile, in reaction to less wool being exported from the traditional sites in England. This organization later became exceedingly powerful in

2442-432: The first inhabitants were the Suebi , whose kings (as reported by Tutor and Malo in their Compedio historial de las dos Numancias ) established one of their courts there. These two hypotheses have been abandoned because of lack of evidence. It seems more likely that the name Soria may have its origin in the word dauria from the river Durius ( Douro ). The shield of Soria has the following heraldic description: In

2508-425: The foundations of the new Spanish language . This evolved version of the Castilian language also acquired significant relevance in the royal chancery, where it came to replace Latin, which until then had been the language commonly used for royal diplomacy in Castile and León. The very first translation, commissioned by his brother, Fernando de la Cerda—who had extensive experience, both diplomatic and military, among

2574-400: The kingdoms of Castile and León . He began his career as a soldier, under the command of his father, when he was sixteen years old. After the accession of King Theobald I of Navarre , Ferdinand tried to arrange a marriage for Alfonso with Theobald's daughter, Blanche , but the move was unsuccessful. At the same time, he had a romantic relationship with Mayor Guillén de Guzmán , who bore him

2640-655: The nature of the Castilian people – a subject the Generation of '98 authors were very interested in. Campos de Soria was a series of poems lamenting his wife's early death. They formed part of a major collection Campos de Castilla . The firewalking rituals performed at the Sorian village of San Pedro Manrique every June as part of the festival of San Juan have been declared as a tradition of National Tourist Interest and have attracted global attention through ethnographic and scientific studies and media coverage. Although Soria never

2706-523: The next few centuries. It was damaged greatly during the Peninsular War . The city preserves an important architectural heritage (extensive medieval walls, Renaissance palaces and architecturally distinctive Romanesque churches) and is home to the Numantine Museum (with pieces from the nearby Celtiberian city of Numantia ). Soria's football team CD Numancia is named after this city. It is one of

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2772-625: The nobility of Castile, was only promulgated by his great-grandson. Because of this, and because the Partidas remain fundamental law in the American Southwest, he is one of the 23 lawmakers depicted in the House of Representatives chamber of the United States Capitol . From a young age Alfonso X showed an interest in military life and chivalry. In 1231 Alfonso traveled with Pérez de Castron on

2838-491: The nobility. A bitter civil war broke out resulting in Alfonso's being forced in 1282 to accept Sancho as his heir instead of his young grandsons; only the cities of Seville , Murcia and Badajoz remained faithful to him. Son and nobles alike supported the Moors when he tried to unite the nation in a crusade; and when he allied himself with Abu Yusuf Yakub , the ruling Marinid sultan of Morocco , they denounced him as an enemy of

2904-436: The purpose of translating books from Arabic and Hebrew into Latin and Castilian, although he always insisted on personally supervising the translations. This group of scholars formed his royal scriptorium , continuing the tradition of the twelfth-century Escuela de Traductores de Toledo ( Toledo School of Translators ). Their final output promoted Castilian as a learning language both in science and literature, and established

2970-506: The red field represents the blood shed by the Sorians, particularly in the battles of Alarcos , Navas de Tolosa and Aljubarrota . The oldest preserved example of the coat of arms is found in the high-medieval bell of San Gil, today the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Mayor , which already reflected the city's motto. Unlike the current official coat of arms, the king who now appears on the bust of

3036-597: The region of the Algarve . King Afonso III of Portugal had to surrender, but he gained an agreement by which, after he consented to marry Alfonso X's daughter Beatrice of Castile , the land would be returned to their heirs. In 1261 he captured Jerez . In 1263 he returned Algarve to the King of Portugal and signed the Treaty of Badajoz (1267) . In 1254 Alfonso X signed a treaty of alliance with King Henry III of England , supporting him in

3102-523: The reign of Alfonso VII . Alfonso VIII was born in Soria, and Alfonso X had his court established when he received the offer to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire . In Soria, the deposed king James IV of Mallorca died, and John I of Castile married. Booming during the Late Middle Ages thanks to its border location and its control over the cattle industry, Soria went into a slow decline over

3168-502: The role of first tenant of Soria to Íñigo López already by 1119, when the effective repopulation should have started, although there are claims tracing it back some time earlier. Soria was granted a short fuero in March 1120, that also fixed limits to the medieval concejo . After the death of Alfonso I in 1134, Alfonso VII of León, the Emperor took control of the territory. The short fuero

3234-454: The same site had the derived clade R1b-L151, and another the subclade R1b-Z225. Two males found at Humanejos site (Parla, Madrid province) and Virgazal (Tablada de Rudrón, Burgos province), shared the R1b-P312 haplotype. 40°43′39″N 4°42′04″W  /  40.7275°N 4.7011°W  / 40.7275; -4.7011 Soria Soria ( Spanish pronunciation: [ˈsoɾja] )

3300-569: The second highest provincial capital in Spain. Although there are remains of settlements from the Iron Age and Celtiberian times, Soria itself enters history with its repopulation between 1109 and 1114, by the Aragonese king Alfonso I the Battler . A strategic enclave due to the struggles for territory between the kingdoms of Castile, Navarre and Aragon, Soria became part of Castile definitively in 1134, during

3366-497: The sheep grazed. The original function of the Mesta was to separate the fields from the sheep-ways linking grazing areas. As a ruler, Alfonso showed legislative capacity, and a wish to provide the kingdoms expanded under his father with a code of laws and a consistent judicial system. The Fuero Real was undoubtedly his work. He began medieval Europe's most comprehensive code of law, the Siete Partidas , which, however, thwarted by

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3432-427: The singleness of purpose required by a ruler who would devote himself to organization and also the combination of firmness with temper needed for dealing with his nobles although this is not a view taken by all. Others have argued that his efforts were too singularly focused on the diplomatic and financial arrangements surrounding his bid to become Holy Roman Emperor. Alfonso's eldest son, Ferdinand , died in 1275 at

3498-420: The smallest cities to ever have had a team in Spain's top division La Liga . Today, its population of 38,881 makes Soria the least populated provincial capital of Castile and León and the second least populated in Spain (after Teruel ). Particularly important in its economy is the agri-food industry, while an increasing number of tourists are attracted by its cultural heritage. Soria was mentioned by UNESCO as

3564-506: The time and the Ptolemaic cosmology as known to him through the Arabs . He surrounded himself with mostly Jewish translators who rendered Arabic scientific texts into Castilian at Toledo. His fame extends to the preparation of the Alfonsine tables , based on calculations of al-Zarqali, "Arzachel" . Alexander Bogdanov maintained that these tables formed the basis for Copernicus 's development of

3630-576: The translation of selected works of magic ( Lapidario , Picatrix , Libro de las formas et las ymagenes ) all translated by a Jewish scholar named Yehuda ben Moshe (Yhuda Mosca, in the Old Spanish source texts). These were all highly ornate manuscripts (only the Lapidario survives in its entirety) containing what was believed to be secret knowledge on the magical properties of stones and talismans . In addition to these books of astral magic, Alfonso ordered

3696-573: The translation of well-known Arabic astrological compendia, including the Libro de las cruzes and Libro conplido en los iudizios de las estrellas . The first of these was, ironically, translated from Latin (it was used among the Visigoths ), into Arabic , and then back into Castilian and Latin. Most of the texts first translated at this time survive in only one manuscript each. As an intellectual he gained considerable scientific fame based on his encouragement of astronomy , which included astrology at

3762-741: The unification of Aragón and Castile in 1479, and above all after the decree of exile issued against the Jews in 1492 . In the War of Spanish Succession (early 18th century), Soria sided for Philip V . In 1808 it was captured and set on fire by the French troops. The economical and social crisis of Spain in the early 20th century, and the Spanish Civil War with Francisco Franco 's dictatorship which followed, had negative effects on Soria and its neighborhood, which became depopulated due to strong emigration. The policy of

3828-417: The use of violence for only just (state-sponsored) usage . King Alfonso X developed a court culture that encouraged cosmopolitan learning. Alfonso had many works previously written in Arabic and Latin translated into vernacular Castilian in his court. Alfonso "turned to the vernacular for the kind of intellectual commitments that formerly were inconceivable outside Latin ." He is credited with encouraging

3894-415: The vast compilation Cantigas de Santa Maria ("Songs to the Virgin Mary"), which was written in Galician-Portuguese and figures among the most important of his works. The Cantigas de Santa Maria form one of the largest collections of vernacular monophonic songs to survive from the Middle Ages . They consist of 420 poems with musical notation. The poems are for the most part on miracles attributed to

3960-425: The war against King Louis IX of France . In the same year Alfonso's half-sister, Eleanor , married Henry's son Edward : with this act Alfonso renounced forever all claim to the Duchy of Gascony , to which Castile had been a pretender since the marriage of Alfonso VIII of Castile with Eleanor of England . In 1256, at the death of William II of Holland , Alfonso's descent from the Hohenstaufen through his mother,

4026-448: Was a bishopric, its St. Peter's Church became the Co-Cathedral of the bishopric of Osma when that was renamed Roman Catholic Diocese of Osma-Soria on 9 March 1959. The province of Soria has a Minor Basilica , the Marian Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Milagros, in Ágreda . A few kilometres north of the town are the ruins of Numantia , a Celtiberian town whose inhabitants destroyed it rather than let it fall to Scipio . In Soria

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4092-458: Was codified in the Siete Partidas (2,21) where he wrote that knights should be, "of good linage and distinguished by gentility, wisdom, understanding, loyalty, courage, moderation, justice, prowess, and the practical knowledge necessary to assess the quality of horse and arms ( Siete Partidas , 21,1–10)." These efforts to make a codified standard of chivalric conduct were likely meant to both encourage strength of arms (prowess) and to restrain

4158-521: Was confirmed by Alfonso VII in 1143. Due to its strategic placement at the borders of the Kingdoms of Castile , Aragon , Navarre and León, Soria in the Middle Ages was at the centre of several conflicts between them. Alfonso VIII of Castile , in reward for its support, gave the city several privileges which it maintained until modern times. In 1195 the town was stormed by Sancho VII of Navarre , but later recovered and continued to develop its splendour and trades. Soria lost most of its importance after

4224-411: Was crowned in 1257 at Aachen . To obtain money, Alfonso debased the coinage and then endeavored to prevent a rise in prices by an arbitrary tariff . The little trade of his dominions was ruined, and the burghers and peasants were deeply offended. His nobles, whom he tried to cow by sporadic acts of violence, rebelled against him in 1272. Reconciliation was bought by Alfonso's son Ferdinand in 1273. In

4290-510: Was however halted in his imperial ambitions in Provence by the Pope who, after a long negotiation, obtained Alfonso's oral renunciation of any claims to the Holy Roman Empire. Throughout his reign, Alfonso contended with the nobles, particularly the families of Nuño González de Lara , Diego López de Haro and Esteban Fernández de Castro , all of whom were formidable soldiers and instrumental in maintaining Castile's military strength in frontier territories. According to some scholars Alfonso lacked

4356-411: Was the paternal cousin of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II , to whom Alfonso is often compared. His maternal grandparents were Philip of Swabia and Irene Angelina . Little is known about his upbringing, but he was most likely raised in Toledo. For the first nine years of his life Alfonso was only heir to Castile until his paternal grandfather king Alfonso IX of León died and his father united

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