Individual Details
Sancho IV "The Brave" King of Castilla y León
(13 May 1258 - 25 Apr 1295)
Sancho was born 13 May 1258, the fourth of ten children, second son, of Alfonso X, king of Castile and Leon. In 1281 Sancho married Maria de Molina, daughter of Alfonso of Castile, lord of Molina y Mesa, and Mayor Afonso de Meneses, seńora de Montealegre. Sancho and Maria had seven children, of whom three would have progeny, including his heir Fernando IV.
His elder brother Fernando de la Cerda had died in November 1275, and in 1282 Sancho assembled a coalition of nobles to declare for him against Fernando's son Alfonso, then took control of the kingdom when Alfonso X died in 1284. This was all against the wishes of their father, but Sancho was crowned in Toledo nevertheless.
Sancho was recognised and supported by the majority of the nobility and cities, but a sizable minority opposed him throughout his reign and worked for the heirs of Fernando de la Cerda. One of the leaders of the opposition was Don Juan, his uncle, who united to his cause the lord of Vizcaya, Lope Diaz de Haro. Sancho responded by executing the lord of Vizcaya and incarcerating his uncle. According to chroniclers, he cemented his hold on power by executing 4,000 other followers of the infante Alfonso, son of Fernando de la Cerda, in Badajoz. He executed 400 more in Talavera and many more in Avila and Toledo.
In 1291 Sancho led an expedition that captured the port of Tarifa from the Moors led by Abu Ya'qub Yusuf. The Moors had fortified the city with a surrounding wall and twenty-six towers, and had built a castle with a lighthouse on a small adjacent island, called Isla Verde, which they had connected with the city by a causeway. For six months Sancho besieged Tarifa by land and sea. His fleet, hired from the Genoese, lay in the waters where the Battle of Trafalgar would be fought a little over five hundred years later. The city at length yielded, under stress of famine, on 13 October 1292.
Just before succumbing to a fatal illness, Sancho appointed his queen Maria de Molina to act as regent for his nine year old son Fernando. He died in 1295 at Toledo.
Source: Leo van de Pas
His elder brother Fernando de la Cerda had died in November 1275, and in 1282 Sancho assembled a coalition of nobles to declare for him against Fernando's son Alfonso, then took control of the kingdom when Alfonso X died in 1284. This was all against the wishes of their father, but Sancho was crowned in Toledo nevertheless.
Sancho was recognised and supported by the majority of the nobility and cities, but a sizable minority opposed him throughout his reign and worked for the heirs of Fernando de la Cerda. One of the leaders of the opposition was Don Juan, his uncle, who united to his cause the lord of Vizcaya, Lope Diaz de Haro. Sancho responded by executing the lord of Vizcaya and incarcerating his uncle. According to chroniclers, he cemented his hold on power by executing 4,000 other followers of the infante Alfonso, son of Fernando de la Cerda, in Badajoz. He executed 400 more in Talavera and many more in Avila and Toledo.
In 1291 Sancho led an expedition that captured the port of Tarifa from the Moors led by Abu Ya'qub Yusuf. The Moors had fortified the city with a surrounding wall and twenty-six towers, and had built a castle with a lighthouse on a small adjacent island, called Isla Verde, which they had connected with the city by a causeway. For six months Sancho besieged Tarifa by land and sea. His fleet, hired from the Genoese, lay in the waters where the Battle of Trafalgar would be fought a little over five hundred years later. The city at length yielded, under stress of famine, on 13 October 1292.
Just before succumbing to a fatal illness, Sancho appointed his queen Maria de Molina to act as regent for his nine year old son Fernando. He died in 1295 at Toledo.
Source: Leo van de Pas
Events
| Birth | 13 May 1258 | ||||
| Marriage | 1281 | Toledo - María de Molina, Regent of Castilla | |||
| Death | 25 Apr 1295 | Toledo |
Families
| Spouse | María de Molina, Regent of Castilla (1262 - 1321) |
| Child | Fernando IV King of Castilla y León (1285 - 1312) |
| Father | Alfonso X "The Wise" King of Castilla y León (1221 - 1284) |
| Mother | Violante Infanta de Aragon (1236 - 1301) |
| Sibling | Infanta Beatriz de Castilla (1253 - 1280) |