Alfonzo VIII, King of Castile and Toledo ¹

  General Notes:

Alfonso VIII (11 November 1155[2] \endash 5 October 1214), called the Noble (El Noble) or the one of the Navas (el de las Navas), was the King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo.[3][4] He is most remembered for his part in the Reconquista and the downfall of the Almohad Caliphate. After having suffered a great defeat with his own army at Alarcos against the Almohads in 1195,[5] he led the coalition of Christian princes and foreign crusaders who broke the power of the Almohads in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, an event which marked the arrival of a tide of Christian supremacy on the Iberian peninsula.[6]

His reign saw the domination of Castile over León and, by his alliance with Aragon, he drew those two spheres of Christian Iberia into close connection.

Alfonzo married Eleanor Plantagenet Queen consort of Castile and Toledo, daughter of Henry "Curtmantle" Plantagenet II, King of England, Duke of Normandy Aquitaine and Gascony Count of Nantes Lord of Ireland and Eleanor Queen Consort of France and England Duchess of Aquitaine. (Eleanor Plantagenet Queen consort of Castile and Toledo was born on 13 Oct 1161 in Domfront Castle, Normandy and died on 31 Oct 1214 in Burgos, Castile, Spain.)