Editing Alfonso X of Castile (section)

==Life==

===Early life===
Alfonso was born on 23 November 1221{{sfn|Thacker|Escobar|2002|p=20}} in Toledo, Kingdom of Castile.  He was the eldest son of [[Ferdinand III of Castile|Ferdinand&nbsp;III]] and [[Elisabeth of Swabia|Elizabeth (Beatrice) of Swabia]].{{sfn|O'Callaghan|1998|p=46}} His mother was the paternal cousin of [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Holy Roman Emperor Frederick&nbsp;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&nbsp;IX of León]] died and his father united the kingdoms of Castile and [[Kingdom of León|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 of Navarre, Duchess of Brittany|Blanche]], but the move was unsuccessful. At the same time, he had a romantic relationship with [[Mayor Guillén de Guzmán]], who bore him a daughter, [[Beatrice of Castile (1242–1303)|Beatrice]].  In 1240, he married Mayor Guillén de Guzmán, but the marriage was later annulled and their issue declared illegitimate. During the 1240s, alongside his father, he conquered several Muslim strongholds in [[Al-Andalus]], including [[Conquest of Murcia in 1243|Murcia]], [[Alicante]] and [[Cádiz]].

In 1249, Alfonso married [[Violant of Aragon|Violant]], the daughter of King [[James I of Aragon]] and [[Violant of Hungary]],{{sfn|Previté-Orton|1952|p=902}} although betrothed already in 1246.

===Reign===

Alfonso succeeded his father as King of Castile and León in 1252. The following year he invaded Portugal, capturing the region of the [[Algarve]]. King [[Afonso III of Portugal]] had to surrender.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} Despite this Alfonso III reached an agreement with Alfonso X that in consenting to marry Alfonso X's daughter, [[Beatrice of Castile (1242–1303)|Beatrice of Castile]], the captured land would be returned to their heirs. In 1261 Alfonso X [[Siege of Jerez (1261)|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 the war against King [[Louis IX of France]]. In the same year Alfonso's half-sister, [[Eleanor of Castile|Eleanor]], married Henry's son [[Edward I of England|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]] to [[Eleanor of England]].

====Imperial election====
In 1256, on the death of [[William II of Holland]], Alfonso's descent from the Hohenstaufen through his mother, a daughter of Philip of Swabia, gave him a claim to the German crown through the [[House of Hohenstaufen|Hohenstaufen]] line. Alfonso's election as [[German king]] by the [[prince-elector]]s encouraged him to enter into complicated schemes that involved excessive expenses but never to success.  Alfonso never travelled to Germany, and his alliance with the Italian [[Ghibelline]] Lord [[Ezzelino IV da Romano]] deprived him of the support of [[Pope Alexander IV]]. His rival, [[Richard of Cornwall]], went to Germany and was crowned in 1257 at [[Aachen]].

To obtain money, Alfonso debased the coinage and then endeavoured to prevent a rise in prices by an arbitrary [[tariff]]. The little trade that took place in 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 with the nobles was brought about by Alfonso's son Ferdinand in 1273.

After Richard of Cornwell's death, the German princes elected [[Rudolf I of Germany|Rudolph 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.  However, he was 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.

====Civil war====
[[File:TumboAKing.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Alfonso X from the codex Tumbo 'A' de Santiago (Dated between 1229 and 1255)]]
Throughout his reign, Alfonso contended with his nobles, particularly the families of [[Nuño González de Lara (died 1275)|Nuño González de Lara]], [[Diego López V de Haro|Diego López de Haro]] and [[Esteban Fernández de Castro]], all of whom were formidable soldiers and instrumental in maintaining Castile's military strength in its frontier territories. According to some scholars Alfonso lacked 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.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Márquez|1995}} says "Some historians have been only too quick to label him, most unfairly, as a brilliant intellectual who was bungling and inefficient in practical affairs."</ref>{{Additional citations needed|date=February 2021}} Others have argued that his efforts were too singularly focused on the diplomatic and financial arrangements surrounding his bid to become Holy Roman Emperor.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

Alfonso's eldest son, [[Ferdinand de la Cerda, Infante of Castile|Ferdinand]], died in 1275 at the [[Battle of Écija (1275)|Battle of Écija]] against the Moroccan and [[Kingdom of Granada|Granadan]] invasion armies, leaving two infant sons. Alfonso's second son, [[Sancho IV of Castile|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 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 the faith.  A reaction in his favour was beginning in his latter days, but he died defeated and deserted at Seville in 1284, leaving a will, by which he endeavoured to exclude Sancho, and a heritage of civil war.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

====Economic policy====
In 1273, he created the [[mesta Castillana|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.<ref name="Nicholas 1999">{{Harvcoltxt|Nicholas|1999}}</ref> This organization later became exceedingly powerful in the country (as wool became Castile's first major exportable commodity<ref name="Nicholas 1999"/> 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 the sheep grazed.<ref name="Nicholas 1999"/>

The original function of the Mesta was to separate the fields from the sheep-ways linking grazing areas.

====Legislative activity====
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''{{Explain|date=August 2019}} was undoubtedly his work. He began medieval Europe's most comprehensive code of law, the ''[[Siete Partidas]]'', which, however, thwarted by 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,<ref>{{Cite book|title=The medieval church : the world of clerics and laymen|date=2001|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|others=Burns, Robert I., Alfonso X, King of Castile and Leon, 1221–1284., Scott, Samuel Parsons.|isbn=9780812217384|location=Philadelphia|pages=xix|oclc=847550277}}</ref> he is one of the 23 lawmakers depicted in the House of Representatives chamber of the [[United States Capitol]].

====Military training====
[[File:Alfonso X of Castile.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Equestrian seal]] of Alfonso X of Castile]]From a young age Alfonso X showed an interest in military life and chivalry. In 1231 Alfonso traveled with Pérez de Castron on a military campaign in lower Andalusia. Writing in ''[[Estoria de España]]'', Alfonso describes having seen [[Saint James the Greater|St. James  on a white horse]] with a white banner and a legion of knights fighting a war above the soldiers of Spain.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Martinez|2010|pp=82–83}}</ref> 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 was codified in the {{lang|es|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 ({{lang|es|Siete Partidas}}, 21,1–10)."<ref>{{harvcoltxt|O'Callaghan|1993|pp=65–66}}</ref> These efforts to make a codified standard of chivalric conduct were likely meant to both encourage strength of arms (prowess) and to restrain the use of violence for only [[just war|just (state-sponsored) usage]].