Editing Alfonso VI of León and Castile (section)

===Birth and early years===
The son of [[Ferdinand I of León|Ferdinand I, King of León and Count of Castile]] and his wife, Queen Sancha, Alfonso was a "Leonese ''[[infante]]'' [prince] with Navarrese and Castilian blood".{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2003|p=19}} His paternal grandparents were [[Sancho III of Pamplona|Sancho Garcés III]], [[List of Navarrese monarchs|king of Pamplona]] and his wife [[Muniadona of Castile]], and his maternal grandparents were [[Alfonso V of León]] (after whom he was probably named) and his first wife [[Elvira Menéndez (died 1022)|Elvira Menéndez]].{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2003|pp=20–25}}

The year of Alfonso's birth is not recorded in the medieval documentation. According to one of the authors of the ''[[Crónicas anónimas de Sahagún|Anonymous Chronicle of Sahagún]]'', who met the monarch and was present at his death, he died at age 62 after reigning 44 years.{{efn|Some sources give the age in the ''Chronicle of Sahagún'' as 72, which would place his birth in 1037.{{Sfn|Reilly|1989|p=20}}{{Sfn|Salvador Martínez|1992|p=29}}}} This indicates that he was born in the second half of 1047{{Sfn|Salazar y Acha|1993|p=303}} or in the first half of 1048.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2003|p=21}} [[Pelagius of Oviedo]] wrote that Alfonso was 79 when he died, but that would place his birth around 1030, before his parents' marriage.{{Sfn|Reilly|1989|p=20}}

According to the ''[[Historia silense]]'', the eldest child of Ferdinand I and Sancha, a daughter called [[Urraca of Zamora|Urraca]], was born when her parents were still [[List of Castilian counts|Count and Countess of Castile]], so her birth could be placed in 1033–34.{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=226}} The second child and eldest son, [[Sancho II of Castile and León|Sancho]], must have been born in the second half of 1038 or in 1039.{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=227}} The third child and second daughter, [[Elvira of Toro|Elvira]], may have been born in 1039–40,{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=227}} followed by Alfonso in 1040–41,{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=227}} and finally the youngest of the siblings, [[García II of Galicia|García]], sometime between 1041 and 24 April 1043, the date on which King Ferdinand I, in a donation to the [[Abbey of San Andrés de Espinareda]], mentions his five children.{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=227}} All of them except Elvira signed a document in the monastery of [[San Juan Bautista de Corias]] on 26 April 1046.{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=227}}

All the children of King Ferdinand I, according to the ''Historia silense'', were educated in the [[Liberal arts education|liberal arts]], and the sons were also trained in arms, the "art of running horses in the Spanish usage", and hunting.{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=228}} The cleric [[Raimundo I of Palencia|Raimundo]] was in charge of Alfonso's early education. Once king, Alfonso appointed him [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Palencia|Bishop of Palencia]] and referred to him as ''magistro nostro, viro nobile et Deum timenti'' ("our master, a noble man who fears God").{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=228}} Alfonso probably spent long periods in [[Tierra de Campos]], where, along with [[Pedro Ansúrez]], the son of Ansur Díaz and nephew of Count Gómez Díaz de Saldaña (both members of the [[Banu Gómez]] lineage), he learned the art of war and what was expected of a knight.{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=228}}