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A Game of Thrones: A Tale of Europe.
Book one (1066-1199)
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Sancho II, called The Strong (1037-1107) King of Castile (1065-1107), Leon (1072–72) and Galicia (1071–1107)
Proud and full of ambition, Sancho II of Castille was not content of being just the king of Castille but ambitioned the realms of his brothers. For that reason, he conquered Galicia, his youngest brother's kingdom, in 1071, and partitioned the kingdom with his brother, Alfonso II of Leon. Hardly a year later, following the steps of his father, Sancho defeated and killed in battle his brother Alfonso and thus became king of Castille, Galicia and Leon, simultaneously holding all three crowns that Ferdinand had distributed to his sons only six years earlier.
In 1066 he had married Constance of Burgundy (1046 – 1093), the daughter of Duke Robert I of Burgundy.
In 1074, he marched against his sisters Urraca and Elvira. Toro fell easily, but Urraca proved a bit difficult to defeat. When she finally submitted, Sancho build two castles close to the two cities to be sure that they were to remain loyal to him. Then, he moved to Galicia, and repeated the same process, building castles at Lugo and Santiago before returning south. Sancho placed supporters in charge of these new fortifications and returned to Castille in late 1074.
Early in 1077, his brother García rose in revolt and attacked Toledo with the help of king Sancho I of Aragon. Toledo was captured by their combined forces and Garcia was proclaimed king by his supporters. Sancho reacted swiftly. First he bought off the Aragonese, and then he marched against his brother, who, lacking a real support, fled to Navarre. Garcia would stage a comeback in 1078 and again in 1079. That would be his last campaign. Betrayed by his own men, Garcia was assasinated.
Sancho was to spend the next two years interfering in the Navarrese and Aragonese kingdoms, stirring problems here and there, perhaps in revenge for the support of Sancho to Garcia.
He also expanded his kingdoms, at the expense of the Muslim kingdoms. He exploited them by means of the tried system of parias, and when that failed, he resorted to military intervention. In 1074, he recovered payment of the parias of Toledo, and the same year, helped by troops of that city, he attacked Granada and forced them to pay him taxes.
In 1074, after the death of his vassal Al-Mamun, king of the Taifa of Toledo, Sancho II used the ocassion to besiege Toledo, which finally fell on 25 May 1085. Then, he besieged Zaragoza in the spring of 1086, but he had to abandon the siege when an Almoravid army landed at Algeciras and invaded Extremadura. He defeated them at Sagrajas on 23 October 1086, but a heavy cost and was unable to take profit from the result of the battle. The Almoravid would come back in 1089, and, again they were defeated.
A third attempt, in 1092, ended up with the Almoravid Emir, Yusuf ibn Tashfin, conquering all the southern taifas. Sancho was unable to stop him from doing so, but managed to avoid them capturing Lisbon, Sintra and Santarem in 1094 and was happy to hear that his trusted El Cid defeated them in Valencia on October the same year. A fourth Almoravid invasion took place in 1097, this time aimed against Toledo, but Sancho was able to crush the invading forces at Consuegra. However, Valencia was lost in 1100, soon after the death of El Cid. Sancho was to spend the last years reinforcing the defenses of Toledo, repopulating Salamanca and Ávila and making several incursions against the southern Taifas.
Sancho II of Castille and Leon died on 9 September 1107. He left Castille to his elder son, Fernando, and Leon to his second son, Sancho.
Sancho and his wife Constance had six children.
Fernando, born in 1067.
Alvaro, born before 1068, died around 1080.
Sancho, born in 1070.
Alfonso, born in 1072.
Constanza, died before 1113.
Cecilia, born before 1080, died 1127.