Ferdinand II of Leon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ferdinand II (b. 1137 in Toledo, Castile, d. January 22, 1188) was the son of Alfonso VII of Castile and León and of Berenguela, of the House of Barcelona, and king of León from 1157 to his death. His father divided his kingdom upon his death, with Ferdinand receiving León and Sancho receiving Castile.

His reign of thirty years was one of strife marked by no signal success or reverse. He had to contend with his unruly nobles, several of whom he put to death. During the minority of his nephew, Alfonso VIII of Castile, he endeavoured to impose himself on the kingdom as regent. On the west he was in more or less constant strife with the Kingdom of Portugal, which had separated from León in 1139. His relations to the Portuguese House of Burgundy must have suffered by his repudiation of his wife Urraca, daughter of King Afonso I of Portugal. Though he took the King of Portugal prisoner in 1169, he made no political use of his success. He extended his dominions southward in Extremadura at the expense of the Moors. Ferdinand, who died in 1188, left the reputation of a good knight and hard fighter, but did not display political or organising faculty. He was succeeded by his only son, Alfonso IX.