Alfonso VI (1040-1109) became king of León in 1065 and of Castile in 1072. A fighting king of the Spanish Reconquest, he later feuded with the Cid and could not cope with the invading Almoravids.

Alfonso was the second and favorite son of Ferdinand I, Count of Castile and King of León. By the terms of his father's division of the realm, Alfonso became king of León in 1065. (The eldest son, Sancho, became king of Castile, and Galicia was allotted to the youngest son, Garcia.) Relations between Alfonso and Sancho were hostile from the start, and Sancho defeated him at Llantada in 1068. In 1071 the brothers joined temporarily to deprive Garcia of Galicia, but the following year Sancho again worsted Alfonso in battle, taking him prisoner but then allowing him to leave for exile in the Islamic kingdom of Toledo.

Alfonso spent 9 months in Toledo...