The Current Kings of Spain

Sancho VII, King of Pamplona

Perhaps being the great-grandson of a man such as El Cid might explain the otherwise enigmatic Sancho VII, who succeeded his father, Sancho VI, in 1194. He offended the Holy See by his friendship with the Muslims and was in Africa in the service of the Almohads from 1198 until 1200. His absence cost Navarre the provinces of Álava and Guipúzcoa, seized by Castile in 1200. Indeed, the reign of King Sancho has seen much better relations with the countries along the Pyrenees, including Aragon, then Castile.

King Sancho's leadership was decisive in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the year 1212. In that engagement, the Christian forces of Sancho, Alfonso, Afonso II of Portugal, and Peter II of Aragón allied to defeat the forces of the Almohad Caliph Muhammad an-Nasir. The culmination of the battle took place when King Sancho himself broke into the Caliph's fortified camp, broke up the defensive ring and disbanded al-Nasir's personal bodyguard.

While King Sancho has married twice, he has no children and stands as the last male-line descendant of the first two dynasties of kings of Navarre, the Houses Inquiez and Jimenez.

Also noteworthy are Sancho's two younger sisters. Berengaria of Navarre married Richard I of England, joining him while he was on Crusade in 1191. They returned separately, and after Richard was captured Berengaria remained in Europe to attempt to raise money for his ransom. When Richard returned to his continental lands in 1194, the knights of Sancho were besieging the castle for Richard. As soon as Richard arrived though, Sancho was forced to return to Navarre with the news of the death of his father. After his release, Richard returned to England but was not joined by his wife. There was no children born to them, and after Richard died in 1199, she settled at Le Mans, one of her dower properties.

The youngest sister, Blanca, became the Countess-consort of Champagne with her marriage to Theobald III of Champagne. Theobald died shortly thereafter, but left Blanca pregnant with their son, Theobald IV. While she ruled Champagne as his Regent, his inheritance was far from undisputed, and disputes with nobles loyal to Blanca's brother-in-law were common. Because of this, perhaps, Theobald IV has been brought to Navarre to be raised and educated.

Alfonso IX, King of Leon, and Ferdinand III, Heir to the throne of Castile

Alfonso IX became king of Leon in 1188. A forceful personality, Alfonso IX was determined to recover Leonese territory lost to Castile; and, despite the fact that he had done homage to Alfonso VIII, he did not hesitate to ally himself with the Almohads to further this end. As a result, his kingdom was placed under papal interdiction, and he was finally compelled to marry the Castilian king's eldest daughter, Berenguela. He refused, however, to join his father-in-law in the Crusade against the Almohads in 1212 unless the lost lands were first restored by Castile. This was not done and the Leonese army was, therefore, absent from Las Navas de Tolosa.

His son, Ferdinand III became king of Castile in 1217. At birth, he was the heir to Leon, but his uncle, Henry I of Castile, died young. His mother Berenguela inherited the crown of Castile, which she than conferred on him. His father, like many Leonese, opposed the union and war broke out between father and son. To improve his claim, Ferdinand married Beatrice of Swabia, daughter of the Holy Roman emperor. This political battle between father and son continues on for nearly a decade, but the death of Alfonso in 1230 suggests that despite opposition in Leon, Ferdinand will be able to unite the two.

James I, King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona

In 1204 Peter the Catholic, King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, married Mary, lady of Montpellier, and thus greatly extended Aragonese power in southern France. Despite the violent objections of his subjects, he had himself crowned by Pope Innocent III in Rome and declared his kingdom a feudatory of the Holy See that same year. Peter, with other Spanish kings, took a prominent part in the victory over the Moors at Las Navas de Tolosa; but he then went to support his brother-in-law Raymond VI of Toulouse against the crusader Simon de Montfort in Languedoc .

While the kings of Aragon took an active role in the Reconquest, as counts of Barcelona they also had important relationships in southern France, where several lords were their vassals. When Pope Innocent III proclaimed a crusade to check the spread of the Albigensian heresy throughout that area, Peter II, though no friend of heretics, realized that his feudal rights and interests there were endangered by the arrival of northern French knights. In 1213 Peter was defeated and killed by the crusading army at Muret. His son James I has succeeded him, and while he continued his father's quest to build a kingdom that would straddle the Pyrenees, James has turned his attention to the south and the Mediterranean Sea where he is currently enganged in a campaign to conquer the Balearic Islands.