23 November 1221 Alfonso X of Castile

November 23rd. 1221 marks the birth of Alfonso X of Castile in Toledo,
Spain. His parents were King Ferdinand III of Castile and Elisabeth of Swabia.

His mother was the paternal cousin of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II,
who looked very well like Alfonso X of Castille.



In January 1249 Alfonso X of Castile married Violant of Aragon. Due to
Violant's age, she was unable to get pregnant for several years. He almost
annulled their marriage. However they went on and they would have
11 children. He would also have children with his mistresses.

In 1252 Alfonso succeeded his father as King of Castile. The next year he
invaded Portugal.He made an agreement that his daughter Beatrice would
marry King Alfonso III of Portugal and another daughter Eleanor should
marry Edward I of England.

King Alfonso X had many works translated from Arabic and Latin to
Castilian in his court. He encouraged the use of the Castilian language instead
of Latin!

The Alfonsine tables which provided the data for computing the position
of the Sun, Moon, Planets relative to the fixed stars were named after
King Alfonso X of Castile, who sponsored their creation.

King Alfonso X died on April 4th. 1284 in Seville.There he was buried
in the cathedral.


Source pictures: Wikipedia

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