ALFONSO III

born c. 838 died Dec. 20, 910?, Zamora, Leon byname Alfonso The Great, Spanish Alfonso El Magno king of Asturias from 866 to 910, son of Ordoo I. Winning a contested succession, he moved his capital forward from Oviedo to the recently restored Roman city of Len. Under him, Porto (Oporto) was occupied in 868, and Castile took shape around Burgos, drawing on his Basque allies. He claimed to be reviving the Visigothic monarchy, while making the church of St. James at Santiago de Compostela the shrine of the Christian kingdom. Alfonso's territorial advances were made possible by the convulsion of the Muslim emirate of Crdoba, in which Arab dominion was challenged by the Berber dissidents. For a time Crdoba itself was endangered, and the triumph of Alfonso was thought imminent. This did not occur, but by the end of the reign Alfonso III had occupied Coimbra, Zamora, and Burgos, settling refugees from the south. born 1265 died June 18, 1291, Barcelona byname Alfonso The Liberal, or The Candid, Spanish Alfonso El Liberal, or El Franco king of Aragon from 1285 to 1291, son of Peter III. A weak king, he was involved in an unsuccessful constitutional struggle with the Aragonese nobles. In 1287 he was compelled to grant the so-called Privilegio de la Unin, which handed over a number of important royal prerogatives to baronial control. At Alfonso's death the crown passed to his brother James II, who had been king of Sicily (as James I) since 1285.