Alfonso V

Alfonso V (born 994—died 1028) was the king of Leon from 999 to 1028, son of Bermudo II. He came to the throne because the devastating campaigns of Almanzor (see Manṣūr, Abū ʿĀmir al-) had forced his father to accept Almanzor’s de facto suzerainty over Leon. The Leonese were forced to take part in the Moorish campaign against the Catalans (1003) and to suffer other indignities and incursions. The political troubles continued until the fall of the caliphate (1031) relieved Leon of Islāmic pressure, but Alfonso was soon faced by the growing power of Sancho III of Pamplona (Navarre). His marriage (1023/24) to Sancho’s daughter Urraca ended this threat, and, in the last years of his life, he was able to undertake the reconquest of the Portuguese territories lost during Almanzor’s time. He was killed at the siege of Viseu.