Urraca of León

Reign: 1109 – 1111
Life: 1081–1126

She is considered to be the first European queen to reign in her own right. Early years Urraca was born to King Alfonso VI of León and Castile and his second wife, Constance of Burgundy . Constance was closely related to the French royal family and the influential Burgundian abbot Hugh of Cluny was her maternal uncle. The Muslim Almoravids inflicted a heavy defeat on Alfonso VI at Sagrajas in 1086 and Urraca's marriage to Raymond was part of Alfonso's diplomatic strategy to attract cross-Pyrenees alliances. The use of the title may have expressed her resentment at her inferior position, although infantas , or royal princesses, were occasionally styled queens in this period. She styled herself "empress of whole Galicia" in her letter of grant to the Lugo Cathedral late in 1107 or early in 1108.

During Urraca of León's reign, Blot-Sweyn ruled Sweden, Alexios I Komnenos ruled Rome, and Henry I of England ruled England.

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Queen Urraca of León and Castile by Bernard F. Reilly

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Queen Urraca of León and Castile

Bernard F. Reilly

Reilly's scholarly biography of the queen who ruled in her own right amid civil war.

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