Urraca, the eldest surviving child of Alfonso VI of León with his second wife Constance of Burgundy, as eldest legitimate child of her father had been heiress presumptive from her birth until 1107, when Alfonso recognized his illegitimate son Sancho as his heir.

Urraca had become heiress presumptive again after Sancho’s death the following year, when he was killed after the Battle of Uclés.

Urraca’s place in the line of succession makes her the focus of dynastic politics, and she had become a child bride at age eight to Raymond of Burgundy, a mercenary adventurer.

Author Bernard F. Reilly suggests that, rather than a betrothal, the eight-year-old Urraca had been fully wedded to Raymond of Burgundy, as he almost immediately appeared in protocol documents as Alfonso VI's son-in-law, a distinction that would not have been made without the marriage.

Reilly doubts that the marriage was consummated until Urraca was thirteen, as she was placed under the protective guardianship of a trusted magnate.

Her pregnancy and stillbirth at age fourteen suggest that the marriage had indeed been consummated when she was thirteen or fourteen years old.

Urraca's marriage to Raymond had been part of Alfonso VI's diplomatic strategy to attract cross-Pyrenees alliances, and in 1105 she had given birth to a son, who will become Alfonso VII.

However, after Raymond died in 1107, Urraca’s father had contracted with Alfonso I of Aragon, known as the Battler, for a dynastic marriage with Urraca, opening the opportunity for uniting León-Castile with Aragón.

Marriage negotiations are still underway when Alfonso VI dies at the end of June 1109 and Urraca becomes queen.

Many of Alfonso VI’s advisers and leading magnates in the kingdom had formed a “quiet opposition” to the marriage of the Queen to the King of Aragon.

According to Bernard F. Reilly, these magnates feared the influence the King of Aragon might attempt to wield over Urraca and over Leonese politics.

Urraca had protested against the marriage but honors her late father’s wishes (and the Royal Council's advice) and continues with the marriage negotiations, though she and her father’s closest advisers are growing weary of Alfonso I's demands.

Despite the advisers' initial opposition, the prospect of Count Henry of Portugal filling any power vacuum leads them to go ahead with the marriage.

As events unfold, these advisers will turn out to have underestimated Urraca's political prowess, and will later advise her to end the marriage.

The marriage of Urraca and Alfonso I almost immediately sparks rebellions in Galicia and scheming by her illegitimate half-sister Theresa and brother-in-law Henry, the Countess and Count of Portugal.

King Alfonso of Aragon and of Navarre, called “the Battler” for his efforts against the Moors in southern Spain, had in 1109 married Castile’s ambitious and passionate heiress Urraca, widow of Raymond of Burgundy, at the behest of her father, Alfonso VI, King of León and Castile.

The four Christian kingdoms of Spain are thus nominally united against the Muslim Almoravid Empire and Alfonso I takes his father-in-law's imperial title—Imperator totius Hispaniae—at his death later in the year, but the union fails because Leon and Castile feel hostility toward an Aragonese emperor; because Urraca dislikes her second husband; and because Bernard, the French Cluniac archbishop of Toledo, wants to see his protégé, Alfonso Ramírez (infant son of Urraca and her Burgundian first husband), on the imperial throne.

The nobles of the two kingdoms have taken up their monarchs’ enmity, resulting in battles between Alfonso’s troops and those loyal to Urraca, her family, and Castilian partisans.

Alfonso had been victorious at the Battle of Sepulveda in 1111, but the Aragonese-Castilian War continues with minor skirmishing until he accepts the dissolution of the marriage, by papal decree (as they are second cousins), and of the political union, in 1112.

(Alfonso returns to Aragon but will continue to be involved in civil strife in the central kingdom until he eventually abandons his claims in favor of his stepson after the death of Urraca in 1126.)

Henry of Burgundy and the Foundation of the County of Portugal (1093–1112 CE)

Henry of Burgundy, a younger son of Henry of Burgundy, grandson of Robert I, Duke of Burgundy, and brother to Hugh I and Eudes I, Dukes of Burgundy, had little chance of inheriting land or titles in France. Seeking fortune and status, he joined the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula, aiding King Alfonso VI of León and Castile in his campaigns against the Moors.

Marriage and the Creation of the County of Portugal

As a reward for his military service, Henry was granted the hand of Theresa, the illegitimate daughter of Alfonso VI, in 1093. With this marriage, Henry received the County of Portugal as dowry, at the time a fiefdom of the Kingdom of León.

Henry’s Final Campaign and Death (1112 CE)

During the turbulent civil war between Queen Urraca of León and her estranged husband, Alfonso I of Aragon, Henry found himself caught in the conflict. In 1112, he was besieged in Astorga by Alfonso I of Aragon, holding the city with the support of Urraca. However, he suffered fatal wounds during the siege and died on May 12, 1112.

The Regency of Theresa and the Rise of Afonso Henriques

Henry’s death left Theresa as regent for their three-year-old son, Afonso Henriques, who became the second Count of Portugal.

As a young man, Afonso Henriques would prove to be an energetic and ambitious leader, expanding his territory at the expense of the Muslims.

• In 1139, after achieving military successes, he would declare himself King of Portugal, breaking his vassalage to León.
• This led to open conflict with his mother, Theresa, as he sought to assert Portugal’s independence.

Henry’s legacy, though short-lived, laid the foundation for the eventual Kingdom of Portugal, which his son Afonso Henriques would fully establish as an independent monarchy.

Guy de Burgundy, born the fourth son of William I, Count of Burgundy, one of the wealthiest rulers in Europe is a member of the highest aristocracy in Europe.

His family is part of a network of noble alliances.

He is a cousin of Arduin of Ivrea, the King of Italy.

One sister, Gisela, was married to Humbert II, Count of Savoy, and then to Renier I of Montferrat; another sister, Maud, was the wife of Odo of Burgundy.

His brother Raymond was married to Urraca, the heiress of León; they became the parents of King Alfonso VII of León.

His brother Hugh was an Archbishop of Besançon.

Guy first appears in contemporary records when he became the Archbishop of Vienne in 1088.

He holds strong pro-Papal views about the Investiture Controversy.

As archbishop, he had been appointed papal legate to France by Pope Paschal II during the time that Paschal was induced under pressure from Holy Roman Emperor Henry V to issue the Privilegium of 1111, by which he had yielded much of the papal prerogatives that had been so forcefully claimed by Pope Gregory VII in the Gregorian Reforms.

Guy, with relatives both in Burgundy and the Franche-Comté (that is, within the Emperor's jurisdiction and bordering it) had led the pro-Papal opposition at the synod called at the Lateran in 1112.

On his return to France, he immediately convenes an assembly of French and Burgundian bishops at Vienne, where the imperial claim to a traditional lay investiture of the clergy is denounced as heretical and a sentence of excommunication is now pronounced against Henry V on the grounds that he had extorted the Privilegium from Paschal II by means of violence.

These decrees are sent to Paschal II with a request for a confirmation, which they receive on October 20, 1112.

Portuguese Expansion Under Countess Theresa and Conflict with Queen Urraca (1116–1117 CE)

During her regency over Portugal, Countess Theresa—widow of Henry of Burgundy—pursues an aggressive expansionist policy, seeking to extend Portuguese influence into Galicia. Under her leadership, the Portuguese forces capture the Galician cities of Tui and ...

...Ourense, challenging the authority of her half-sister, Queen Urraca of León and Castile.

Urraca’s Response: The Invasion of Portugal

In retaliation for Theresa’s incursions into Galicia, Queen Urraca launches a military campaign against Portugal. This conflict between the two sisters is part of the broader civil war and political struggles that mark Urraca’s reign.

This war further destabilizes the region, intensifying the power struggle between León and the increasingly autonomous County of Portugal, setting the stage for the eventual rise of Afonso Henriques and Portugal’s bid for full independence.