Ferdinand II (c. 1137 – 22 January 1188), was a member of the Castilian cadet branch of the House of Ivrea and King of León and Galicia from 1157 until his death.
Life
Family
Born in Toledo, Castile, Ferdinand was the third but second surviving son of King Alfonso VII of León and Castile and Berenguela of Barcelona. His paternal grandparents were Count Raymond of Burgundy and Queen Urraca of León and his maternal grandparents were Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence. He had seven full-siblings of whom only three survive infancy: the later King Sancho III of Castile, Constance (wife of King Louis VII of France) and Sancha (wife of King Sancho VI of Navarre), and two half-siblings from his father's second marriage with Richeza of Poland, of whom only survive Sancha (wife of King Alfonso II of Aragon).
Childhood and early years
Ferdinand's education was entrusted to a Galician magnate, Count Fernando Pérez de Traba, member of the same lineage as the former knights of his grandmother, Queen Urraca, and of the tutors and defenders of his father, King Alfonso VII. Soon he was initiated into the tasks of government. Since 1151 he is associated with the throne by his father, along with his older brother Infante Sancho, so in documents from León and Galicia his confirmation with the title of King, or King of Galicia, is common. He was surrounded from the beginning by the Leonese and Galician magnates, such as the Counts Ponce de Minerva, Ramiro Froilaz, Pedro Alfonso and the aforementioned Fernando Pérez de Traba.
In a council begun in Valladolid in the year 1155, were agreed the terms of the division of the domains of the still-living King Alfonso VII. There the Kingdoms of León and Galicia were assigned under Ferdinand's sovereignty, excluding Tierra de Campos, Sahagún and Asturias de Santillana. Ferdinand earned the reputation of a good knight and hard fighter, but did not display political or organising faculty.
Beginning of reign and first marriage with Urraca of Portugal
In 1157 his father, King Alfonso VII died, and according of his will and the previous dispositions of the council of Valladolid of 1155, his second son inherited the Kingdoms of León and Galicia under the name of Ferdinand II; during the early months of his reign, the new monarch had to resolve his disputes with the powerful local nobles and an invasion by his brother Sancho III of Castile. In 1158 Ferdinand II signed the Treaty of Sahagún with his brother Sancho III, under which they agreed to jointly wage war against the Muslims, to divide up the conquered territories, the provision that in case one of the two brothers died without issue, the survivor would inherit the domains of the deceased brother, and the partition of the Kingdom of Portugal. The death of his brother Sancho III in the same year and the succession of his infant son Alfonso VIII, annulled the clauses of the Treaty of Sahagún.
During the minority of age of his nephew Alfonso VIII, in the Kingdom of Castile began the dispute between the Houses of Lara and Castro to exercise the regency on behalf of the child king. Taking advantage of the anarchic state in which the kingdom of his late brother was found, Ferdinand II invaded Castile at the head of an army, and demanded, in order to restore order, that the Lara surrender him to his nephew Alfonso VIII, whose education he wished to take charge of.
In March 1160 Fernando Rodríguez de Castro, commanding the forces of the House of Castro, defeated the Lara supporters in the Battle of Lobregal, in which his father-in-law Count Osorio Martínez lost his life, and Nuño Pérez de Lara was captured. That same year, Ferdinand II was cured of a serious illness supposedly through the intercession of Saints Martin of Tours and Eufemia of Orense. In 1162 Fernando Rodríguez de Castro was appointed Majordomo mayor of Ferdinand II, a position he held twice: firstly from 15 August 1162 until his dismissal on 6 September 1164 and secondly from 19 October 1165 until 15 May 1166.
The boundary troubles with Castile restarted in 1164: he then met at Soria with the Lara family, who represented Alfonso VIII, and a truce was established, allowing him to move against the Muslim Almoravids who still held much of southern Spain, and to capture the cities of Alcántara and Alburquerque. In the same year, Ferdinand II defeated King Afonso I of Portugal, who, in 1163, had occupied Salamanca in retaliation for the repopulation of the area ordered by the King of León.