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Historical person
Alfonso VIII ruled Castile from 1158 to 1214 and spent much of his reign contesting territory with neighbouring Christian kingdoms and the Almohad rulers of al-Andalus. His defeat at Alarcos in 1195 was followed by the major Christian victory at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. His marriage to Eleanor of England also connected the Castilian court closely to the Angevin world.
In historical novels set during the Reconquista, Alfonso can be portrayed as a crusading monarch, a dynastic strategist or a ruler recovering from military humiliation. The strongest treatments place Las Navas de Tolosa within a complex Iberian landscape of shifting alliances, frontier communities and political rivalry rather than presenting the conflict as a simple, continuous struggle between two unified religious blocs.
Series
The Knights Templar series follows Arnau de Vallbona, a Catalan Templar serving during the wars and political struggles of the early thirteenth century. His duties carry him through the Crown of Aragon, Almohad Iberia, the Holy Roman Empire and Constantinople, where obedience to the order repeatedly conflicts with…
All books in this series
