30 Alfonso V the Magnanimous
in 1091. This victory, a turning point in Alexios’s career,
enabled him to consolidate his hold on the throne.
THE CRUSADES AND BEYONDAlexios turned next to the grim situation in Anatolia.
Realizing his need for greater military strength, and at the
same time anxious to cooperate with the papacy in end-
ing the GREAT SCHISM OF1054 between the Eastern and
Western Churches, he sent appeals to the pope. He urged
Westerners to help him fight in the East. The Latin
response was the First CRUSADE. Expecting only merce-
nary auxiliaries, the Byzantines were faced instead by a
mob of uncontrolled and irresponsible military adventur-
ers. The initial group, under PETERthe Hermit, arrived in
early 1096 and crossed precipitously into Anatolia, only
to be massacred by the Turks. The main crusader army
arrived during the following winter.
In June 1097 the crusaders and Byzantines jointly
took NICAEAfrom the Turks. Despite this success, ill feel-
ings grew between them, and the crusaders plunged on
their own across Anatolia into SYRIA. Alexios’s failure to
aid them in their siege of ANTIOCHin 1097–98 increased
their estrangement. Alexios later tried to assert his rights
of suzerainty over the new states that the crusaders estab-
lished in the Levant (the shore of the Mediterranean) and
in the Holy Land after their conquest of JERUSALEMin
- BOHEMOND, Guiscard’s ambitious son, seized ANTI-
OCHfor himself and returned to Italy to organize a new
invasion of the Balkans. In the fighting that ensued from
1104 to 1108, Alexios defeated Bohemond and forced
a temporary settlement. At Bohemond’s death in 1111,
the question of Alexios’s claims to Antioch and to other
crusader territories remained unsettled. In the closing
years of his life, Alexios renewed campaigns against the
Seljuk Turks. A victory in 1117 won back for the empire
at least some parts of Anatolia.
The successes of Alexios’s internal policies consisted
in his careful husbanding of limited resources. The realm
he left behind was no longer the greatest power in CHRIS-
TENDOM, but he did leave it on its way to recovery and
stability. At the death of Alexios on August 16, 1118, a
clear transfer of power was made to his son, JOHNII
Komnenos.
See alsoKOMNENA, ANNA;KOMNENOI, DYNASTY.
Further reading: Anna Komnena, The Alexiad of
Anna Comnena,trans. E. R. A. Sewter (New York: Pen-
guin Books, 1969); Margaret Mullett and Dion Smythe,
eds., Alexios I Komnenos(Belfast: Queen’s University of
Belfast, 1996).
Alfonso V the Magnanimous(1396–1458)king of
Aragon and Naples, patron of humanists
He was the eldest son, born in 1396, of Ferdinand I
(ca. 1379–1416), the king of ARAGON and count of
Barcelona, from the Castilian house of Trastámara.
Alfonso V succeeded his father in 1416. In 1419 he con-
voked the CORTES, or representative assemblies, to
finance his expensive Mediterranean ambitions. However,
his subjects demanded a greater part in the government,
then monopolized by Castilian officials. In 1420 he
waged war on GENOAand pacified SARDINIA, but failed to
conquer CORSICA. In 1423 he tried unsuccessfully to take
NAPLES; instead he sacked Marseille and stole the relics of
Saint Louis of Anjou. In 1435 the Angevins of Naples,
defeated and captured him at the naval Battle of Ponza.
During the ensuing captivity, he charmed Filippo Maria
VISCONTI(1392–1447), the duke of Milan, into becoming
an ally. He returned and conquered Naples in 1442. In
ALBANIA, he supported SKANDERBEGagainst the Turks. He
never returned to his Hispanic domains, which were
ruled by his wife, Maria of Castile. In CATALONIA, the
enslaved and impoverished peasantry revolted. His war
against Castile between 1445 and 1454 made the situa-
tion worse. On his death in 1458, Alfonso’s brother, John
II (ca. 1398–1479), inherited his Iberian possessions;
Ferrante (1423–94), a illegitimate son, ruled the king-
dom of Naples.
Alfonso’s political efforts and activities primarily took
place in Italy. He reformed Neapolitan political institu-
tions, filling them with his Iberian relatives. His fiscal
policy, such as his takeover of transhumance routes of
sheep, were met with revolts by the Italian aristocracy
between 1444 and 1446. He was a generous patron of the
arts at Naples, and sponsored and surrounded himself
with humanists such as Lorenzo VALLA, Leonardo BRUNI
of Arezzo, Leonardo Giovanni Pontano (1422–1503), and
Antonio Beccadelli (1394–1471) of Palermo.
Further reading: Martin Aurell, “Alfonso V of
Aragon,” EMA,1.39–40; Thomas N. Bisson, The Medieval
Crown of Aragon(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986);
Alan Ryder, The Kingdom of Naples under Alfonso the Mag-
nanimous: The Making of the Modern State(Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1976); Alan Ryder, Alfonso the Magnani-
mous: King of Aragon, Naples, and Sicily, 1396–1458
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990).Alfonso X the Learned(the Wise, el Sabio)(1221–
1284)king of Castile and León, royal patron of learning
The eldest son of Ferdinand III (ca. 1201–52) and Beatrice
of SWABIA, Alfonso was born in TOLEDOon November 23,- As a youth, he was tutored in the arts of war and
government. In 1247 he drove the Muslims from Murcia,
and in 1248 he played an important role in his father’s cap-
ture of SEVILLE. The following year he married Violante,
daughter of JAMESI of ARAGON, who bore him 10 children.
Alfonso became king in 1252 and immediately embarked
upon war. He fought Alfonso III (1210–79) of PORTUGAL
over frontier posts on the border in the Algarve. In 1254 he
invaded Gascony and claimed the throne of NAVARRE.
Alfonso spent much of the next 20 years in a vain attempt