Alfonso V (c. 994 – 7 August 1028), called the Noble, was King of León from 999 to 1028. Like other kings of León, he used the title emperor (Imperator totius Hispaniae) to assert his standing among the Christian rulers of Spain. He succeeded his father, Bermudo II, in 999. His mother Elvira García and count Menendo González, who raised him in Galicia, acted as his co-regents. Upon the count's death in 1008, Alfonso ruled on his own.
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Reign
Alfonso began the work of reorganizing the Christian kingdom of the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula after a most disastrous period of civil war and Arab inroads. Enough is known of him to justify the belief that he had some of the qualities of a soldier and a statesman.
His name and that of his wife are associated with the grant of the first franchises of León (1017). On Wednesday, 7 August 1028, Alfonso V was killed by an arrow while besieging the Muslim-occupied town of Viseu. King Alfonso was buried next to his first wife Elvira, according to his wishes, at the Church of Saint John the Baptist and San Pelayo which later changed its name to the Basilica of San Isidoro when the latter saint's remains were transferred from Seville. The following epitaph was carved on his tomb:
H. IACET ADEFONSUS QUI POPVLATIT LEGIONEM...ET DEDIT BONOS FOROS ET FECIT / ECCLESIAM HANC LVTO ET LATERE. HABVIT PRAELIA CUM / SARRACENIS, ET INTERFECTUS, EST SAGITTA APUD VISEUM / PORTUGAL FUIT FILIUS VEREMUNDI ORDONII / OBIIT ERA M SEXAGESIMA QUINTA III NAS M.
