When Ordoño II died in 924 it was not one of his sons who ascended to the throne of León but rather his brother Fruela II of Asturias. The exact circumstances of the succession upon Fruela's death one year later are unclear, but the son of Fruela, Alfonso Fróilaz, became king in at least part of the kingdom when his father passed. Sancho Ordóñez, Alfonso, and Ramiro, the sons of Ordoño II, claimed to be the rightful heirs and rebelled against their cousin. With the support of king Jimeno Garcés of Pamplona, they drove Alfonso Fróilaz to the eastern marches of Asturias, and divided the kingdom among themselves with Alfonso Ordóñez receiving the crown of León and his elder brother Sancho being acclaimed king in Galicia.[1]
Alfonso IV resigned the crown to his brother Ramiro in 931 and went into a religious house. One year later he took up arms with Fruela's sons Ordoño and Ramiro against his own brother Ramiro, having repented of his renunciation of the world. He was defeated, blinded, and sent back to die in the cloister of Sahagún.[2] Alfonso had married Onneca Sánchez of Pamplona, niece of his ally Jimeno Garcés and daughter of Sancho I of Pamplona by Toda of Navarre. He had two children: Ordoño IV of León, and perhaps another son, Fruela, who was involved in a land dispute during the reign of Ramiro III of León.[a]
Notes
^A minority of modern scholars including Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz and Manuel Carriedo Tejedo, consider Ordoño IV instead to have been son of his rival Alfonso Fróilaz. Independently, the placement of the Froylani prolis Adefonsi regis (Fruela, son of king Alfonso) of the time of Ramiro III as son of king Alfonso IV rather than king Alfonso Fróilaz has been disputed.
References
^Rodriguez Fernández, Justiniano (1997). García I, Ordoño II, Fruela II, Alfonso IV. Burgos: Editorial La Olmeda. pp. 176–178. ISBN84-920046-8-1.
Ceballos-Escalera, Alfonso (2000). Reyes de León: Ordoño III (951–956), Sancho I (956–966), Ordoño IV (958–959), Ramiro III (966–985), Vermudo II (982–999). Burgos: La Olmeda. ISBN84-89915-11-3.
Elorza, Juan C.; Vaquero, Lourdes; Castillo, Belén; Negro, Marta (1990). Junta de Castilla y León. Consejería de Cultura y Bienestar Social (ed.). El Panteón Real de las Huelgas de Burgos. Los enterramientos de los reyes de León y de Castilla (2nd ed.). León: publisher Evergráficas S.A. ISBN84-241-9999-5.
Isla Frez, Amancio (1993). "Nombres de reyes y sucesión al trono (siglos VIII-X)". Studia historica. Historia medieval (11). Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca y Departamento de Historia Medieval, Moderna y Contemporánea: 9–34. ISSN0213-2060. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
Rodríguez Fernández, Justiniano (1997). Reyes de León (I). García I, Ordoño II, Fruela II y Alfonso IV (1st ed.). Burgos: La Olmeda. ISBN84-920046-8-1.
Rodríguez Fernández, Justiniano (1987). Sancho I y Ordoño IV, reyes de León. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. ISBN84-00-06510-7.
Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León, Margarita Cecilia (1999). Linajes nobiliarios de León y Castilla: Siglos IX-XIII. Salamanca: Junta de Castilla y León, Consejería de Educación y Cultura. ISBN84-7846-781-5.
Viñayo González, Antonio (1998). Real Colegiata de San Isidoro: Historia, Arte y Vida. León: Edilesa. ISBN84-8012-201-3.