Alfonso VI: Señor del Cid, Conquistador de Toledo (Alfonso VI: The Lord of El Cid and Conqueror of Toledo) is a history book about the life and legacy of this really important king in Spanish (and Portuguese) history. Arguably considered to be one of greatest kings of medieval Spain, Alfonso IV is most famous because of two things. First being the monarch that retook the city of Toledo from the Muslims, and second his fallout with the legendary Castilian knight, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (el Cid).

Practically all of my knowledge regarding this great king has come by reading books about el Cid. This book is focused on entirely on just Alfonso VI. It starts from his upcoming, to his inheritance of the Kingdom of León. He’s exile from his kingdom, and how he united all of father’s old Kingdom, and of course he’s stormy relationship with el Cid. However there’s a lot of more crucial events where Alfonso IV is directly involved in such as his efforts to connect Spain with the rest of the Western Latin medieval world.

One fascinating conclusion that I got while reading this book was that unlike his predecessors and successors, Alfonso VI wasn’t quite the greatest warrior king. In fact he suffered many humiliating defeats. What he lacked in the battlefield, he certainly made it up in the political field, Alfonso VI was a great king because of his shrewd politics in a very warlike volatile era. This book does an really good job describe the political landscape during this tumultuous era of The Reconquista.