Talk:Sancho Alfónsez

Legitimacy

My understanding, Asilah1981, is that Sancho was born out of wedlock, but that several sources say that his parents were subsequently married. Is that what you mean, or are you suggesting a marriage to Zaida in the 1090s? Srnec (talk) 21:01, 16 July 2016 (UTC)

Hi Srnec, Im looking at Spanish wiki which is much more detailed in terms of theories and sources and it seems all is conjecture. By what I see, no one can say with certainty whether they were or were not married and whether they married before or after wedlock. All three theories are proposed (concubine, wife, wife but Sancho born before marriage). Have a look https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaida Asilah1981 (talk) 21:12, 16 July 2016 (UTC)

Srnec IMO, the fact that he was immediately recognized as heir implies they were married before birth. Asilah1981 (talk) 21:15, 16 July 2016 (UTC)

Except he wasn't immediately recognized as heir, and it is known that Alfonso was not married to Sancho's mother at the time of his birth. What is documented is the following: Sancho was born (about 1194) to the king by his mistress Zaida, baptized Isabella, who was not at the time the king's wife; Alfonso would later (1100) marry a woman named Isabella; later yet (1107) Alfonso named Sancho his heir. As to his legitimacy the answer depends on the theory of legitimacy one follows. In strictest sense, he was not legitimate, as his parents definitely were not married at the time of his birth. With a more relaxed view, it was common to recognize as legitimate a child born out of wedlock were the parents subsequently to marry. However, there was a critical exception, that this could only be the case if the child was conceived only out of fornication but not adultery (that neither parent was married at the time). Thus two questions are critical to the issue of legitimacy under this more relaxed standard (the answer to neither is known with certainty), whether the Isabella whom Alfonso married was the same as the Zaida, baptized Isabella, mother of Sancho, and exactly when in the course of Alfonso's marital intrigues the son was born - was he conceived while Constance still lived (she died 1093) or after Alfonso married Berta (first appears in documents in 1095 but it is claimed the betrothal was in November 1093), or some time in between. Agricolae (talk) 21:01, 4 March 2018 (UTC)