Sancho II of Castile (1035-7 October 1072) was the King of Castile from 1065 to 1072, succeeding Fernando I of Castile and preceding Alfonso VI of Leon, and King of Galicia from 1071 to 1072, succeeding Garcia II of Galicia and preceding Alfonso VI. Sancho defeated Navarre and Aragon in the War of the Three Sanchos with help from his brother Alfonso, but when he turned on Alfonso and besieged Zamora, he was assassinated by a Leonese noble.
Biography[]
Sancho as a prince
Sancho Jimena was a Catholic of the House of Jimenez, and he was the son of King Fernando I of Castile, Leon, and Asturias and Sancha of Leon. Sancho was the firstborn son, and he believed that he was entitled to rule over the triple crowns after his father's death. However, he got into an argument with his brother Alfonso in 1065 after their father died, as Alfonso announced that he would be taking the titles of King of Leon and Asturias, leaving Sancho with just Castile. This argument turned into a fight between the two dagger-wielding princes in the crypt where their father was buried, and Sancho would have killed Alfonso, had it not been for the timely intervention of their sister Countess Urraca of Zamora. Sancho had the guards come in, telling them to escort "hig highness" to his "new kingdom", the dungeons of Zamora; Sancho became the new king.
Assassination[]
The assassination of Sancho
On 12 January 1072, Sancho was crowned King of Leon after sending his brother to prison. However, the knight El Cid rescued Alfonso from the thirteen guards that accompanied him to prison in Zamora, slaying the guards. El Cid escorted Alfonso to the care of Urraca in Calahorra, and King Sancho eventually found out about this betrayal. Sancho led a large army to the gates and told Urraca that she would have until dawn to consider handing Alfonso over to him, and he rode off. Just then, Urraca was approached by Vellido Adolfo, who claimed that he could assassinate Sancho and force his army away from the gates. Adolfo headed to Sancho's camp and told him that he could show him an undefended gate around the back of the caste, and he pointed out that he was unarmed, leading to Sancho trusting him. The two rode on horseback to the back before dismounting, and Adolfo told him that the gate was around the corner from where they stood. Adolfo then took a dagger hidden in the castle's wall and stabbed Sancho in the back, killing him. El Cid killed Adolfo shortly after, but it was too late to stop Sancho's assassination.