Alfonso VI of Castile

Before the beginning, Rodrigo Diaz was in the employ of Alfonso VI, at that point King of Leon and Castile. In the beginning, he's predictably banished.

Once that beginning gets underway, Alfonso VI has only a few years left to live. But he doesn't know that. This is his story.

Alfonso VI up to the point of divergence

Alfonso VI was the second son of Ferdinand the Great, sandwiched between Sancho (king of Leon) and Garcia (king of Galicia.) He was also the first to seriously ignore the division of territories between the sons, extorting money from Badajoz.

And starting from about 1072 (which, admittedly, gets off to a bad start when his brother Sancho kicks his ass at Golpejera and sends him fleeing to Toledo), the ten years prior to the POD had actually been pretty good for him. Sancho gets killed later that same year, allowing Alfonso to claim the coveted title of "King of Leon"; and when García is recalled from exile, he's forced to take monastic vows and gets banished to a monastery, never to fuck or fight again. By 1077, Alfonso VI is in a position to start styling himself Imperator Totus Hispaniae: "Emperor of All the Spains."

In 1079, he marries Constance of Burgundy, who bears him a daughter, Urraca. (She's going to be important one day, as soon as I figure out how.)

Alfonso VI after the point of divergence

Things start going weird almost immediately afterwards:

• In the winter of 1082, Sancho of Aragon conquers the Taifa of Zaragoza. Suddenly, little Aragon is a big fish - and one that's no longer paying parias to Castile, cutting off what had been a steady source of finances for Alfonso VI.
• Finally, in 1085, Seville (led by O Cid) takes Toledo, leaving Alfonso VI bordered by hostile neighbors and bereft of parias. He launches an attack on Toledo, which gets repulsed.
• Later that year, a skirmish on the Navarrese border leaves Alfonso wounded with a javelin. The wound infects, and he dies before Christmas that year.

Thus does the succession crisis begin, because Alfonso VI leaves behind no male issue - and only a single legitimate daughter, Urraca.