There was one, the marriage of Alfonso VI., that was distinctly bad, as its average value was incapable as well as vicious. The remaining one introduced mostly poor stock but had a small element of goodness in it. I refer to the marriage of John the First of Castile. Half the pedigree of Henry II. of Transtama and of Alfonso VI. are uncertain for different reasons, as will appear.
Beginning now with the most ancient times let us take up the character of each sovereign and discuss the effect on the breed of blood introduced in the marriage of each. Sancho I. by his courage and mental and physical energy extended his dominion in all directions. He reduced important fortresses on both banks of the Ebro, recovered Eioja and conquered the country from Tudela to Najera, Tarragona and Agreda, and the mountain districts surrounding the sources of the Duero. He was also prudent and pious by nature and his conquests were retained throughout his life by the wisdom of his acts. He died in 994.
Sancho married Urraca, daughter of Ferdinand, belonging to the same stock. They had a son Garcias, called 'the Trembler,' about whom little is known with certainty except that he won battles and apparently he was a successful warrior. The name of 'Trembler' was applied to him because before battle, as he himself put it, 'My body trembles before the danger to which my courage is about to expose it.' The pedigree of his wife, Ximenia, is unknown to me, but from this time on to the present, the descent of the female side can be shown with very satisfactory completeness, and it is these pedigrees which show that qualities were infused in the stock all the way down the line, sufficient to keep up the elements of greatness which never ran out in Spain until the death of the Emperor Charles Quint. After this the worst possible unions were made, and then Spain fell.
Sancho III., who died in 1035, was the son of the 'Trembler.' He must have had great ability for war and government, as he made himself the most powerful prince of his age and country. He married Nunnia, the heiress of Castile, who belonged to a powerful family. He held what he got by inheritance and marriage and even extended his dominions by conquest. He was called 'the Major,' or 'the Great.'
Sancho III. was followed by his son, Ferdinand I. He had high abilities and virtues and made himself the most powerful among many monarchs in Spain. He also is called in history 'the Great.' He married a daughter of Alfonso V. of Leon, a successful soldier and ruler and the son of the valiant Bermudo II., who had won distinction by defeating the Moors.
