'Ferdinand IV', ''El Emplazado'' or "the Summoned," (
December 6,
1285 –
September 7,
1312) was a king of
Castile (
1295 -
1312). He was a son of
Sancho El Bravo and his wife
Maria de Molina.
His strange title is given him in the chronicles on the strength of a story that he put two brothers of the name of Carvajal to death tyrannically, and was given a time (''plazo'') by them in which to answer for his crime in the next world. But the tale is not contemporary, and is an obvious copy of the story told of
Jacques de Molay, grand-master of the
Temple, and
Philippe Le Bel.
His minority was a time of
anarchy. He owed his escape from the violence of competitors and nobles, partly to the tact and undaunted bravery of his mother Maria de Molina, and partly to the loyalty of the citizens of
Ãvila, who gave him refuge within their walls. As a king he proved ungrateful to his mother, and weak as a ruler.
In 1302 he married
Constance, daughter of King
Denis of Portugal. Their children were:
# Leonor (
1307-
1359), married King
Alfonso IV of Aragon
# Constanza (
1308-
1310)
#
Alfonso XI of Castile (
1311-
1350)
He captured
Gibraltar in
1309, with the help of
Aragón. He died suddenly in his tent at
Jaén when preparing for a raid into the Moorish territory of
Granada, on
September 7, 1312.
References
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