Ordoño II of León

Ordoño II
King of Galicia
Reign	910–924
Predecessor	Alfonso III
Successor	Fruela II
King of León
Reign	914–924
Predecessor	García I
Successor	Fruela II
Consort	Elvira Mendes Aragonta Gonzalez Sancha of Pamplona
Issue
Sancho I Ordóñez Alfonso IV Ramiro II Jimena
Dynasty	Beni Alfons
Father	Alfonso III of León
Mother	Jimena of Pamplona
Born	c. 873
Died	January 924 (aged 50–51) León
Burial	León Cathedral
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Ordoño II (c. 873–924, León) was king of Galicia from 910, and king of Galicia and León from 914 until his death. He was the second son of King Alfonso III the Great and his wife, Jimena of Pamplona.

His father sent him to Zaragoza to be educated in the court of the Banu Qasi. Upon Alfonso's death in 910, the kingdom was divided between his three sons; León went to García, Galicia to Ordoño, and Asturias to Fruela. Asturian primacy was nevertheless recognised, though Ordoño was of a harder temperament than his brothers. Upon García's death in Zamora in 914, Ordoño succeeded him to the throne of the León.

Ordoño continued thereafter the expansion of the Christian polity of his forefathers on two fronts. In his south-western territiories, he sacked Mérida and Évora and forced the Muslim governor of the region to buy his retreat.

In his eastern territories, he united with Sancho I Garcés, king of Navarre, against the emir of Córdoba, Abd-ar-Rahman III. The Moors were put to rout at San Esteban de Gormaz (917). Arnedo and Calahorra were taken the next year from the Banu Qasi. The reaction of Abd-ar-rahman, however, was severe. In 920, he put to march an army to recover Osma and San Esteban de Gormaz. He crossed into Navarre and defeated the Christians at Valdejunquera and took the bishops of Tui and Salamanca captive. Though intending to crush Pamplona itself, he turned around to deal with his immense booty.

Ordoño II—who had come at King Sancho's request—attributed the loss to the absence of the counts of Castile, who had not come at his call. He brought them together at Tejares and had them killed. The Christian counteroffensive was immediate, occupying La Rioja and incorporating into Navarre Nájera and Viguera.

He suffered frequent raids into his territory from the armies of Abd-ar-Rahman III and he confronted the Castilians who were aspiring to foment revolt in León.

Ordoño married three times. His first wife, and the mother of his children, was Elvira Menendez, daughter of count Hermengildo Gutierrez and aunt of San Rosendo. He then married Aragonta Gonzalez, daughter of count Gonzalo Betotez. He set her aside because "she was not pleasing to him". And when he formed a political alliance with Sancho I of Pamplona, he was married to that king's daughter, Sancha. He died in 924 leaving young children, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving brother, Fruela, the king of Asturias, thereby reuniting their father's patrimony.

References

• El ocaso de una voz regia

Ordoño II of León Beni Alfons Born: circa 873 Died: January 924
Regnal titles
Preceded by Alfonso III	King of Galicia 910–924	Succeeded by Fruela II
Preceded by García I	King of León 914–924

Persondata
Name	Ordono 02 Of Leon
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	873
Place of birth
Date of death	924
Place of death	León