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, a 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.
Ferdinand IV succeeded to the throne when a boy of six. 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 Ávila, who gave him refuge within their walls. As a king he proved ungrateful to his mother, and weak as a ruler. He died suddenly in his tent at Jaén when preparing for a raid into the Moorish territory of Granada, on September 7, 1312.
This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
He captured Gibraltar in 1309, with the help of Aragón.
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Preceded by: Sancho IV of Castile | List of Castilian monarchs |
Followed by: Alfonso XI of Castile |