As a three-year-old he became king and, after a chaotic period, assumed control of his kingdom in 1166. In Burgos, in September 1177, he married the fifteen-year-old Eleanor, daughter of Henry II of England. Gascony was to be her dowry; but when he claimed this territory in 1204, he lost it to his brother-in-law, John, King of England.
The Moors defeated him at Alarcos in 1195 but, after their ininitial incursion into Leon and Navarre, he forced them back and made peace. However, with the kings of Leon and Navarre, he soundly
defeated the Moors in 1212 at Las Navas de Tolosa.
He died in Burgos on 6 October 1214, followed by his Queen on the 24th, and together they found their last resting place in the Abbey of Las Huelgas which, in 1187, on his wife's request, he had enriched.
 

Source: Leo van de Pas