Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/655

in order to prevent the pope (Gregory X.) from confirming the election. These repeated attempts to increase his dignity weakened rather than strengthened the power of Alphonso, and forced him to impose heavy taxes upon his subjects, and even to debase the coinage, thus producing much discontent and disturbance, while the Moors were ever ready to take advantage of any misfortunes that might happen to him. From 1261 to 1266 he was engaged in a war with Mohammed of Granada, during which his army suffered several defeats. In 1270 an insurrection broke out, headed by Felipe, brother of the king, who was assisted by Mohammed of Granada; it was only quelled after nearly all their demands had been conceded to the rebels. In 1275, when Alphonso was absent on his fruitless journey to Beaucaire, his eldest son, Fernando de la Cerda, died, an event which, raising as it did the question of the succession to the crown, threatened anew to involve the kingdom in war. Sancho, Alphonso's second son, was, according to the law of the Visigoths, proclaimed heir by the Cortes at Segovia; but Philip of France, uncle of the two young sons of Fernando, declared war with Alphonso on their behalf; actual hostilities were, however, prevented by the intercession of pope Nicolas III. In 1281, Sancho, irritated probably by some attempt that Alphonso had made to favour the sons of Fernando, raised the standard of revolt against his father. Sancho, who was a favourite with the people, having secured the assistance of Mohammed of Granada, reduced his father to such extremities that the latter solemnly cursed and disinherited his son, an act which he confirmed by his will in 1283, and at the same time solicited aid from the king of Marocco. At the commencement of the following year, however, Alphonso, on receiving intelligence from Salamanca that Sancho was dangerously ill, pardoned him. Alphonso died a few days afterwards, on 4th April 1284. He was a learned prince, and a great encourager of learning, brave and energetic, but at the same time restless and ambitious. He has been charged with impiety, chietly on account of a well-known saying of his, that “had he been present at the creation, he could have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.” To him science is indebted for a set of astronomical observations known as the Alphonsine Tables, which were drawn up under his auspices by the best astronomers of the age; and in the palace of Segovia a room is still shown as the observatory of Alphonso. He was also distinguished as a poet and as a legislator. In the Escurial is preserved a curious manuscript containing some hymns of his composition; and he was the principal compiler of a code of laws which is still extant under the name of Las Siete Partidas.

Alphonso XI., “The Avenger,” was an infant when he succeeded his father, Ferdinand IV., in 1312. During his long minority the kingdom was cruelly distracted by intestine warfare. Assuming the reins of government in 1324, he strove to repress the turbulent spirit of the nobility, and to put down that system of brigandage to which it had given rise, acquiring by his inflexible severity the title of “The Avenger.” He lost Gibraltar in 1329, but as commander of the allied armies of Catholic Spain, on the 29th Oct. 1340 he gained a complete victory over the kings of Morocco and Granada at the Salado. The slaughter was immense, and the booty so rich that the value of gold is said to have fallen one-sixteenth. In 1342 Alphonso laid siege to Algeciras, where cannon were employed for the first time in Europe by the Moors in defence of their walls. This siege had lasted two years, when the Moors capitulated on condition of a truce between the two nations for ten years; but the king of Castile broke his word a few years after by besieging Gibraltar, where he died of the plague on the 26th March 1350, aged 40. He was succeeded by his son, Pedro the Cruel. From this reign dates the institution of regidors or jurats, to whom was committed the administration of the communes; and these regidors became the exclusive electors of the Cortes, in which the people ceased to have a voice.

2d,—Castile.—Alphonso III.—(according to other enumerations, VIII. or IX.), surnamed “The Noble,” is the only king of Castile of the name who was not also king of Leon. He was born in 1155, and succeeded his father, Sancho III., in 1158. His minority was disturbed by the contention of the two powerful houses of Lara and Castro for the regency; but after his marriage with Eleanor, daughter of Henry II. of England, he was proclaimed sole ruler. After compelling the kings of Aragon, Navarre, and Leon to surrender the territories they had taken possession of during his minority, he turned his arms against the Moors, and at Alarcos, in 1195, sustained one of the most terrible defeats recorded in the annals of Spain. This disaster encouraged the kings of Leon and Navarre to renew their hostilities, which were carried on for several years with varying success. In 1211 the Moors again threatened Castile; but in the following year, Alphonso, along with Pedro II. of Aragon and Sancho VII. of Navarre, gained a most complete and splendid victory over them at La Navas de Tolosa. Alphonso died at Garci Muños in 1214, and was succeeded by his son, Enrique I. Alphonso was a patron of literature, and in 1208 founded a university at Palencia, the first in Christian Spain. This university was afterwards transferred to Salamanca.

3d,—Aragon.—Alphonso I., surnamed El Batallador, “The Fighter,” King of Navarre and Aragon, was the second son of Don Sancho Ramirez, and succeeded his brother Pedro I. in 1104. By his marriage in 1109 with Urraca, daughter and heiress of Alphonso VI. of Leon and Castile, he became her associate in the government of these kingdoms, and in the same year assumed the title of “Emperor of all Spain.” Misunderstandings soon arose between Alphonso and his wife, and he separated from her shortly after their marriage, an act which was confirmed by the council of Palencia in 1114. Alphonso, however, refused to give up his claims to the kingdoms of Leon and Castile, and maintained a constant struggle with Urraca till her death in 1126. Alphonso's chief victories were gained over the Moors. He laid siege to Saragossa for the first time in 1114, but the city was not captured until 1118, after several bloody battles had been fought in its neighbourhood. In 1120 his territories were menaced by a large force sent against him by Ali; but engaging the enemy near Daroca, he left 20,000 Almoravides dead on the field. Three years afterwards, while the king of Marocco was fully occupied at home by the rise of a dangerous sect of Almohades, Alphonso seized the opportunity to invade Valencia. In 1125 he undertook a new expedition against Granada in aid of the Mozarabes or Christian Moors. The Moors in their reprisals invaded Estremadura, and defeated the Castilians near Badajoz. The king of Aragon, so far from rendering his neighbour any assistance, determined to take advantage of the critical position of Alphonso Raymond, as well as of the troubles which the death of Urraca had occasioned in several parts of his dominions, but when on the point of battle the two kings came to an agreement. Alphonso next crossed the Pyrenees, and captured the cities of Bordeaux in 1130, and Bayonne in 1131. On his return to Spain he took Mequinenza from the Moors in 1133, and invested Fraga in 1134, where, during a sally from the town, he received a wound from which he died a few days after.