ALPHONSO V. king of Arragon and Naples, succeeded his father in the year 1416. As the father had formerly been honoured with the appellation of Just, so the son was honoured with that of Magnanimous. The conspiracy of some of his own nobles against his life, together with the insolence of Pope Benedict XIII, greatly disturbed the tranquillity of his reign. Fortunately this conspiracy was discovered just when it was about to be carried into execution; and instead of proceeding with rigour against the conspirators, he generously tore a paper containing their names without reading, and added, "that he would at least force them to acknowledge that he had a greater regard for their lives than they had for his." After quelling a disturbance in Sardinia, he was just making preparations to advance to Sicily, when Joan of Naples offered, if he would assist her against the pope, the duke of Anjou, and the constable Sforza, who had formed a confederacy to depose her, to adopt him as her son and heir. He readily accepted the proposal, and with a powerful army soon raised the siege of Naples, and was immediately declared heir apparent of her kingdom, and duke of Calabria. But as the queen was unfaithful, and did not fulfil her engagements, Alphonso took possession of Naples, and expelled her from it; but when the duke of Anjou again entered her territories, and made himself master of great part of them, she was obliged to renew her solicitations to Alphonso; who, in the year 1434, involved himself in a quarrel with the duke of Milan and the republic of Genoa, by besieging Gaeta in a second attempt to conquer Naples. The Genoese fleet engaged Alphonso; and all his ships were dispersed or destroyed, and himself taken prisoner. But such was the address of this prince, that when carried to Milan a prisoner, he there ingratiated himself so much into the duke's favour, that he became his friend and ally, and soon rose to greater power than formerly.
He got possession of Naples in 1443, and in an assembly of the states held at Beneventum, and then transferred to Naples, his sovereignty was recognized, and his son, Don Ferdinand, declared successor to the throne, and in consequence of this elevation he was deemed the sole arbiter of peace and war through all Italy. Naples became the residence of Alphonso during the remainder of his life: but his declining years were much disquieted by political dissensions and intrigues. The natural attendants of jealous old age at last
Alphonso, last seized him; and in consternation and dread, he was removed from one castle of Naples to another, until he breathed his last on the 22d of June 1468, bequeathing to his natural son Ferdinand the kingdom of Naples, and to his brother Don Juan, king of Navarre, the kingdoms of Arragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia, Sicily, and the principality and dependencies of Catalonia. Alphonso was not only deemed the ablest statesman, and the most renowned military commander in that age, but also the greatest prince that ever occupied the throne of Arragon. He was a distinguished patron of learning, and opened an asylum for the Greek literati expelled from Constantinople. His device was an open book. He frequently uttered this expression, "That an unlettered prince was but a crowned ass." He was brave and liberal; and in all his negotiations he disdained the mean artifices of intrigue and dissimulation. It is reported that his perusal of Quintus Curtius cured him of a disorder with which he was attacked at Capua. Such was his familiar intercourse with his subjects, and his affection towards them, that he walked unarmed and unaccompanied in his capital; and was wont to say, "that a father has nothing to fear in the midst of his children." While he was besieging Gaeta, he dismissed the women and children that were turned out of the town without any injury, saying, "That he had rather lose any city in his dominions than lose the reputation of humanity." He leaped into a shallop for the relief of one of his galleys, which with its whole crew and soldiers was just about to perish, exclaiming, "I had rather share than witness their calamity." Such was his generosity, that upon hearing an officer who saw his treasurer bringing him 10,000 ducats, exclaiming, "I should only wish that sum to make me happy." "You shall be so," said Alphonso, and gave him the money in a present. He deemed dancing a certain degree of madness; but was strongly addicted to women, which involved him in many dishonourable intrigues, and justly entailed upon him the disgrace of an unfaithful husband to a kind and affectionate queen. (Mod. Univ. Hist.)