ALPHONSO VIII. (Raymond.) This prince, born in 1106, was proclaimed king by the states of Galicia met at Compostella; and his mother Uraca, on account of his youth, was associated with him in the government. The contentions that arose from this arrangement were only terminated by the death of Uraca in 1126: after which, Alonzo strove to repress the internal dissensions of his kingdom, and by salutary laws to ameliorate the condition of the country. He then made war on the Moors; and, elated with success, he assembled the cortes at Leon, and was solemnly crowned emperor of Spain. He married Eleanor the daughter of Henry II. of England, a princess of great personal attractions. Her jointure consisted of a part of Castile, Burgos, Medina del Campo, with many other towns, and half of all that should be taken from the Moors. Another expedition
which Alonzo undertook against the Moors in Africa, was signalled by the brilliant victory of Jaen in 1157: but in returning homewards he died, in the fifty-first year of his age, and 31st of his reign. This prince is distinguished in history for his rigid observance of the rights and privileges of his subjects. His daughter Constance was married to Louis VII. le Jeune, king of France; which was the first alliance by marriage between those two crowns. After the example of his predecessors, Alonzo divided the kingdom between his two sons. In 1156 he instituted the order of Saint Julian, which afterwards became so celebrated under the name of Alcantara. See ALCANTARA.
ALPHONSO IX., the Noble, son of Sancho II., was only three years of age on the death of his father in 1158. His minority was disturbed by the contention of two powerful houses for the regency: but when he had attained the age of fifteen he was proclaimed by the cortes assembled at Burgos, and commenced his reign by making war on those Christian kings of Spain who had leagued together to dispossess him of his heritage. After repulsing them, he turned his arms against the Moors; and at Alarcos, in 1195, sustained one of the most disastrous defeats recorded in the annals of Spain. This disaster encouraged the kings of Leon and Navarre to renew their hostilities. About this time occurred a tragical event illustrative of the fierce spirit of the age. A young Jewess, whose beauty had enthralled the king, was accused as the author of all the public calamities; and the nobles, undaunted by the presence of their sovereign, plunged their daggers into her bosom before his eyes. This outrage aroused Alonzo from inactivity, and he soon repaired the defeat at Alarcos by the splendid victory of Tolosa. He died soon after, in 1214. This prince was an encourager of literature, and founded the university of Palencia, the first in Christian Spain.
It ought to be observed that the kingdoms of Castile and Leon were at this time separate: the prince of whom we shall presently speak reigned over the first; and over the latter reigned another Alonzo, also the ninth of the name. He waged war successfully against the Moors, and was the founder of the celebrated university of Salamanca. He died in 1230, having reigned 42 years.
ALPHONSO X., surnamed El Sabio, the Wise or the Learned, succeeded his father Fernando the Good, king of Castile, in the year 1252. He obtained the appellation of wise, not for his political knowledge as a king, but for his scientific and literary accomplishments. In consequence of the general opinion of his princely qualities, and his uncommon generosity, he ascended the throne with universal approbation. The ill-concerted projects of his ambition, however, disturbed the prosperity of his reign. Pretending a better right than Henry III. of England to the territory of Gascony, he directed his first attempt towards its acquisition. The arms of England, however, proved too formidable; and he was compelled to renounce his claim, on condition that Henry's son, afterwards King Edward I., should marry his sister Eleonora. At an expense which drained his treasures, and obliged him to debase his coin, he prepared for an expedition against the Moors in Barbary; but his maternal right to the duchy of Suabia, which he was called to defend, diverted him from it. Thus he formed a connection with the German princes, and became a competitor, with Richard Earl of Cornwall, for the imperial crown, a contest in which they both expended immense sums of money. The claims of several of the princes of the blood gave exercise to his military talents, and he was successful both in opposing and defeating them. He formed the romantic design of visiting Italy in the year 1268; but the states firmly remonstrating, he was obliged to relinquish it. But although he abandoned the design, it produced such discontents among the common
Alphonso. people, and conspiracy among the nobles, that it required considerable exertion before the king could allay the ferment. Alonzo being still desirous to ascend the imperial throne, made another attempt after the death of Richard Earl of Cornwall, and even after Rodolph of Hapsburg was actually elected emperor of Germany; and for that purpose took a journey to Beaucaire, to obtain an interview with the pope, in order to prevent him from confirming the election. The Moors, ever ready to draw the sword against him, took this opportunity of entering his dominions for the purpose of ravaging them. This ambitious journey, undertaken at so vast an expense, and productive of so much confusion in his kingdom, proved unsuccessful; for the pope would not realise his claim, or alter the former election. But his excessive ambition was soon punished by domestic calamity; for his eldest son died in this interval, and his second son Don Sanchez, having obtained great reputation in opposing the infidels, to the prejudice of his brother's children, laid claim to the crown. This claim was admitted by the states of the kingdom; but Philip king of France, supporting the cause of the children, whose mother was his sister Blanche of France, involved Alonzo in a war; which occasioned the retreat of his own queen Yolande or Violante to the court of her father, the king of Aragon. While thus harassed with dissensions, he proclaimed war against France, and by the authority of the pope renewed the war with the Moors, which proved so unfortunate, that he reluctantly concluded a truce with them, and engaged in a contest with the king of Granada.
These various measures exhausted his treasure; taxes were multiplied, and the affairs of the kingdom were in such confusion, that he was under the disagreeable necessity of calling an assembly of the states, which was held at Seville in the year 1281, where, on the king's proposal, the states consented to give a currency to copper money. In consequence of the intrigues of Don Sanchez his son, another assembly of the states was held at Valladolid, A.D. 1282, which deprived Alonzo of the regal dignity, and appointed Sanchez regent. Reduced to almost insurmountable difficulties, Alonzo solemnly cursed and disinherited his son, and by his last will, in the year 1283, confirmed the act of exclusion, and appointed for the succession the infants de la Cerda, and, upon the failure of their heirs, the kings of France; and at the same time supplicated the assistance of the king of Morocco against the power of his son. At the commencement of the next year, when Alonzo received information from Salamanca that Sanchez was dangerously ill, his heart relented. He pardoned his son, revoked his curses, and then died, on the 4th of April 1284, in the eighty-first year of his age. His remains were interred in the cathedral of Seville; and he left behind him the character of a learned man, but a weak king. Alonzo has been charged with irreligion and impiety, chiefly on account of a well-known but differently interpreted saying of his, that "if he had been of God's privy council when he created the world, he could have advised him better."
To this prince science is indebted for the set of astronomical observations known as the Alphonsine Tables, which were drawn up under his auspices by certain Jews of Toledo. In the palace of Segovia a chamber is still shown as the observatory of Alonzo. He was also distinguished as a poet and a legislator. In the Escorial is preserved a curious manuscript containing some hymns of his composition; and he was the principal compiler of that code of laws which is still extant under the title of Las Siete Partidas.