Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

which Ferdinand had undergone in this and for mer expeditions, he took the field early in the ensuing spring, and swept all the places which still remained in the enemy's hands, from Seville to the fall of the Guadalquiver. He then made preparations for carrying the war into Africa; and actually obtained a victory over the Moorish fleet which had been fitted out for the protection of the coast but the execution of his grand design was retarded by his infirmities, and the consciousness of his approaching dissolution induced him to settle the domestic affairs of his kingdom, and to employ himself in acts of piety and humiliation. He is said to have died of a dropsy in the thirty-fifth year of his reign; and his remains were interred, with great solemnity, in the cathedral church of Seville.

A. D.

1252.

Alphonso X. who, for his love of literature, was surnamed the Wise, succeeded his father, with the general approbation of the people; and prosecuted the war against the infidels with extraordinary zeal: but, as he was obliged, on this occasion, to debase his coin, great murmurings were excited in various parts of his dominions. However, the pope granted a crusade in order to facilitate the African expedition; and the attention of the Castilians was agreeably engaged by the marriage of their infanta Eleonora, with prince Edward of England. About the same time the king bestowed the hand of his natural daughter, Beatrix de Guzman, on the king of Portugal; and chastised a revolt which had broken out on the frontiers. Alphonso seems to have been extremely desirous of asserting his right to the duchy of Suabia, and of obtainT2

A. D.

1275.

ing

ing the imperial dignity; and he actually prevailed on several Italian states and princes to approve his design: but, after a prodigious waste of toil and money, he was obliged to abandon this enterprize, and to apply himself to the protection of his hereditary territories, which had been convulsed by the revolt of his own brother, Don Henry, and which were still threatened with the most serious calamities by the intrigues of the recently subjugated infidels. However, he acted with such vigilance and resolution, that his treacherous relative was compelled to flee into Barbary; the Moorish kings of Murcia and Granada were chastised with exemplary rigor; and several places of importance were taken, and re-peopled either with the subjects of the conqueror, or with those of his ally, the king of Arragon.

Had the king, at this juncture, resigned his pretensions to Germany, he might have recovered his former reputation, restored the grandeur of his crown, and prevented those commotions which, afterward, shook the very basis of his authority; but he persisted in his resolution, though the expediency of resignation had been forcibly urged both to him, and his competitor the earl of Cornwall, and the German princes had agreed with the king of Bohemia to proceed to a new election. On the eighth of September, the infant Don Ferdinand espoused, by proxy, the princess Blanche at St. Germains en Laye, and in the ensuing spring the marriage was solemnized, with extraordinary pomp, at Burgos. Whilst Alphonso was labouring, by every possible expedient, to raise money for the accomplishment of his favourite

A.D.

1270.

design,

design, a dangerous conspiracy was formed against him by several Castilian nobles, who soon retired to the king of Granada, and demanded succours from the king of Morocco. However, this unhappy affair was eventually compromised, and the mutual preparations for hostilities were laid aside.

This storm was no sooner overblown than Alphonso received the disagreeable intelligence that Rodolph of Hapsburg was elected emperor of Germany, and that this election was sanctioned by the pope. After a short deliberation,

he resolved to demand an interview with the sovereign pontiff who was then at Baucaire; and accordingly set out on his journey, leaving the government of Leon and Castile in the hands of his son Ferdinand. This action proved remarkably unfortunate; for, during the king's absence, the Moors received some powerful reinforcements from Africa, with which they gained some important advantages over the Castilians; the infant Ferdinand contracted a fever in the campaign, which soon put a period to his existence; the archbishop of Toledo and Don Nugnez de Lara were slain by the infidels; and Alphonso was obliged to return without effecting his purpose relative to the affairs of Germany.

A. D.

1275.

Upon the arrival of Alphonso in his own dominions, his second son, Don Sancho, who had just concluded a truce with the Moors, demanded that he should be declared heir apparent to the crown, in preference to the issue of his eldest brother. This proposal was laid before an assembly of the states at Segovia, and granted, without opposition. However, the king of France interposed on behalf of his daughter's

T 3

daughter's children, and resented so highly the conduct of Alphonso that he would immediately have had recourse to the sword, had not that design been retarded by the interference of his nobility.

The queen of Castile was so deeply mortified at the slight which had been put upon the memory of her eldest son, by the late edict, that she took the first opportunity of returning to her father's court at Arragon; where also the princess Blanche and the two infants sought an asylum. This retreat roused the king's indignation; and Sancho expressed his rage by putting his uncle Frederic and Don Simon Ruez de los Cameres to death, because those noblemen had been privy to the queen's design. After some time, however, the quarrel ir the royal family was compromised; the queen consented to return to her royal consort; the princess Blanche returned into France; and the two infants remained under the protection of the king of Arragon.

A. D.

About this time Alphonso was compelled, by pope Nicholas III. to renew 1277. the war with the infidels: his exertions, however, were attended with so little success, that he soon found it expedient to conclude a peace with the king of Morocco, though his son, Don Sancho, insisted upon carrying on hostili ties against the crown of Granada.

As his affairs, at this juncture, were in a distracted situation, Alphonso convened an assembly of the states at Seville, where he expatiated on the necessity of raising supplies by giving a currency to copper; and observed that he had terminated all disputes with the French court,

by

2

by promising the kingdom of Murcia to the infant Don Alonso de la Cerda and his heirs, on condition of their paying homage to the kings of Castile. The proposed expedient relative to copper money was adopted, with little opposition; but, on this declaration concerning the sovereignty of Murcia, the greatest part of the members retired in disgust, and in the ensuing spring Don Sancho was solemnly invested with the regency at Valladolid, under the specious pretence that age and infirmities had rendered his father incapable of government. His brothers, Juan and Pedro, also concurred in this treasonable measure, and cruelly abandoned their parent in his old age,

Alphonso hearing of these circumstances, and finding himself deserted by the kings of Arragon, France, and Portugal, demanded assistance' of the king of Morocco, who, in a short time, landed in Spain and espoused the cause of the royal sufferer. Don Sancho resolved upon opposing force to force, and acted in such an undutiful manner, that his father was induced to disinherit him by a solemn act, and to bequeath his curse both to him and his adherents: but, after several violent struggles, the infant professed a lively repentance for his conduct; and Alphonso was persuaded to revoke his malediction, a few days prior to his dissolution, which happened on the fourth of April 1284.

The character of this prince has been variously delineated, according to the tempers or prejudices of those who have undertaken to transmit his memoirs to posterity. His contemporaries, however, have asserted that he was naturally of an open and cheerful disposition, affable in conversation,

« ZurückWeiter »