Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/653

Rh ALPHEUS, (Ἀλφειός), the chief of, now called Rufia or Rouphi. Its sources are in the s of, to the east of. Being fed by a great number of small streams, it becomes, and traversing , empties itself into the. At several points in its course it runs in a. This fact probably gave rise to the well-known which represents Alpheus, the -, as passing under the  to the , who had been changed into a  in the  of. Milton in his Arcades thus alludes to the story—

 ALPHONSO,,, , or. This, so famous in the of the , has been borne by no fewer than twenty-two of its —viz., by ten of the Asturias and Leon, one of Castile when separate from , five of Aragon, and six of Portugal. 1st, and .—, d &ldquo;The,&rdquo; of the, the son of,  of , was born in. On the death of, the son of , Alphonso, who had , the daughter of , was proclaimed  of. During his whole reign he was engaged in almost perpetual with the, and is said to have wrested , , and  from their hands. His zeal for the, displayed in endowing and repairing and , gained for him his  of &ldquo;The .&rdquo; Alphonso died at  in , and was succeeded by his son , d &ldquo;The,&rdquo; of the, the son of, was but a child when his father was in , and consequently his claims to the  were passed over in favour of , who was probably a cousin of. Alphonso was invested with authority by, the successor of ; on whose death, in , he became. He was afterwards by his uncle, and was compelled to retire into. , after a reign of about five s, was succeeded by, who, in , took Alphonso as his partner on the. reigned for only about four s longer. A rebellion of many of the chief s in compelled Alphonso to surrender his  for the third time; but he was soon afterwards restored, mainly through the assistance of, one of his most faithful followers. In addition to having to defend himself against these internal dissensions, Alphonso was during the greater part of his reign at with the, obtaining, among other successes, a signal victory over ,  of , in. Alphonso died in, in the of , which he had greatly adorned and made the capital of his kingdom. He had some s previously abdicated in favour of, son of. His of &ldquo;The&rdquo; has been connected by some with the legend that he refused to pay the  their tribute of a hundred  s, but is rather to be ascribed to his  to preserve an. , d &ldquo;The Great,&rdquo; of the, was born in, and succeeded his father  in. In, , of , disputed Alphonso's right of succession, and forced him to retire to ; but 's  so exasperated the people that he was  before he had been a  in power, and they gladly recalled Alphonso to the. Other marked the beginning of Alphonso's reign, but he soon felt himself tolerably secure at home, and turned his  against the. By, the in which he gained a splendid victory at , he had, it is said, extended his  to the  of the , and had, by founding and  , made good his hold over a large part of the conquered territory. But Alphonso's victories abroad were greatly neutralised by discontent among his own subjects, who found it difficult to bear the heavy  that had been imposed upon them. There was a rising under in, and another under  in ; and in  a more formidable insurrection broke out, headed by , the 's eldest son. was defeated and ; but as the greater part of the sided with the  in demanding that he should be released, Alphonso, either wishing to prevent a, or thinking that his cause was hopeless, resigned his  to his son in. After his abdication, Alphonso, offering his services to his son in the true spirit of the age, led an expedition against the, in which he gained fresh victories. He died towards the end of the same. He was the last who bore the title  of, his successors being called s of , from the new capital of the. It was in his reign that the s of became independent. There is still extant a, treating of the  from the  invasion down to the death of , which is usually attributed to Alphonso. , &ldquo;The,&rdquo; of, succeeded, his uncle in. On the death of his, , he resigned his to his brother , and retired into a ; but soon growing weary of , he made an attempt to resume the. He was, however, at, and  in the  of , where he died, probably about two and a half s after.

succeeded his father in, being then about five s of age. , of, and his wife, were, by appointment of , guardians of the young ; and on arriving at manhood he  their daughter Elvira. The is remarkable for the defeat and death of the famous   in —a success that led ultimately to the conquest of  by the. Alphonso himself made upon the, recapturing  and other places that had been lost during his minority. Alphonso died at the of  in. He was succeeded in the of  by his son, while the hitherto dependent  of  became a separate  under the  of ,  of , and husband of the eldest daughter of the late.

of, and eventually I. of , surnamed &ldquo;The Valiant,&rdquo; was born in. His father,, who in his own right was of  only, but succeeded to the  of  in right of his , died in , leaving his  divided among his children. , the eldest son, received as his portion ; to Alphonso was given the of, the territory of , part of , and some s in ; and  the youngest brother, received a part of  and of ; while the s of  and  were left to Urraca and Elvira, 's two daughters. Peace was not long maintained between the three brothers. In  made  upon Alphonso, and defeated him in a bloody  at, on the. In, , which seem to have been suspended, again commenced, and Alphonso having recruited his , defeated at a place called , on the  of the ; but the latter, being reinforced, it is said by the famous , commonly called &ldquo;,&rdquo; made an attack during the , and almost exterminated the nese army, Alphonso himself being. He