Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/654

Rh was compelled to abdicate his, and was in the  of , probably with the intention of making him become a ; but escaping from this place of confinement, he sought refuge with , the   of , who received him with great hospitality. having taken possession of, advanced into against. The two brothers met at, when the ns were defeated with great slaughter, and himself captured and. was in, and Alphonso, after making a  that he was guiltless of his brother's death, was reinstated in , besides receiving his brother's  of. , who had been liberated on the death of his brother, was preparing to recover his, when Alphonso, having ly invited him to his , up in the  of , where he died ten s afterwards. Being now the undisputed master of nearly all 's, Alphonso was at liberty to turn his against the. His first expedition, in, was in defence of of , who had befriended him in his adversity, and  was now invaded by the ns. Some s later, however, disregarding the ties of gratitude, he himself laid waste the territories of, the son and successor of , and ended by taking the of  itself in. Many parts of, hitherto subject to the , were now added to the of Alphonso; and it is not improbable that he would have reduced the  to his sway, had not a new and formidable power arisen, which threatened to undo all he and his predecessors had accomplished. A large army of from, under , one of the , entered , and, with the assistance of ,  of , inflicted a terrible defeat upon Alphonso near , in. Fortunately for the cause, the  chiefs began to quarrel among themselves, and Alphonso was enabled not only to recover his position, but even to extend his conquests in some directions. In, however, the made another serious attempt to destroy the power of Alphonso. A bloody battle was fought at, in which the nese was completely defeated, and Sancho, Alphonso's only son, who commanded in place of his father, slain. Alphonso died at in, and was succeeded by his daughter Urraca, whose ,  of , is by some historians enumerated among the s of  as  Through his  daughter Teresa, whom he gave in  to  of , Alphonso became an ancestor of the s of. , the same as of   of (or VII., according to those who do not consider  as properly a  of ) and II. (or III.) of, often called Alphonso Raymond and &ldquo;The,&rdquo; was born in. He was the son of Urraca, daughter of, and of , her first. In he was proclaimed  of, by whom it does not clearly appear; in  he was associated with his mother in the  of  and ; and on her death in  he became sole. Soon after this event he made upon his stepfather,, in order to recover the territories, properly belonging to  and , which had been lost owing to his mother's mis. The two s came to an agreement about, Alphonso of  having regained most of his possessions. In, Alphonso, elated by the of the  of  and the s of  and , caused himself to be solemnly ed  of. This dignity was, however, little more than a, for of  and  of  declared  upon the new  almost immediately after his elevation. Intestine feuds between the various s of, which resulted in no very definite gain to any of them, lasted until the advance of large   under the  compelled the  to turn against their common foe. Alphonso invaded in, and gained several victories, which contributed greatly to the extension of  territory in. He died in at, on his return from an indecisive battle with  at ; and was succeeded by his elder son, , in the  of , and by his younger, , in that of. In he instituted the, afterwards so celebrated under the name

(VIII.), of only, succeeded his father  in. In he sought to strengthen his position by  his cousin Teresa of. This, being within the, was pronounced null by the , who  Alphonso and his queen until , when they agreed to separate. In Alphonso a second time defied the  authority by marrying his cousin Berengaria, daughter of  of, with a view of putting a stop to the frequent quarrels between the two. As before, the  prevailed, and in  the separation took place,, however, granting that the children already born should be recognised as. After the dissolution of the the old chronic state of feud between the two s returned, and was kept up, although with little actual, until the death of  in. In, , the eldest son of Alphonso and Berengaria, became of. Alphonso, thinking that his own claims had been unjustly passed over, declared upon his son; but finding that the people preferred, he relinquished his claims. The remainder of Alphonso's reign was chiefly spent in campaigns against the. Along with his son, he captured, , and other ; and in gained a brilliant victory over  at. He died in, and was succeeded by his son , who thus finally united the of  and.

, d El Sabio, or &ldquo;The ,&rdquo; of  and, was born in , and succeeded his father  in. He ascended the with the entire approbation of his subjects, and with every prospect of a happy reign; but, through the ill-directed aims of his ambition, few s have been more unfortunate. He first attempted to gain possession of, contending that he had a better right to that than  of. The of, however, proved too formidable; and he agreed to renounce his claim on condition that 's son, afterwards , should marry his sister Eleonora. The was solemnised with great pomp and magnificence towards the end of. Alphonso's next act was to lay claim to the of, which he believed to be his in right of his mother Beatrix, daughter of the late. This claim was passed over, but when advancing it Alphonso formed a connection with the s, and in  became a competitor, against,  of , for the. He was again unsuccessful, the being  by a small majority. In, on the death of , he a second time attempted to make himself of , and even after  of  had actually been , he undertook a fruitless journey to 