Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/655

Rh in order to prevent the  from confirming the. These repeated attempts to increase his dignity weakened rather than strengthened the power of Alphonso, and forced him to impose heavy es upon his subjects, and even to the, thus producing much discontent and disturbance, while the  were ever ready to take advantage of any misfortunes that might happen to him. From to  he was engaged in a  with  of, during which his  suffered several defeats. In an insurrection broke out, headed by, brother of the , who was assisted by  of ; it was only quelled after nearly all their demands had been conceded to the rebels. In, when Alphonso was absent on his fruitless journey to , his eldest son, , died, an event which, raising as it did the question of the succession to the , threatened anew to involve the in. , Alphonso's second son, was, according to the of the, proclaimed  by the  at ; but , uncle of the two young sons of , declared  with Alphonso on their behalf; actual  were, however, prevented by the intercession of   In , , irritated probably by some attempt that Alphonso had made to favour the sons of , raised the standard of revolt against his father. , who was a favourite with the people, having secured the assistance of of, reduced his father to such extremities that the latter solemnly cursed and  his son, an  which he confirmed by his  in , and at the same time solicited aid from the  of. At the commencement of the, however, Alphonso, on receiving intelligence from that  was dangerously ill, ed him. Alphonso died a few s afterwards, on 4th. He was a, and a great encourager of , brave and energetic, but at the same time restless and ambitious. He has been charged with, chietly on account of a well-known saying of his, that &ldquo;had he been present at the , he could have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the .&rdquo; To him is indebted for a set of  observations known as the , which were drawn up under his auspices by the best s of the age; and in the  of  a room is still shown as the  of Alphonso. He was also distinguished as a and as a. In the is preserved a curious  containing some s of his ; and he was the principal compiler of a  of s which is still extant under the name of Las Siete Partidas.

, &ldquo;The Avenger,&rdquo; was an infant when he succeeded his father,, in. During his long minority the was cruelly distracted by intestine. Assuming the reins of in, he strove to repress the turbulent spirit of the , and to put down that system of  to which it had given rise, acquiring by his inflexible severity the title of &ldquo;The Avenger.&rdquo; He lost  in , but as commander of the   of  , on the 29th. he gained a complete victory over the s of and  at the. The slaughter was immense, and the booty so rich that the value of is said to have fallen one-sixteenth. In Alphonso laid  to, where  were employed for the first time in  by the  in defence of their s. This  had lasted two s, when the  capitulated on condition of a truce between the two s for ten s; but the  of  broke his word a few s after by  , where he died of the  on the 26th  , aged 40. He was succeeded by his son,. From this reign dates the institution of regidors or s, to whom was committed the of the s; and these s became the exclusive  of the, in which the people ceased to have a voice.

2d,—.——(according to other enumerations, VIII. or IX.), d &ldquo;The,&rdquo; is the only of of the name who was not also  of. He was born in, and succeeded his father,, in. His minority was disturbed by the contention of the two powerful of  and  for the ; but after his marriage with Eleanor, daughter of  of, he was proclaimed. After compelling the s of, , and to surrender the territories they had taken possession of during his minority, he turned his  against the , and at , in , sustained one of the most terrible defeats recorded in the  of. This disaster encouraged the s of and  to renew their, which were carried on for several s with varying success. In the  again threatened ; but in the, Alphonso, along with  of  and  of , gained a most complete and splendid victory over them at. Alphonso died at in, and was succeeded by his son,  Alphonso was a  of , and in  founded a  at , the first in. This was afterwards transferred to.

3d,—.—, d El Batallador, &ldquo;The Fighter,&rdquo; of and, was the second son of, and succeeded his brother  in. By his in  with Urraca, daughter and  of  of  and, he became her associate in the  of these s, and in  assumed the  of &ldquo; of all .&rdquo; Misunderstandings soon arose between Alphonso and his wife, and he separated from her shortly after their , an act which was confirmed by the  of  in. Alphonso, however, refused to give up his claims to the s of and, and maintained a constant struggle with Urraca till her death in. Alphonso's chief victories were gained over the. He laid to  for the first time in, but the  was not captured until , after several bloody s had been fought in its neighbourhood. In his territories were menaced by a large force sent against him by ; but engaging the enemy near, he left 20,000  dead on the field. , while the was fully occupied at home by the rise of a dangerous  of, Alphonso seized the opportunity to invade. In he undertook a new expedition against  in aid of the es or. The in their reprisals invaded, and defeated the  near. The of, so far from rendering his neighbour any assistance, determined to take advantage of the critical position of , as well as of the troubles which the death of Urraca had occasioned in several parts of his dominions, but when on the point of  the two s came to an agreement. Alphonso next crossed the, and captured the of  in , and  in. On his return to he took  from the  in, and   in , where, during a sally from the , he received a wound from which he died a few days after.