ALP 



prince of great learning, and the patron of literature ; and 

 much refpcttcd for piety and virtue, and all princely qua- 

 lities. It is faid, that he compofcd a Clironicle of the 

 Spanifh aflairs from the death of kiirjf Reccfuiiitho to that 

 of his own father Don Ordnrrno. This chronicle hai been 

 incorrcdly puhlinitd by Sandovel, and the later editions 

 have been i:nperfed\. This work was publiflied to the world 

 under the name of Seballian, bifliop of Orcnfa, at whofe 

 requell it was compoled. Mod. Un. Hill. vol. xvi. p. I ^o, 

 141. 



Ali'Honso, (h-Alonso X., furaamed the //'//;•, king of 

 Leon and CalHle, fiicceeded his father, May 30th, in the 

 year 1252, with the general approbation of the people, who 

 regarded him as a prince of g-;-eat qualities and remarkable 

 gencrofity ; though the appclkstion with which he was ho- 

 noured was more the rcftilt of his love and encouragement 

 of fcience than of his r^-gal talents and exploits. The prof- 

 perity of his reign was interrupted by the ill-concerted 

 projeds of his ambition. His firft attempt w?s dircfted 

 againll; Gafcony, to which he pretended a better right th.an 

 Henry 111. of England ; but inftead of fucceeding in en- 

 forcing his claims, he confented to renounce them, on con- 

 dition that Heniy's fon, afterwards king Edwar^ I., fhould 

 marry his fifter Eleonora. He alfo prepared for an expe- 

 dition againll the Moors, in Barbary, at an expence which 

 drained his treafures and obliged him to debafe his coin ; but 

 he was diverted from profccuting it by fupporting claims, 

 derived to him from his mother, to the duchy of Swabia. 

 He was thus led into canneftiou with the German princes, 

 and became a competitor with Richard, earl of Cornwall, 

 for the imperial crow?., a titular honour which coll both 

 thefe rivals immenfe funis of money. The confpiracies of 

 feveral princes of the blood, as they were fupported by the 

 Moors, demanded his fcrious attention ; and he was fuccefs- 

 ful in reftraining and defeating them. In 1268 he formed a 

 romantic defign of viliting Italy, againll which the ftates 

 remonlWated, and which, in deference to their oppofition, he 

 was under a neceffity of relinqulihing. This produced a 

 formidable confpiracy among his fubjefts, and the number of 

 male-cantents became fo confiderable and fo powerful, that a 

 comprom.ife and reconciliation were not effcfled without 

 great rtluflance on their part and condefcenfion on that of 

 the king. After the death of Richard, earl of Cornwall, 

 and even when Rodolph of Hapfburg was aftually elefted 

 emperor of Germany, Alphonfo afpired to this honour ; 

 and, for the purpofe of preventing the pope from confirming 

 his eleftion, he took a journey to Baucaire, in order to have 

 an interview with him ; although in the mean while the 

 Moors, availing themfelvcs of his abfence, were ravaging 

 his dominions. This journey, whilll it was attended with 

 great expence, and produflive of much confufion in his king- 

 dom, proved inefl'eftual ; the pope was not to be convinced 

 of the juftice of his claims ; and he returned difappointed 

 and mortified. In this interval his eldeil fon died ; and the 

 fecond, Don Sancho, claimed the crown againll the children 

 of his elder brother. An aflembly of the dates was con- 

 vened at Segovia, and Sancho's claim was allowed ; but the 

 caufe of the children was maintained by their uncle, Philip 

 the Hardy, king of France ; Alphonfo was thus engaged in 

 a war ; and his own queen. Donna Violante, refented the 

 indignity offered to her grandchildren, and retired to the 

 court of her father, the king of Aragon. In addition to 

 thefe domeftic diireiifions, Alphonfo, engaged in a war with 

 France, was compelled by the pope to renew the war with 

 the Moors, which proved difaftrous ; and having concluded 

 a truce with them, he was engaged in a contell with the 

 Vol. L 



ALP 



king of Grenada. By thefe various mcafures liis fiiian^m 

 were ruined, taxes were multiplied, and the affairs of the 

 kingdom were reduced to fuch diforder, that an afftmbly of 

 the Hates was held at Seville in 12S1, in which the king 

 propofcd, arid the dates acquiefccd, to give a currency to 

 copper money. Anothtr alTcmbly of the dates was held 

 at Valladolid, in confequencc of tlic intrigues of Don San- 

 cho, A. D. 12S2, which deprived Alphonfo of the regal 

 dignity, and appointed Sancho regent. The king, reduced 

 to almod ini'upei-able difiiculties, fought the affidance of the 

 king of Morocco ; folcmnly curfcd and difmherited his fon ; 

 and by his laft will in 12R3 confirmed the aft of exclufion, 

 and appointed, for the fueceffion, the infants de la Cerda, 

 and upon the failure of their heirs, the kings of France, 

 At the commencement of the next year, when Alphonfo 

 received information from Salamanca, that Sancho was dan- 

 geroufly ill, and profcfled the mod (inccre forrow for his 

 undutiful condua to his father, he relented, pardoned his 

 fon, revoked his curfes, and then died on the 4th of April 

 12^4, in the 8 id year of his age. He was buried in the 

 cathcdi-al of Sevillv, and I'i behind him the charadcr of a 

 learned man and a weak king. As a proficient in fcience 

 and a patron of literature, he fu.lains a high and honourable 

 rank. As a politician and leglllator, he comjjleted the code 

 of laws which his father, Don Ferdinand, had begun, known 

 by the title of " Las Partides ;" and he redrefi'ed the con- 

 fufion in law proceedings, oecafioned by intermixing Latin 

 with the vulgar tongue, by obliging his fubjefts to ufc their 

 own language. He alfo con-efted many errors in the datutes 

 of the univeriity of Salamanca ; and caufed a genera! hido'.y 

 of Spain to be compofed in the Cailllian language, which 

 he took pains in pohdiing. But his favourite objeft was 

 aftrononiy ; and to the improvement of this fcience his at- 

 tention and labour were particularly diredted. With this 

 view he afTembled at Toledo, during his father's life, a 

 number of the mod celebrated adronomers of hia time, 

 Chridlans, Jews, and Arabians, from all parts of Europe, 

 for the purpofe of examining the adronomical tables of 

 Ptolemy and corrcaing their errors*. They were employed 

 in this bufinefs for four years, and in 1252, the fird year of 

 Alphonfo's reign, they completed thofe tables which have 

 been denominated Jlphonfun tables, from the name of this 

 prince, who encouraged the condru£llon of them by his 

 liberahty. The fum, expended upon them, is immenfe ; if 

 we may believe the report of thofe who date it at 400,000 

 ducatsf or even that of others who reduce it to 40,000^ 

 Some have afcribed the principal conduct of this work to 

 the Jewidi Rabbi Ifaac Aben-Sald, whlld others, profefiin<r 

 to derive information from the MSS. of Alphonfo, refer it 

 to Alcabitius and Aben-Ragel. The other adronomers who 

 were employed on this occafion were Abcn-Mufa, Moham- 

 med, Jofeph Ben-Ali, and Jacob Abuena, Arabians ; Sa- 

 muel and Jehuda El-Coutfo, Jews ; but the names of the 

 Chridians, if any fuch were ailually engaged, are not known. 

 The epoch of thefe tables was fixed to the 30th of May^ 

 1252, which was the day of his acccfiion to the throne. 

 They were fii-d printed at Venice in 14S3 ; and there arc 

 other editions in 1492, 1521, i;4j, &c. He is alfo faid 

 to have written a book, entitled, -' The Treafure," contain- 

 ing treatifes of rational philofophy, phyfics, and ethics ; 

 and to have been well acquainted witli adrology and che- 

 niidry, in which lad fcience, as report fays, there are two 

 volumes, compiled by him, dill remaining in his Catholic 

 Majedy's libraiy, in cipher. But eonfidering ehe date of 

 this fcience at that period, they mud be more curious than 

 ufeful. Alphonfo has been charged with irr. Ijgion and im- 

 5 E piety, 



