d it is
evident from all the historians, that Donna Urraca, the heiress of her
father's kingdom, was younger than her half-sister, the wife of Count
Henry.
[197] The Mohammedan Arabs.
[198] _Deliver'd Judah Henry's might confess'd_.--His expedition to the
Holy Land is mentioned by some monkish writers, but from the other parts
of his history it is highly improbable.
[199] Jerusalem.
[200] Godfrey of Bouillon.
[201] Don Alonzo Enriquez, son of Count Henry, had only entered into his
third year when his father died. His mother assumed the reins of
government, and appointed Don Fernando Perez de Traba to be her
minister. When the young prince was in his eighteenth year, some of the
nobility, who either envied the power of Don Perez, or suspected his
intention to marry the queen, and exclude the lawful heir, easily
persuaded the young Count to take arms, and assume the sovereignty. A
battle ensued, in which the prince was victorious. Teresa, it is said,
retired into the castle of Legonaso, where she was taken prisoner by her
son, who condemned her to perpetual imprisonment, and ordered chains to
be put upon her legs. That Don Alonso made war against his mother,
vanquished her party, and that she died in prison about two years after,
A.D. 1130, are certain. But the cause of the war, that his mother was
married to, or intended to marry, Don Perez, and that she was put in
chains, are uncertain.
[202] Guimaraens was the scene of a very sanguinary battle.--_Ed._
[203] The Scylla here alluded to was, according to fable, the daughter
of Nisus, king of Megara, who had a purple lock, in which lay the fate
of his kingdom. Minos of Crete made war against him, for whom Scylla
conceived so violent a passion, that she cut off the fatal lock while
her father slept. Minos on this was victorious, but rejected the love of
the unnatural daughter, who in despair flung herself from a rock, and in
the fall was changed into a lark.
[204] Guimaraens, the scene of a famous battle.--_Ed._
[205] Some historians having related this story of Egas, add, "All this
is very pleasant and entertaining, but we see no sufficient reason to
affirm that there is one syllable of it true."
[206] When Darius laid siege to Babylon, one of his lords, named
Zopyrus, having cut off his own nose and ears, persuaded the enemy that
he had received these indignities from the cruelty of his master. Being
appointed to a chief command in Babylon, he betra
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