DONA TEREA.
Alfonso the Fifth of Leon was but an infant when his father's deathlaid on him the charge of resisting the advance of the Moslem,which was the inheritance of all Spanish sovereigns for so manycenturies. His mother, Elvira, ruled the kingdom during his minoritywith great prudence and courage, defeated the Infidels in severalencounters, and cultivated in her son all the qualities of a greatsovereign. So well did her instructions prosper, that at the age offifteen he was called to reign in his own name; and from the seclusionof a convent, whither she retired when the country no longer requiredher, his mother had frequent occasion to return thanks to heaven forthe noble qualities her boy exhibited. For many years he continued thepride of the nation and the dread of its enemies; prosperity blessedthe people at home, and their borders were continually enlarged bythe success of his arms.
Success, though pleasant, is not always good. Alfonso, underits influence, at one time grew heedless of the dictates of hisreligion. On one occasion, being about to conclude a treaty of peacewith Andalla, the Moorish king of Toledo, that prince asked the handof his sister, Dona Terea, as one of the conditions of the treaty. Theking's counsellors were struck with horror, at the thought of handingover a Christian maiden to an Infidel husband, the people expressedtheir indignation aloud, and Dona Terea herself implored piteouslyto be spared.
As I have said, success had spoiled Alfonso's nature; he was soaccustomed to succeed in every thing, that he could not bear to becrossed even by righteous counsel. It seemed something fine to dowhat every one else was afraid of; he would not show himself so weak,not he. He would give his sister to the Moorish king in spite ofthem all, and show them he was superior to their prejudices. Besides,he further justified it to himself, because Andalla undertook on thiscondition to help him in his campaign against the other Moorish kings;forgetting that we must never do a wrong action for the sake of anyadvantageous result we may fancy it will bring.
Dona Terea, on the other hand, felt the full misery of hersituation. No specious arguments blinded her. She felt it both wrongand repugnant; and besides, there was many a gallant, handsomeknight ready to risk his life to win her love, and on whom shemight have bestowed it in joy to herself and without violence to herconscience. Too young to have fixed her choice, she still had hersecret preference dearly nursed, but not yet acknowledged so as togive the object of it the right to stand forth as her defender.
Now, a blight was over all her hopes; her bridal day, instead ofan occasion of hope and gladness, was to be a day of desolation anddespair. The prelates and great men of the kingdom offered themselveswillingly to represent her grief to the king; but they could not movehim, and when he sent the envoy who was to conduct her to Toledo,she was found in an agony on her knees, imploring deliverance from onHigh. Even this, however, did not move the king's heart; and poor DonaTerea was dragged off, more dead than alive, to be the Moor's bride.
Her beautiful golden hair--a romance of the time particularly recordsthe tint--hung untended over her shoulders; the colour had fled fromher tear-worn cheeks, and the expression from her dark-glancing eyes;for it seemed as if God, on whom she called so passionately to deliverher, had forsaken her in her hour of need.
And thus she was brought to Andalla, King of Toledo, who was toomuch pleased to have a beautiful Christian maiden for his bride tolisten to her appeal to his magnanimity to release her. But when shefound that all her gentle supplications were of no avail, she seemedsuddenly inspired with a fire of queenly indignation; and, assuminga commanding attitude, she said solemnly, "Moor, of another law farremoved from mine, know that I desire not to be united with thee,and thy presence is a burden to me; but if thou art sacrilegiouslydetermined to marry me against my will, know that we Christians eachat our baptism have a guardian angel given to us, to defend us fromthe power of evil; and so sure as thou respectest not the differencethere is between thy belief and mine, that guardian spirit shallvindicate me and smite thee with his two-edged sword."
But Andalla only thought this exhibition of indignation made herlook prettier; and laughing at the threatened visitation, persistedin making her his wife. His neighbours counted him singularly luckyin the possession of such a prize; and he thought himself happyindeed. Nevertheless, from the day of his marriage, a strangeillness had assailed him. Though still in the prime of manhood,an unaccountable weakness overtook him; first his sight failed,and then his hearing, then his taste, then his strength; and all theclever physicians of the Moorish dominions failed, not only to givehim any relief, but even to guess at the cause of the malady.
Driven thus to think within himself, he recalled the solemn warningof Dona Terea, and fear overtook him that her words were comingtrue. The moment he realized his danger, he sent for her and askedher if she still wished to return to her own country; to which sheof course replied, that it was what she must always most desire. Sohe summoned the most honourable men of his kingdom, and gave DonaTerea in charge to them, and sent them to convey her back to herown country; and, moreover, put in their hands priceless presentsof gold and precious stones, to make amends in the best way in hispower, and also to testify that he did it to satisfy the scruples ofthe princess, and not out of any disrespect to the Christian king,of whose religion he now stood in great fear.
And Alfonso the Fifth, what became of him? Had he heard the Moorishking's embassage, he too might have been brought to the knowledgeof his error, and to repentance; but when it arrived at the capitalof Leon, he was already gone out on an expedition in which, by hisunholy alliance, the infidel forces were mingled with his own. Inhigh spirits, they marched along, crossing the Douro, fearing noopposition, for the Moorish population was at the time divided bymany internecine feuds, and were hence precluded from assemblingagainst him in any large numbers. Thus he came to Viseo, a strongplace defended by a considerable garrison. Alfonso determined to laysiege to it. The army was accordingly encamped before it, and wisemeasures for its reduction promulgated, for Alfonso was a skilfulgeneral. Never doubting of his luck, however, he neglected thoseprecautions which would have suggested themselves to a less successfulman. The weather was sultry, and the heavy armour irksome. Alfonso,unused to restraint, heedlessly cast his cuirass aside, yet, withhis accustomed bravery, showed himself under the walls as before,too self-confident to listen to counsel.
A sharp-eyed Moor upon the battlements detected the advantage he hadgiven to his enemies, and letting fly a poisoned arrow aimed with thenice precision which the greatness of the venture inspired, gave hima mortal wound.
Thus he was cut down in early manhood, and the care of the kingdomonce more left in the hands of an infant.
But Dona Terea reached home in peace; and passed the rest of her dayspraying for the brother who had so sadly wronged her, in the Conventof Las Huelgas--one of the present architectural glories of Spain.