still medieval, like nearly all of Europe, but the new age was close at hand. [Sidenote: Alfonso “the Learned.”] [Sidenote: His foreign policy.] Alfonso X “the Learned,” or “the Wise” (1252-1284), was one of the kings whose reign seemed to be a failure, but in fact it was he who sowed the seed which was to bring about an eventual victory for the principles of monarchy and national unity. Besides being a profound scholar Alfonso was a brave and skilful soldier, but his good traits were balanced by his lack of decision and will power, which caused him to be unnecessarily stubborn and extremely variable. He engaged in a number of campaigns against the Moslems, and made some minor conquests, but these wars were of slight consequence except as they bore on his struggles with the nobles. The same thing may be said for Alfonso’s European policy, which aimed not only at the aggrandizement of Castile but also at his acquisition of the title of Holy Roman Emperor. The kings of Castile had long claimed the throne of Navarre, and Alfonso now attempted to invade that realm, but desisted when it seemed that this might lead to complications with Jaime I of Aragon. He also had a legal claim to the Basque province of Gascony, which had come to the throne of Castile as the dowry of the wife of Alfonso VIII, and planned to incorporate it into a _de facto_ part of the kingdom, but he renounced his rights to England upon the marriage of his sister to Prince Edward, the later Edward I, of England. In 1257 the imperial electors chose Alfonso X as Holy Roman Emperor, but many German princes supported the pretensions of an English earl of Cornwall, and on the latter’s death those of Count Rudolph of Hapsburg. For sixteen years Alfonso endeavored to get possession of the imperial title, going to great expense in wars for that purpose, but the opposition of the popes, wars with Granada and with his own nobles, and a general lack of sympathy with the project in Castile combined to prevent him from even making a journey to Germany in order to be crowned. In 1273 Rudolph of Hapsburg was formally chosen emperor, and Alfonso’s opportunity passed. [Sidenote: Causes of his strife with the nobles.]