Blanche, the mother of St. Lewis, was the daughter of Alphonso the Noble of Castile. She had a sister named Beringira, who became the wife of the King of Leon, and the mother of Ferdinand III. Several historians, among others Mariana and Garibai, maintain that Blanche was older than Beringira. If it were so, St. Lewis was the rightful heir to the throne of Castile. France long asserted the pretensions thus created. It is surprising that historians have not settled this disputed point. One thing, however, is certain: the claims of Ferdinand, sustained as they were by the partiality of the Castilians, prevailed over those of his cousin. {222} FOURTH EPOCH. A, page 132. _Alphonso the Sage, &c._ Alphonso the Sage was a great astronomer: his _Alphonsine Tables_ prove that the happiness of his people occupied his attention as much, at least, as his literary pursuits. It is in this collection that this remarkable sentence occurs--remarkable when it is considered that it expresses the sentiments of a monarch of the thirteenth century: "_The despot uproots the tree: the wise sovereign prunes it._" B, page 135. _In the hope of being elected emperor, &c._ ALPHONSO THE SAGE was elected Emperor of Germany in the year twelve hundred and fifty-seven: but he was at too great a distance from that country, and too much occupied at home, to be able to support his claims to the imperial throne. Sixteen years afterward, however, he made a voyage to Lyons, where Pope Gregory X. then was, to advocate his rights before that dignitary. But the sovereign pontiff decided in favour of Rodolph of Hapsburg, a scion of the house of Austria. C, page 136. _Sancho reigned in his father's stead, &c._ This Sancho, surnamed _the Brave_, who took up arms against his father and afterward obtained his throne, was the second son of Alphonso the Sage. His elder brother, Ferdinand de la Cerda, a mild and virtuous prince, died in the {223} flower of his age, leaving two infant sons, the offspring of his marriage with Blanche, the daughter of St. Lewis of France. It was to deprive these children of their reversionary right to the crown of Castile that the ambitious Sancho made war upon his father. He succeeded in his criminal designs; but the princes of La Cerda, protected by France and Aragon, rallied around them all the malecontents of Castile, and the claims they were thus enabled to support long formed a pretext or occasion for the most bloody dissensions. D, page 149. _Ferdinand IV., surnamed the Summoned, &c._