The Junior Classics, Volume 4: Heroes and heroines of chivalry
General
The Junior Classics, Volume 4: Heroes and heroines of chivalry
Children's literature
Great was the love which the Infanta Donya Urraca bore to her brother
King Don Alfonso, and when she heard that he was made prisoner, she
feared lest he should be put to death: and she took with her the Count
Don Peransures, and went to Burgos. And they spake with the Cid, and
besought him that he would join with them and intercede with the king
that he should release his brother from prison, and let him become a
monk. Full willing was the Cid to serve in any thing the Infanta Donya
Urraca, and he went with her before the king. And she knelt down
before the king her brother, and besought him that he would let their
brother Don Alfonso take the habit of St. Benedict, in the royal
Monastery of Sahagun. And the king took my Cid aside, and asked
counsel of him what he should do; and the Cid said, that if Don
Alfonso were willing to become a monk, he would do well to set him
free upon that condition, and he besought him so to do. Then King Don
Sancho, at my Cid's request, granted to Donya Urraca what she had
asked. And Don Alfonso became a monk in the Monastery at Sahagun, more
by force than of free will. And being in the monastery he spake with
Don Peransures, and took counsel with him, and fled away by night from
the monks, and went among the Moors to King Alimaymon of Toledo. And
the Moorish king welcomed him with a good will, and did great honour
to him, and gave him great possessions and many gifts.
But when King Don Sancho heard how his brother had fled from the
monastery, he drew out his host and went against the city of Leon. The
Leonese would fain have maintained the city against him, but they
could not, and he took the city of Leon, and all the towns and castles
which had been under the dominion of his brother King Don Alfonso. And
then he put the crown upon his head, and called himself king of the
three kingdoms. He was a fair knight and of marvellous courage, so
that both Moors and Christians were dismayed at what they saw him do,
for they saw that nothing which he willed to take by force could stand
against him. And he went forth with his army, and took from the
Infanta Donya Elvira the half of the Infantazgo [Footnote: Inherited
land] which she possessed, and also from Donya Urraca the other half.
And he went against Toro, the city of Donya Elvira, and took it, and
then he went to Zamora to Donya Urraca, bidding her yield him up the
city, and saying that he would give her lands as much as she required
in the plain country. But she returned for answer, that she would in
no manner yield unto him that which the king her father had given her;
and she besought him that he would suffer her to continue to dwell
peaceably therein, saying that no disservice should ever be done
against him on her part.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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