Exuperantius

The Lives Of The Saints: Volume 05, May · S. Exuperantius, B. of Ravenna, a.d. 418.

S. Exuperantius, B. of Ravenna, a.d. 418.

S. Anastasius, B. of Pavia, a.d. 680.

S. Ferdinand HI., K. ofCastille and Leon , at Seulls , a.d. 1252.

$. FERDINAND III., K.

(a.d. 1252.)

[Roman and Spanish Martyrologies. Authorities A life by Roderick Ximenes, Archbishop of Toledo, a contemporary (d. 1247) in his Spanish Chronicle. Another life by Lucas of Tuy, a contemporary.]

0 WARDS the end of May, 1217, whilst the minor Enrique I., King of Castille, was playing in the court-yard of .the episcopal palace at Palencia, he was killed by a falling tile. His sister Berengaria, who had been married to Alfonso IX. of Leon, from whom she had been reluctantly divorced through the influence of Pope Innocent III., on the score of consanguinity, was now, by the laws of Castille, heiress to the crown. She was proclaimed queen by the nobles, who swore allegiance to her at Valladolid. Immediately afterwards, a stage was erected at the entrance of the city, and there, on August 31st, 1217, nearly three months after the death of Enrique, the queen, in presence of her barons, prelates and people, solemnly resigned the sovereignty into the hands of her son, Ferdinand, son of Alfonso IX. of Leon, who was immediately proclaimed king of Castille.

But Ferdinand III. was not yet in peaceable possession of the crown. He had to reduce the towns which he held for Don Alvaro, who had acted as regent during the minority

422 Lives of the Saints. [May3o.

of Enrique, and what was worse, to withstand his father, the king of Leon, who now invaded the kingdom. Aided by the party of that restless traitor, Alvaro, Alfonso aspired to the sovereignty. He marched to Burgos, which had just acknowledged his son, and in opposition to the entreaties of the clergy, laid waste the domains of that son’s adherents. The Castilian nobles were not slow in com- bining for the defence of their king- they hastened to Burgos in such numbers, and were animated by such a spirit that Alfonso, despairing of success, desisted from his enterprise, and returned home.

Don Alvaro had already been made prisoner by a party of the royal forces ; but released on surrendering the forti- fied places which he held. Of this ill-judged clemency, Ferdinand had soon reason to repent, if the statements of a contemporary authority are to be relied on ; that Alvaro again appeared in arms, and prevaile’d on the king of Leon again to disturb the tranquillity of Castille. It is, however, certain that no actual hostilities broke out a second time between the father and the son, and Alvaro died in dis- grace and poverty in 1219. A complete reconciliation having been effected, the kings of Leon and Castille com- bined to drive the Moslem, a common foe, out of fair Spain. The crusade was published by the Archbishop, Rodrigo Ximenes, and the same indulgences granted to those who assumed the cross in Spain as to those who visited the Holy Land. A multitude from all parts of the peninsula assembled at Toledo, burning to redress the wrongs of Christendom upon the Mohammedan, and drive the infidel into Africa, before the Cross of Christ. The result, however, by no means corresponded with the an- ticipations of the kings, and ended in desultory warfare, irruptions into the territories of the Moors, from Aragon, Castille, Leon, and Portugal. Ferdinand headed none of

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May 30.]

Biographical overview

Exuperantius is the name of: Exuperantius (martyr) (died 286), a servant of Saints Felix and Regula Exuperantius of Poitiers (fl. 417), the father of Palladius Exuperantius of Ravenna (died 477), bishop Exuperantius of Cingoli (fl. 496), a Catholic saint Julius Exsuperantius (5th/6th century), Roman historian

The Lives Of The Saints: Volume 05, May · S. Exuperantius, B. of Ravenna, a.d. 418.

S. Anastasius, B. of Pavia, a.d. 680.

S. Ferdinand HI., K. ofCastille and Leon , at Seulls , a.d. 1252.

$. FERDINAND III., K.

(a.d. 1252.)

[Roman and Spanish Martyrologies. Authorities A life by Roderick Ximenes, Archbishop of Toledo, a contemporary (d. 1247) in his Spanish Chronicle. Another life by Lucas of Tuy, a contemporary.]

0 WARDS the end of May, 1217, whilst the minor Enrique I., King of Castille, was playing in the court-yard of .the episcopal palace at Palencia, he was killed by a falling tile. His sister Berengaria, who had been married to Alfonso IX. of Leon, from whom she had been reluctantly divorced through the influence of Pope Innocent III., on the score of consanguinity, was now, by the laws of Castille, heiress to the crown. She was proclaimed queen by the nobles, who swore allegiance to her at Valladolid. Immediately afterwards, a stage was erected at the entrance of the city, and there, on August 31st, 1217, nearly three months after the death of Enrique, the queen, in presence of her barons, prelates and people, solemnly resigned the sovereignty into the hands of her son, Ferdinand, son of Alfonso IX. of Leon, who was immediately proclaimed king of Castille.

But Ferdinand III. was not yet in peaceable possession of the crown. He had to reduce the towns which he held for Don Alvaro, who had acted as regent during the minority

422 Lives of the Saints. [May3o.

of Enrique, and what was worse, to withstand his father, the king of Leon, who now invaded the kingdom. Aided by the party of that restless traitor, Alvaro, Alfonso aspired to the sovereignty. He marched to Burgos, which had just acknowledged his son, and in opposition to the entreaties of the clergy, laid waste the domains of that son’s adherents. The Castilian nobles were not slow in com- bining for the defence of their king- they hastened to Burgos in such numbers, and were animated by such a spirit that Alfonso, despairing of success, desisted from his enterprise, and returned home.

Don Alvaro had already been made prisoner by a party of the royal forces ; but released on surrendering the forti- fied places which he held. Of this ill-judged clemency, Ferdinand had soon reason to repent, if the statements of a contemporary authority are to be relied on ; that Alvaro again appeared in arms, and prevaile’d on the king of Leon again to disturb the tranquillity of Castille. It is, however, certain that no actual hostilities broke out a second time between the father and the son, and Alvaro died in dis- grace and poverty in 1219. A complete reconciliation having been effected, the kings of Leon and Castille com- bined to drive the Moslem, a common foe, out of fair Spain. The crusade was published by the Archbishop, Rodrigo Ximenes, and the same indulgences granted to those who assumed the cross in Spain as to those who visited the Holy Land. A multitude from all parts of the peninsula assembled at Toledo, burning to redress the wrongs of Christendom upon the Mohammedan, and drive the infidel into Africa, before the Cross of Christ. The result, however, by no means corresponded with the an- ticipations of the kings, and ended in desultory warfare, irruptions into the territories of the Moors, from Aragon, Castille, Leon, and Portugal. Ferdinand headed none of

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May 30.]