Alphitomancy

[Gr. alphiton, barley-meal, and manteia, divination. Divination by means of barley-meal. Alphonsin, n. ( Surg.) A kind of instrument for extracting balls, invented by Alphonso Ferrier, a Neapolitan physician. It consists of three branches, which sepаrate from each other by their elasticity, but are capable of being closed by means of a tube in which they are included. Alphon's ine Tables, celebrated astronomical tables, composed under the direction of Alphonso, king of Castile, in 1252. Their principal object was to correct the tables found in Ptolemy's Almagest, which then no longer agreed with the heavens. See ALPHONSO. Alphon'so I., or ALFONSO, king of the Asturias, 739; took Lara and Saldana in Castile, from the Moors, A.D. 757. Alphon'so II. He was called to the throne in 791; D. 847. ALPHON'SO III., or the Great, succeeded his father Ordogno, 866. He waged succe ful wars against the Moors, and abdicated in favor of his eldest son Garcias; but when the Moors threatened the kingdom, he quitted his retirement, and obtained a most signal victory over the enemy. D. at Zamora, 912, universally respected for valor and benevolence. He wrote a chronicle of the Spanish monarchs. ALPHON'SO IV, surnamed the Monk, abdicated in favor of his brother Ramiro, and retired to a monastery. D. at the end of the 10th century. ALPHON'SO V., king of Leon in 999, when 5 years old. Cordova was conquered during his reign. Killed at the siege of Viseu, 1028. ALPHON'SO VI., crowned in 1066. He was a succe fu) warrior, and held under his authority Asturias, Leon, Castile, and Galicia. Had not Spain been invaded by the Almoravides, he would have succeeded in driving the Moors from the peninsula. It was in the reign of this monarch that the Cid achieved the poetical celebrity with which his name has been surrounded by the Spanish romance-writers. ALPHON'SO VII., became Alphonso I. of Aragon; D. 1134. ALPHON'SO VIII. The military order of Calatrava was in stituted during his reign: D. 1157. ALPHON'SO IX., fought against the Moors like his prede ce or; D. 1230. ALPHONSO X., king of Leon and Castile in 1252. He was elected emperor of Germany, but delaying to visit that empire. Rodolphus was chosen in his stead. He was dethroned by his son, and D. 1284. As an astronomer and a man of letters, A. obtained greater fame than as a monarch. He perceived the errors of Ptolemy's tables, and under his direction those tables called the A phonsine tabies were drawn up by the Jew Hazan, and their epoch fixed on the 30th of May, 1332. IMG:content-0147.jpg:[graphic] ALPHONS. XI., succeeded his father Ferdinand IV. in 1312. He took Algesiras and Tarifa from the Moors, and died of the plague in 1350. Alphon'so I., HENRIQUEZ, first king of Portugal, succeeded his father Henry, as count of Portugal, in 1112. In 1139 he obtained a great victory over five Moorish kings, and soon after was proclaimed king by the army, a title which was confirmed by the States, who at the same time settled the law of succe ion.-- A . took Lisbon from the Moors, and made it the capital of his kingdom. D. 1185. ALPHONSO II., D. 1223. ALPHONSO III. He made some conquests over the Mohammedans; D. 1279. ALPHONSO IV., surnamed the Brave, succeeded his father Dionysius, 1325. He was an able sovereign, and distinguished himself against the Moors; but his memory is stained by his unjust treatment of his natural brother, and the cruel murder of Inez de Castro, whom his son Pedro had married against his father's will; D. 1357. ALPHONSO V., B. in 1432, he succeeded his father in 1437, and was a beneficent prince. In his reign Guinea was discovered by the Portuguese. He invaded Africa and took Tangier. D. of the plague at Cintra, in 1481. Alphon'so V., king of Aragon, surnamed the Mag nanimous, succeeded his father, Ferdinand the Just, 1416, as king of Aragon and Sicily, and subsequently, on the death of the queen Joanna, obtained the crown of Naples. His claim was, however, resisted for several years, by René of Anjou. He died 1458, aged 74, leaving the kingdom of Naples to his natural son Ferdinand, and those of Spain, Sardinia, and Sicily to Juan his brother, king of Navarre. He was not only a brave prince, but a man of learning, the patron of literature, and the father of his people. He walked with the greatest familiarity among his subjects, observing to his courtiers, who fancied dangers and conspiracies, that a father has nothing to fear among his children. Seeing once one of his ve els ready to perish, he hastened in a small boat to the a istance of the crew, exclaiming, "I had rather die with you than see you perish.” Alphon'so II., king of Naples, succeeded his father Ferdinand in 1494. He was of so cruel and tyrannical a disposition, that his subjects invited Charles VIII. of France to invade the country. That prince took Naples; and A. , after abdicating the throne, retired to a monastery; D. about 1496. Alphonso XII., king of Spain, B. 1857. In 1875, while residing with his mother, the ex-queen Isabella, in exile, he was declared by the army king of Spain. His reign, which ended with his death in 1885, was but a continual struggle with the Car list insurrection. Alphon'so XIII., king of Spain, B. 1886,.6 months after the death of his father, Alphonso XII. His mother, Maria Christina, is queen regent during his minority. Al'pia, and AL/PIST, n. The seed of the foxtail gra , used for feeding birds. Al'pigene, a. [Lat. alpes, alp, and gignere, to produce.] Growing in Alpine regions.