Charles Morris
speaker
7,961 appearances
2 recordings
1 series
first heard Jul 2026
last heard 18 Aug
Charles Morris’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.
Appearances
A hero who perhaps never lived except on paper, but about whose name a stirring cycle of story has grown.
The tale of his life is a tragedy as that of heroes is apt to be, it may be briefly told.
When Charlemagne was on the throne of France, Alfonso II was king of Christian Spain.
A hundred years had passed since all that was left to Spain was the cave of Covadonga, and in that time a small kingdom had grown up, with Oviedo for its capital city.
This kingdom had spread from the Asturias over Leon, which gave its name to the new realm, and the slow work of driving back the Muslim conquerors had well begun.
Alfonso never married and had no children.
People called him Alfonso the Chaste.
He went so far as to forbid any of his family to marry, so that the love affairs of his sister, the fair infanta Himena, ran far from smooth.
The beautiful princess loved and was loved again by the noble Sancho Diaz, Count of Saldania, but the king would not listen to their union.
The natural result followed, as they dared not marry in public, they did so in private, and for a year or two lived happily together, none knowing of their marriage, and least of all the king.
But when a son was born to them the truth came out.
It threw the tyrannical king into a violent rage.
His sister was seized by his orders and shut up in a convent, and her husband was thrown into prison for life, some accounts saying that his eyes were put out by order of the cruel king.
As for their infant son, he was sent into the mountains of the Astorias to be brought up among peasants and mountaineers.
It was known that he had been sent there by Alfonso, and the people believed him to be the king's son and treated him as a prince.
In the healthy outdoor life of the hills he grew strong and handsome, while his native courage was shown in hunting adventures and the perils of mountain life.
When old enough he learned the use of arms, and soon left his humble friends for the army, in which his boldness and bravery were shown in many encounters with the French and the Arabs.
Those about him still supposed him to be the son of the king, though Alfonso, while furnishing him with all knightly arms and needs, neither acknowledged nor treated him as a son.
But if not a king's son he was a very valiant knight, and became the terror of all the foes of Spain.
All this time his unfortunate father languished in prison, where from time to time he was told by his keepers of the mighty deeds of the young Prince Bernardo del Carpio, by which name the youthful warrior was known.
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