By H. Salvador Martínez. Translated by Odile Cisneros
Brill, 2010
ISBN: 978 90 04 18147 2
Publisher’s Synopsis: Recent publications about King Alfonso X have tended to focus on his role as monarch in the context of the institutions of the realm. This book, however, emphasizes the human dimension of this extraordinary figure. Drawing on King Alfonso’s own works and on extensive archival sources, both well-known and neglected, Salvador Martínez brings to life a king who valued the possession of knowledge above all earthly riches. The ‘Learned King’ left a vast legacy of work, which would influence developments in both Spain and Europe, most significantly in the transfer of knowledge from the Arabs to the Christian West. With his intellectual curiosity and his pursuit of wisdom, Alfonso X is a towering figure at the origins of modernity.
Table of Contents
Introduction: The ‘Alfonsine Era’
1. The Apprenticeship of a Great King
2. A Prince’s Education
3. Alfonso King
4. The Quest for the Imperial Crown
5. Alfonso, King of the Romans
6. Gregory X and the End of Imperial Ambitions
7. Illness and Intellectual Pursuits
8. The Black Decade (1269-1279)
9. The Nobles’ Rebellion
10. Desnaturación
11. The Problems of Succession
12. Don Sancho is Declared Successor
13. Deposition and Civil War
14. Don Sancho Seeks the Consolidation of Power: The Curse
By H. Salvador Martínez. Translated by Odile Cisneros
Brill, 2010
ISBN: 978 90 04 18147 2
Publisher’s Synopsis: Recent publications about King Alfonso X have tended to focus on his role as monarch in the context of the institutions of the realm. This book, however, emphasizes the human dimension of this extraordinary figure. Drawing on King Alfonso’s own works and on extensive archival sources, both well-known and neglected, Salvador Martínez brings to life a king who valued the possession of knowledge above all earthly riches. The ‘Learned King’ left a vast legacy of work, which would influence developments in both Spain and Europe, most significantly in the transfer of knowledge from the Arabs to the Christian West. With his intellectual curiosity and his pursuit of wisdom, Alfonso X is a towering figure at the origins of modernity.
Table of Contents
Introduction: The ‘Alfonsine Era’
1. The Apprenticeship of a Great King
2. A Prince’s Education
3. Alfonso King
4. The Quest for the Imperial Crown
5. Alfonso, King of the Romans
6. Gregory X and the End of Imperial Ambitions
7. Illness and Intellectual Pursuits
8. The Black Decade (1269-1279)
9. The Nobles’ Rebellion
10. Desnaturación
11. The Problems of Succession
12. Don Sancho is Declared Successor
13. Deposition and Civil War
14. Don Sancho Seeks the Consolidation of Power: The Curse
15. The Last Wills of Alfonso X
Conclusion: In Praise of Knowledge
Click here to go to the Publisher’s website
Related Posts
Subscribe to Medievalverse