Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was
King of Castile,
León and
Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the
election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be
king of Germany
This is a list of monarchs who ruled over East Francia, and the Kingdom of Germany (''Regnum Teutonicum''), from the division of the Frankish Empire in 843 and the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 until the collapse of the German Empi ...
on 1 April. He renounced his claim to Germany in 1275, and in creating an alliance with the
Kingdom of England in 1254, his claim on the
Duchy of Gascony
The Duchy of Gascony or Duchy of Vasconia ( eu, Baskoniako dukerria; oc, ducat de Gasconha; french: duché de Gascogne, duché de Vasconie) was a duchy located in present-day southwestern France and northeastern Spain, an area encompassing the ...
as well.
Alfonso X fostered the development of a cosmopolitan court that encouraged learning. Jews, Muslims, and Christians were encouraged to have prominent roles in his court. As a result of his encouraging the translation of works from Arabic and Latin into the vernacular of Castile, many intellectual changes took place, including the encouragement of the use of
Castilian as a primary language of higher learning, science, and law.
Alfonso was a prolific author of
Galician poetry
Galician-language literature is the literature written in Galician. The earliest works in Galician language are from the early 13th-century ''trovadorismo'' tradition. In the Middle Ages, ''Galego-português'' (Galician-Portuguese) was a language ...
, such as the ''
Cantigas de Santa Maria
The ''Cantigas de Santa Maria'' (, ; "Canticles of Holy Mary") are 420 poems with musical notation, written in the medieval Galician-Portuguese language during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile ''El Sabio'' (1221–1284). Traditionally, they a ...
'', which are equally notable for their musical content as for their literary merit. Alfonso's scientific interests—he is sometimes nicknamed the Astrologer (''el Astrólogo'')—led him to sponsor the creation of the
Alfonsine tables, and the
Alphonsus crater
Alphonsus is an ancient impact crater on the Moon that dates from the pre-Nectarian era. It is located on the lunar highlands on the eastern end of Mare Nubium, west of the Imbrian Highlands, and slightly overlaps the crater Ptolemaeus to the no ...
on the moon is named after him. He also sponsored the work of historians, who for the first time placed Spain—he would have called it that—in the context of world history. As a lawmaker he introduced the first vernacular law code in Castile, the ''
Siete Partidas
The ''Siete Partidas'' (, "Seven-Part Code") or simply ''Partidas'', was a Castilian statutory code first compiled during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile (1252–1284), with the intent of establishing a uniform body of normative rules for the ...
''. He created the
Mesta
The ''Mesta'' () was a powerful association protecting livestock owners and their animals in the Crown of Castile that was incorporated in the 13th century and was dissolved in 1836. Although best known for its organisation of the annual migrat ...
, an association of sheep farmers in the central plain, but debased the coinage to finance his claim to the German crown. He fought a successful war with
Portugal, but a less successful one with
Granada. The end of his reign was marred by a civil war with his eldest surviving son, the future
Sancho IV, which continued after his death.
Life
Early life
Born in Toledo, Kingdom of Castile, Alfonso was the eldest son of
Ferdinand III and
Elizabeth (Beatrice) of Swabia. His mother was the paternal cousin of
Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, to whom Alfonso is often compared. His maternal grandparents were
Philip of Swabia and
Irene Angelina. Little is known about his upbringing, but he was most likely raised in Toledo. For the first nine years of his life Alfonso was only heir to Castile until his paternal grandfather king
Alfonso IX of León died and his father united the kingdoms of Castile and
León. He began his career as a soldier, under the command of his father, when he was only sixteen years old.
After the accession of King
Theobald I of Navarre, Ferdinand tried to arrange a marriage for Alfonso with Theobald's daughter,
Blanche, but the move was unsuccessful. At the same time, he had a romantic relationship with
Mayor Guillén de Guzmán, who bore him a daughter,
Beatrice.
In 1240, he married Mayor Guillén de Guzmán, but the marriage was later annulled and their issue declared illegitimate. In the same period (1240–1250) he conquered several Muslim strongholds in
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the Mu ...
alongside his father, such as
Murcia
Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...
,
Alicante
Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in the ...
and
Cadiz.
In 1249, Alfonso married
Violant, the daughter of King
James I of Aragon and
Yolande of Hungary
Violant of Hungary ( hu, Jolán; ca, Iolanda or Violant d'Hongria; es, Yolanda or Violante de Hungría; c. 1215 – c. 1251) was the queen of Aragon from 1235 until 1251 as the second wife of King James I of Aragon. A member of the Hungarian ...
, although betrothed already in 1246.
Reign
Alfonso succeeded his father as King of Castile and León in 1252. The following year he invaded Portugal, capturing the region of the
Algarve
The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese).
The region has its ...
. King
Afonso III of Portugal
Afonso III (; rare English alternatives: ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse''), or ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese), ''Alfonso'' or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin), the Boulonnais ( Port. ''o Bolonhês''), King of Portugal ( ...
had to surrender, but he gained an agreement by which, after he consented to marry Alfonso X's daughter
Beatrice of Castile, the land would be returned to their heirs. In 1261 he
captured Jerez. In 1263 he returned Algarve to the King of Portugal and signed the
Treaty of Badajoz (1267).
In 1254 Alfonso X signed a treaty of alliance with King
Henry III of England, supporting him in the war against King
Louis IX of France
Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the ...
. In the same year Alfonso's half-sister,
Eleanor
Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
The name was intro ...
, married Henry's son
Edward: with this act Alfonso renounced forever all claim to the
Duchy of Gascony
The Duchy of Gascony or Duchy of Vasconia ( eu, Baskoniako dukerria; oc, ducat de Gasconha; french: duché de Gascogne, duché de Vasconie) was a duchy located in present-day southwestern France and northeastern Spain, an area encompassing the ...
, to which Castile had been a pretender since the marriage of
Alfonso VIII of Castile
Alfonso VIII (11 November 11555 October 1214), called the Noble (''El Noble'') or the one of Las Navas (''el de las Navas''), was King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo. After having suffered a great defeat with his own army at ...
with
Eleanor of England
Eleanor of England ( es, Leonor; – 31 October 1214), was Queen of Castile and Toledo as wife of Alfonso VIII of Castile. She was the sixth child and second daughter of Henry II, King of England, and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Early life and fam ...
.
Imperial election
In 1256, at the death of
William II of Holland
William II (February 1227 – 28 January 1256) was the Count of Holland and Zeeland from 1234 until his death. He was elected anti-king of Germany in 1248 and ruled as sole king from 1254 onwards.
Early life
William was the eldest son and heir ...
, Alfonso's descent from the Hohenstaufen through his mother, a daughter of Philip of Swabia, gave him a claim through the
Hohenstaufen line. Alfonso's election as
German king by the
prince-electors misled him into complicated schemes that involved excessive expense but never succeeded. Alfonso never even traveled to Germany, and his alliance with the Italian
Ghibelline Lord
Ezzelino IV da Romano
Ezzelino III da Romano (25 April 1194, Tombolo7 October 1259) was an Italian feudal lord, a member of the Ezzelino family, in the March of Treviso (in modern Veneto). He was a close ally of the emperor Frederick II ( r. 1220–1250), and ruled ...
deprived him of the initial support of
Pope Alexander IV. His rival,
Richard of Cornwall
Richard (5 January 1209 – 2 April 1272) was an English prince who was King of the Romans from 1257 until his death in 1272. He was the second son of John, King of England, and Isabella, Countess of Angoulême. Richard was nominal Count of Po ...
, went to Germany and was crowned in 1257 at
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
.
To obtain money, Alfonso debased the coinage and then endeavored to prevent a rise in prices by an arbitrary
tariff
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and po ...
. The little trade of his dominions was ruined, and the burghers and peasants were deeply offended. His nobles, whom he tried to cow by sporadic acts of violence, rebelled against him in 1272. Reconciliation was bought by Alfonso's son Ferdinand in 1273.
In the end, after Richard's death, the German princes elected
Rudolph I of Habsburg (1273), Alfonso being declared deposed by
Pope Gregory X
Pope Gregory X ( la, Gregorius X; – 10 January 1276), born Teobaldo Visconti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 September 1271 to his death and was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order. He was ...
. In 1275 Alfonso tried to meet with his imperial vicar in Italy,
William VII of Montferrat
Guillaume VII de Montferrat.
William VII (c. 1240 – 6 February 1292), called the Great Marquis ( it, il Gran Marchese), was the twelfth Marquis of Montferrat from 1253 to his death. He was also the titular King of Thessalonica.
Biography ...
(who had succeeded Ezzelino) and his Ghibelline allies in
Piedmont and
Lombardy to celebrate the victory against the Guelph
Charles I of Anjou
Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–85) and Forcalquier (1246–48, 1256–85) i ...
and be crowned in Lombardy; he was however halted in his imperial ambitions in Provence by the Pope who, after a long negotiation, obtained Alfonso's oral renunciation of any claims to the Holy Roman Empire.
Civil war
Throughout his reign, Alfonso contended with the nobles, particularly the families of
Nuño González de Lara,
Diego López de Haro and
Esteban Fernández de Castro
Esteban Fernández de Castro (13th-century) was a Galician nobleman, Lord of Lemos and Sarria.
Biography
Esteban was the son of Fernán Gutiérrez de Castro and Mélia Iñiguez de Mendoza. His wife was Aldonza daughter of Rodrigo Afonso de ...
, all of whom were formidable soldiers and instrumental in maintaining Castile's military strength in frontier territories. According to some scholars Alfonso lacked the singleness of purpose required by a ruler who would devote himself to organization and also the combination of firmness with temper needed for dealing with his nobles although this is not a view taken by all. Others have argued that his efforts were too singularly focused on the diplomatic and financial arrangements surrounding his bid to become Holy Roman Emperor.
Alfonso's eldest son,
Ferdinand
Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...
, died in 1275 at the
Battle of Écija against the Moroccan and
Granadan invasion armies, leaving two infant sons. Alfonso's second son,
Sancho, claimed to be the new heir, in preference to the children of Ferdinand de la Cerda, basing his claim on an old Castilian custom, that of
proximity of blood and
agnatic seniority
Agnatic seniority is a patrilineal principle of inheritance where the order of succession to the throne prefers the monarch's younger brother over the monarch's own sons. A monarch's children (the next generation) succeed only after the males o ...
. Alfonso preferred to leave the throne to his grandsons, but Sancho had the support of the nobility. A bitter civil war broke out resulting in Alfonso's being forced in 1282 to accept Sancho as his heir instead of his young grandsons; only the cities of
Seville,
Murcia
Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...
and
Badajoz
Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populati ...
remained faithful to him. Son and nobles alike supported the
Moors when he tried to unite the nation in a crusade; and when he allied himself with
Abu Yusuf Yakub
Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq () (c. 1212 – 20 March 1286) was a Marinid ruler of Morocco. He was the fourth son of Marinid founder Abd al-Haqq, and succeeded his brother Abu Yahya in 1258. He died in 1286. He was the son of Abd al-Haqq ...
, the ruling
Marinid Sultan of Morocco, they denounced him as an enemy of the faith. A reaction in his favor was beginning in his later days, but he died defeated and deserted at Seville in 1284, leaving a will, by which he endeavored to exclude Sancho, and a heritage of civil war.
Economic policy
In 1273, he created the
Mesta
The ''Mesta'' () was a powerful association protecting livestock owners and their animals in the Crown of Castile that was incorporated in the 13th century and was dissolved in 1836. Although best known for its organisation of the annual migrat ...
, an association of some 3,000 petty and great sheep holders in Castile, in reaction to less wool being exported from the traditional sites in England.
This organization later became exceedingly powerful in the country (as wool became Castile's first major exportable commodity
and reported a trade surplus, called "white gold", as the wool amount was critical to the health of the population during the winter), and eventually its privileges were to prove a deadly wound in the Castilian economy. One side effect of the quickly expanding sheep herds was the decimation to the Castilian farmland through which the sheep grazed.
The original function of the Mesta was to separate the fields from the sheep-ways linking grazing areas.
Legislative activity
As a ruler, Alfonso showed legislative capacity, and a wish to provide the kingdoms expanded under his father with a
code of laws
A code of law, also called a law code or legal code, is a systematic collection of statutes. It is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the cod ...
and a consistent judicial system. The ''Fuero Real'' was undoubtedly his work. He began medieval Europe's most comprehensive code of law, the ''
Siete Partidas
The ''Siete Partidas'' (, "Seven-Part Code") or simply ''Partidas'', was a Castilian statutory code first compiled during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile (1252–1284), with the intent of establishing a uniform body of normative rules for the ...
'', which, however, thwarted by the nobility of Castile, was only promulgated by his great-grandson. Because of this, and because the ''Partidas'' remain fundamental law in the American Southwest, he is one of the 23 lawmakers depicted in the House of Representatives chamber of the
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill at ...
.
Military training
From a young age Alfonso X showed an interest in military life and chivalry. In 1231 Alfonso traveled with Pérez de Castron on a military campaign in lower Andalusia. Writing in ''
Estoria de España
The ''Estoria de España'' ("History of Spain"), also known in the 1906 edition of Ramón Menéndez Pidal as the ''Primera Crónica General'' ("First General Chronicle"), is a history book written on the initiative of Alfonso X of Castile ''"El S ...
'', Alfonso describes having seen
St. James on a white horse with a white banner and a legion of knights fighting a war above the soldiers of Spain. This vision of a heavenly army fighting in Jerez and participation in military campaigns likely left Alfonso X with a high degree of knowledge and respect for military operations and chivalric knights. Alfonso's respect for chivalry can also be seen in his writing of Spanish law. Spanish Chivalric conduct was codified in the (2,21) where he wrote that knights should be, "of good linage and distinguished by gentility, wisdom, understanding, loyalty, courage, moderation, justice, prowess, and the practical knowledge necessary to assess the quality of horse and arms (, 21,1–10)." These efforts to make a codified standard of chivalric conduct were likely meant to both encourage strength of arms (prowess) and to restrain the use of violence for only
just (state-sponsored) usage.
Court culture
King Alfonso X developed a court culture that encouraged cosmopolitan learning. Alfonso had many works previously written in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
and Latin translated into vernacular Castilian in his court. Alfonso "turned to the vernacular for the kind of intellectual commitments that formerly were inconceivable outside
Latin." He is credited with encouraging the extensive written use of the
Castilian language
In English, Castilian Spanish can mean the variety of Peninsular Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain, the standard form of Spanish, or Spanish from Spain in general. In Spanish, the term (Castilian) can either refer to the Spanish langua ...
instead of Latin as the language used in courts, churches, and in books and official documents (although his father,
Ferdinand III, had begun to use it for some documents). This translation of Arabic and Classic documents into vernacular encouraged the development of Spanish sciences, literature, and philosophy.
Translations
From the beginning of his reign, Alfonso employed Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars at his court, primarily for the purpose of translating books from
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
and
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
into Latin and Castilian, although he always insisted in supervising personally the translations. This group of scholars formed his royal
scriptorium, continuing the tradition of the twelfth-century Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (
Toledo School of Translators
The Toledo School of Translators ( es, Escuela de Traductores de Toledo) is the group of scholars who worked together in the city of Toledo during the 12th and 13th centuries, to translate many of the Judeo-Islamic philosophies and scientific w ...
). Their final output promoted Castilian as a learning language both in science and literature, and established the foundations of the new
Spanish language. This evolved version of the Castilian language also acquired significant relevance in the royal chancery, where it came to replace Latin, which until then had been the language commonly used for royal diplomacy in Castile and León.
The very first translation, commissioned by his brother, Fernando de la Cerda—who had extensive experience, both diplomatic and military, among the Muslims of southern Iberia and north Africa—was a Castilian version of the
animal fable
An animal tale or beast fable generally consists of a short story or poem in which animals talk. They may exhibit other anthropomorphic qualities as well, such as living in a human-like society. It is a traditional form of allegorical writing.
An ...
''
Kalila wa-Dimna'', a book that belongs to the genre of
wisdom literature labeled
Mirrors for Princes: stories and sayings meant to instruct the monarch in proper and effective governance.
The primary intellectual work of these scholars centered on astronomy and astrology. The early period of Alfonso's reign saw the translation of selected works of magic (''Lapidario'', ''
Picatrix
''Picatrix'' is the Latin name used today for a 400-page book of magic and astrology originally written in Arabic under the title ''Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm'' ( ar, غاية الحكيم), which most scholars assume was originally written in the mid ...
'', ''Libro de las formas et las ymagenes'') all translated by a Jewish scholar named
Yehuda ben Moshe (Yhuda Mosca, in the Old Spanish source texts). These were all highly ornate manuscripts (only the ''Lapidario'' survives in its entirety) containing what was believed to be secret knowledge on the magical properties of stones and
talisman
A talisman is any object ascribed with religious or magical powers intended to protect, heal, or harm individuals for whom they are made. Talismans are often portable objects carried on someone in a variety of ways, but can also be installed perm ...
s. In addition to these books of astral magic, Alfonso ordered the translation of well-known
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
astrological compendia, including the ''Libro de las cruzes'' and ''Libro conplido en los iudizios de las estrellas''. The first of these was, ironically, translated from Latin (it was used among the
Visigoths
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...
), into
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
, and then back into Castilian and Latin. Most of the texts first translated at this time survive in only one manuscript each.
Astronomy
As an intellectual he gained considerable scientific fame based on his encouragement of
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galax ...
, which included
astrology
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...
at the time and the
Ptolemaic cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...
as known to him through the
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, No ...
s. He surrounded himself with mostly Jewish translators who rendered Arabic scientific texts into Castilian at Toledo. His fame extends to the preparation of the
Alfonsine tables, based on calculations of
al-Zarqali, "Arzachel".
Alexander Bogdanov
Alexander Aleksandrovich Bogdanov (russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Богда́нов; – 7 April 1928), born Alexander Malinovsky, was a Russian and later Soviet physician, philosopher, science fiction writer, and B ...
maintained that these tables formed the basis for
Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulate ...
's development of a
heliocentric understanding in astronomy.
Because of this work, the lunar crater
Alphonsus is named after him. One famous, but apocryphal, quote attributed to him upon his hearing an explanation of the extremely complicated mathematics required to demonstrate
Ptolemy's theory of astronomy was "If the Lord Almighty had consulted me before embarking on creation thus, I should have recommended something simpler." Gingerich (1990) says that a form of this alleged quotation was mentioned (but rejected) as early as the 16th century by the historian
Jerónimo de Zurita, and that Soriano Viguera (1926) states that "nothing of the sort can be found in Alfonso's writings." Nevertheless,
Dean Acheson (U.S. Secretary of State, 1949–1953) used it as the basis for the title and epigraph of his memoir ''Present at the Creation.''
Chronicles
Alfonso also commissioned a compilation of
chronicle
A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and l ...
s, the ''
Crónica general'', completed in 1264. This chronicle sought to establish a general history and drew from older chronicles, folklore and Arabic sources.
This work enjoyed renewed popularity starting in the sixteenth century, when there was a revival of interest in history;
Florián de Ocampo published a new edition and
Lorenzo de Sepúlveda Lorenzo de Sepúlveda (c. 1505 – c. 1580) was a Spanish writer best known as the author of romances in verse.
Life and Works
Little is known of Lorenzo de Sepúlveda's life. He descended from a notable family and lived most or all of his l ...
used it as the chief source of his popular
romances. Sepúlveda wrote a number of romances having Alfonso X as their hero.
Historical works
Alfonso's court compiled in Castilian a work titled ''
General Estoria''. This work was an attempt at a world history that drew from many sources and included translations from the
Vulgate
The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible.
The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels us ...
Old Testament mixed with myths and histories from the classical world, mostly Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
This world history was left incomplete, however, and so it stops at the birth of Christ.
The main significance of this work lies in the translations from Latin into Castilian.
Much like his chronicles, the ability of Alfonso's court to compile writings from a variety of cultures and translate them into Castilian left a historic impact on Spain.
Alfonso X is credited with the first depiction of an ''
hórreo
An ''hórreo'' is a typical granary from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Asturias, Galicia, where it might be called a Galician granary, and Northern Portugal), built in wood or stone, raised from the ground (to keep rodents out) by p ...
'', a typical granary from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The oldest document containing an image of an ''hórreo'' is Alfonso's ''
Cantigas de Santa Maria
The ''Cantigas de Santa Maria'' (, ; "Canticles of Holy Mary") are 420 poems with musical notation, written in the medieval Galician-Portuguese language during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile ''El Sabio'' (1221–1284). Traditionally, they a ...
'' (song CLXXXVII) from XII A.C. In this depiction, three rectangular ''hórreos'' of Gothic style are illustrated.
Games
Alfonso also had the ''Libro de ajedrez, dados, y tablas'' (''
"Libro de los Juegos" (The Book of Games)'') translated into Castilian from Arabic and added illustrations with the goal of perfecting the work. It was completed in 1283. The Libro de juegos contains an extensive collection of writings on
chess, with over 100
chess problems and
chess variant
A chess variant is a game related to, derived from, or inspired by chess. Such variants can differ from chess in many different ways.
"International" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be c ...
s.
Music
Alfonso X commissioned or co-authored numerous works of music during his reign. These works included ''Cantigas d'escarnio e maldicer'' and the vast compilation ''
Cantigas de Santa Maria
The ''Cantigas de Santa Maria'' (, ; "Canticles of Holy Mary") are 420 poems with musical notation, written in the medieval Galician-Portuguese language during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile ''El Sabio'' (1221–1284). Traditionally, they a ...
'' ("Songs to the Virgin Mary"), which was written in
Galician-Portuguese
Galician-Portuguese ( gl, galego-portugués or ', pt, galego-português or ), also known as Old Portuguese or as Medieval Galician when referring to the history of each modern language, was a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Middle ...
and figures among the most important of his works. The ''Cantigas de Santa Maria'' form one of the largest collections of vernacular
monophonic
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...
songs to survive from the
Middle Ages. They consist of 420 poems with musical notation. The poems are for the most part on
miracles attributed to the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...
. One of the miracles Alfonso relates is his own healing in
Puerto de Santa María.
Family
Violante was twelve or thirteen years old at the time of her marriage to Alfonso; she produced no children for several years and it was feared that she was barren. Alfonso almost had their marriage annulled, but they went on to have eleven children:
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Berengaria (1253 – after 1284). She was betrothed to Louis, the son and heir of King
Louis IX of France
Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the ...
, but her fiancé died prematurely in 1260. She entered the convent in Las Huelgas, where she was living in 1284.
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Beatrice (1254–1280). She married
William VII, Marquess of Montferrat
Guillaume VII de Montferrat.
William VII (c. 1240 – 6 February 1292), called the Great Marquis ( it, il Gran Marchese), was the twelfth Marquis of Montferrat from 1253 to his death. He was also the titular King of Thessalonica.
Biography Y ...
.
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Ferdinand de la Cerda, Infante of Castile (23 October 1255 – 25 July 1275). He married Blanche, the daughter of King Louis IX of France, by whom he had two children. Because he predeceased his father, his younger brother Sancho succeeded to the throne.
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Eleanor
Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
The name was intro ...
(1257–1275)
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Sancho IV of Castile (13 May 1258 – 1295)
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Constance (1258 – 22 August 1280), a nun at Las Huelgas.
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Peter, Lord of Ledesma (June 1260 – 10 October 1283)
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John, Lord of Valencia de Campos (March or April 1262 – 25 June 1319).
# Isabella, died young.
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Violant (1265–1296). She married Diego López V de Haro, Lord of Biscay
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James, Lord of Cameros (August 1266 – 9 August 1284)
Alfonso X also had several illegitimate children. With
Mayor Guillén de Guzmán, daughter of
Guillén Pérez de Guzmán and of María González Girón, he fathered:
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Beatrice, married King
Afonso III of Portugal
Afonso III (; rare English alternatives: ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse''), or ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese), ''Alfonso'' or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin), the Boulonnais ( Port. ''o Bolonhês''), King of Portugal ( ...
.
With Elvira Rodríguez de Villada, daughter of
Rodrigo Fernández de Villada, he fathered:
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Alfonso Fernández de Castilla (1242–1281), also known as ''el Niño'', he held the title of "Señor de Molina y Mesa" through his marriage with
Blanca Alfonso de Molina.
With
María Alfonso de León, his aunt, the illegitimate daughter of the King
Alfonso IX of León
Alfonso IX (15 August 117123 or 24 September 1230) was King of León and Galicia from the death of his father Ferdinand II in 1188 until his own death.
He took steps towards modernizing and democratizing his dominion and founded the University ...
and
Teresa Gil de Soverosa he had:
* Berenguela Alfonso of Castile, who married
Pedro Núñez de Guzmán in 1264, but died young leaving behind no descendants.
References
Sources
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Further reading
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PDF version Cf. especially section on "The Alfonso X 'Book of Games'".
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PDF version
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External links
Cantigas de Santa MariaAlphonso X – Book of Games* ''Cantigas de Santa María'', Códice rico, Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, MS T-I-1
link to manuscript*
Libros del Saber de Astronomía' – Images of manuscript from 1276.
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Alfonso X de Castilla y León a
Cancioneros Musicales Españoles
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Alfonso 10 Of Castile
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