The King of Castile, Alfonso X (1221–1284), commissioned the compilation of the ‘Siete Partidas’, a legal compendium that laid the foundations of an influential concept of monarchical government. It was part of a broader trend of legal standardization in thirteenth-century Western Europe (‘Magna Carta’, ‘Saxon Mirror’, ‘Liber augustalis’ etc.). Coinciding with the 800th anniversary of the birth of the Wise King, the present volume (written mainly in Spanish with detailed summaries in English) brings together the studies of international specialists who analyze the concepts and political institutions developed in the ‘Siete Partidas’, as well as their means of transmission, from the perspective of multiple disciplines, such as the history of law, the history of art and Hispanic philology.
Prof. Dr. Mechthild Albert lehrt Iberoromanische Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft an der Universität Bonn.