Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 LEÓN AND CASTILE IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY
- 2 CLASS, FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD
- 3 THE LINEAMENTS OF POWER
- 4 THE NOBILITY AND THE CROWN
- 5 A WARRIOR ARISTOCRACY
- 6 PIETY AND PATRONAGE
- CONCLUSION
- Appendix 1 The counts of twelfth-century León and Castile
- Appendix 2 Select genealogies
- Appendix 3 Select charters
- Glossary of Spanish terms
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought Fourth series
INTRODUCTION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 LEÓN AND CASTILE IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY
- 2 CLASS, FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD
- 3 THE LINEAMENTS OF POWER
- 4 THE NOBILITY AND THE CROWN
- 5 A WARRIOR ARISTOCRACY
- 6 PIETY AND PATRONAGE
- CONCLUSION
- Appendix 1 The counts of twelfth-century León and Castile
- Appendix 2 Select genealogies
- Appendix 3 Select charters
- Glossary of Spanish terms
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought Fourth series
Summary
The past forty years have witnessed a transformation in our knowledge of the nobility of early medieval Europe. The prodigious efforts of French and German scholars, in particular, have made it possible to trace the origins and evolution of aristocratic groups across the early and central Middle Ages; to unravel the complexities of their family ties; and to analyse the distribution of wealth and power within their ranks. In short, they have enabled us to appreciate more fully the dominant role that was played by the lay aristocracy within medieval society as a whole. Fruit of this endeavour has been the publication of a spate of learned books and articles. While some of the most enlightening studies have taken the aristocracy of France and Germany as their theme, important advances have been made in other parts of Europe, too.
It is somewhat surprising, therefore, that in a Spanish and, to be more precise, in a Leonese-Castilian context, the subject remains in its infancy. That is not to say that the aristocracy of the medieval kingdoms of León and Castile has never attracted the attention of scholars. The eruditos of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, of whom the most eminent was perhaps Luis de Salazar y Castro, compiled numerous works whose purpose was to celebrate the illustrious past of some of the greatest noble lineages of the Iberian peninsula.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997
- 1
- Cited by