{"title":"Chapter One. Ideas of Kingship in the Preambles of Alfonso VIII’s Charters","authors":"J. O'callaghan","doi":"10.2307/j.ctvdtpjth.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvdtpjth.6","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter examines the surviving royal charters of Alfonso VIII of Castile, focusing on those preambles and other ancillary components that express ideas of kingship. The preambles to his charters—some short formulaic statements, others displaying rhetorical flourishes—emphasized certain aspects of his manifold responsibilities. Notable among them was the administration of justice summarized in the principle “to render to each one his due.” That task was carried out in the royal court, employing a variety of legal procedures, including the inquest. As the leader of a society that was professedly Christian, the king was also expected to provide moral and financial support to the Church and its institutions. By doing so, the community was assured of God's continuing favor and a life of peace and prosperity. That tranquility was threatened, however, by the Almohad menace that loomed ever larger. Thus, it was the king's task to defend the patria and, by extension, the whole of Christendom (Christianitas), against the possibility of Muslim conquest.","PeriodicalId":324665,"journal":{"name":"King Alfonso VIII of Castile","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124209724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Alfonso VIII: An Introduction","authors":"T. Ruiz","doi":"10.5422/fordham/9780823284146.003.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5422/fordham/9780823284146.003.0001","url":null,"abstract":"This introductory chapter provides a brief overview of Alfonso VIII's role in the development of Castilian and European society. Born in November 1155, the son of Sancho III of Castile-León and Blanche of Navarre, Alfonso VIII ascended to the throne in 1158 on the death of his father. His minority was a troubled period. Noble factions fought for control of the regency, seeking to appropriate as much of the royal prerogatives and domain as possible. Once he came of age and assumed control of his kingdom, it took Alfonso VIII a great deal of his adult life to recover the lands illegally seized by his uncles and to diminish the influence of noble factions. However, threats came from other sources. By the middle of the twelfth century, the Almoravids fell to the rising Almohad power. By the second half of the twelfth century, the Almohads built an expansive and successful Western Mediterranean empire. In many respects, Alfonso VIII's reign would be defined by his defeats at the Almohads' hands and by his eventual victories over them, culminating with the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212.","PeriodicalId":324665,"journal":{"name":"King Alfonso VIII of Castile","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124709367","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"INDEX","authors":"","doi":"10.2307/j.ctvdtpjth.19","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvdtpjth.19","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":324665,"journal":{"name":"King Alfonso VIII of Castile","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126858743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Selling Castile: Coinage, Propaganda, and Mediterranean Trade in the Age of Alfonso VIII","authors":"James J. Todesca","doi":"10.5422/fordham/9780823284146.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5422/fordham/9780823284146.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter discusses one of Alfonso VIII's paths to solidifying and advancing his kingdom—his monetary policy. As did his contemporaries throughout Latin Europe, Alfonso VIII struck silver-alloyed denarii to serve as coins of daily exchange in an expanding monetary economy. He also introduced a high-value gold piece, derived from the dinar of his Muslim neighbors, which was more suitable for long-distance trade. In the early 1170s, Alfonso VIII took the monetary initiative that helped put Castile on the European map; he began striking the gold morabetino alfonsino in Toledo. Unlike some of Alfonso VIII's early billon, his morabetino shows no sign of being a short-lived propaganda piece. Its persistent appearance in charters, both in Castile as well as in Aragon-Catalonia and Navarre, shows it filled an economic niche. Indeed, Alfonso VIII's gold morabetino played a prominent role in the Mediterranean economy.","PeriodicalId":324665,"journal":{"name":"King Alfonso VIII of Castile","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126838153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A PROSOPOGRAPHY OF THE CASTILIAN EPISCOPATE IN THE REIGN OF ALFONSO VIII","authors":"Kyle Lincoln","doi":"10.2307/j.ctvdtpjth.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvdtpjth.15","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter examines the role of the Castilian episcopate during the reign of Alfonso VIII. The bishops of Castile during Alfonso VIII's reign were as vibrant a class as any in Europe in the long twelfth century. During that span, prelates were promoted more frequently based on merit and connections to aristocratic power centers than based solely on direct royal appointment. The composition of the clergy in the period, as a result, represents the increasing connectivity of local potentates and their networks to the multiple levels of the Castilian monarchy. That bishops were important functionaries in medieval kingdoms, and especially in Castile-León, hardly constitutes news, but perhaps more important is the collective picture. The chapter then looks at the background of each of the bishops to better understand both the makeup of the class of some of the king's most powerful vassals and the monarchy as well.","PeriodicalId":324665,"journal":{"name":"King Alfonso VIII of Castile","volume":"62 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132470279","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"ACKNOWLEDGMENTS","authors":"","doi":"10.2307/j.ctvdtpjth.17","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvdtpjth.17","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":324665,"journal":{"name":"King Alfonso VIII of Castile","volume":"107 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130331559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Wall and a Shield: Alfonso VIII and the Military Orders","authors":"S. Z. Conedera","doi":"10.5422/fordham/9780823284146.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5422/fordham/9780823284146.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter assesses how the military orders had an important place in Alfonso VIII's Castile as defenders and settlers of the frontier with Islam, as well as contingents in major campaigns and rapid response forces in smaller engagements. They also acted as caretakers of the sick and liberators of captives; occasional keepers of the peace between quarreling Christians; and as intercessors before the heavenly court. Their mission—and the structure of life that was meant to fulfill it—came from the hierarchical Church, but Alfonso VIII's mediating role between the hierarchy and the orders meant that royal prerogative was normally decisive for how that mission was carried out. Alfonso VIII's patterns of giving show a clear preference for Calatrava and Santiago over their “universal” counterparts, the Hospital and the Temple. The king saw the Iberian orders as a wall and a shield of Christendom, a view that the orders themselves shared, but within the framework of their particular type of religious life.","PeriodicalId":324665,"journal":{"name":"King Alfonso VIII of Castile","volume":"96 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122970680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“HAPPIER IN DAUGHTERS THAN IN SONS”:","authors":"Miriam Shadis","doi":"10.2307/j.ctvdtpjth.9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvdtpjth.9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":324665,"journal":{"name":"King Alfonso VIII of Castile","volume":"84 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125331744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"ALFONSO VIII:","authors":"Teófilo F. Ruiz","doi":"10.2307/j.ctvdtpjth.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvdtpjth.5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":324665,"journal":{"name":"King Alfonso VIII of Castile","volume":"363 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122830847","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}