Alfonso X the Wise. Treatise on chivalry: De los caualleros e de las cosas que les conuiene de fazer (Partid. II.21)

This is the first Russian commented translation of the treatise about ideal knighthood written by anonymous authors under the direction of Alfonso X the Wise (1252–1284). The text of the treatise was included in the second part (the Second Partida) of the legal code Siete Partidas as a Title, Partid. II.21. The treatise was the first work of the genre composed in the Iberian Peninsula and influenced the famous treatise written by the Catalonian writer Ramon Llull (ca. 1232–1316). The sources of the Castilian text have not been identified; the only possible exception is a treatise, De re militare, written by the Late Roman writer Vegetius in the 4th century A.D., but its influence on the Castilian treatise (if it really took place) was very limited. Structurally the text of the treatise can be divided into five parts: the introduction (Partid. II.21.1–3), the description of the ideal knight’s character (Partid. II.21.4–10), the description of the accolade (the dubbing) (Partid. II.21.11–16), the rules of chivalrous behaviour in society (Partid. II.21.17–22) and the conclusion (Partid. II.21.23–25). The translation includes commentaries (mainly regarding historical and linguistic details) and an introductory study. The study presents general information about the content of the treatise, its epoch and its genre characteristics, and its historical position among other texts of the same genre, including the famous treatise “In Praise of the New Knighthood” written by Bernard of Clairvaux (1091–1153).