(Source: Cornell University Press)
Cornell
University Press is publishing a new book on Alfonso X and the Siete Partidas.
ABOUT THE BOOK
In this magisterial work, Joseph O'Callaghan
offers a detailed account of the establishment of Alfonso X's legal code,
the Libro de las leyes or Siete Partidas, and its
applications in the daily life of thirteenth-century Iberia, both within and
far beyond the royal courts. O'Callaghan argues that Alfonso X, el Sabio (the
Wise), was the Justinian of his age, one of the truly great legal minds of
human history.
Alfonso X, the Justinian of His Age highlights the struggles the
king faced in creating a new, coherent, inclusive, and all-embracing body of
law during his reign, O'Callaghan also considers Alfonso X's own understanding
of his role as king, lawgiver, and defender of the faith in order to evaluate
the impact of his achievement on the administration of justice. Indeed, such
was the power and authority of the Alfonsine code that it proved the king's
downfall when his son invoked it to challenge his rule.
Throughout this soaring legal and historical
biography, O'Callaghan reminds us of the long-term impacts of Alfonso X's legal
works, not just on Castilian (and later, Iberian) life, but on the
administration of justice across the world.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joseph F. O'Callaghan is Professor Emeritus of
History at Fordham University. He is a past president of the American Catholic
Historical Association and the Academy of American Historians of Medieval
Spain.
More information here
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