Another beautifully illustrated post on the British Library Medieval manuscripts blog is about the BL illuminated manuscript of the Law Code of King Alfonso X ‘The Wise’ of Castile and Leon ( born 1221, reigned 1252-84). King Alfonso’s younger half-sister Eleanor is well remembered in England as she was to become the first Queen of King Edward I.
Known as “El Sabio” because of his wide and cultured range of interests and for his codification of Castilian law he can, perhaps, and anachronistically, be seen as a thirteenth century version of the “Enlightened Despots” of the eighteenth century - itself a highly problematic way of understanding their rulership. A better way of understanding the King and his reign is to see him as monarch of his own time, using his acumen and his particular skills and interests to further his rulership. Not a man before his time, but of his time. Wikipedia has a biography, with access to all the relevant links, at Alfonso X of Castile
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