The Life and Times of Alfonso XI of Castile (1311-1350)

<p>When thirteen-year-old Alfonso XI seized power from his corrupt regents in 1325 few believed the boy-king would survive a year against Castile's ruthless nobility. Instead he would rule for twenty-five remarkable years transforming a fractured kingdom into the dominant power of the Iberian Peninsula.</p><p>This compelling biography reveals the extraordinary story of medieval Spain's most effective and enigmatic monarch. A brilliant military strategist who defeated a massive Muslim invasion at the Battle of Río Salado Alfonso expanded Christian territory and secured control of the strategic Strait of Gibraltar. A visionary administrator he created sophisticated legal codes and governance systems that laid foundations for the future Spanish state. Yet this same calculating ruler conducted a scandalous decades-long affair with his mistress Leonor de Guzmán fathering ten children while largely ignoring his Portuguese queen and legitimate heir.</p><p>Drawing on rich primary sources this meticulously researched narrative brings to vivid life the political intrigue religious fervor and cultural dynamics of fourteenth-century Iberia. It reconstructs a pivotal moment when the medieval world was giving way to early modern institutions and identities-changes that Alfonso himself did much to advance.</p><p>Discover how this remarkable ruler-ruthless yet innovative traditional yet forward-thinking-permanently altered the course of Spanish history while embodying the complex reality of power in the late Middle Ages. This book offers both a gripping royal biography and a fresh understanding of how modern Europe began to emerge from its medieval foundations.</p>