CHAPTER 1

El Rey Sabio

Prefulget etiam Omnimoda Libertate Yspania, cum in Agendis Causis Ciuilibus Propriis Utitur Legibus

Alfonso X, el Sabio, king of Castile and León (1252–84), and Holy Roman Emperor-elect, excelled among his contemporaries as a distinguished scholar and patron of scholars, and as a great lawgiver in the tradition of the Roman emperor Justinian (525–65).1 Intent on creating a body of law applicable to all his people, he assembled a company of jurists who composed the Libro de las leyes, also known as the Espéculo and, in its revised form, as the Siete Partidas, a comprehensive and systematic code of law. They also wrote the Fuero real, a code of municipal law. The Partidas, one of the greatest legal monuments of medieval Europe, significantly transformed the substance and practice of law in his realms, and though he encountered strong opposition, his work has had an enduring impact on the development of law and institutions, not only in the Iberian Peninsula but also throughout the Spanish-speaking world and in the states of the American west once ruled by Spain.²

The Study of Roman and Canon Law

Alfonso X’s achievement ultimately sprang from the study of Roman and canon law in the eleventh and twelfth centuries that prompted the development of a European ius commune or common law.³ Although Justinian’s Code did not gain general acceptance during his reign in the western provinces of the empire lost to Germanic barbarians, centuries later scholars discovered in the libraries of Italy the Code and the ancillary books (the Digest, Institutes, and Novels), later known collectively as the Corpus Iuris Civilis.4 Through their efforts Justinian’s Code was accepted as the law of the Holy Roman Empire, which claimed universal dominion in Western Europe as the legitimate continuation of the ancient institution.⁵ Other scholars, impelled by the Gregorian Reform, assembled the diverse sources of ecclesiastical law, a process that reached a significant stage around 1140 when the monk Gratian published his Concordance of Discordant Canons, or the Decretum. A century later Pope Gregory IX (1227–41) entrusted Ramon de Penyafort (d. 1275), the great Catalan Dominican, with the task of compiling the Decretales or laws enacted since Gratian’s day.⁶

The revival of Roman law and the concomitant development of canon law had significant consequences for Western European legal history. The study of law was transmuted into a science, and a learned jurisprudence—the theory and philosophy of law—was brought into being. Two distinct groups of jurists, armed with a professional knowledge of civil law, a universal secular law, or of canon law, an equally universal ecclesiastical law, graduated from the nascent universities, especially at Bologna or Montpellier. The civilians or legists, experts in Roman law, were mostly laymen, and the canonists, mainly ecclesiastics. Often enough, individuals studied both laws.

Some new masters of law became professors and explicated difficult legal passages by writing interlinear and marginal notes or glosses. Their work reached its culmination around the middle of the thirteenth century. Thereafter professors of jurisprudence composed lengthy commentaries on the law. Other law graduates found employment serving emperors, kings, popes, and bishops, while others practiced law in the courts. All of them helped to change the substance of law, the courts, and legal procedures and to formulate the new idea of the state and the responsibilities of kingship. The canonists, by viewing spiritual and religious issues through the lens of the law, helped to give a juridical cast to the life of the church.

Civilians and Canonists in Spain

Spanish students, after attending the University of Bologna, brought home their newfound knowledge of Roman and canon law.⁷ Masters of law, summoned by Alfonso VIII of Castile (1157–1214) and Alfonso IX of León (1188–1230) to teach in the recently established Universities of Palencia in Castile and Salamanca in León, influenced the Spanish legal system.⁸ The Catalan Pere of Cardona, doctor legum magnificus and chancellor of Castile (1178–82), introduced the concepts of Roman and canon law into Castilian usage.9 Several magistri of Italian origin served in the Castilian royal court, and iurisperiti or experts in the law also appeared in León.¹⁰ After teaching at Bologna, the canonist Laurentius Hispanus returned home to occupy the see of Orense (1218–48).¹¹ Bequests of books of Roman and canon law also testify to the study of law in the late twelfth century.¹²

Vincentius Hispanus, another canonist who taught at Bologna, became bishop of Guarda in Portugal around 1217. Declaring that “Blessed Lady Spain” had her own laws, he denied that Spain was subject to the Holy Roman Empire.¹³ Echoing Vincentius, Lucas, bishop of Túy (d. 1249), proclaimed: “Prefulget etiam omnimoda libertate Yspania, cum in agendis causis ciuilibus propriis utitur legibus et Yspanorum rex nulli subditur imperio temporali” (Spain shines forth in full liberty because she uses her own laws in adjudicating civil suits and the king of the Spaniards is not subject to any temporal empire).¹⁴ The “king of the Spaniards” was the king of Castile-León. A generation later, Fray Juan Gil de Zamora, tutor to the king’s son and heir, Infante Sancho, repeated that sentence.¹⁵

Although the University of Palencia gradually ceased to function, the University of Salamanca survives until this day. In 1254, Alfonso X provided for a master of civil law, paid an annual salary of five hundred maravedís; an assistant, a bachelor canon; a master of decretals or canon law, paid three hundred maravedís; and a stationer receiving one hundred maravedís who saw to the transcription of necessary texts. In 1255 Pope Alexander IV granted the licentia ubique docendi or license to teach everywhere to Salamanca’s graduates and authorized the teaching of civil law there.¹⁶

A Thirteenth-Century Justinian

In the thirteenth century the study of law stimulated the production of books describing or codifying the law of various European kingdoms. Often-cited examples include Emperor Frederick II’s Liber Augustalis or Constitutions of Melfi, a brief code for his kingdom of Sicily;¹⁷ Philippe de Beaumanoir’s Coutumes de Beauvaisis, a record of French provincial law;¹⁸ Henri de Bracton’s De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae, describing English court practice;¹⁹ and the statutes of Edward I, which brought him acclaim as the English Justinian.²⁰ Yet, aside from the Constitutions of Melfi, none of those works can properly be called a code of law.

On the contrary, Alfonso X’s Libro de las leyes was organized systematically in books, titles, and laws in the manner of Justinian’s Code. Although he did not mention Justinian, Alfonso X and his jurists were well acquainted with the emperor’s legal achievement and used it as a model for their work.21

That Alfonso X consciously perceived himself as emulating the great Roman legislator is visibly manifested in a miniature in the Libro de las leyes composed in the royal scriptorium and now conserved in the British Library (Add. MS 20787).²² Seated on a throne surrounded by his courtiers, the king holds a sword in his right hand and in his left a book, presumably a book of laws. The portrait is a deliberate evocation of Justinian’s declaration when confirming his Code (C, De Iustiniano Codice Confirmando):

Summa rei publicae tuitio de stirpe duarum rerum, armorum atque legum… istorum etenim alterum alterius auxilio semper viguit, et tam militaris res legibus in tuto collocata, quam ipsae leges armorum praesidio servatae sunt.

[The highest protection of the republic derives from two things, arms and laws… because each always requires the help of the other, and military matters are placed in safety by the laws, and the laws are preserved by the force of arms.]

Inspired by the emperor’s example and, like him, bearing arms and the law, Alfonso X created a Libro de las leyes, a code of law that has endured over the centuries to the present day. On that account, he is worthy to be called the Justinian of his age.

The Purpose of this Study

My initial intention is to describe Alfonso X’s struggle to create a new, coherent, inclusive, and all-embracing body of law binding on everyone. However, human beings by their nature are resistant to change, especially in matters of law that affect their daily lives. Given the historical development of his realms and the consequent diversity of their laws and customs, his innovations met with resistance. Secondly, I plan to consider his understanding of his role as king and lawgiver, entrusted to him by God, and his concurrent responsibility for the well-being of his people, the defense of the faith, and the security of the realm. Thirdly, I will evaluate the impact of his legal works on the administration of justice through an elaborate system of courts, judges, and attorneys. Next, I will review royal legislation regulating such fundamental issues as marriage, family, and inheritance; the status of persons, freemen and slaves, lords and vassals; the ownership and possession of property; trade and commerce; crime and punishment; and the juridical status of the non-Christian peoples. Whereas the law books present an ideal, that ideal must be compared to the reality depicted in the everyday transactions recorded in other contemporary sources, including royal charters, the enactments of the Cortes, and private documents. Thus, after expounding the substance of the Alfonsine Codes on a given topic, wherever possible I will point out other documents or literary remains that illustrate the practical application of the law. I trust that the reader will be able to distinguish my exposition and commentary on the law from the examples of its usage in everyday life. The challenges facing the king who wished to carry out a radical alteration of the legal system will provide an illustration, however imperfect, of the essential political, social, economic, and religious characteristics of thirteenth-century society. A brief overview of Alfonso X’s reign will provide the context necessary for understanding and assessing his accomplishment.

The Learned King

At Alfonso X’s accession, the Castilian reconquest of Islamic Spain had reached its culmination under the leadership of his father, Fernando III (1217–48), who conquered Córdoba, Jaén, and Seville.23 Only the emirate of Granada remained in Muslim hands, but the emir, Ibn al-Aḥmar, had to acknowledge his vassalage to Castile and pay an annual tribute. While busy colonizing Seville and the recently reconquered regions of Andalucía,²⁴ Alfonso X pursued the crown of the Holy Roman Empire and planned an African crusade. After his imperial election in 1257, he expended considerable treasure over nearly twenty years in a vain effort to secure recognition.²⁵ His African adventure was intended to deprive the Moroccans of easy access to the Iberian Peninsula but had to be abandoned when Ibn al-Aḥmar, realizing the threat to his own realm, in 1264 stirred up rebellion among the Mudéjars, Muslims living under Christian rule in Andalucía and Murcia.

Several years later Alfonso X encountered strong opposition from the nobility who accused him of denying their right to be judged by their peers according to their customs. The townsmen also complained about his new municipal law code and the burden of extraordinary taxation. Although he confirmed the customs of both nobles and townsmen during the Cortes of Burgos in 1272, the nobles, still dissatisfied, withdrew to Granada and did not return to his service until two years later.

After surviving that crisis, in 1275 the king journeyed to southern France, in a futile attempt to persuade Pope Gregory X to acknowledge his imperial status. When the Marinids, a new Moroccan dynasty, took advantage of his absence and invaded Castile, his son and heir Fernando de la Cerda determined to halt their advance but died suddenly en route to the frontier. Although the Marinids thereafter twice routed Castilian forces, the king’s second son, Sancho, organized the defense and arranged a truce. When the Marinids invaded again in 1277, the king, hoping to prevent future invasions, unsuccessfully laid siege to the seaport of Algeciras.

Meanwhile, following the death of his firstborn son, Alfonso X had to resolve the problem of succession. Although he could recognize as his heir Fernando de la Cerda’s oldest son, still a child, he opted to follow older custom giving preference to a king’s surviving sons and acknowledged Sancho in the Cortes of Burgos in 1276. Fernando de la Cerda’s widow, concerned about the security of her two sons, sought the protection of Pedro III of Aragón and appealed for help to her brother Philip III of France. Under French pressure, Alfonso X decided to partition his kingdom for the benefit of Alfonso de la Cerda, the elder of his two grandsons. Infuriated, Sancho, after exchanging harsh words with his father during the Cortes of Seville in 1281, summoned the estates of the realm to Valladolid in 1282. The king’s recent erratic behavior, probably caused by the excruciating pain of cancer, led many to believe that he was no longer capable of governing. Thus, the assembled estates transferred royal authority to Sancho, leaving his father with the empty title of king. Abandoned by his family, Alfonso X turned to the Marinids, his erstwhile enemies, who invaded Spain once more, but now as his allies. In his last will he disinherited Sancho and died at the age of sixty-two on 4 April 1284 at Seville. His son succeeded as Sancho IV.26

Amid these political and social upheavals, el Rey Sabio directed a scholarly enterprise without parallel in thirteenth-century Europe that produced works of law, poetry (the Cantigas de Santa Maria), history (the Estoria de Espanna and the General Estoria), astronomy, and astrology (including translations from Arabic).²⁷ His contemporaries lauded his good qualities. Jofré de Loaysa affirmed that “he was very generous, a lover and doer of justice, handsome in figure and quite graceful in appearance.”²⁸ Juan Gil de Zamora commented that he was a man of “sharp intellect, attentive in study, with an excellent memory… discreet in speech, distinguished by his elegance, moderate in laughter, honest in his gaze, easy in his gait, and temperate in eating.” His generosity, however, “clothed a sort of prodigality.”²⁹ Astronomers remarked that he “surpassed in wisdom, intelligence, understanding, law, kindness, piety, and nobility all other wise kings.”³⁰ His nephew Juan Manuel (d. 1348) remarked that he caused the translation into Castilian of “all the sciences, both theology and logic, and all the seven liberal arts and all the art known as mechanics.” Besides translating the teachings of Muslims and Jews, he “turned into romance all the ecclesiastical and secular laws.” Juan Manuel added: “What more can I say?… No man did so much good especially in increasing and illuminating knowledge as this noble king.”31 In our time Robert I. Burns described him as “the greatest poet-king of Western Europe, and by his various legal texts its greatest philosopher-king.” He “richly… deserves his titles ‘El Sabio’ and ‘emperor of Culture’” and, “much more than his contemporary” Frederick II, “he is the true Stupor mundi—a royal wonder of the world.”³²

El Rey que es Fermosura de Espanna et Thesoro de la Filosofia

Through his law codes Alfonso X gave governmental institutions a form and character that they would retain for many years after his death.³³ In all his scholarly endeavors, he strove to educate his people, so much so that Francisco Márquez Villanueva rightly described him as “El Rex Magister” (the Teacher King).³⁴ The poetic eulogy preceding his Estoria de Espanna expressed that desire. While its purpose was to encourage his people to learn about their history, his words could also refer to his creation of a new body of law:

O Espanna, si tomas los dones que te da la sabiduría del rey, resplandeçeras, otrosi en fama et fermosura creçeras.

El rey que es fermosura de Espanna et thesoro de la filosofia, ensennanças da a los yspanos; tomen las buenas los buenos et den las vanas a los vanos.

[O Spain, if you take the gifts that the wisdom of the king gives you, you will shine forth and you will grow in fame and beauty. The king, who is the glory of Spain and the treasure of philosophy, gives instruction to the Spanish people. Let good men take what is good, and leave what is vain to those who are vain.]³⁵