Alfonso X of Castile "El Sabio"

[micrologus]

Alfonso X (November 23, 1221, Toledo, Spain – April 4, 1284, Seville, Spain) was a Castilian monarch who ruled as the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 1252 until his death. He also was elected King of the Germans (formally King of the Romans) in 1257, though the Papacy prevented his confirmation. He established Castilian as a language of higher learning, founded universities (Salamanca and Toledo) and earned his nicknames "el Sabio" ("the Wise" or "the Learned") and "el Astrólogo" ("the Astronomer") through his own prolific writings, including Galician-Portuguese poetry.

250px-Retrato_de_Alfonso_X.jpg


Music

Alfonso X commissioned or co-authored numerous works of music during his reign. These works included Cantigas d'escarnio e maldicer and the vast compilation Cantigas de Santa Maria ("Songs to the Virgin Mary"), which was written in Galician-Portuguese and figures among the most important of his works. The Cantigas form one of the largest collections of vernacular monophonic songs to survive from the Middle Ages. They consist of 420 poems with musical notation. The poems are for the most part on miracles attributed to the Virgin Mary. One of the miracles Alfonso relates is his own healing in Puerto de Santa María.

Link:

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cantigas/

[maureen]

thanks for the eye candy
i will return to the illustrations later
you are a veritable font

[haydnguy]

Thank you micrologus. I too will return a little later today.