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| biography |
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biography
| name: |
Alfonso X
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known as el Sabio
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pronunciation:
[alfonsoh]
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1221–84)
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| biography:
| King of Castile, born in Toledo, C Spain, the son of Ferdinand (or Fernando) III and Beatrice of Swabia. He continued the Reconquest begun by his father, whom he succeeded in 1252. A writer, editor, scholar, and patron of the arts, the extent to which he contributed to the writing of the great works of scholarship he initiated, subsidized, and brought (in most cases) to fruition is uncertain; but there can be no doubt that he and his collaborators wrought the first significant classics of Castilian prose. ‘The learned’ king's productions are usually classified under four headings: history (Primera Crónica General); law (Las siete partidas, 1256–63); science (El Lapidario, Los libros del saber de astronmía, Libro delos juegos de acedrex, dados e tablas); and poetry (Cantigas de Santa María). As a poet, Alfonso preferred the more highly developed, expressive and musical Galician-Portuguese dialect to Castilian. To the narrative element of the mester de clerecía he added lyricism, fusing the two in a way new to Hispanic literature. |
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