King Alfonso VIII of Castile: Government, Family and War brings together a diverse group of scholars whose work concerns the reign of Alfonso VIII (1158–1215). This was a critical period in the history of the Iberian peninsula, when the conflict between the Christian north and the Moroccan empire of the Almohads was at its most intense, while the political divisions between the five Christian kingdoms reached their high-water mark. From his troubled ascension as a child to his victory at Las Navas de Tolosa near the end of his fifty-seven-year reign, Alfonso VIII and his kingdom were at the epicenter of many of the most dramatic events of the era.

Contributors: Martin Alvira Cabrer, Janna Bianchini, Sam Zeno Conedera, S.J., Miguel Dolan Gómez, Carlos de Ayala Martínez, Kyle C. Lincoln, Joseph O’Callaghan, Teofi lo F. Ruiz, Miriam Shadis, Damian J. Smith, James J. Todesca

List of Abbreviations

Alfonso VIII: An Introduction
Teofilo F. Ruiz

1. Ideas of Kingship in the Preambles of Alfonso VIII’s Charters
Joseph F. O’Callaghan

2. Selling Castile: Coinage, Propaganda, and Mediterranean Trade in the Age of Alfonso VIII
James J. Todesca

3. The Infantazgo in the Reign of Alfonso VIII
Janna Bianchini

4. “Happier in Daughters than in Sons”: Th e Children of Alfonso VIII of Castile and Leonor Plantagenet
Miriam Shadis

5. A Wall and a Shield: Alfonso VIII and the Military Orders
Sam Zeno Conedera, S.J.

6. Holy War and Crusade during the Reign of Alfonso VIII
Carlos de Ayala Martínez

7. Alfonso VIII and the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
Miguel Gómez

8. Alfonso VIII and the Papacy
Damian Smith

9. “Si Possides Amicum, in Temptatione Posside”: Alfonso VIII and Peter the Catholic
Martín Alvira Cabrer

10. A Prosopography of the Castilian Episcopate in the Reign of Alfonso VIII
Kyle C. Lincoln

11. Via impugnandi in the Age of Alfonso VIII: Iberian-Christian Kalām and a Latin Triad Revisited
Thomas Burman

Acknowledgments

List of Contributors

Index