Of a Wise and Enlightened King: The Beginnings of Alphonsine Studies in Eighteenth-Century

Abstract

Alphonsine studies started to take form in the eighteenth-century thanks to the process of investigation and commentary of the antique Spanish collections. In the present essay, we will study the contributions of the eighteenth-century intellectuals to the knowledge of Alfonso X the Wise's works. Fascinated by medieval texts, heirs to historiographical traditions that they had just started to question, the "ilustrados" contributed to a better apprehension of the alphonsine corpus thanks to their discoveries and intellectual preoccupations. Through the example of the "Setenario" reception, we will see in which aspects they renewed the image of the monarch and which methods were used to study his written works.