The Aristocracy in Twelfth-Century Len and Castile

This volume examines the nature of aristocratic society in the Spanish kingdoms of Le n and Castile in the twelfth century. Drawing on an extensive range of original sources, many of them unpublished, it highlights the unrivaled wealth, status and power enjoyed by some members of the aristocracy. It also explores the multifarious roles that lay magnates were expected to fulfill: as family protectors, landlords and judges
as courtiers, diplomats and military commanders
and, not least, as patrons of the church.