What did Alfonso X the Wise do for the Castilian language?
Alfonso the Wise and the Castilian language
Alfonso X el Sabio y el castellano
1252–1284. Alfonso X of Castile, king from 1252 to 1284, is called el Sabio, the Wise or the Learned.
Where: Spain, Castile, Toledo, Seville
What happened
Alfonso X of Castile, king from 1252 to 1284, is called el Sabio, the Wise or the Learned. His court made Castilian, rather than Latin, a language of law, history and science: the great law code of the Siete Partidas, a history of Spain and books of astronomy were all written in Castilian. In Toledo, Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars translated Arabic works into Castilian for him. Yet his own songs to the Virgin Mary, the Cantigas de Santa María, are in Galician-Portuguese, then the language of lyric poetry in Castile too.
Say it
Alfonso X hizo del castellano una lengua de cultura.
Alfonso X made Castilian a language of learning.
Why it matters
Alfonso did not invent Castilian prose, but the sheer volume and regularity of his court's output turned Castilian into a language fit for every subject, centuries before most European vernaculars.
Culture
Connected
- From Vulgar Latin to Castilian (c. 218 BC–1250)
- From Vulgar Latin to Castilian (c. 218 BC–1250)
- Arabic words in Spanish (711–1500)
- Arabic words in Spanish (711–1500)
- Alfonso VI takes Toledo (25 May 1085)
- The Cantar de mio Cid (between 1140 and 1207)
- The Cantar de mio Cid (between 1140 and 1207)
- Valencia and Seville fall to the Christian kings (between 1236 and 1248)
- Spain's other languages become co-official (6 December 1978)
Sources
- Alfonso X el Sabio: presentación — Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes
- De cómo el castellano llegó a ser el español (Rafael Lapesa, 1978) — Centro Virtual Cervantes
- La traducción, lengua de Europa: siglos XIII a XV (I) — Centro Virtual Cervantes