The Lara family : crown and nobility in medieval Spain / Simon R. Doubleday.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Doubleday, Simon R.

Series:

Harvard historical studies ; v. 141.

Harvard historical studies ; 141

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lara family.

Nobility--Spain--Castile.

Nobility.

Castile (Spain)--History.

Castile (Spain).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vi, 198 pages) : maps

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

For much of the Middle Ages, the Lara family was among the most powerful aristocratic lineages in Spain. Protégés of the monarchy at the time of El Cid, their influence reached extraordinary heights during the struggle against the Moors. Hand-in-glove with successive kings, they gathered an impressive array of military and political positions across the Iberian Peninsula. But cooperation gave way to confrontation, as the family was pitted against the crown in a series of civil wars.This book, the first modern study of the Laras, explores the causes of change in the dynamics of power, and narrates the dramatic story of the events that overtook the family. The Laras' militant quest for territorial strength and the conflict with the monarchy led toward a fatal end, but anticipated a form of aristocratic power that long outlived the family. The noble elite would come to dominate Spanish society in the coming centuries, and the Lara family provides important lessons for students of the history of nobility, monarchy, and power in the medieval and early modern world.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Acknowledgments

Contents

Maps

Introduction

I Symbiosis

1 The Chains of Love

2 The Revels of War

3 A Zenith and a Nadir

II Confrontation

4 The Road to Rebellion

5 Revolt, Rapprochement, and Rumor

6 Ricos Hombres

Conclusion

Abbreviations

Notes

The Tenancies of the Laras

Principal Figures of the Lara Family

Glossary of Spanish Terms

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [135]-179) and index.

ISBN:

9780674034297

0674034295

OCLC:

923112266