" This] collection provides stimulating perspectives, drawn from a wide historical and geographical range, that refresh the theories, methods, and goals through which we deal with border issues." H-SAE

"These twelve essays consider in an exemplary fashion geographical, cultural, gender, linguistic, disciplinary, and other Spanish borders...All-in-all, this book is not only worth reading, but an admirable example of where contemporary Hispanism can be found." Bulletin of Spanish Studies

"Read together or individually, these essays mark an impressive display of knowledge of Spanish cultural and historical identity both in width and profundity, and, more importantly, of the marginalized, suppressed, or ignored elements that undermine that knowledge. If you think you know Spain, think again; you will find something, if not many things, in this collection to challenge your perceptions. A valuable resource for students and professors alike, as well as any reader with a desire to better understand the complications, ambiguities, and fluctuations of modern and historical Spain." Bulletin of the Association of Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies

Under the current cartographies of globalism, where frontiers mutate, vacillate, and mark the contiguity of discourse, questioning the Spanish border seems a particularly urgent task. The volume engages a wide spectrum of ambivalent regions-subjects that currently are, or have been seen in the past, as spaces of negotiation and contestation. However, they converge in their perception of the "Spanish" nation-space as a historical and ideological construct that is perpetually going through transformations and reformations. This volume advocates the position that intellectual responsibility must lead us to engage openly in the issues underlying current social and political tensions.

Benita Samperdro Vizcaya is Associate Professor of Colonial Studies in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Hofstra University. Her research interests focus on issues of Spanish colonialism in both Africa and Latin America, specifically on processes of decolonization and postcolonial legacies. She has published extensively on empire, exile, colonial discourse and resistance, and most recently on topics relating to Equatorial Guinea, the only African state where Spanish remains the official language. She is currently working on a book manuscript entitled "Spanish Colonialism, African Decolonizations, and the Politics of Place."

Simon Doubleday is Associate Professor of History at Hofstra University, and Executive Editor of the Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies. He is author of "The Lara Family: Crown and Nobility in Medieval Spain" (Harvard, 2001), and co-editor, with David Coleman, of "In the Light of Medieval Spain. Islam, the West, and the Relevance of History" (Palgrave, 2008). He is currently completing a post-empirical study of the thirteenth-century border-crossing Castilian courtesan Maria Perez, "La Balteira."

The word "medieval" is often used in a negative way when talking about contemporary issues. Why the Middle Ages Matter refreshes our thinking about this historical era, and our own, by looking at some pressing concerns from today's world, asking how these issues were really handled in the medieval period, and showing why the past matters now. The contributors here cover topics such as torture, marriage, sexuality, imprisonment, refugees, poverty, work, the status of women, disability, race, political leadership and end of life care. They focus on a variety of regions, from North Africa and the Middle East, through Western and Central Europe, to the British Isles.

This collection challenges many negative stereotypes of medieval people, revealing a world from which, for instance, much could be learned about looking after the spiritual needs of the dying, and about integrating prisoners into the wider community through an emphasis on reconciliation between victim and criminal. It represents a new level of engagement with issues of social justice by medievalists and provides a highly engaging way into studying the middle ages. All the essays are written so as to be accessible to students, and each is accompanied by a list of further readings.

Under the current cartographies of globalism, where frontiers mutate, vacillate, and mark the contiguity of discourse, questioning the Spanish border seems a particularly urgent task. The volume engages a wide spectrum of ambivalent regions-subjects that currently are, or have been seen in the past, as spaces of negotiation and contestation. However, they converge in their perception of the "Spanish" nation-space as a historical and ideological construct that is perpetually going through transformations and reformations. This volume advocates the position that intellectual responsibility must lead us to engage openly in the issues underlying current social and political tensions.

The word "medieval" is often used in a negative way when talking about contemporary issues. Why the Middle Ages Matter refreshes our thinking about this historical era, and our own, by looking at some pressing concerns from today's world, asking how these issues were really handled in the medieval period, and showing why the past matters now. The contributors here cover topics such as torture, marriage, sexuality, imprisonment, refugees, poverty, work, the status of women, disability, race, political leadership and end of life care. They focus on a variety of regions, from North Africa and the Middle East, through Western and Central Europe, to the British Isles.

This collection challenges many negative stereotypes of medieval people, revealing a world from which, for instance, much could be learned about looking after the spiritual needs of the dying, and about integrating prisoners into the wider community through an emphasis on reconciliation between victim and criminal. It represents a new level of engagement with issues of social justice by medievalists and provides a highly engaging way into studying the middle ages. All the essays are written so as to be accessible to students, and each is accompanied by a list of further readings.

If I had been present at the Creation," the thirteenth-century Spanish philosopher-king Alfonso X is said to have stated, Many faults in the universe would have been avoided." Known as El Sabio , the Wise," Alfonso was renowned by friends and enemies alike for his sparkling intellect and extraordinary cultural achievements. In The Wise King , celebrated historian Simon R. Doubleday traces the story of the king's life and times, leading us deep into his emotional world and showing how his intense admiration for Spain's rich Islamic culture paved the way for the European Renaissance. In 1252, when Alfonso replaced his more militaristic father on the throne of Castile and Leon, the battle to reconquer Muslim territory on the Iberian Peninsula was raging fiercely. But even as he led his Christian soldiers onto the battlefield, Alfonso was seduced by the glories of Muslim Spain. His engagement with the Arabic-speaking culture of the South shaped his pursuit of astronomy, for which he was famed for centuries, and his profoundly humane vision of the world, which Dante, Petrarch, and later Italian humanists would inherit. A composer of lyric verses, and patron of works on board games, hunting, and the properties of stones, Alfonso is best known today for his Cantigas de Santa Maria (Songs of Holy Mary), which offer a remarkable window onto his world. His ongoing struggles as a king and as a man were distilled,in art, music, literature, and architecture,into something sublime that speaks to us powerfully across the centuries. An intimate biography of the Spanish ruler in whom two cultures converged, The Wise King introduces readers to a Renaissance man before his time, whose creative energy in the face of personal turmoil and existential threats to his kingdom would transform the course of Western history.