Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"As usual, Ruiz's style is clear and at times witty."--Choice "Teofilo R. Ruiz demonstrates the sort of erudition that comes only from experience, discretion, and hard work. The result is a book that will likely stand for many years as an authoritative "must-read" for all historians of medieval Europe."--David Coleman, American Historical Review "From Heaven to Earth is a thought-provoking and remarkable book, integrating a great deal of evidence in a carefully delineated, broad intellectual framework. Fluid and readable, it should be of considerable interest to historians of social and cultural life in Iberia and throughout the medieval West."--Michelle Herder, Speculum
Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments ix INTRODUCTION From Heaven to Earth 1 CHAPTER ONE A Taste for the New: Commerce, Property, and Language 12 CHAPTER TWO The Evidence of Wills 37 CHAPTER THREE Property: Wills and the Law in Medieval Castile 54 CHAPTER FOUR Itemizing the World: Boundaries, Consolidation of Property, and Rights of Way 67 CHAPTER FIVE Family and Property: Lineages and Primogeniture 87 CHAPTER SIX Heavenly Concerns: Charity and Salvation 110 CHAPTER SEVEN Toward a New Concept of Power: Unsacred Monarchy 133 Conclusion 151 Appendix 155 Notes 163 Bibliography 199 Index 215
