Sources for the study of medieval city (13th to 15th centuries): treatises of government. Definition of a literary genre

• Main Author: Josué Villa Prieto
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universidad Complutense de Madrid 2015-06-01
• Series: En la España Medieval
• Subjects: Tratados de gobierno; ciudad medieval; regidores urbanos; educación y moralidad medieval; Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo; Diego de Valera.
• Online Access: http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/ELEM/article/view/49047

This article aims to expose the literary characteristics of the treatises used to provide professional training to urban councillors in the Late Middle Ages. Manuals for urban rulers as a literary genre were developed from the 13th to the 15th centuries and are composed of three basic elements: royal ordinances regarding the functioning of local institutions, educational texts on politics and morals from Classical and Late Antiquity, and European medieval treatises, especially those from Italian Humanism. The second part of this article focuses on the influence of Italian treatises on Spanish treatises, by authors such as Giles of Rome (<em>De regimine principum</em>), Leonardo Bruni (<em>De nobiliate</em>) or Bartolus de Saxoferrato (<em>De insigniis et armis</em>), among other writers. On the other hand, peninsular treatises which allow a better study of ideal characterization of urban nobility with political responsibilities are the treatises of Ramón Llull, Juan Manuel, Franscesc Eiximenis, Juan de Alarcón, Alonso de Cartagena, Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo and Diego de Valera.