Alfonso de Cartagena, legal scholar

The truest calling of Alfonso de Cartagena was the study of law, although he considered service to the Castilian Crown a priority. He was, above all, a legal scholar with a solid training in canon law. He produced a body of legal work with two facets, academic and courtly. The former comprises two works: Tractatus super lege Gallus and Tractatus super repetitione Ludovici de Roma, comprising commentaries on the laws of the Digestum and the Decretals, respectively. The latter consists of works serving the interests of the Crown of Castile: the speech delivered in Basel in defence of the Castilian prelacy and the Allegationes. To this must be added the consilia drafted during his time at the Council of Basel. Finally, one might include the Doctrinal de los caballeros, a compilation of Spanish legislation on chivalry. Cartagena's status as a jurist shaped substantial aspects of the rest of his work: the assertion of the superiority of law over example, coupled with a keen awareness of the historical dimension of law, would form a new perspective on the exemplary nature of history. In turn, the man of letters enriched legal discourse with his knowledge of Antiquity, particularly his solid Aristotelianism.