Quotes:Alphonso X

Zirkoff, Boris

Alphonso X, el Sabio (the “Learned” or “Wise”). King of Castile and Leon (1252-1284). A ruler of splendid intentions, whose ideas were ahead of his times, he met a great deal of opposition to his 496 proposed reforms and died defeated and deserted at Seville. His fame rests largely on his scholarship, and he may be justly considered the father of Castillian prose. Under his patronage and his editorship, a number of vast works were undertaken, including the great legal code, Las Siete Partidas, which is a mine of curious information on Spanish life and customs of the time (ed. by Royal Acad, of Hist., Madrid, 1807). He was the founder of Spanish historiography in the vulgar tongue, and was responsible for one of the greatest collections of medieval poetry and music. His chief interest was in astronomy and astrology, and he is responsible for the erection of the so-called *Alphonsine Tables of planetary positions, produced at Toledo in 1252 in collaboration with a large number of astronomers. These were issued at the time as Tabulae astronomicae Alfonsi regis. Edited by J. Santritter. Joh. Hamman de Landoia dictus Hertzog. Venetiis, 1492, 4to; also Ven., 1521, 4to.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 3, pp. 495-496