The Kingdom of Leon-Castilla under Queen Urraca, 1109-1126

The Kingdom of León-Castilla under Queen Urraca, 1109-1126 was published by Princeton University Press in 1982, and it was the first of three books he wrote about her, her father, Alfonso VI, and her son, Alfonso VII. Drawing from over a thousand documents and, at the time, 118 royal charters that he authenticated, the book was based on meticulous historical research, where the historian was also “his own paleographer.”

Even though he acknowledged that writing a proper biography of a Spanish monarch from the early 12th century was nearly impossible—since very little could be truly known about personal matters beyond local chronicles, mainly La Crónica Compostelana and El Anónimo de Sahagún—he warned that these sources should be approached carefully, as they presented an “interested” perspective.

Still, today, it is almost impossible to read any modern book about the Queen or her time without the authors carefully referring to his groundbreaking work. Nevertheless, he managed to offer a close approach to the life of the first woman to rule as a king in her own right in all of Western Europe.

A must-read, which, astonishingly, as we approach the 900th anniversary of her death in 1126, has yet to be translated into Spanish.

Bernard F. Reilly (1925-2022) was a distinguished expert on medieval history, an activist professor at Villanova University, and a prolific award-winning author, died Saturday, 
Dr. Reilly was a professor of history at Villanova from 1955 to 1992, and he taught courses and seminars on the Renaissance, Reformation, High Middle Ages, and other topics. He wrote nearly a dozen books, many of them on the religious and political history of Spain and Portugal in the 11th and 12th centuries, and several were translated into Spanish and Portuguese.
He won the 1986 John Nicholas Brown Prize from the Medieval Academy of America for his 1982 book, The Kingdom of León-Castilla under Queen Urraca, 1109-1126; the 1990 Premio del Rey prize from the American Historical Association for his 1988 book, The Kingdom of León-Castilla Under King Alfonso VI, 1065-1109; and the 2000 Premio del Rey prize for his 1998 book The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VII, 1126-1157.
An academic correspondent with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and Sciences in Toledo, Spain; a corresponding member of the Portuguese Academy of History; and an honorary fellow of the New York-based Hispanic Society of America, Dr. Reilly also received grants, and published many papers, articles, and book reviews.