Spanish Life in the Late Middle Ages

Although this book is published in a series of “Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures,” it is simply an anthology of translations, not a scholarly work. Its purpose is “to give English speaking readers some idea of the life in and around the court of Juan II. It does not pretend to be either a history, sociological study, or literary précis” (p. 8). Under eight different headings, Scholberg offers in translation selected chapters from works dealing with fifteenth-century Spanish life. Each selection is introduced by a very short and general introduction. Students for whom this book has been conceived may wish that the author had paid greater attention to their needs with a more specific and illuminating presentation of the individual selections. They also will feel that the translations often follow too closely the baroque syntax and style of the originals, thus impairing the reading and understanding of the text (see pp. 24, 69). Since Scholberg restricts himself to writers of the fifteenth century, it must be questioned to what extent his anthology can be considered representative of Spanish life in the late Middle Ages.