1221-1284

Spanish monarch who fostered learning in astronomy and other disciplines. Alfonso, nicknamed Sabio (the Learned), assumed the thrones of Castile, the leading state in Christian Spain, and León in 1252. He encouraged the preparation of a revised set of planetary tables that became the basis for virtually all astronomical observations in Western Europe during the next two centuries. In 1483 the Alfonsine Tables, as they were called, were printed for the first time. Alfonso was elected Holy Roman emperor in 1257, but the election was not approved by Pope Alexander IV. As a leader, he promulgated a new code of laws, which formed the basis for Spanish jurisprudence, and captured the cities of Cartagena and Cádiz from the Moors.