Las Siete Partidas Alfonsa X jako źródło do dziejów historii wojskowości. Wybrane zagadnienia

In his Siete Partidas Alfonso the Learned discusses in detail various military matters, such as military obligations, waging war on land, defence of castles, battles and sieges, war at sea, qualifications of the leaders, maintenance of military discipline, arms, supplies etc. This pragmatic approach mirrors the situation in the Iberian Peninsula, with its society immersed in a permanent conflict during the Reconquista. The present article primarily focuses on the regulations concerning people’s obligation to protect the king and his castles, obligation to defend the country, to join the army whenever the king needs assistance, as well as the laws concerning knights, and naval warfare. It has also been pointed out that the Castilian king’s imperial aspirations had probably influenced his legal work.