[ix] My interest in the cortes was first awakened while I was preparing A History of Medieval Spain. As I quickly discovered, Spanish historiography has only recently begun to give due attention to this topic, and in the English speaking world, only a handful of studies has been published in the last seventy years. An international congress, meeting in Burgos in October 1986, was the first concerted attempt by a body of scholars to explore the impact of the cortes of Castile and León on medieval and modern Spanish society.

My initial inquires, meanwhile, lcd me to conclude that a full-scale history of the cortes of Castile-León from the late twelfth century to the middle of the fourteenth was in order. My expectation is that this will stimulate further inquiry into many of the issues discussed, and a more intensive search for pertinent documentation.

I am very much indebted to the many librarians, archivists, and others who responded to my queries and supplied me with microfilm or xerox copies of numerous texts. I must especially acknowledge the kindness [x] of Professor Angus MacKay of the University of Edinburgh, who offered me a microfilm copy of texts in the Archives municipales of Nantes, France. I wish also to express my warm appreciation to Professor Teofilo Ruiz of Brooklyn College, who read my manuscript and gave me much needed counsel.

I am grateful to the Program for Cultural Cooperation Between Spains Ministry of Culture and United States Universities for aiding the publication of this book.