THE LARA FAMILY: Crown and Nobility in Medieval Spain

As its subtitle suggests, this lucid scholarly work by Hofstra University history professor Doubleday takes the 300-year odyssey of the powerful Lara family as a case study in the changing relationship between the Castilian aristocracy and the monarchy. The Laras began their rise as protégés of Alfonso VI in the 11th century, when "the royal court was in fact a fountain of aristocratic power." Gonzalo Núñez ("de Lara" was added later to indicate the family's geographic base in northern Spain) gained his king's favor as a talented warrior, the key to ascendancy as the Christian kingdoms crusaded against the Islamic powers on the Iberian peninsula. Land and political authority were granted to the Laras as rewards for loyal service, particularly in the early 12th century, when Pedro Gonzalez de Lara was the favorite of Queen Urraca. But as the monarchy sought to increase and centralize its power in the early 13th century, the Laras emerged as defenders of aristocratic privilege and suffered periods of disfavor when they turned to the Aragonese kings and even to France for support. Acceleration of the reconquest campaign in the mid-13th century improved the fortunes of another generation of gifted soldiers, but the relationship between crown and nobility remained tense and confrontational. When Nuño de Lara died in 1352, the lands of Lara fell under royal control and an epoch ended. Nonetheless, Doubleday concludes, "Aristocracy, not monarchy, was the dominant force in Castilian society in the fifteenth century and would remain so well into the early modern age." Very specifically focused on local events, filled with discussions of the distinction between tenancies and patrimonies, this is not a book for the general reader, but serious students of Spanish history will find it informative and cogently argued. (Sept.)