Review by Choice Review
Bisson offers a fine overview of the Crown of Aragon, that remarkable federated kingdom south of the Pyrenees balanced delicately between France to the north and Castile to the east. Bisson takes his study from the origins of the separate states, the Kingdom of Aragon, and the County of Aragon. These areas evolved their territorial integrity in the tenth century, merged into one kingdom or ``Crown'' in the 12th century, and expanded eastward to the Balearic Islands and southward to absorb Valencia in the 13th century. They pursued the problems of political and economic consolidation to the end of the 15th century and arrangement of the dynastic marriage that united Aragon to Castile. The book tends to favor Catalonia and the city of Barcelona in coverage, but nonetheless constitutes a fine survey of this important medieval monarchy. Economic and institutional problems receive particular emphasis. For those who wish a more general introduction than that provided by J.N. Hillgarth's The Spanish Kingdoms, 12501516 (v.1: CH, Nov '76; v.2: CH, Jun '79), or a more Catalan focus than offered in Joseph F. O'Callaghan's A History of Medieval Spain (CH, Jul '75), this is a highly recommendable work. Good bibliography; maps; interesting plates. Upper-division undergraduates and above.-J.F. Powers, College of the Holy Cross
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
