De Rebus Scholaribus

Independent schools are semi-sacred spaces of intrigue, action, and innovation. Yet they can be loci of drudgery, strongholds of status quo, and crucibles of hostility toward change. Culturally interesting, they command our attention and pique our curiosity. They are dramatic and complex. They are also home to generations of school folks who have labored to instill respect and admiration for a vie formative that is family-oriented, highly personal, and advocates the Renaissance ideal of the honnte homme as an educational model. This volume introduces readers to thoughts, insights, and critiques of independent schools as they adapt to the twenty-first century.

King Alfonso VIII of Castile: Government, Family and War brings together a diverse group of scholars whose work concerns the reign of Alfonso VIII (1158–1215). This was a critical period in the history of the Iberian peninsula, when the conflict between the Christian north and the Moroccan empire of the Almohads was at its most intense, while the political divisions between the five Christian kingdoms reached their high-water mark. From his troubled ascension as a child to his victory at Las Navas de Tolosa near the end of his fifty-seven-year reign, Alfonso VIII and his kingdom were at the epicenter of many of the most dramatic events of the era. Contributors: Martin Alvira Cabrer, Janna Bianchini, Sam Zeno Conedera, S.J., Miguel Dolan Gómez, Carlos de Ayala Martínez, Kyle C. Lincoln, Joseph O’Callaghan, Teofi lo F. Ruiz, Miriam Shadis, Damian J. Smith, James J. Todesca