The Untold Story of Alfonso the Tenth: The Turning Point of the Spanish Language

we can really only gauge the importance of an event after it happens something that may seem inconsequential at the

time can turn out to have unexpected ramifications later on that's what studying history is all

about looking back we can clearly see turning points although people at the time may have had no idea where things

are headed and some turning points are so pivotal they change world history for centuries to come

[Music] [Applause] consider the history of human languages

we know there are over 7,000 of them yet only a tiny fraction are ever used by people on a global scale why is that

well some languages like Chinese or Hindi have become very large through the sheer size of their populations other

languages like Spanish French or English have become global languages through conquest and colonialism ever since

Columbus is voyage in 1492 Spanish has been on a path to become a world language

[Music] but there was a time not so long before Columbus the Castilian was just one

dialect in a sparsely populated land so what was a turning point that made it one of the world's most spoken languages

today let's find out Spanish began as a dialect of Latin the language of the Roman Empire which ruled

the Mediterranean 2,000 years ago when the Empire collapsed Latin evolved into many different dialects becoming French

Italian Portuguese Catalan Romanian and other Romance languages in the Iberian Peninsula modern-day Spain and Portugal

numerous languages evolved these included Galician and leonie's in the north Catalan and Aragon ease in the

east and Castilian into central kingdoms of Castile and Leon eventually Castilian became the dominant language of Spain

and would be carried around the world with the expanding Spanish Empire our search for the beginning of Castilian

spread Spanish --is turningpoint you might say takes us back not just to 1492 but almost a thousand years before that

because on the other side of the Mediterranean a major new religion was spreading another turning point in

history that would affect the growth of Spanish in the seventh century Islam emerged on the Arabian Peninsula it

spread teachings about God and biblical prophets through the Arabic holy book the Quran Islam spread quickly from

Arabia forming a vast United culture that spanned from India to the Iberian Peninsula with its capital in Baghdad it

held some of the world's most important knowledge in the 9th and 10th centuries Islamic scholars translated books for

Persian and classical Greek into Arabic advancing learning in many fields from biology to medicine to astronomy and

beyond and that knowledge found its way to Spain with the spread of Muslim

civilizations after 711 Iberia was mostly a Muslim land and it's great cities were all Muslim cities learning

took place in Arabic which became the most prestigious and important intellectual language all around the

Mediterranean Sea [Music] it's a big building that's because it's

the royal palace it's one of the largest palaces in Europe and one of the most iconic buildings in the city of Madrid

although it was built in the 18th century it conceals a hidden Muslim past thousand years ago on this site there

stood in Islamic fortress so what happened how did we get from a land dominated by Arabic to an empire

that spreads Spanish around the globe as I looked for explanations of how Muslim Iberia was transformed into the Spain of

today I suspected that one important clue was the success of a Castilian language to find out I headed to the

Spanish National Library the biblioteca Nacional behind me stands the largest collection of books in the Spanish

language the biblioteca Nacional or national library of Madrid receives every book printed in Spain and houses

over 30 million items it's thus a fitting place for statutes that honor some of the most important

figures in Spanish literature like Lopez a Vega the contemporary of Shakespeare who penned thousands of classical plays

or Antonio Deneb Rica who wrote the first grammar of the Castilian language or Miguel de Cervantes who penned the

immortal novel Don Quixote but among these giants of Spanish writing there's one figure who lived centuries before

the others a medieval king named Alfonso the tenth nicknamed el sabio the wise because of his great learning

Alfonso's name and his many accomplishments are little known outside of Spanish school books to find out more

about who this mysterious King was I went to visit historian Mercedes Garcia eronel I function at tenth was the first

king who had his whole court and administration work and write in Castilian in a Romans language no King

in Europe was going to do that still for centuries please have very important King I first saw a trance

inside the National Library I was able to examine some of our father's own original works

I realized that Alfonso was the bridge between Spain's Muslim past and its global present to dig deeper into

Alphonsus story I would have to start in his birthplace the city of Toledo from the 8th to the 13th centuries the

Iberian Peninsula was dominated by Muslim civilization which called the land al-andalus over the course of five

centuries the Christians conquered this territory driving the Muslims south Toledo's in the centre of the peninsula

and when it was conquered in the year 1085 Christians left much of what they found intact instead of burning the

books they started reading them but in Toledo the Christians found some of the world's most important books still

intact all of the classics of ancient Greece which were unknown in Latin but

preserved in the Muslim world philosophy books by Plato and Aristotle and their followers pastor nominal books by

ptolemy medical books by Galen and Hippocrates and many more these books were rediscovered along with

commentaries by great Muslim thinkers like Avicenna and Averroes I visited the university's research center called the

school of translators their scholars are studying the history of translation in the city well concept to this palo de de

de toledo un concepto moderno por la historia del siglo DC Nueve y para reference el al movimiento de traducción

cuban esta ciudad sena das media en esta ciudad comedian las Tres culturas a via población de tres quatro idiomas y esto

favor hicieron caldo cultivo perfecto para momento a parte de que esta ciudad y eran un a

grantee blow teca's me sobre todo de cordoba muchos de los libros where entrado x' el norte y yerin Latifah

Toledo Yama's adelante Roberto canal in pousada Alfonso de timo pues es la coruña preto Mille active

etre doctora impulse Allah al Castellanos molana' siente todo el movimiento de producción con esta ciudad

Fabricio y console ido el el desarrollo el castillo no cocoa muy OMA so the year is 12 21 when Alfonzo was

born in this city Toledo it was already a place famous for translation from arabic but just south

of here was a land of war between Christians and Muslims over the next 30 years

Alfonso's father Fernando the third would conquer most of it reducing Muslim land by 75% and when

Alfonso took over in 1252 his kingdom was the largest and most powerful in the whole peninsula so what was all fun so

gonna do with his newfound power you've got to understand the psychology of this young king for an end of the 3rd was a

larger-than-life military hero and Alfonso wanted to live up to his father's greatness somehow so he

dedicated his crowns vast new resources to reviving a tradition the Toledo was famous for translation

[Music] but I also didn't want to just redo what had been done he wanted to be original

so he chose to do something radical to ignore Latin and instead to translate Arabic books into his own language

Castilian which had not been used for science or learning may not be as dramatic as being a military hero but

his actions would change history for centuries and affect us even into the modern day

[Music] Alfonzo commissioned Jewish Christian and Muslim translators and intellectuals

in his court to make Castilian versions of books from the Muslim world these included literary fables religious

legends medieval magic books and above all astronomy and astrology in just a few decades Alfonzo elevated Castilian

to be the most influential language in the Iberian Peninsula to understand how important Alfonso's Castilian

translations were I went to see some of the original manuscripts made in his own workshops I'm standing outside of el

escorial the enormous palace and monastery built by philip ii in the 16th century just outside of Madrid here we

can find one of the largest collections in the world of all fond shows original works I'm inside the escorial library

and here we can see that Alfonso didn't just use the Castilian language to translate books out of Arabic he also

commissioned astronomers in his own court to take detailed measurements of the Stars in order to expand the books

of astronomy by thinkers in Baghdad in Toledo his translations in the Castilian would have an influence on science for

centuries his libro than severe astronomia book of astronomical knowledge provided extensive information

on how to use scientific tools like the astrolabe the compass and the water clock

Alfonso's astronomical tables the table cellphone see ace built on these Arabic models and became widely known European

astronomers used these tables for over 300 years nicholas copernicus who revolutionized

planetary science in the 16th century had his own copy of all fonts those tables

Alfonzo also had his court scholars write numerous influential books in other areas his history of Spain or

historia de espana and general history general Astoria include chronicles of Spain and the wider world his seven

parts or siete partida's is an exhaustive law code in the vernacular language it was so influential in the

development of modern law that Alfonso's image now hangs in the US House of Representatives in Washington has one of

the great lawgivers of history Alfonzo even wrote a book on games describing chess checkers and dice games like

backgammon Alfonso's ambitious efforts transformed Castilian into a language of history

science and law setting it on a path to become a world language [Music]

although the manuscripts he compiled are kept here in El Escorial and his birthplace is Toledo to truly understand

Alfonso's role as the founder of the Spanish language we have to continue our journey to the southern city of Seville

Fernando's conquest of Seville in 1248 was considered his greatest military victory it was the most significant

conquest since the Christian taking of Toledo and it was so meaningful to the cause of Christian expansion that

Fernando would later be made a saint by the Catholic Church Seville was probably Alfonso's favorite city because it

captured the beauty and style that he admired most that of the Muslims who held this city only four years before he

began his reign the memory of Alfonso's father Fernando lives on in this city that's him on his horse right here in

front of City Hall celebrating his military victory and as you walk around the city will discover that Seville

remembers Alfonso - the official motto of the city is attributed by popular legend - Alfonso himself

it says no dough which stands for no mayor they hollow or it did not abandon me these words can be found on every

street in Seville which still honors him for his great accomplishments

when Alfonso took over as king in 1252 the city had been one of the most important cities of Muslim al-andalus

just a few years before one of the first things to happen after the conquest of the city was to rededicate the mosque as

a church and the mosque of Seville was one of the largest in al-andalus or anywhere in the Mediterranean it is

recorded that Alfonso threatened to punish anyone who tried to tear the mosque down both Christians who wanted

to celebrate their victory and Muslims who didn't want the mosque to fall into Christian hands the mosques original

courtyard and tower or minaret still stand today the minaret now serves as a bell tower and is known as la giralda or

the spinning lady because of the weathervane on top of its pinnacle Alfonso modeled his kingdom on that of

the Muslim civilization his father conquered right next to the cathedral he converted the existing Muslim fortress

or Alcazar into a palace for his own uses today it's the oldest royal residence in Spain still used by the

royal family during their state visits to the city [Music]

Alfonso preserved these monuments to display his new wealth but he also continued to use Islamic style in the

new structures evil this hybrid approach of using Islamic style on Christian buildings is called

new day hostile which refers to the Muslims who stayed behind after Alfonzo took over its Castilian King in making

these combined styles Alphonse established a pattern it would be carried on by later Castilian kings I

[Music] went to speak with historian Sebastian Vettel Mendes Aguilera about Alfonso's

great-great grandson Pedro the first he expanded the alcazar palace in the 14th century he explained how the entryway to

Pedro's Palace bears a unique inscription praising the king in Castilian while also quoting Arabic it

says there is no victor except God while at Lalibela LA the same words that appear in the Alhambra fortress built in

Muslim Granada but on Pedro's palace the inscription forms an intricate puzzle repeating the words eight times

forwards backwards and upside down because of Alfonso we can read the history of the Spanish language in

monuments like these where Castilian and Arabic appears side-by-side remember those books Alfonso had

translated it was here in Seville that his translations of astronomical knowledge and star positions started to

pay off by helping early modern navigators explore the seas ever since Roman soldiers first established a

colony here in 206 BC during the Second Punic Wars seville's fortune has been tied to the

river that runs through it the Guadalquivir during Alfonso's reign the city was guarded by a lookout on the

river known as the golden tower or totally DeLauro it was erected by the Muslims at the same time as the mosque

near the tower Alfonso built shipyards called the after asanas to defend the city an advanced

sea travel in nomine Sevilla controler Acosta that is whoever holds Seville controls the coast it's no accident that

after Columbus's voyage to the Americas in 1492 Seville became the center of Spain's expanding maritime Empire

spanning east through the Mediterranean and West to the Americas and beyond even to the Philippines it was here in the

house of trade built inside the Alcazar that Magellan first planned the circumnavigation of the globe in the

early 16th century that Amerigo Vespucci planned his voyage to the land that would take his name America after the

conquest of the new world Seville became the center of all government and trade relating to the Americas Spanish

explorers sent all documents from Spanish rule to Seville these included everything from Columbus's letters to

ledgers of the governments in Mexico and Peru and they're still housed here today in the former Counting house the archive

of the Indies and they didn't just bring documents they brought spices and slaves and

silver lots of silver all of the wealth of the Americas extracted by forced indigenous labor passed through Seville

and the city grew rich on it it produced opulent art and made towering monuments and the cities dozens of convents and

monasteries are decorated with it here in Seville Christian Muslim and Jewish world combined on a path that

collided often violently with the new world of the Americas the former mosque turned Church was torn

down in the 15th century to make room for this towering Gothic cathedral now the largest Gothic cathedral in the

world today most visitors stop at this to that of Christopher Columbus

yet they don't know that the tombs of Alfonso and his father are only a few steps away in the Royal Chapel Alfonso

built a tomb to honor his father Fernando and it is covered in inscriptions praising him as the

Conqueror of Seville appropriately these inscriptions are written in the four languages of his

kingdom Latin Hebrew Arabic and Castilian so what were we looking for turning points because of Alfonso's

translations Castilian became a dominant language because of Seville's location and Spain's imperial ambitions that

language spread around the world today it's spoken by hundreds of millions of people on every continent

yes and yet who remembers Alfonso's name today remember I mentioned how the official motto of the city of Seville is

attributed by popular legend to Alfonso himself it's everywhere we look from flags to signs to manhole covers

Alfonso's words give thanks to the city because as he said no Miata Hollow it did not abandon and Alphonsus words

remind us that turning points in history are evident everywhere we look we just have to remember

[Music] [Applause] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music]

you