" Alfonso X (1221-1284) reigned as king of Castile and León from 1252
until his death. Known to history as El Sabio, the Wise, or the Learned,
his appreciation for science and the arts led him to sponsor a number of
books on the history of Spain since its Roman settlement. Among them
were the Cantigas de Santa Maria, a collection of over four hundred
poems exalting his favorite patron saint, Mary, and chronicles of all
the kings of Castile and León, Navarre, Aragón, and Portugal. Alfonso X
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