A comprehensive history that focuses on the crises of Spain in the late middle ages and the early transformations that underpinned the later successes of the Catholic Monarchs.

• Illuminates Spain's history from the early fourteenth century to the union of the Crowns of Castile and Aragon in 1474
• Examines the challenges and reforms of the social, economic, political, and cultural structures of the country
• Looks at the early transformations that readied Spain for the future opportunities and challenges of the early modern Age of Discovery
• Includes a helpful bibliography to direct the reader toward further study

Teofilo F. Ruiz is Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. His publications include Crisis and Continuity: Land and Town in Late Medieval Castile (1994) and Spanish Society 1400-1600 (2002) and From Heaven to Earth. The Reordering of Castilian Society, 1150-1350 (2004).