Urban Honor in Spain: The Laus Urbis from Antiquity Through Humanism

Urban Honor in Spain is an historical study of Spain and the writing technique of laus urbis (praise of the city) during the 15th century. The book begins by providing an overview of laus urbis was developed and codified in oratory and classical literary texts during the Greco-Roman period. The book then explores how this powerful technique re-emerged during the Middle Ages to become a powerful corpus that formed an early national culture by praising cities and nations. In Medieval and Renaissance Spain, laus urbis, provided a sense of local community to city and town dwellers in the indefinite and blurry political frontier of Iberia during the Reconquista. Notwithstanding its historical significance, the book contributes to Spanish literary studies a profound and original examination of the theoretical and cultural reasons behind the concept of praising the city.