A Late Medieval Knight Reflecting on his Public Life: Hugo de Urriés (c. 1405-c. 1493), Diplomacy and Translating the Classics

Abstract

This article focuses on Aragonese courtier Hugo de Urries's public profile by means of analyzing the critical points derived from examining his personal, political, cultural and historical stands making use of an invaluable primary source, his letter to Fernando the Catholic in the early 1490s. It is not often that the medieval scholar is presented with the chance to analyze a self-evident symbiosis between the public and private personae of a late medieval knight. As part of Urries's public profile, his translation of Valerius Maximus and his foreword to King Fernando of Aragon are contextualized as an integral part of an agenda of legitimization of royal and imperial power, an agenda in which Urries actively participated and one that he militantly promoted throughout his life. This article juxtaposes diplomacy, courtliness and translation of classics as a means of showcasing some of the markers of nation building in the years of the reign of the Catholic Monarchs.