| Commentary: |
Snow 2007: "An attempt to portray the kind of man that Alfonso must have been — morally, physically, and as aesthete. What results is a largely positive psycho-biographic portrait (built up from theories espoused by Ernst Kretchmer) that makes for interesting reading but, in the final analysis, is able to aver nothing. It is suggested that Alfonso was subject to thinking in terms of the grandiose, but with concrete terms and set goals. The lack of success in implementing many of his schemes produced wide swings in his behavioral patterns, allowing modern historians to support often widely-divergent opinions about Alfonso and the conduct of his affairs." |
