Alfonso Martínez de Toledo's best-known work is the Arcipreste de Talavera (Archpriest of Talavera, 1438), also known as the Corbacho, a title sometimes translated as The Whip, though it could also be translated as The Scourge or, perhaps better, as The Pizzle. This text includes sermonizing condemnations of lust and the sins he claims that it engenders, a misogynistic diatribe, a discussion of the medical theory of humors and the influence of heavenly bodies on human physiology, and an orthodox defense of the doctrine of free will, all of which is liberally peppered with grotesque caricatures, especially of women, and titillating tales of scandal. Martínez was also the author of the Atalaya de las corónicas (Watchtower of the Chronicles, begun in 1443), a history of Spain from the time of the Visigothic kings that, though less familiar today than the Arcipreste de Talavera, might...