Reseña de: Emilio Martín Gutiérrez. Los bosques en Andalucía durante el siglo XV. Un palimpsesto de miradas

Los bosques en Andalucía durante el siglo XV, by Emilio Martín Gutiérrez, is a work that redefines medieval environmental history by placing the woodland as a true historical actor rather than a mere backdrop. With an exceptional graphic apparatus, an unusual degree of conceptual precision, and exhaustive documentary analysis—especially for the medieval kingdom of Seville and its neighbouring territories—the book combines felling licences, ordinances, resource conflicts, thematic maps, and cultural representations to construct a genuine “palimpsest of gazes” on the Andalusian landscape. Its methodological approach weaves together space, governance, risk, sustainability, and material culture into a total socio-environmental narrative capable of linking local case studies with broader interpretative frameworks. Although regional disparities in the sources and a more limited dialogue with paleoenvironmental archaeology impose some constraints, the volume stands out as a major contribution to Iberian medieval studies and to environmental history, offering a robust model for understanding how woodlands shaped—and were shaped by—the societies of the fifteenth century.