The advance of the preceding period in historical literature was continued in this. One of the principal names was that of Alfonso X, who was also a writer of note in other branches of literature and learning. His principal work was a history of Spain, compiled probably by a number of men under his direction, just as the _Partidas_ was. Various sources were employed, Spanish, French, Latin, and Arabic, and a certain spirit of criticism, superior to that of the earlier histories, was displayed. On the other hand the work was defective from the historiographical standpoint because of its lack of proportion, its inclusion of epic poems in the body of the narrative, and its manifestation of an ardent patriotism. Perhaps the best historian of the era was the many-sided chancellor and litterateur, López de Ayala, author among other historical works of a chronicle of the reigns of Pedro I, Henry II, Juan I, and part of that of Henry III. López de Ayala wrote in direct imitation of classical writers, especially Livy. Pérez de Guzmán, as author of a collection of biographies reaching down to the fifteenth century, made use of a psychological interpretation of human events. Dramatic literature did not change from the religious dramas and popular representations of jugglers of the preceding era, but progress was made in both of these forms, and each attained to greater favor, preparing the way for the rapidly approaching inauguration of the national theatre. [Sidenote: The developed Castilian Gothic architecture.] [Sidenote: Mudéjar architecture.]