He is a professor of Medieval Spanish Literature at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and, since 1987, a member of the Royal Spanish Academy as well as the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and the British Academy.Rico Manrique was elected to Seat p of the Real Academia Española on 13 March 1986, he took up his seat on 4 June 1987.He has edited many classics from the medieval period and the "Siglo de Oro", and has written numerous studies on medieval and renaissance literature.