Rico Manrique was a student of José Manuel Blecua and Martín de Riquer.

He was 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 Académia das Ciéncias de Lisboa, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and the British Academy.

[3] Rico Manrique had edited many classics from the medieval period and the "Siglo de Oro", and had written numerous studies on medieval and renaissance literature.

He had also edited the Historia y Crítica de la Literatura Española (Nine volumes, with supplements).

Rico Manrique later oversaw the Classical Library series (started by Editorial Crítica and now a part of "Reader's Circle", a division of Bertelsmann) following guidelines from the Centro para la Edición de los Clásicos Españoles, which Rico began and helped to develop.