The ''Chronica Naierensis'' or ''Crónica najerense'' (originally edited under the title ''Crónica leonesa'') was a late twelfth-century

chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

universal history A universal history is a work aiming at the presentation of a history of all of mankind as a whole, coherent unit. A universal chronicle or world chronicle typically traces history from the beginning of written information about the past up to t ...

composed at the

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monastery of Santa María la Real in

Nájera Nájera () is a small town, former bishopric and now Latin Catholic titular see, former capital of the Kingdom of Navarre, located in the "Rioja Alta" region of La Rioja, northern Spain, on the river Najerilla. Nájera is a stopping point on the F ...

. In

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

it narrates events from

Creation Creation may refer to: Religion *''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing * Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it * Creationism, the belief tha ...

to its own time, with a focus on the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

classical history Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

, the

Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...

in Spain, and the kingdoms of Castile and León. It was an important model for later Spanish Latin historiographers, notably the ''

De rebus Hispaniae ''De rebus Hispaniae'' or ''Historia gothica'De rebus Hispaniae'' is the original Latin title. ''Historia gótica'' is the later vulgar title. It is also known as the ''Cronicón del Toledano'' or ''Cronicón de las cosas sucedidas en España' ...

'' of

Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada Rodrigo Jiménez (or Ximénez) de Rada (c. 1170 – 10 June 1247) was a Roman Catholic bishop and historian, who held an important religious and political role in the Kingdom of Castile during the reigns of Alfonso VIII and Ferdinand III, a per ...

, the ''Chronicon mundi'' of

Lucas de Tuy Lucas or LUCAS may refer to: People * Lucas (surname) * Lucas (given name) Arts and entertainment * Luca Family Singers, also known as "lucas ligner en torsk" * ''Lucas'' (album) (2007), an album by Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities * ''Luc ...

, and the ''

Estoria de España The ''Estoria de España'' ("History of Spain"), also known in the 1906 edition of Ramón Menéndez Pidal as the ''Primera Crónica General'' ("First General Chronicle"), is a history book written on the initiative of Alfonso X of Castile ''"El S ...

'' of the patronage of

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Ger ...

. Besides its classical and Biblical authorities, the ''Chronica Naierensis'' relied heavily on material culled from the ''

cantares de gesta A ''cantar de gesta'' is the Spanish equivalent of the Old French medieval ''chanson de geste'' or "songs of heroic deeds". The most important ''cantares de gesta'' of Castile were: * The '' Cantar de Mio Cid'', where the triumph of the true no ...

''. The ''Chronica'' is not an original work in any rigorous sense, but rather a compilation. Its Visigothic history is based squarely on

Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...

and its more recent Spanish history incorporates the ''

Corpus Pelagianum Pelagius (or Pelayo) of Oviedo (died 28 January 1153) was a medieval ecclesiastic, historian, and forger who served the Diocese of Oviedo as an auxiliary bishop from 1098 and as bishop from 1102 until his deposition in 1130 and again from 1142 to ...

'', a work supervised by

Pelagius, Bishop of Oviedo Pelagius (or Pelayo) of Oviedo (died 28 January 1153) was a medieval ecclesiastic, historian, and Forgery, forger who served the Diocese of Oviedo as an auxiliary bishop from 1098 and as bishop from 1102 until his deposition in 1130 and again from ...

, mid-century. The date of the ''Chronicas completion was long dated to 1160, but the 1995 critical edition published by Juan Estévez Sola revised the ''

terminus post quem ''Terminus post quem'' ("limit after which", sometimes abbreviated to TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ("limit before which", abbreviated to TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest da ...

'' to 1173, for it was not until that year that

Pedro Coméstor Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...

finished his ''Historia Scholastica'', which the ''Chronica'' uses as a source. The ''

terminus ante quem ''Terminus post quem'' ("limit after which", sometimes abbreviated to TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ("limit before which", abbreviated to TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest da ...

'' of the ''Chronica'' can be placed in 1194, the earliest date for the composition of the ''

Linage del Cid Lineage may refer to: Science * Lineage (anthropology), a group that can demonstrate its common descent from an apical ancestor or a direct line of descent from an ancestor * Lineage (evolution), a temporal sequence of individuals, populati ...

'', which used it as a source. These dates make it contemporary with the ''

Historia Roderici The ''Historia Roderici'' ("History of Rodrigo"), originally ''Gesta Roderici Campi Docti'' ("Deeds of Rodrigo el Campeador") and sometimes in Spanish ''Crónica latina del Cid'' ("Latin Chronicle of the Cid"), is an anonymous Latin prose history ...

'', though the influence of the latter in the ''Chronica'' is evident.

Editions

Antonio Ubieto Arteta Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

(ed.), ''Crónica najerense''. Zaragoza: Anubar, 1985. . *Juan A. Estévez Sola (ed.), ''Chronica Hispana saeculi XII, Pars II: Chronica Naierensis'', Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Medievalis, LXXI A. Turnhout: Brepols, 1995. . *Juan A. Estévez Sola (ed.), ''Crónica najerense'', Clásicos Latinos Medievales y Renacentistas, 12. Tres Cantos (Madrid): Akal, 2003. .

References

*Deyermond, Alan D. (2001

973 Year 973 ( CMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – The Byzantine army, led by General Melias (Domestic of the S ...

. ''Historia de la literatura española, vol. 1: La Edad Media''. Barcelona: Edicions Ariel. . *Montaner Frutos, Alberto, and Escobar, Ángel (2001). "El ''Carmen Campidoctoris'' y la materia cidiana", en ''Carmen Campidoctoris o Poema latino del Campeador'', pp. 13–120. Madrid: Sociedad Estatal España Nuevo Milenio. {{ISBN, 978-84-95486-20-2. Iberian chronicles 12th-century history books 12th-century Latin books