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The ''Estoria de España'' ("History of Spain"), also known in the 1906 edition of
Ramón Menéndez Pidal Ramón Menéndez Pidal (; 13 March 1869 – 14 November 1968) was a Spanish philologist and historian."Ramon Menendez Pidal", ''Almanac of Famous People'' (2011) ''Biography in Context'', Gale, Detroit He worked extensively on the history of t ...
as the ''Primera Crónica General'' ("First General Chronicle"), is a history book written on the initiative 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 ...
''"El Sabio"'' ("the Wise"), who was actively involved in the editing. It is believed to be the first extended history of Spain in
Old Spanish Old Spanish, also known as Old Castilian ( es, castellano antiguo; osp, romance castellano ), or Medieval Spanish ( es, español medieval), was originally a dialect of Vulgar Latin spoken in the former provinces of the Roman Empire that provided ...
, a West Iberian Romance language that forms part of the lineage from
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpa ...
to modern Spanish. Many prior works were consulted in constructing this history. The book narrates a history beginning in
Biblical 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 ...
and
legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...
ary origins and continues through the history of Castile under Fernando III of Castile. In the style of chronicles of its time, it begins by retelling the stories of remote origins found in the Bible. From the time of
Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu ( Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pr ...
onward, the mix begins to include
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
sources on ancient history. However, as the story continues, the details become increasingly detailed, especially from the
Germanic invasions The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman ...
to the time of Alfonso's father
Fernando III Ferdinand III ( es, Fernando, link=no; 1199/120130 May 1252), called the Saint (''el Santo''), was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguela ...
. The work is divided into four large parts. The first includes a history of
Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...
: the medieval European monarchs considered themselves heirs to the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
. The second tells the history of the barbarian and
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
kings, treated as antecedents within the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...
. The third is a history of the
Kingdom of Asturias The Kingdom of Asturias ( la, Asturum Regnum; ast, Reinu d'Asturies) was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius. It was the first Christian political entity established after the Umayyad conquest of ...
from which the ''
Reconquista The ' ( Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the N ...
'' (the Christian reconquest of Iberia from Muslim rule) began. The fourth and final part is a history of the Kingdoms of León and Castile.


Structure

As discussed below, not all of the ''Estoria de España'' was completed during the reign of Alfonso X. The edition of Ramón Menéndez Pidal does not show all of the work actually completed during that reign and endorsed by Alfonso, but has the advantage of providing a linear narrative that offers the reader a comprehensive narrative history of Spain from its origins to the death of Fernando III, as intended by Alfonso. The ''Estoria'' is divided into four large parts; the chapter numbers are from Menéndez Pidal's edition: * Prologue by Alfonso X, written in the first person * First part : Primitive and Roman history (chapters 1–364): :History of primitive Spain and history of Spain in the era of the
Roman consul A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...
s (1–116) :Era of
Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...
(117–121) :Era of the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
(122–364) * Second part :
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 ...
history (chapters 365–565): :Barbarian kings and the first Visigothic kings until
Euric Euric (Gothic: ''* Aiwareiks'', see '' Eric''), also known as Evaric, or Eurico in Spanish and Portuguese (c. 420 – 28 December 484), son of Theodoric I, ruled as king (''rex'') of the Visigoths, after murdering his brother, Theodoric II, ...
(365–429) :Later Visigothic kings (430–565) * Third part : Asturian-Leonese history (chapters 566–801): :Asturian-Leonese kings (566–677) :Leonese kings (678–801) * Fourth part : Castilian-Leonese history (chapters 802–1135)


Editions

There were two major periods of work on the book. The first occurred between circa 1260 and 1274. The second, producing the version known as the "critical version", was written between 1282 and 1284, the date of Alfonso's death. As early as 1271 Alfonso authorized a version, known as the "Royal" or "Primitive" version, which carried the history only down to the reign of Fernando I of Castile (reigned 1033–1065), with some rough drafts down to the time of
Alfonso VII of León and Castile Alfonso VII (1 March 110521 August 1157), called the Emperor (''el Emperador''), became the King of Galicia in 1111 and King of León and Castile in 1126. Alfonso, born Alfonso Raimúndez, first used the title Emperor of All Spain, alongside h ...
(reigned 1135–1157). A serious political crisis in 1272 —a rebellion by nobility hostile to Alfonso's imperial ambitions—postponed work for several months. The team of scholars continued working with less supervision from the king, producing the "Concise" or "Vulgar" version in 1274. These editions completed in the 1270s, already had the four-part structure. Unfortunately for Alfonso X, the following years were hardly more peaceful:
Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
i invasions, rebellions, the premature death of his designated heir Fernando de la Cerda. Furthermore, Alfonso undertook another monumental literary project: the compilation of a universal history entitled ''
General estoria The ("General History") is a universal history written on the initiative of Alfonso X of Castile (1252–1284), known as (the Wise). The work was written in Old Spanish, a novelty in this historiographical genre, up until then regularly written ...
'' or ''
Grande e general estoria Grande means "large" or " great" in many of the Romance languages. It may also refer to: Places * Grande, Germany, a municipality in Germany *Grande Communications, a telecommunications firm based in Texas * Grande-Rivière (disambiguation) * A ...
''. This interrupted work on the ''Estoria de España'', but, given the focus back to Biblical times, the subject matter overlapped significantly. Work was not resumed until 1282, when Alfonso established his court in Seville. In the light of recent and difficult times, Alfonso disowned the original version of 1271, and proposed a new edition reflecting the experience of facing a rebellious forces including even his own son Sancho. This "Critical" version was not completed in Alfonso's lifetime. Sancho, succeeding Alfonso as Sancho IV of Castile, continued the work, producing the "Amplified" version of 1289. In its various versions, the ''Estoria de España'' spread, expanded, and served as historical canon well into the modern era. A definitive edition was approved by Alfonso X up to chapter 616. The contradictions identified in the latter chapters of Menéndez Pidal's edition, the ''Primera Crónica General'', can be attributed not to the will of Alfonso, but to Menéndez Pidal making use of late and unsatisfactory manuscripts of the ''Estoria''.


The ''Primera Crónica General de España'' (1906)

In 1906,
philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...
Ramón Menéndez Pidal Ramón Menéndez Pidal (; 13 March 1869 – 14 November 1968) was a Spanish philologist and historian."Ramon Menendez Pidal", ''Almanac of Famous People'' (2011) ''Biography in Context'', Gale, Detroit He worked extensively on the history of t ...
published the texts of two manuscripts (the second continuing the story of the first, which concludes with the Muslim conquest of Spain) conserved at the library of
El Escorial El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( es, Monasterio y Sitio de El Escorial en Madrid), or Monasterio del Escorial (), is a historical residence of the King of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, u ...
, which he believed to be originals from the time of Alfonso X. He entitled the collection the ''Primera Crónica General de España - Estoria de España que mandó componer Alfonso el Sabio y se continuaba bajo Sancho IV en 1289'' ("First general chronicle of Spain: History of Spain ordered to be composed by Alfonso the wise and continued under Sancho IV in 1289"). Later critics—especially
Diego Catalán Diego Catalán y Menéndez-Pidal (16 September 1928 – 9 April 2008) was a Spanish philologist. He died of heart disease on 9 April 2008, at the age of 79. Biography Diego Catalán y Menéndez-Pidal was the son of Miguel Catalán Sañudo a ...
—demonstrated that only the first manuscript and the earlier parts of the second came from the royal ateliers. The rest was an assemblage of manuscripts of various origins, dating from the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th. These were undoubtedly brought together by chancellor Fernán Sánchez de Valladolid towards the end of the reign of Alphonse XI.


Worldview

The ''Estoria'' puts forth a worldview heavily influenced by the '' Policraticus'' written a century earlier by
John of Salisbury John of Salisbury (late 1110s – 25 October 1180), who described himself as Johannes Parvus ("John the Little"), was an English author, philosopher, educationalist, diplomat and bishop of Chartres. Early life and education Born at Salisbury, E ...
and then in vogue in political circles of the Christian West: the kingdom is a body, the king its head and heart, the people the limbs. Recognizing the difficulty of putting into practice the precepts inspired by these ideas, the king proposed to develop a panoply of scientific, literary, artistic, and historical works intended to convey his political ideas through the several juridical collections he drafted, notably the '' Espéculo and the ''
Siete Partidas The ''Siete Partidas'' (, "Seven-Part Code") or simply ''Partidas'', was a Castilian statutory code first compiled during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile (1252–1284), with the intent of establishing a uniform body of normative rules for the ...
''. The ''Estoria'' played a role in elaborating a common past for the nation (in the medieval sense of that word), to build an identity, and for the individual to find his place in this group. National history is recounted in such a way as to inspire in the readers behaviors sought by the monarchy. The ''Estoria'' elaborates a moral basis for the king and his designs by furnishing positive and negative examples to his subjects—at least those who had access to books. Though that was a relatively small proportion of the populace, it was a relatively large proportion of the often rebellious
nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...
. For example, the narration of the fall of the
Visigoths 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 k ...
provides an occasion to denounce the evil of internal wars. This history of Spain written in Castilian court served also to support the ''Neogothic'' ideology the kingdoms of León and Castile were the repositories of the authority of kings Visigoths who fled the Muslim conquest. In claiming the legacy of the Goths, who had secured the political and religious unity of the entire peninsula, the Castilians sought to impose their hegemony on various peninsular kingdoms:
Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to s ...
,
Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
, Portugal and of course the Muslim territories.


Sources

The sources upon which the work draws most heavily for details were the lengthy
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, 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 ...
chronicles that, at that time, constituted the most complete account of the history of Spain: the ''
Chronicon mundi In historiography, a ''chronicon'' is a type of chronicle or annals. Examples are: * ''Chronicon'' (Eusebius) * ''Chronicon'' (Jerome) *''Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham'' *''Chronicon Burgense'' *'' Chronicon Ambrosianum'' *'' Chronicon Compostellan ...
'' (1236) by Lucas de Tuy,
bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
of Tuy, known as ''el Tudense'', and ''
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' ...
'' (1243) by
Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada Rodrigo is a Spanish, Portuguese and Italian name derived from the Germanic name ''Roderick'' ( Gothic ''*Hroþareiks'', via Latinized ''Rodericus'' or ''Rudericus''), given specifically in reference to either King Roderic (d. 712), the last V ...
, bishop of Toledo, known as ''el Toledano''. Besides these sources, Alfonso and his collaborators drew on other medieval Latin chronicles, the Bible, classical Latin historiography, ecclesiastical legends, ''
chansons de geste The ''chanson de geste'' (, from Latin 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th ...
'', and Arab historians. The existence of written epics in languages descended from Vulgar Latin was not unprecedented, but there had never before been such detailed and expansive chroniclers'
prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the fo ...
versions of these poems, tho the point where one can reliably reconstruct lost ''chansons de geste'', such as the ''Condesa traidora'' ("Traitor Countess"), the ''Romanz del Infant García'' ("Romance of Prince García") and the ''Cantar de Sancho II'' ("Song of Sancho II"), as well as large fragments of the ''
Cantar de los Siete Infantes de Lara The ''Cantar de los Siete Infantes de Lara'' ("Song of the Seven Lara Princes") is a legend, perhaps derived from a lost '' cantar de gesta'', that relates a tale of family feuding and revenge, centering on the murder of the eponymous seven ''infa ...
'' ("Song of the Seven Lara Princes"), the ''
Poema de Fernán González The ''Poema de Fernán González'' is a Castilian epic poem, specifically, a '' cantar de gesta'' of the Mester de Clerecía. Composed in a metre called the '' cuaderna vía'', it narrates the deeds of the historical Count of Castile, Fernán Go ...
'' ("Poem of Fernán González'') and the ''
Mocedades de Rodrigo The ''Mocedades de Rodrigo'' is the name given to a late, anonymous Castilian '' cantar de gesta'', composed around 1360, that relates the origins and exploits of the youth of the legendary hero El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar). There are 1164 s ...
'' ("Deeds of the Young Rodrigo"). Arabic influences can be seen in Alfonso's style, with the use of comparisons and
simile A simile () is a figure of speech that directly ''compares'' two things. Similes differ from other metaphors by highlighting the similarities between two things using comparison words such as "like", "as", "so", or "than", while other metaphors c ...
s not habitual in the Western prose of the time. They can also be seen in an historic perspective and a notable equilibrium in episodes to which Andalusian sources brought a different focus. Arab historiography can also be credited for the awareness in the ''Estoria de España'' of economic and social aspects of history.''Cf.'' Alan D. Deyermond,''Historia de la literatura española, vol. 1: La Edad Media'', Barcelona, Ariel, 2001 (1ª ed. 1973), , pp. 159.


Significance for language

The great originality of the ''Estoria de España'' was to write such a work in the Castilian language of its time, rather than Latin. Since the time of Alfonso's father Fernando III, this had become a language of court. A translation of the '' Libro Juzgo'', a compendium of Visigothic law, had been translated during Fernando's reign. Still, systematic use of what would now be called Old Spanish begins in the time of Alfonso X, in particular because of the ever wider circulation of manuscripts of the ''Estoria'' and other works in the court, to the nobility, and to the monasteries and cathedrals. This began the
cultural hegemony In Marxist philosophy, cultural hegemony is the dominance of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class who manipulate the culture of that society—the beliefs and explanations, perceptions, values, and mores—so that the worldview o ...
that led Castilian to become the dominant language of Spain and, later, its empire. This adoption of Castilian as the language for the work led to a true process of literary creation. Under Alfonso X, in this and other works, Castilian becomes a literary language. Alfonso's nephew
Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena Don Juan Manuel (5 May 128213 June 1348) was a Spanish medieval writer, nephew of Alfonso X of Castile, son of Manuel of Castile and Beatrice of Savoy. He inherited from his father the great Lordship of Villena, receiving the titles of Lord, D ...
, author of ''
Tales of Count Lucanor Don Juan Manuel's ''Tales of Count Lucanor'', in Spanish ''Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio'' (''Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio''), also commonly known as ''El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio'', or ' ...
'' ("Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio") was greatly inspired by the Estoria.


Notes


References

*Deyermond, Alan D., ''Historia de la literatura española, vol. 1: La Edad Media'', Barcelona, Ariel, 2001 (1ª ed. 1973), pp. 156–162. *Fernández-Ordóñez, Inés
«El taller historiográfico alfonsí. La ''Estoria de España'' y la ''General estoria'' en el marco de las obras promovidas por Alfonso el Sabio.»
(pdf) *——
«La historiografía alfonsí y post-alfonsí en sus textos»
(pdf) {{DEFAULTSORT:Estoria de Espana 13th-century books History books about Spain Old Spanish literature 13th-century history books Alfonso X of Castile