The ''Gran conquista de Ultramar'' ('Great Conquest Beyond the Sea') is a late 13th-century
Castilian chronicle of the
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
for the period 1095–1271. It is a work of compilation, translation and prosification of
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
and
Old Occitan
Old Occitan ( oc, occitan ancian, label=Occitan language, Modern Occitan, ca, occità antic), also called Old Provençal, was the earliest form of the Occitano-Romance languages, as attested in writings dating from the eighth through the fourteen ...
sources, mixing historical material with legends drawn from the epic ''
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 cen ...
''. It was produced under royal patronage by
Sancho IV and probably his father,
Alfonso X
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 Germ ...
.
It was translated into
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
and
Galician-Portuguese
Galician-Portuguese ( gl, galego-portugués or ', pt, galego-português or ), also known as Old Portuguese or as Medieval Galician when referring to the history of each modern language, was a West Iberian languages, West Iberian Romance languag ...
. It survives in four manuscripts and received its ''
editio princeps In classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts, which could be circulated only after being copied by hand.
For ...
'' (first edition) in 1503.
Manuscripts and editions
Although the title ''Gran conquista de Ultramar'' ('Great Conquest of Outremer' or 'Great Conquest Beyond the Sea') is conventional, the work also appears in the manuscripts under the titles ''Grant estoria de Ultramar'' or ''Estoria mayor de Ultramar'' ('Great History of Outremer'). It survives partially in four manuscripts:
*Madrid,
BNE ms 1187
*Madrid, BNE ms 1920
*Madrid, BNE ms 2454
*
Salamanca, BU ms 1698
Digitization online
/ref>
The manuscripts are from the 14th and 15th centuries. Madrid 1187 may date to as early as . It contains spaces for many miniature illustrations, but only two are completed. Only about 73.5% of the text of the original work can be found across the four manuscripts today. The complete work is, however, preserved in the first printed edition made at Salamanca
Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...
by Hans Giesser in 1503. Thus, about 26.5% of the work is known exclusively through the 1503 edition. The first critical edition
Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...
of the whole work, based on the Madrid 1187 manuscript and the Salamanca edition, was made by Pascual de Gayangos
Pascual de Gayangos y Arce (June 21, 1809 – October 4, 1897) was a Spanish scholar and orientalist.
Life
Born in Seville, he was the son of Brigadier José de Gayangos, intendente of Zacatecas, in New Spain (Mexico). After completing his p ...
in 1858.
A translated epitome of the ''Gran conquista'' was incorporated into the Galician-Portuguese
Galician-Portuguese ( gl, galego-portugués or ', pt, galego-português or ), also known as Old Portuguese or as Medieval Galician when referring to the history of each modern language, was a West Iberian languages, West Iberian Romance languag ...
'' Crónica general de 1404'', in the section on the reign of Alfonso VI
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...
(1065–1109). This is found in a single manuscript:
*New York, Hispanic Society of America
The Hispanic Society of America operates a museum and reference library for the study of the arts and cultures of Spain and Portugal and their former colonies in Latin America, the Spanish East Indies, and Portuguese India. Despite the name, i ...
ms B2278
The ''Gran conquista'' was also translated into Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
at the instigation of King James II of Aragon
James II (Catalan: ''Jaume II''; Spanish: ''Jaime II;'' 10 April 1267 – 2 or 5 November 1327), called the Just,, an, Chaime lo Chusto, es, Jaime el Justo. was the King of Aragon and Valencia and Count of Barcelona from 1291 to 1327. He ...
(1264–1327).
Authorship and date
The ''Gran conquista'' was compiled from Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
and Old Occitan
Old Occitan ( oc, occitan ancian, label=Occitan language, Modern Occitan, ca, occità antic), also called Old Provençal, was the earliest form of the Occitano-Romance languages, as attested in writings dating from the eighth through the fourteen ...
works that were then translated into Castilian. The oldest manuscript (Madrid 1187) contains a colophon naming King Sancho IV of Castile
Sancho IV of Castile (12 May 1258 – 25 April 1295) called the Brave (''el Bravo''), was the king of Castile, León and Galicia from 1284 to his death. Following his brother Ferdinand's death, he gained the support of nobles that ...
(1284–1295) as the author. Madrid 1698 and the Salamanca edition, however, attribute the work to Sancho's father, Alfonso X
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 Germ ...
(1252–1284). Modern scholars tend to accept the former attribution, arguing that Sancho supervised the selection, translation and editing of materials. It has, however, been argued that the work was begun by Alfonso and completed by Sancho. A notice in Madrid 1920 that Sancho IV ordered the translation of the work "from the conquest of Antioch on" may indicate that the portion of the work ending with the siege of Antioch
The siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098, on the crusaders' way to Jerusalem through Syria. Two sieges took place in succession. The first siege, by the crusaders against the city held by the Seljuk Empire, last ...
in 1098 was the work as Alfonso left it at his death, the remainder being added by Sancho.
Alfonso evinced a strong interest in the Crusades to the Holy Land after the loss of Jerusalem (1244) and the council of Lyon (1245). He led a crusade against Salé in Africa in 1260 and intended to heed the call of the council of Lyon (1274). His interest seems to have peaked after the death of Louis IX of France
Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the ...
while on crusade in 1270. Cristina González suggests he may have ordered the ''Gran conquista'' out of "frustration, nostalgia, and hope". Sancho IV had reasons of his own for the ''Gran conquista''. In 1292, he from the Muslims. The narrative of the rise and fall of a dynasty and of what legitimized its authority may have seemed particularly relevant at the court of Sancho IV.
The ''Gran conquista'' attained its finished form in the years 1289–1295.
Content
Structure
The ''Gran conquista'' covers the Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
and the history of Outremer
The Crusader States, also known as Outremer, were four Catholic realms in the Middle East that lasted from 1098 to 1291. These feudal polities were created by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade through conquest and political int ...
in the period 1095–1271 after a prologue on the Byzantine emperor
This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...
Heraclius
Heraclius ( grc-gre, Ἡράκλειος, Hērákleios; c. 575 – 11 February 641), was List of Byzantine emperors, Eastern Roman emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exa ...
and the rise of Muḥammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...
. The last event it covers is the Eighth Crusade
The Eighth Crusade was the second Crusade launched by Louis IX of France, this one against the Hafsid dynasty in Tunisia in 1270. It is also known as the Crusade of Louis IX against Tunis or the Second Crusade of Louis. The Crusade did not see ...
. It is designed as a complete history of Outremer to date and, although compiled from various sources, presents a single narrative. It is written in 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 f ...
, although some of its sources are verse
Verse may refer to:
Poetry
* Verse, an occasional synonym for poetry
* Verse, a metrical structure, a stanza
* Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme
* Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict me ...
.
The ''Gran conquista'' is divided into four books. The first contains 231 chapter, the second 265, the third 395 and the fourth 429, for a total of 1,320 chapters. No surviving manuscript contains more than 561 chapters.
Sources
The base text is a translation of the ''Estoire d'Eracles
The ''Estoire d'Eracles'' ("History of Heraclius") is an anonymous Old French translation and continuation of the Latin ''History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea'' by William of Tyre. It begins with recapture of Jerusalem by the Roman emperor Heracl ...
'', itself a French translation of William of Tyre
William of Tyre ( la, Willelmus Tyrensis; 113029 September 1186) was a medieval prelate and chronicler. As archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from his predecessor, William I, the Englishman, a former ...
's 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 ...
''Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum'' with a prologue on Heraclius. It brings the history down to 1184 but had many continuations added in the 13th century. The version used for the ''Gran conquista'' includes the '' Chronique d'Ernoul et de Bernard le trésorier'', a continuation down to 1229. About 1,100 of the chapters are based primarily on the ''Estoire''.
The ''Estoire''s narrative is embellished by texts from various French epics, the Occitan ''Canso d'Antioca
The ''Canso d'Antioca'' is a late twelfth-century Occitan epic poem in the form of a ''chanson de geste'' describing the First Crusade up to the Siege of Antioch (1098). It survives only in a single manuscript fragment of 707 alexandrines, now pr ...
'' and unidentified sources. Among the French poems used are '' Berte aus grans pies'', '' Mainet'' and set drawn from the so-called Crusade cycle
The Crusade cycle is an Old French literary cycle of ''chansons de geste'' concerning the First Crusade and its aftermath.
History
The cycle contains a number of initially unrelated texts, collated into interconnected narratives by later redacto ...
: '' Naissance du chevalier au cygne'', '' Chevalier au cygne'', '' Enfances Godefroi'', ''Chanson d'Antioche
The ''Chanson d'Antioche'' is a ''chanson de geste'' in 9000 lines of in stanzas called ''laisses'', now known in a version composed about 1180 for a courtly French audience and embedded in a quasi-historical cycle of epic poems inspired by th ...
'', '' Chanson des chétifs'' and ''Chanson de Jérusalem
''Chanson de Jérusalem'' (or ''Song of Jerusalem'') is a 12th century French epic poem celebrating the 1099 Siege of Jerusalem by Christian crusaders during the First Crusade. It was translated and incorporated into the prose Spanish ''Gran con ...
''. About one third of the total work is derived from the Old French epics.
Fictional content
One of the most distinctive features of the ''Gran conquista'' is the incorporation of the fictional Swan Knight into an otherwise historiographical work. There is precedent for this in the incorporation of the tales of Pirus and Bruto in Alfonso X's ''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 ...
'' and '' General estoria'', respectively. Cristina González argues that the Knight is best seen as "a chivalric archetype":
The text may thus be described as a "chivalric chronicle" or "romanced chronicle" (''crónica novelesca''). It served as a model for later chivalric romance
As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric k ...
s, like ''Amadís de Gaula
''Amadís de Gaula'' (in English ''Amadis of Gaul'') ( es, Amadís de Gaula, links=no, ); pt, Amadis de Gaula, links=no, ) is a Spanish landmark work among the chivalric romances which were in vogue in sixteenth-century, although its first ver ...
''. The Salamanca edition contained many features typical of printed romances, which misled many scholars into treating the work as primarily a work of fiction.
Notes
Bibliography
Editions
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Secondary literature
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{{refend
1290s books
Old Spanish literature
Crusade chronicles