The ''Poem of Almería'' ( es, Poema de Almería) is a

medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...

epic poem An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

in 385 leonine

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...

s. It was appended to the end of the '' Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris'', an account of the reign 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 hi ...

, and narrates the victorious military campaign of 1147 that culminated in the conquest of the port of

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...

. The poem, as it survives, is unfinished, abruptly ending mid-line before recounting the actual siege of Almería itself. Of its surviving lines, 293 consist of "''dénombrement épique'', a stirring roll-call of the chief members and contingents of the army".Barton 2006, 458–59. The ''Poem'' has aroused interest among scholars and critics for the light it may shed on the origins and development of vernacular epic (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 ...

'') and on the nature of Iberian aristocratic and military customs. It has been described as "a relict of incomparable interest for the cultural archaeology of the twelfth century" and "a splendid reflection of its time and, in this regard, full of gold also as literature".Rico Manrique 1969, 72–73, quoted in Barton 2006, 459: "un espléndid reflejo de su tiempo y, de tal sentido, de hartos quilates también como literatura". Stylistically, the ''Poem'' is indebted to the parallelism of the poetry of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

and to the classical models of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

and

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

Editions

* L. T. Belgrano, ed. "Frammento di Poemetto sincrono su la conquista di Almeria nel MCXLVII". ''Atti della Società Ligure di storia patria'' 19 (1887). * F. Castro Guisasola, ed. ''El cantar de la conquista de Almería por Alfonso VII: un poema hispano-latín del siglo XII''. Granada: 1992. * E. Flórez, ed. "Chronica Adefonsi Imperatoris." ''España Sagrada'' 21 (1766): 320–409. * J. Gil, ed. "Carmen de expugnatione Almariae urbis." ''Habís'' V (1974): 45–64. online
/small> * J. Gil, ed. "Prefatio de Almaria." ''Chronica Hispana saeculi XII, Pars Prima'', ed. E. Falque, J. Gil and A. Maya (Turnhout: 1990): 249–67. * G. E. Lipskey, ed. and trans. ''The Chronicle of Alfonso the Emperor''. PhD Dissertation, Northwestern University, 1972.
/small> * C. Rodríguez Aniceto, ed. "El poema latino ''Prefacio de Almería''." ''Boletín de la Biblioteca Menédez y Pelayo'' 13 (1931): 140–75.
/small> * H. Salvador Martínez, ed. and trans. ''El “Poema de Almería” y la épica románica''. Madrid: 1975. * L. Sánchez Belda, ed. ''Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris''. Madrid: 1950.

Citations

General bibliography

* S. F. Barton. "Two Catalan Magnates in the Courts of the Kings of León-Castile: The Careers of Ponce de Cabrera and Ponce de Minerva Re-Examined." ''Journal of Medieval History'' 18:3 (1992): 233–66. * S. F. Barton. ''The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile''. Cambridge: 1997. * S. F. Barton. "From Tyrants to Soldiers of Christ: The Nobility of Twelfth-century León-Castile and the Struggle Against Islam." ''Nottingham Medieval Studies'' 44 (2000): 28–48. online
/small> * S. F. Barton. "A Forgotten Crusade: Alfonso VII of León-Castile and the Campaign for Jaén (1148)." ''Historical Research'' 73:182 (2000): 312–20. online
/small> * S. F. Barton. "The ‘Discovery of Aristocracy’ in Twelfth-century Spain: Portraits of the Secular Élite in the ''Poem of Almería''." ''Bulletin of Hispanic Studies'' 83 (2006): 453–68. * S. F. Barton and R. A. Fletcher, eds. ''The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest''. Manchester: 2000. * J. J. Duggan. ''The ''Cantar de Mio Cid'': Poetic Creation in Its Economic and Social Contexts''. Cambridge: 1989. * B. Dutton. "Gonzalo de Berceo and the ''Cantares de Gesta''." ''Bulletin of Hispanic Studies'' 38:3 (1961): 197–205. * Á. Ferrari. "Artificios septenarios en la ''Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris'' y ''Poema de Almería''." ''Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia'' 153 (1963): 19–67. * Á. Ferrari. "El cluniacense Pedro de Poitiers y la ''Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris'' y ''Poema de Almería''." ''Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia'' 153 (1963): 153–204. *

R. A. Fletcher Richard Alexander Fletcher (28 March 1944, in York, England – 28 February 2005, in Nunnington, England) was a historian who specialised in the Middle Ages, medieval period. Early years Richard Fletcher was the eldest child and only son of Ale ...

. "Reconquest and Crusade in Spain, ''c''.1050–1150." ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'' 37 (1987): 31–47. * R. A. Fletcher. ''The Quest for El Cid''. London: 1989. * J. Gibbs. "Quelques observations sur le ''Poema de Almería''." ''Actes et Mémoires'', Société Rencesvals, IV^e Congrès International (Heidelberg: 1967): 76–81. * R. D. Giles. "“Del día que fue conde”: The Parodic Remaking of the Count of Barcelona in the ''Poema de mio Cid''." ''La corónica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures'' 38:1 (2009): 121–38. * I. J. las Heras. "Los héroes del ''Poema de Almería'' (Castilla, siglo XII) (primera parte)." ''Temas medievales'' 7 (1997): 97–224. * I. J. las Heras. "Los héroes del ''Poema de Almería'' (Castilla, siglo XII) (conclusión)." ''Temas medievales'' 9 (1999): 153–76. * J. Horrent. "Sur deux témoignages espagnols de la Chanson de Roland." ''Bulletin Hispanique'' 53 (1956), 48–50. * W.-D. Lange. "El IV° Congreso Internacional de la “Société Rencesvals”." ''Anuario de estudios medievales'' 4 (1967): 705–9. * M. Martínez Pastor. "Virtuosismos verbales en el ''Poema de Almería''." ''Epos'' 4 (1988): 379–87. online
/small> * M. Martínez Pastor. "La rima en el ''Poema de Almería''." ''Cuadernos de filología clásica'' 21 (1988): 73–96. online
/small> * M. Martínez Pastor. "La métrica del ''Poema de Almería'': su carácter cuantitativo." ''Cuadernos de filología clásica: Estudios latinos'' 1 (1991): 159–94. online
/small> * M. Martínez Pastor. "Las cláusulas del hexámetro en el ''Poema de Almería'': tipología verbal." ''Humanitas: in honorem Antonio Fontán'' (Spain: 1992), 363–73. * M. Martínez Pastor. "Acento y versificación en hexámetros medievales." ''Cuadernos de filología clásica: Estudios latinos'' 5 (1993): 141–48. online
/small> * M. Martínez Pastor. "Las cláusulas del ''Poema de Almería'': Cadencia acentual." ''Actas del VIII Congreso Español de Estudios Clásicos'' 1 (1994): 619–26. * J. F. O'Callaghan. ''Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain''. Philadelphia: 2003. * E. Pascua Echegaray. "Hacia la formación política de la monarquía medieval: las relaciones entre la monarquía y la Iglesia castellanoleonesa en el reinado de Alfonso VII." ''Hispania'' 49:172 (1989): 397–441. * E. von Richthofen. "Problemas rolandinos, almerienses y cidianos." ''Anuario de estudios medievales'' 5 (1968): 437–44. * F. Rico Manrique. "Las letras latinas de siglo XII en Galicia, León y Castilla." ''Ábaco: Estudios sobre literatura española'' 2 (1969): 9–91. * F. Rico Manrique. "Del ''Cantal del Cid'' a la ''Eneida'': tradiciones épicas en torno al ''Poema de Almería''." ''Boletín de la Real Academia Española'' 65:235 (1985): 197–212. * C. C. Smith. "Latin Histories and Vernacular Epic in Twelfth-century Spain: Similarities of Spirit and Style." ''Bulletin of Hispanic Studies'' 48:1 (1971): 1–19. * C. C. Smith. "The Personages of the ''Poema de Mio Cid'' and the Date of the Poem." ''The Modern Language Review'' 66:3 (1971): 580–98. * C. C. Smith. "Toward a Reconciliation of Ideas about Medieval Spanish Epic." ''The Modern Language Review'' 89:3 (1994): 622–34. * A. Ubieto Arteta. "Observaciones al ''Cantar de Mio Cid''." ''Arbor'' 37:138 (1957): 145–70. * A. Ubieto Arteta. "Sugerencias sobre la ''Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris''." ''Cuadernos de Historia de España'' 25–26 (1957): 317–26. * J. B. Williams. "The Making of a Crusade: The Genoese Anti-Muslim Attacks in Spain, 1146–1148." ''Journal of Medieval History'' 23:1 (1997): 29–53. * R. Wright. ''Late Latin and Early Romance in Spain and Carolingian France''. Liverpool: 1982. {{DEFAULTSORT:Poem of Almeria Epic poems in Latin Medieval Latin poetry