Scholars of medieval Iberian historiography, within which Alfonso X and his Estorias are of monumental importance, recognise that the Learned King intervened in the process of composition of his historiographical works to adapt the reconstruction of the past to the vicissitudes of his political life. In this respect, the rupture between the king and many of the leading noblemen of the realm in 1272, notably led to a heavier emphasis on other treasonous acts in history. This tendency to make the past relevant to the present is evident already in the earliest versions of the Estoria.
One of the most salient aspects of the Alfonsine political and cultural projects was his insistence on the attainment of the imperial title, never brought fully to fruition. Scholars have identified several features in Alfonso’s historiographical texts that speak to his interest in the translatio imperii, the transfer of the imperial status between the different sennorios, from the Roman Empire, through the Visigothic kingdom (or imperium) via the Asturian and Leonese kings and into the present of his own Castilian kingdom. This neo-Gothic ideology was even more pronounced in later versions of the Estoria.
Alfonso’s view of the Roman emperor Trajan as a successful military and political leader, fair and generous to his subjects, harsh but just and swift in defeating insurrections, is perhaps an ideal image of Alfonso; this is how he would have liked the world to see him. He was a good friend to his knights and a humble and virtuous lord to all his subjects. The exaltation of Trajan’s qualities is matched by the suppression of his role in the persecution of Christians. We also notice Alfonso’s insistence on moderation in conduct, and thus the ethical ideals of the Estoria. Specifically, the first chapter on Trajan – including an anecdote borrowed from Vincent de Beauvais’ Speculum Historiale – ties into the policy of anger restraint demonstrated in several Alfonsine texts, while at the same time remonstrating against subjects who oppose their natural lords.
According to Leonardo Funes, we must be wary of a paranoid reading of the chronicles; medieval historiography was not propaganda in the modern sense. He points to the difference between viewing chronicles as vehicles for ideology and seeing them as ideological acts in and of themselves. Chronicles played an important role in shaping perceptions of history and community, forming antagonisms, and developing legal and political consciousness. These were not necessarily intended objectives, however. Rather than search for a definite reading of a narrative, it makes sense to consider how these texts could have been used and reused over the course of their long reception history. All the while, Alfonso and his collaborators were definitely aware of the didactic aspect of historiography; according to its prologue, the Estoria de Espanna was the wise king’s gift to his subjects, from which many lessons could be learned.
Kim Bergqvist
Suggestions for further reading
- Biglieri, Aníbal. “Trajano en la Estoria de Espanna de Alfonso X (Segunda Parte).” Auster 12 (2007): 81–101.
- Catalán, Diego. La Estoria de España de Alfonso X, creación y evolución, Madrid: Fundación Ramón Menéndez Pidal/Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 1992.
- Doubleday, Simon. “Anger in the Crónica de Alfonso X.” Al- Masāq 27.1 (2015): 61–76.
- Fernández-Ordóñez. “Variación en el modelo historiográfico alfonsí en el siglo XIII. Las versiones de la Estoria de España.” In La historia alfonsí: el modelo y sus destinos (siglos XIII-XV), edited by Georges Martin. Madrid: Casa de Velázquez, 2000.
- Funes, Leonardo. “La crónica como hecho ideológico: el caso de la Estoria de España de Alfonso X.” La Corónica 32.3 (2004): 69–89.
- Linehan, Peter. History and the Historians of Medieval Spain. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.
- Liuzzo Scorpo, Antonella. “The King as Master and Model of Authority: The Case of Alfonso X of Castile.” In “Every Inch a King”: Comparative Studies on Kings and Kingship in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds, edited by Lynette Mitchell and Charles Melville, 269–284. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
- Maravall, José Antonio. “Del regimen feudal al regimen corporativo en el pensamiento de Alfonso X.” Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia 157 (1965): 213–268.
- Márquez Villanueva, Francisco. El concepto cultural alfonsí. 2nd ed. Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra, 2004.
- Martin, Georges. Les juges de Castille. Mentalités et discours historique dans l’Espagne médiévale. Annexes des Cahiers de linguistique hispanique médiévale 6. Paris: Klincksieck, 1992.
- Rico, Francisco. Alfonso el Sabio y la “General Estoria”: Tres lecciones. 2nd ed. Barcelona: Ariel, 1984.
- Ward, Aengus. History and Chronicles in Late Medieval Iberia: Representations of Wamba in Late Medieval Narrative Histories. Leiden: Brill, 2011.
Biography
Kim Bergqvist (b. 1986) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at Stockholm University. He studies medieval political and cultural history, with a particular focus on Castile-León and Sweden in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. His recent publications include: “Tears of Weakness, Tears of Love: Kings as Fathers and Sons in Medieval Spanish Prose,” in Tears, Sighs, and Laughter: Expressions of Emotions in the Middle Ages, ed. Per Förnegård et al. (Stockholm: KVHAA, 2017), 77–97; “The Vindication of Sancho II in the Crónica de Castilla: Political Identity and Historiographical Reinvention in Medieval Castilian Chronicles,” The Medieval Chronicle 11 (2018): 64–86; “Kings and Nobles on the Fringes of Christendom: A Comparative Perspective on Monarchy and Aristocracy in the European Middle Ages,” in The Routledge History of Monarchy, ed. Elena Woodacre et al. (Abingdon: Routledge, 2019), 622–635.