Interracial relations are nothing new; the practice is fairly endemic throughout human history. As for Medieval Iberia, interracial relations occasionally traversed religious lines. Since the Quran permits Muslim men to marry Christian and Jewish women, numerous Muslim rulers took Christian wives and concubines, to meet their own political ends. However, the inverse is less common: … Continue reading “Muslim-Christian fraternising in the Estoria”
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Dirty dealings in the Estoria
Whilst working on folios 85 to 89 in Escorial II, I came across a dark tale of treachery and deceit in the tenth century. According to the Estoria, King Blasquez was on rather bad terms with one of his Christian neighbours. So he had a letter written to al-Mansur, the military dictator of al-Andalus, persuading the Muslim … Continue reading “Dirty dealings in the Estoria”
Arabic in Roman characters
While putting <ab> tags into E2, I came across an interesting problem for future reference. The section of the Estoria in question deals with the history of the Cid and specifically with the conquest of Valencia. As noted by various scholars, the provenance of this section is rather different to others, since Arabic sources (“Abenalfarax … Continue reading “Arabic in Roman characters”
Preparations for the first EDIT colloquium are coming along!
Here at EDIT we are busy getting ready for our first colloquium which will take place in April. Most of our guests are now invited and those who are speaking are well on the way to preparing their papers. This will be my first academic conference, which is exciting, and I will also be giving … Continue reading “Preparations for the first EDIT colloquium are coming along!”
A solar eclipse whilst transcribing…
Whilst transcribing Folio 55v of E2, I was hugely surprised when suddenly the sun became dark, for an hour or so. No, there wasn’t a solar eclipse here in Birmingham (although the weather’s so miserable and dull today it may as well be!). I was in fact lucky enough to read about one in the … Continue reading “A solar eclipse whilst transcribing…”
Practising with the new tags
I have just transcribed E2 19v. There are lots more abbreviations than in the pages Marine and I have been transcribing for the past few weeks (20r-49v) and it took loads longer than the other pages have been taking me. This one took a whole 68 minutes. I used our new Tironian Note tag and … Continue reading “Practising with the new tags”
Muger/Mugier?
Polly has recently come across the problem of how to expand the abbreviation “mug” (with a macron over the g) in manuscript E2. In principle, I take the view that since (i) E is going to provide us with our base text, and (ii) it is (in parts) the earliest attestation for the Estoria, we … Continue reading “Muger/Mugier?”
Enter the newbie
The sun makes a feeble attempt to penetrate the overcast sky hanging above Edgbaston; the clouds threaten to douse the land yet again with wintry rains; students and researchers float into and out of campus, in and out of the cold, doing their best to focus and get back into the swing of academia. In … Continue reading “Enter the newbie”
An exciting start to the New Year!
We are now halfway through the first working week of the new year and already lots is happening at the Estoria de Espanna Project. The most exciting thing is that our new colleague, Christian, has finally joined the team. I am yet to find out whether or not he is a tea-drinker. I am sure … Continue reading “An exciting start to the New Year!”
Dudas…
Esta semana al transcribir mis folios tuve algunas dudas… ¡A ver si todos juntos podemos contestar las 20 preguntas que siguen! Gracias de antemano por vuestra ayuda. 1) Fol. 30r l.26 Añadieron una “q” antes de “por”. ¿Cómo lo representamos en la transcripción? 2) Fol 30r l 47 (y otras) Aparece “sus” abreviado antes de … Continue reading “Dudas…”