CPSF – About this edition

Table of Contents

What is the Crónica particular de San Fernando?

Sources for the Crónica particular de San Fernando

The Crónica particular de San Fernando and the Estoria de Espanna

Aims of this edition

How to cite this edition

Acknowledgements

Permissions

Students’ Introduction: The Crónica particular de San Fernando

 

What is the Crónica particular de San Fernando?

The Crónica particular de San Fernando (CPSF) is a chronicle dating to the early part of the fourteenth century. Scholars believe that the text was put together in the last few years of the reign of King Fernando IV (Fernández Gallardo, 247), who reigned between 1295 and 1312. The CPSF was written in what is now modern-day Spain, but at the time was the kingdom of Castile-León.

The chronicle is a historical text which details the reign of Fernando III, who later became known as San Fernando (in English, Saint Ferdinand). San Fernando was the king of Castile from 1217 and also of León from 1230, until his death in 1252. Under Fernando’s leadership, some of the most successful campaigns of the Reconquest took place. This involved battles and sieges with the aim of the Christians of northern and central Spain taking back from the Muslims lands which now form much of the southern part of Spain. The Muslim-ruled area was called al-Andalus, and nowadays much of this area is contained in the Andalusia region.

As well as the chronicle’s contents about San Fernando being important to understand the text, it is important to understand more about the time and context in which the chronicle itself was written. This can help us to unlock some of the meaning of the text and to enable us to have a deeper understanding of why and how the chronicle was written as it was. The CPSF dates to the reign of Fernando IV, the great grandson of San Fernando. This was a politically turbulent time, during which the nobility, whose role in governing the kingdom was great, carried out various revolts against the monarchy. Because Fernando IV became king during childhood, his mother, María de Molina, acted as regent until young Fernando came of age. Many of the nobles did not agree with this regency situation, and repeatedly questioned the royal authority. The reasons for this are complex, but include issues that go back to before Sancho IV, the father of Fernando IV, became king. Sancho’s older brother, Fernando de la Cerda, had pre-deceased their father, Alfonso X. Their father the king, and many of the nobles believed that instead of Sancho becoming heir to the throne, the son of the older brother Fernando should have become heir. Sancho, however, became the heir to the throne, and was crowned as king upon his father’s death. Later on, during Sancho’s reign, the pope refused the legitimacy of his marriage to María de Molina, his cousin. If the marriage was not legal according to the Catholic Church, his son Fernando would have been considered illegitimate, and therefore not eligible to become king following Sancho’s death. The papacy finally recognised the marriage when young Fernando was six years old, which was just three years before his father died. Young Fernando became Fernando IV. The political turbulence of the period was not calmed until 1325, around ten years after the CPSF was written, and during the reign of Fernando IV’s son, Alfonso XI, when several nobles were executed or sent into exile.

Understanding the political context in which the CPSF was written gives us more information about the aim of the CPSF. Scholars believe that the main purpose of the CPSF was as pro-monarchic propaganda (Fernández Gallardo, 249). This explains the prominence of figures such as Berenguela, the mother of San Fernando. Berenguela played an important role in governing the kingdom during the reign of her son, Fernando III, just as María de Molina was playing an important role during the reign of her son, Fernando IV, at the time the CPSF was written. We can also see a glorification of the Molina family, which would have reflected on María de Molina. This is shown in the way the cabalgada de Jerez, or the Jerez military troop, are presented in the chronicle. The cabalgada de Jerez was led by the father of María de Molina, and it was this troop that led many of the successful Reconquest campaigns during the reign of San Fernando (Fernández Gallardo, 247; Gómez Redondo, 1238). The nobility is foregrounded in the CPSF, because of the regency situation in place in the reign of Fernando IV, meaning the role of the aristocracy was even more significant than normal (Funes, ‘El lugar de la Crónica Particular de San Fernando’, 182).

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Sources for the Crónica particular de San Fernando

There are two parts to the Crónica particular de San Fernando. The first part primarily recounts the reign of Fernando III to the year 1243. The major source for this section was the Versión amplificada of the Estoria de Espanna, which dates to 1289 (Fernández-Ordóñez, 236-237). The main source for the Estoria de Espanna had been De rebus Hispaniae, so this naturally became the main original source for the section of the CPSF to 1243 (Fernández Gallardo, 261). This section is mostly a faithful translation into Castilian of De rebus Hispaniae, a Latin text written between 1243 and 1252 by the archbishop of Toledo, Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada, which San Fernando had commissioned as a history of Spain from pre-history to his own time. The CPSF contains text translated directly from De rebus Hispaniae, but with some extra supplementary explanations included as a commentary (Funes, ‘El lugar de la Crónica Particular de San Fernando’, 177-178; Funes La ‘Estoria cabadelante’, 652). The second part of the CPSF has been labelled by scholars the ‘seguimiento’ (in English, the follow-up) (Fernández Gallardo, 253, Hijano, ‘Continuaciones’, 126) and deals with the rest of the reign of San Fernando, a period not recounted in the Estoria de Espanna or De rebus Hispaniae. The sources for this section were the documents from the royal chancellery and the memories of the Andalusian campaigns that had survived through oral transmission (Fernández Gallardo, 264-265). As is the case with tales that are passed on orally, the facts can easily become separated from the truth. The seguimiento section has a particular focus on the conquest of Seville as this was so significant within the ongoing reconquest campaign (Funes, ‘El lugar de la Crónica Particular de San Fernando’, 177-179). Another characteristic of this section is the use of animated dialogues which foreground notable aristocrats, showing the aristocratic bias of the text, (Fernández Gallardo, 256).

The Crónica particular de San Fernando and the Estoria de Espanna

The Crónica particular de San Fernando appears in several witnesses of the Estoria de Espanna, as well as in the most important edition of the work, Ramón Menéndez Pidal’s edition entitled the Primera Crónica General. It is also included in later works about the Estoria de Espanna, such as Inés Fernández-Ordóñez’s ‘La transmisión textual de la ‘Estoria de España’ y de las principales ‘Crónicas’ de ellas derivadas’, which is essential reading for scholars of the Estoria de Espanna. Furthermore, as has been seen above, the Estoria de Espanna and the Crónica Particular de San Fernando share a primary source in De rebus Hispaniae. For these reasons the CPSF is now often considered to be part of the Estoria de Espanna.

Whilst in some manuscripts it appears as part of the Estoria de Espanna, the Crónica particular de San Fernando is not, however, indivisible from the Estoria. The CPSF is later than the original witnesses of the Estoria, and while both works can be argued to have a propagandizing nature to them, their objectives were different. Historiographical readings of the Estoria de Espanna and its context show us that its original aim was to strengthen Alfonso’s claim to become Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (Carlos de Ayala Martínez, 154-155); the aim of the Crónica particular was to push a pro-monarchic ideology, with an aristocratic viewpoint, to strengthen the support of the nobility for Fernando IV (Fernández Gallardo, 252). Moreover, the two works belong to slightly differing genres within historical chronicles: the Estoria de Espanna is a panoramic text whilst the Crónica particular de San Fernando focuses on just one monarch.

For citations and further reading, see:

·      Carlos de Ayala Martínez, Directrices fundamentales de la política peninsular de Alfonso X: Relaciones castellano-aragonesas 1252-1263 (Madrid: Antiqua et Medievalia, 1986)

·      Mariano de la Campa, ‘Crónica Particular de San Fernando’, Carlos Alvar and José Manuel Lucía Megías (eds.), Diccionario Filológico de Literatura Medieval Española. Textos y transmisión. (Madrid: Castalia, 2002) pp. 358-363

·      Mariano de la Campa, ‘Crónica de veinte reyes’Revista de literatura medieval 15:1, (2003) 141-156, 144-147,

·      Luis Fernández Gallardo, ‘La Crónica particular de San Fernando: sobre los orígenes de la crónica real castellana, I. Aspectos formales’Cahiers d’études hispaniques médiévales, 32 (2009), 245-265

·     
Inés Fernández-Ordóñez, ‘La transmisión textual de la ‘Estoria de España’ y de las principales ‘Crónicas’ de ellas derivadas’ in Inés Fernández-Ordóñez (Ed.) Alfonso X el Sabio y las crónicas de España (Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, 2000) pp. 219-264, pp. 229, 236, 237, 238, 239, 243, 249, 254.

·      Leonardo Funes, ‘El lugar de la Crónica Particular de San Fernando en el sistema de las formas cronísticas castellanas de principios del siglo XIV’, AIH, Actas del XII Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas (Birmingham, 21-26 August 1995), Vol. 1 (1998) 176-182

·      Leonardo Funes, ‘Dos versiones antágonas de la historia y de la ley: una visión de la historiografía castellana de Alfonso X al Canciller Ayala’, Aengus Ward (ed.) Teoría y práctica de la historiografía hispánica medieval (Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press, 2000), pp. 8-31

·      Leonardo Funes, La ‘Estoria cabadelante’ en la Crónica particular de San Fernando: Una vision nobiliaria del reinado de Fernando III’, Constance Carta, Sarah Finci and Dora Mancheva (Eds.) Antes de agotan la mano y la pluma que su historia – Magis deficit manus et calamus quam eius hystoria, Homenaje a Carlos Álvar, Volumen I: Edad Media (San Millán de la Cogolla: Cilengua, 2016)

·      Fernando Gómez Redondo, Historia de la prosa medieval castellana, Vol. II. El desarrollo de los género. La ficción caballeresca y el orden religioso. (Madrid: Cátedra, 1999)

·      Manuel Hijano in ‘Continuaciones del Toledano: el caso de la Historia hasta 1288 dialogada’, in Francisco Bautista (ed.), El Relato historiográfico: Textos y tradiciones en la España medieval, (London: Queen Mary and Westfield College, 2006), pp.123-148

·      Manuel Hijano Villegas, ‘Monumento inacabado: La Estoria de España’Cahiers d’études hispaniques médiévales 37 (2014), 13-44

·      Manuel Hijano Villegas, Crónica Particular de San Fernando: composición y transmisión, Draft copy (2018)

The information contained in this section of the edition can also be found in:

Polly Duxfield, Digitally Editing Medieval Prose in Castilian: The Crónica particular de San Fernando, a case study (University of Birmingham, unpublished doctoral dissertation, 2018)

Aims of this edition

The aims of this edition are twofold:

Firstly, this edition aims to bring the Crónica particular de San Fernando to a wider audience of both scholars and interested non-experts. The digital outputs of the edition will be made available for peer review and to enable the chronicle to be studied and enjoyed by readers and scholars from the wider community, providing they are cited as directed.In this way the Crónica particular de San Fernando Digital will complement the wider Estoria de Espanna Digital project, of which this edition will eventually form a part, but it can also be a stand-alone edition, separate from the Estoria de Espanna Digital.

Secondly, this edition functions as the practical branch of a study into the current state of digital editions of medieval prose in Castilian and will form part of the analysis of that project.

How to cite this edition

Citations for the whole of the Crónica particular de San Fernando Digital should take the following form:

Polly Duxfield ed., Crónica particular de San Fernando Digital v.1.0 (Birmingham: University of Birmingham, 2018) <estoria.bham.ac.uk/CPSF> [date accessed], within Aengus Ward ed., Estoria de Espanna Digital v.1.0 (Birmingham: University of Birmingham, 2016) <estoria.bham.ac.uk> [date accessed].

References containing a full list of transcribers are as follows:

Polly Duxfield ed., Crónica particular de San Fernando Digital v.1.0, Transcriptions and corrections by Enrique Jerez Cabrero, Christian Kusi-Obodum, Fiona Maguire, Aengus Ward, v.1.0 (Birmingham: University of Birmingham, 2018) <estoria.bham.ac.uk/CPSF> [date accessed], within Aengus Ward ed., Estoria de Espanna Digital v.1.0 (Birmingham: University of Birmingham, 2016) <estoria.bham.ac.uk> [date accessed].

Reference to individual elements of the edition should be based on the system in place for all of the Estoria de Espanna manuscripts. References should be made according to the rules for citation for the whole of the Estoria de Espanna Digital Project, which can be accessed here.

Acknowledgements

This edition was created as part of the PhD thesis of Polly Duxfield. This thesis was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council as part of a wider research project: Dr. Aengus Ward, An electronic research environment and edition of the Estoria de Espanna of Alfonso X, King of Castile and León, AH/K000136/1, 2013-16, £559,267.

Since this thesis forms part of the wider project, I am indebted to all of the scholars and administrative staff detailed in the acknowledgements for the Estoria de Espanna Digital.

I would also like to offer my sincere thanks to the following people:
Aengus Ward, for his careful guidance in the preparation of this edition;

Catherine Smith, for her technical expertise;
Peter Robinson, for his support with Textual Communities.

Ricardo Pichel, for proof-reading the Reader’s version, and offering ideas for the improvement of the Digital CPSF.

I am, of course, also very grateful to all of those alongside whom I had the good fortune to work during the Estoria de Espanna Digital project, including Aengus Ward, Bárbara Bordalejo, Enrique Jerez Cabrero, Zeth Green, Christian Kusi-Obodum, Fiona Maguire, Alicia Montero Málaga, Nick Leonard, Ricardo Pichel, Marine Poirier.

 

Permissions

Reproduced below is the permission statement for the whole of the Estoria de Espanna Digital Project, of which this edition forms a part:

All of the data and metadata in this edition WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE MANUSCRIPT IMAGES is presented under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Any use of the data and metadata from this edition MUST recognise the intellectual property of the editors by means of the appropriate reference. In no circumstances can the manuscript images be employed for any use without the express permission of the relevant archives – the images remain the property of the archives in question.

Images for three witnesses are included in this edition, according to the Creative Commons agreement under which they have been made available to the public.

Students’ Introduction: The Crónica particular de San Fernando

The Crónica particular de San Fernando (CPSF) is a chronicle dating to the early part of the fourteenth century (Funes, ‘El lugar de la Crónica Particular de San Fernando’, 177-178). Scholars believe that much of the text was written in the last few years of the reign of King Fernando IV (Fernández Gallardo, 247), who reigned between 1295 and 1312. The CPSF was written in what is now modern-day Spain, but at the time was the kingdom of Castile-León.

The chronicle is a historical text which details the reign of King Fernando III, who later became known as San Fernando (Saint Ferdinand). San Fernando was the king of Castile from 1217 and also of León from 1230, until his death in 1252. Fernando is considered to be an important king for the history of Spain as it was during his reign, and under his leadership that some of the most successful campaigns of the reconquest took place. This involved battles and sieges with the aim of the Christians of northern and central Spain taking back from the Muslims lands which now form much of the southern part of Spain. The Muslim-ruled area was called al-Andalus, and nowadays much of this area is contained in the Andalusia region.

As well as the chronicle’s contents about San Fernando being important to understand the text, it is important to understand more about the time and context in which the chronicle itself was written. This can help us to unlock some of the meaning of the text and to enable us to have a deeper understanding of why the chronicle was written as it was and how it was. The chronicle is made up to two parts: the first part was in existence by 1289 (Fernández-Ordóñez, 236-237). Scholars believe that the second part was written, and that the two parts were put together and made into one chronicle, during the reign of Fernando IV, who was the great grandson of San Fernando (Fernández Gallardo, 247).

The chronicle was put together during a politically turbulent period. At this time, the nobility, who played a very important role in governing the kingdom, carried out various revolts against the monarchy. Because Fernando IV became king when he was just nine years old, his mother, María de Molina, carried out much of the role of monarch until Fernando became old enough to do so himself. Many of the nobles did not agree with this regency situation, and repeatedly questioned the royal authority. The reasons for this are complex, but include issues that go back to before Fernando’s father, Sancho IV, became king. Sancho’s older brother had died before their father, Alfonso X. Alfonso believed that instead of Sancho becoming heir to the throne, the son of his eldest son, Sancho’s older brother, should have become heir. Many of the nobles, however, sided with Sancho, and Sancho carried out much of the role of monarch during the latter years of his father’s reign at a time when the king was old and seriously ill. After the death of Alfonso, and during Sancho’s reign, the pope refused to recognise that his marriage to María de Molina, his cousin, was legitimate. If the marriage was not legal according to the Catholic Church, his son Fernando (later Fernando IV) would have been considered illegitimate, and therefore not eligible to become king following Sancho’s death. The papacy finally recognised the marriage when Fernando was six years old, which was just three years before his father died, making Fernando king.

The political turbulence of the period was not calmed until 1325, around ten years after the CPSF was first completed, and during the reign of Fernando IV’s son, Alfonso XI, when several nobles were executed or sent into exile.

The political context in which the CPSF was put together is relevant to understand, as it gives us more information about the aim of the chronicle. Scholars believe that the main reason that the CPSF was put together and completed was as pro-monarchic propaganda (Fernández Gallardo, 252). This explains the prominence of figures such as Berenguela, the mother of San Fernando. Berenguela played an important role in governing the kingdom during her son’s reign, just as María de Molina was playing an important role during the reign of her son, Fernando IV. We can also see a glorification of the Molina family, which would have reflected on María de Molina. This is shown in the way the cabalgada de Jerez, or the Jerez military troop, are presented in the chronicle. The cabalgada de Jerez was led by the father of María de Molina, and it was this troop that led many of the successful reconquest campaigns during the reign of San Fernando (Fernández Gallardo, 247; Gómez Redondo, 1238)

As mentioned above, there are two parts to the Crónica Particular de San Fernando. The first part is mostly a translation into Castilian of an older historical text called De rebus Hispaniae (Funes, ‘El lugar de la Crónica Particular de San Fernando’, 177-178; Funes La ‘Estoria cabadelante’, 652. This was a text written in Latin in 1243 by the archbishop of Toledo, Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada. San Fernando had requested that the text be written as a history of Spain from pre-history to his own time. The first part of the CPSF contains text translated directly from De rebus Hispaniae, but with some extra supplementary explanations included as a commentary (Funes, ‘El lugar de la Crónica Particular de San Fernando’, 177-178; Funes La ‘Estoria cabadelante’, 652). Scholars believe this text was in existence before 1289. The second part of the CPSF deals with the rest of the reign of San Fernando, the part after De rebus Hispaniae was completed (1243 to 1252), and has a particular focus on the conquest of Seville as this was so significant within the ongoing reconquest campaign (Funes, ‘El lugar de la Crónica Particular de San Fernando’, 177-179). Scholars believe this part was written in the early years of the fourteenth century (Funes, ‘El lugar de la Crónica Particular de San Fernando’, 177-178).

Translation of this section of the CPSF

A short section of the CPSF has been translated and annotated particularly for use by students studying this text as part of their undergraduate studies. Key people, places and events are highlighted and explained to help give you a fuller understanding of the text and its context. You can use the translation alongside the rest of the digital edition to be able to view the original transcriptions of the Castilian or even to view images of several of the manuscripts themselves. The translation is mostly based on the version of the text in a manuscript called E2 (Madrid, Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, MS X-I-4). Where the text in E2 is illegible because of damage over the years to the manuscript, text has been included from another manuscript, Ss (Salamanca, Caja duero, MS 40), or from a printed edition of the text from the twentieth century (Ramón Menéndez Pidal’s edition entitled ‘Primera Crónica General (Estoria de España que mandó componer Alfonso el Sabio y se continuaba bajo Sancho IV en 1289)’. We suggest that in essays, rather than quote from the translated version, that you should ensure you understand the text fully by reading the translation and then use the digital edition to find the corresponding quotation in Castilian in the other versions of the edition such as the collated text or the transcription of the original manuscript.

This translated section is a self-contained block of text which forms one chapter of the original text. The chapter tells the story of the siege and conquest of Córdoba, which was the old capital of al-Andalus, and therefore a very significant event within the reconquest campaign. Within this chapter we see one character foregrounded: a nobleman called Lorenzo Suárez. Suárez had previously been banished by the king for bad behaviour, but as part of the siege of Córdoba he acted as a double agent for Fernando III, helping him to conquer the city. Following this, he was pardoned by the king. This section is also representative of the rest of the CPSF because of the way it focuses on the key role played by the nobility, bearing in mind that scholars believe that one of the main aims of the chronicle was to encourage the nobility towards being more pro-monarchy at a time of conflict between the nobility and the monarchy.

Further reading

·      Simon Barton, A History of Spain (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)

·      Luis Fernández Gallardo, ‘La Crónica particular de San Fernando: sobre los orígenes de la crónica real castellana, I. Aspectos formales’, Cahiers d’études hispaniques médiévales, 32 (2009), 245-265

·      Leonardo Funes, ‘El lugar de la Crónica Particular de San Fernando en el sistema de las formas cronísticas castellanas de principios del siglo XIV’, AIH, Actas del XII Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas (Birmingham, 21-26 August 1995), Vol. 1 (1998) 176-182, 178 https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=1355830

·      Leonardo Funes, ‘Dos versions antágonas de la historia y de la ley: una vision de la historiografía castellana de Alfonso X al Canciller Ayala’, Aengus Ward (ed.) Teoría y práctica de la historiografía hispánica medieval (Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press, 2000), pp. 8-31

·      Leonardo Funes, La ‘Estoria cabadelante’ en la Crónica particular de San Fernando: Una vision nobiliaria del reinado de Fernando III’, Constance Carta, Sarah Finci and Dora Mancheva (Eds.) Antes de agotan la mano y la pluma que su historia – Magis deficit manus et calamus quam eius hystoria, Homenaje a Carlos Álvar, Volumen I: Edad Media (San Millán de la Cogolla: Cilengua, 2016)

·      Fernando Gómez Redondo, Historia de la prosa medieval castellana, Vol. II. El desarrollo de los género. La ficción caballeresca y el orden religioso. (Madrid: Cátedra, 1999)

·      Angus MacKay, Spain in the Middle Ages: From Frontier to Empire, 1000-1500 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1977)

Translation – glossary of terms

AlcántaraAlcántara is in Cáceres.
AlcoleaAlcolea is a village in Almería.
AlmogovarThe ‘Almogavars’ were a type of professional Christian soldier. They tended to be foot soldiers and were lightly armed.
Ordon ÁlvarezA messenger.
AndalucíaAndalucía is the name for the autonomous region in the south of Spain. The name comes from al-Andalus, the Arabic name for the region, which was under Muslim rule throughout the medieval period (711-1492). At its largest, around the year 1000, the area under Muslim rule stretched up as far as the modern day Basque Country and Galicia, but the Christian reconquest campaign saw many of the cities change from Muslim to Christian rule. A key city in the campaign was Córdoba, which was a major cultural centre in al-Andalus and the wider Islamic world.
AndújarAndújar is a town in Andalucía. It was from Andújar that all of the Reconquest operations for this area of al-Andalus were organised.
el AxerquíaThis is an area of Córdoba where the defences were most vulnerable, so the Christians were able to enter there most easily.
Benito de BañosBenito de Baños was an Almogavar soldier who climbed the city wall with Álvar Colodro.
BenquerenciaBenquerencia is in Cáceres.
BenaventeBenavente is a town in Castilla-León.
city wallsThe city of Córdoba was surrounded by a city wall. This was first built by the Romans and was maintained by the Muslims and later by the Christians. In some places the outer wall measured up to three metres high. In some areas the city walls still stand, and some parts of the wall have been restored in recent years.
Ciudad RodrigoCiudad Rodrigo is in Salamanca.
Álvar ColodroÁlvar Colodro was an Almogavar soldier. He was one of the first soldiers to climb into the tower and kill the Moors on guard there. From then on the tower was named after him.
CórdobaCórdoba is a city in Andalucía. Córdoba city is also the capital of the province of Córdoba. An important city in the times of the Romans and of the Visigoths, Córdoba came under Muslim rule in 711 and became one of the largest cities in the world with a thriving economy. However, from 1225 until its reconquest by Fernando III, for political reasons, the city was in a period of economic and demographic crisis, weakening its defences. Córdoba was recaptured by King Fernando III in 1236 as part of the Reconquest campaigns to recover Muslim-ruled areas of modern-day Spain. Given its status as a Roman and the a Moorish city, Córdoba was a significant gain for Fernando and a sorry loss for the Moors. Manuel González Jiménez explains that Córdoba was a target in the Reconquest campaign because of its proximity to the town of Andújar, from where all the operations for reconquering this area of al-Andalus were organised. Córdoba is home to the building known as the Mezquita, which dates to the 10th century, and much of the medieval Islamic architecture can still be seen. The Mezquita, now a UNESCO world heritage site, was once a great mosque, and after the Reconquest became an important cathedral. For more information see here.
donThe title ‘don’, or the feminine version ‘doña’, is a mark of respect and esteem.
Dos HermanasDos Hermanas is a town in Seville.
ÉcijaÉcija is a town in Andalucía.
King FernandoFernando III (later San Fernando) reigned from 1217 (Castilla) and 1230 (León) until his death in 1252. Throughout the chapter he is also referred to as don Fernando.
festival of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint PaulThis festival takes place on 29th June.
Guadiana RiverThis river runs along the Spain-Portugal border.
Ibn HūdIbn Hūd, or Abén Hūd, was a Muslim taifa king, and by 1228 he was the ruler of almost all of Muslim Spain. However, Ibn Hūd was not powerful enough to defeat the Christians during the Reconquista campaigns, and he lost much of his land to them. He was assassinated in 1238 at the hands of one of his own governors, as we will see later in this chapter.
Saint JamesThe apostle Saint James was known in Christian Spain as Santiago Matamoros – Saint James the Moor-slayer. According to legend, he appeared in a ninth-century battle to fight for the Christians against the Moors.
Johan Arias MexiaA knight of Fernando III.
King of AragónThe King of Aragón at this time was Jaume I, who was king from 1208 to 1276. His epithet is ‘el Conqueridor’ (in Castilian: Jaime I el Conquistador; in English, the Conqueror), relating to the expansion of his kingdom under his reign, as part of the Reconquista campaign. Aragón conquered Valencia in September 1238.
Diego López de VayasA knight of Fernando III.
MagacelaMagacela is in Badajoz.
Martín Gonçález de MiiancasA knight of Fernando III.
MartosMartos is a city in Jaén province (Andalucía), in south-central Spain.
Martos gateThis is a gateway in the city wall of the Axerquía in Córdoba. Once the first Christian soldiers had scaled the walls using their ladders and taken all of the towers, the rest of the Christian soldiers entered first through this gateway, led by Domingo Muñoz, Pedro Ruiz Tafur and Martín Ruiz de Argote.
MedellínMedellín is a village in Badajoz.
MoorThe term ‘Moor’ here refers to the Muslim inhabitants of medieval Spain. During the time of the Reconquest, the term often had negative connotations of being ‘infidels’, or the enemies of Christians.
Pedro MartínezPedro Martínez is the brother of Álvar Pérez, the commander of a troop of Christian soldiers.
Domingo MuñozDomingo Muñoz was a Christian military leader.
Álvar PérezÁlvar Pérez de Castro was the commander of a troop of soldiers who were called in to help the Christians take Córdoba.
Fernant Royz Cabeça de VacaA knight of Fernando III.
Martín Ruiz de ArgoteMartín Ruiz de Argote was one of the main conquerors of Córdoba.
Pedro Ruiz TafurPedro Ruiz Tafur was one of the main conquerors of Córdoba.
Sancho López d’AellosA knight of Fernando III.
squireA squire was a young nobleman who was an attendant of a knight and who would later become a knight himself.
storyThe word in medieval Castilian is ‘estoria’. This could mean either history or story.
Lorenzo SuárezLorenzo Suárez was a nobleman whom Fernando III had banished from the kingdom for his wrongdoings. As is told in this chapter, Lorenzo Suárez acts as a double agent for Fernando, against Ibn Hūd, in order to be allowed back into Fernando’s kingdom.
Te Deum laudamosLatin for ‘God we praise you’. Latin, rather than Castilian, would have been the language used for worship as it was still the language of the Church.
ÚbedaÚbeda is a town in Andalucía. It was captured by Fernando III in 1236 as part of a massive advance in the Reconquest campaign, during which time several cities were reconquered by the Christians.
ValenciaValencia is a coastal city in eastern Spain that is now the third largest city in Spain. It was founded by the Romans, became part of Muslim al-Andalus in 711, and was conquered by King Jaume of Aragón in 1238.
VassalA vassal is someone who is subordinate to the king. Generally, a vassal is a person who has land in the kingdom.