About the Estoria de Espanna

The Estoria de Espanna is an extensive thirteenth-century history of Spain composed under the direction of Alfonso X of Castile and Leon (reigned 1252-1284). It runs from the origins of Spain to the death of Alfonso’s father Fernando III in 1252.

• It is the history of the people who ruled the empire and therefore deals with Roman history, the history of the Goths and the history of the Christian kingdoms of the Peninsula after the Arab invasion of 711 which Alfonso regarded as the inheritors of the Goths.

• It exists in three major versions, two compiled during the lifetime of the king (1272 and 1282) and another during the reign of his son Sancho IV, in 1289.

• The three major versions written in close succession to each other reveal a host of anxieties about contemporary events and so an examination of the differences between them can help to demonstrate the value of control of the past in present difficulty.

The Estoria de Espanna is the centerpiece of the medieval Castilian historiographical tradition, the first and greatest medieval history of Spain written in romance, and was originally conceived as part of an all-encompassing politico-cultural project by the king.

As is frequently the case with Iberian material, it is not well known outside the peninsula, and yet its status as comprehensive history of Spain makes it one of the finest examples of late medieval chronicle writing available to us.

The breadth of learning and sophisticated narrative construction of the Estoria make it prime material for the study of medieval narrative history generally and the project therefore has the aim of bringing both the Estoria and the enormous politico-cultural enterprise of which it formed a part to a wider audience.