The World of El CID: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest
(Paperback)
Publishing Details
The World of El CID: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest
By (Author) Simon Barton
Edited by Richard Fletcher
Manchester University Press
Manchester University Press
9th November 2000
United Kingdom
Classifications
Physical Properties
Paperback
296
Width 138mm, Height 216mm
Description
Four principal narrative sources for the history of the Spanish kingdom of Leon-Castile during the 11th and 12th centuries are presented here in English. The four chronicles were all composed in an unprecedented surge of Spanish historical writing between c.1110 and c.1150. Three of them focus primarily upon the activities of the kings of Leon-Castile as leaders of the Reconquest of Spain from the forces of Islam, and especially upon Fernando I (1037-65), his son Alfonso VI (1065-1109) and the latter's grandson Alfonso VII (1126-57). The fourth chronicle is a biography of the hero Rodrigo Diaz, better remembered as El Cid, and is the main source of information about his extraordinary career as a mercenary soldier who fought for Christian and Muslim alike. A general introduction to the volume sketches the historical background, and then each text is prefaced by its own introduction and accompanied by explanatory notes.
Author Bio
Simon Barton is Reader in Medieval Spanish History at the University of Exeter. Richard Fletcher is Professor of Medieval History at the University of York
