Annales Portucalenses Veteres

Last updated

The Annales Portucalenses Veteres (APV, in Portuguese: Anais Portugueses Velhos) are a set of related historiographical compositions preserved in five testimonies. Most of these testimonies begin with a list of kings, the Laterculus regum Ouetensium ad Adefonsum II (Laterculus of the kings of Asturias up to Alfonso II), [1] followed by annalistic entries referring to the conquests of Coimbra and Montemor-o-Velho by Almanzor, and the occupation of the Portuguese territories by Ferdinand the Great. From then on, the testimonies convey different series of events. For this reason, three versions are identified according to the date of their last report: 1079, 1111, or 1168.

Contents

The name Annales Portucalenses Veteres was introduced in 1947 by Pierre David. [2] The similarities between the texts led David and other specialists to include these versions in the same set, although the researchers differ in how they believe the versions relate to each other, giving rise to various theories about their transmission. The main point of divergence is the version ad annum 1079 (up to the year 1079), considered by some to be the oldest and by others to be the most recent. There is another text, the Chronica Gothorum , related to the latter version.

Versions

ad annum 1079

The only testimony of this version can be found in the Livro da Noa , [3] which originated from the monastery of Santa Cruz of Coimbra, and was copied in the mid-14th century. It contains nineteen entries, thirteen of which are unique to this version, mainly referring to noble families from the County of Portucale and to kings Bermudo III, Ferdinand the Great, and Alfonso VI of León.

ad annum 1111

This version, the shortest of the three, contains eleven entries. It essentially covers the main actions of Kings Ferdinand the Great and Alfonso VI regarding the occupation of the Portuguese territories. There are also references to events with an Iberian impact, such as the conquest of Toledo and the Battle of Zalaca, during the reign of Alfonso VI.

The oldest evidence of this version can be found in Porto's Municipal Public Library. [4] It is part of a homiliary completed in 1139, which also originated in the Monastery of Santa Cruz.

There is a second testimony preserved in the Marqués de Valdecilla Library at the Complutense University of Madrid, copied after 1250. [5] It follows the table of contents and shares with it the recto of the first written folio. A final entry has been added to this copy, again recording in more detail the conquest of Coimbra by Ferdinand the Great. Based on this testimony, both Enrique Flórez and Alexandre Herculano published the text, as Chronicon Complutense andChronicon Complutense siue Alcobacense respectively. [6]

There was another manuscript, similar to this one, in the Monastery of Alcobaça, which was lost before 1632. We have knowledge of it from the notes of João Vaseu and António Brandão. [7]

ad annum 1168

Covering a longer period than the other two versions and transmitting twenty-three entries, the version ad annum 1168 includes the same events for the period 1079–1111 as the previous one, although narrated differently. It continues the list of events until 1168, the year in which Geraldo Geraldes occupied Badajoz, focusing essentially on the reign of King Afonso Henriques. At the end, it includes an entry on the conquests of Alfonso III of Asturias in the Portuguese territories.

Its oldest testimony, found in the first quire of the Livro da Noa, dates from the 12th century. [8] Although it also begins with a list of the kings of Asturias up to Alfonso II, it is abbreviated, reaching only the reign of Pelagius.

A second testimony can be found in the Lamego Cathedral Martyrology and Obituary. [9] It does not have the initial laterculus, but instead includes an Ordo Annorum Mundi (Order of the Years of the World) summarized, the Annales Martyrum (Annals of the Martyrs), and an entry on the birth of King Afonso Henriques.

Chronica Gothorum

We also know of another text related to the APV, the Chronica Gothorum (Chronicle of the Goths) or Annales domni Alfonsi Portugalensium regis (Annals of Alfonso, King of the Portucalenses), [10] which also begins with a list of the kings of Asturias (in this case up to Alfonso III) and then contains entries relating it to the version ad annum 1079, focusing after that on the reign of the first King of Portugal.

Theories about the transmission of the APV

As has been said, the versions ad annum 1111 and ad annum 1168 appear in manuscripts from the 12th century and are similar to each other. For this reason, all researchers have agreed to place them in chronological sequence. The version ad annum 1079, on the other hand, although it is the one in which the last recorded date is the oldest, is also the version whose known copy is more recent (14th century), raising doubts as to whether it is the closest to the original or the most distant. If it is the oldest version, the others would have voluntarily abridged its contents, while if it is the most recent, it has a strong influence from other sources. [11]

Pierre David considered the versions ad annum 1111 and ad annum 1079 to be two recensions (short and long, respectively) of the same lost text, and the version ad annum 1168 to be a continuation of ad annum 1111. He also placed the beginning of the Chronica Gothorum, as it is very similar to the version ad annum 1079, as another testimony to the long recension of the APV. [2]

For José Mattoso, Luís Krus, and Mário Gouveia, the three versions follow one another in the chronological order of their last entry, with additions made to incorporate new events. They considered that there had been an original, finalized in 1079, made in the monastery of Santo Tirso de Riba de Ave, related to the lineage of Maia, as it is mentioned in the version ad annum 1079. This original was reworked in two recensions (brief and long) in the monastery of São Salvador de Grijó (until 1111), and these two recensions were reworked again in Santa Cruz de Coimbra (until 1168). None of these texts correspond to the ones that have come down to us, serving only as models: the Chronica Gothorum would be made from the two long recensions and the original, the version ad annum 1079 only from the latter, and the other two versions would come from the short recensions ending in their respective years. [12]

Later, Francisco Bautista proposed that the original version of the APVs was ad annum 1111, not only because it was the oldest copy but also because all of its events were set in a peninsular context, although they appear in the text mainly in relation to the Portuguese territory. The version ad annum 1168 would be a reworking of the previous one, already of a markedly Portuguese character, with a reduced version of the Laterculus of the kings of Asturias and the recording of events related to King Afonso Henriques. Consequently, the version ad annum 1079 would be the most recent, having been made as preparatory material for the Chronica Gothorum, which is why it includes information from other sources. [7]

Finally, Rodrigo Furtado draws attention to the process of increasing and reducing entries present in all the texts, hypothesizing that they are all a reformulation of a lost original. He also notes that the dates have changed: in the oldest version we have (ad annum 1111), the saints' days appear according to the Mozarabic calendar, while the other two follow the Roman calendar. For these reasons, he believes that the original (with the Mozarabic dates) was reformulated to produce the version ad annum 1111 and another, now lost, with the Roman dates. The version ad annum 1168 would have been made from these two, while the ad annum 1079 would have used the Roman version and other sources. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afonso I of Portugal</span> King of Portugal from 1139 to 1185

Afonso I, also called Afonso Henriques, nicknamed the Conqueror and the Founder by the Portuguese, was the first king of Portugal. He achieved the independence of the County of Portugal, establishing a new kingdom and doubling its area with the Reconquista, an objective that he pursued until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chronicle</span> Historical account of facts and events

A chronicle is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the chronicler. A chronicle which traces world history is a universal chronicle. This is in contrast to a narrative or history, in which an author chooses events to interpret and analyze and excludes those the author does not consider important or relevant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Asturias</span> Kingdom in Iberia (718–924)

The Kingdom of Asturias was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius. It was the first Christian political entity established after the Umayyad conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711. In the Summer of 722, Pelagius defeated an Umayyad army at the Battle of Covadonga, in what is retroactively regarded as the beginning of the Reconquista.

The History of the Britons is a purported history of early Britain written around 828 that survives in numerous recensions from after the 11th century. The Historia Brittonum is commonly attributed to Nennius, as some recensions have a preface written in that name. Some experts have dismissed the Nennian preface as a late forgery and argued that the work was actually an anonymous compilation.

<i>Annales Cambriae</i> Chronicle of medieval British history

The Annales Cambriae is the title given to a complex of Latin chronicles compiled or derived from diverse sources at St David's in Dyfed, Wales. The earliest is a 12th-century presumed copy of a mid-10th-century original; later editions were compiled in the 13th century. Despite the name, the Annales Cambriae record not only events in Wales, but also events in Ireland, Cornwall, England, Scotland and sometimes further afield, though the focus of the events recorded especially in the later two-thirds of the text is Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galician–Portuguese</span> Medieval West Iberian Romance language

Galician–Portuguese, also known as Old Galician–Portuguese, Old Galician or Old Portuguese, Medieval Galician or Medieval Portuguese when referring to the history of each modern language, was a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages, in the northwest area of the Iberian Peninsula. Alternatively, it can be considered a historical period of the Galician, Fala, and Portuguese languages.

The Lusitanians were an Indo-European-speaking people living in the far west of the Iberian Peninsula, in present-day central Portugal and Extremadura and Castilla y Leon of Spain. After its conquest by the Romans, the land was subsequently incorporated as a Roman province named after them (Lusitania).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tui, Pontevedra</span> Municipality in Galicia, Spain

Tui is a municipality in the province of Pontevedra, in the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. It is located in the comarca of O Baixo Miño on the right bank of the Miño River, facing the Portuguese town of Valença. The municipality of Tui is composed of 11 parishes: Randufe, Malvas, Pexegueiro, Areas, Pazos de Reis, Rebordáns, Ribadelouro, Guillarei, Paramos, Baldráns and Caldelas.

This is a timeline of notable events during the period of Muslim presence in Iberia, starting with the Umayyad conquest in the 8th century.

<i>Imperator totius Hispaniae</i> Medieval Latin title for the emperor of Spain

Imperator totius Hispaniae is a Latin title meaning "Emperor of All Spain". In Spain in the Middle Ages, the title "emperor" was used under a variety of circumstances from the ninth century onwards, but its usage peaked, as a formal and practical title, between 1086 and 1157. It was primarily used by the kings of León and Castile, but it also found currency in the Kingdom of Navarre and was employed by the counts of Castile and at least one duke of Galicia. It signalled at various points the king's equality with the rulers of the Byzantine Empire and Holy Roman Empire, his rule by conquest or military superiority, his rule over several ethnic or religious groups, and his claim to suzerainty over the other kings of the peninsula, both Christian and Muslim. The use of the imperial title received scant recognition outside of Spain and it had become largely forgotten by the thirteenth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Diocese of Coimbra</span> Roman Catholic diocese in Portugal

The Diocese of Coimbra is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Coimbra, Portugal. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Braga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Códice de Roda</span> Medieval manuscript compiling various histories of the Iberian kingdoms

The Códice de Roda or Códice de Meyá is a medieval manuscript that represents a unique primary source for details of the 9th- and early 10th-century Kingdom of Navarre and neighbouring principalities. It is currently held in Madrid as Royal Academy of History MS 78.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hispania</span> Roman province (218 BC – 472 AD)

Hispania was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two new provinces, Baetica and Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed Hispania Tarraconensis. Subsequently, the western part of Tarraconensis was split off, initially as Hispania Nova, which was later renamed "Callaecia". From Diocletian's Tetrarchy onwards, the south of the remainder of Tarraconensis was again split off as Carthaginensis, and all of the mainland Hispanic provinces, along with the Balearic Islands and the North African province of Mauretania Tingitana, were later grouped into a civil diocese headed by a vicarius. The name Hispania was also used in the period of Visigothic rule. The modern place names of Spain and Hispaniola are both derived from Hispania.

<i>Annales laureshamenses</i>

The Annales laureshamenses, also called Annals of Lorsch (AL), are a set of Reichsannalen that cover the years from 703 to 803, with a brief prologue. The annals begin where the "Chronica minora" of the Anglo-Saxon historian Bede leaves off—in the fifth year of the Emperor Tiberios III—and may have originally been composed as a continuation of Bede. The annals for the years up to 785 were written at the Abbey of Lorsch, but are dependent on earlier sources. Those for the years from 785 onward form an independent source and provide especially important coverage of the imperial coronation of Charlemagne in 800. The Annales laureshamenses have been translated into English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pelagius of Oviedo</span>

Pelagiusof Oviedo was a medieval ecclesiastic, historian, and forger who served the Diocese of Oviedo as an auxiliary bishop from 1098 and as bishop from 1102 until his deposition in 1130 and again from 1142 to 1143. He was an active and independent-minded prelate, who zealously defended the privileges and prestige of his diocese. During his episcopal tenure he oversaw the most productive scriptorium in Spain, which produced the vast Corpus Pelagianum, to which Pelagius contributed his own Chronicon regum Legionensium. His work as a historian is generally reliable, but for the forged, interpolated, and otherwise skilfully altered documents that emanated from his office he has been called el Fabulador and the "prince of falsifiers". It has been suggested that a monument be built in his honour in Oviedo.

<i>Anglo-Saxon Chronicle</i> Set of related medieval English chronicles

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fernando Rodríguez de Castro</span> Castilian nobleman

Fernando Rodríguez de Castro (1125–1185) was a Castilian nobleman, statesman and military leader who made his career in León. He was the leader of the House of Castro during the civil wars that followed the death of Sancho III of Castile and the succession of the infant Alfonso VIII. He was nicknamed el Castellano in León and el Leonés in Castile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">County of Portugal</span> County in Southwestern Europe (868–1071 and 1096–1139)

The County of Portugal refers to two successive medieval counties in the region around Guimarães and Porto, today corresponding to littoral northern Portugal, within which the identity of the Portuguese people formed. The first county existed from the mid-ninth to the mid-eleventh centuries as a vassalage of the Kingdom of Asturias and the Kingdom of Galicia and also part of the Kingdom of León, before being abolished as a result of rebellion. A larger entity under the same name was then reestablished in the late 11th century and subsequently elevated by its count in the mid-12th century into an independent Kingdom of Portugal.

<i>Chronicon Lusitanum</i> Chronicle of the history of Portugal

The Chronicon Lusitanum or Lusitano is a chronicle of the history of Portugal from the earliest migrations of the Visigoths through the reign of Portugal's first king, Afonso Henriques (1139–85). The entries in the chronicle, ordered by year and dated by the Spanish Era, get increasingly longer and the majority of the text deals with the reign of Afonso. The conventional title of the chronicle means "Lusitanian chronicle" or "chronicle of the Goths". It was first given by the editor Enrique Flórez, who rejected the title under which it had previously been edited because of its subject matter. Flórez also claims that the manuscript of the Chronicon had previously been utilised by André de Resende, the first archaeologist of Portugal, and Manuel Severim de Faria, the first journalist of Portugal; it was also edited in the third volume of the Monarchia Lusitana by António Brandão (1632).

<i>Livro da Noa</i> Portuguese medieval codex from Santa Cruz

The Livro da Noa is a medieval codex that originated in the monastery of Santa Cruz de Coimbra and is now preserved in the Torre do Tombo National Arquive. The present volume results from the separate binding, in the 17th century, of the last five quires of a psalter containing the prayers of the Nones, from which it took its name. It was also known as the 'Book of the Eras' and the 'Book of the Sacristy'. It contains a collection of short texts, mostly historiographical, which were copied at different times: the earliest ones around 1200, others in the 14th century, and the latest in the 15th century.

References

  1. ↑ Furtado, Rodrigo (2021), "Writing history in Portugal before 1200", Journal of Medieval History 47, 145–173, p. 160.
  2. 1 2 David, Pierre (1947), "Annales Portugalenses Veteres", Revista Portuguesa de História, 82–128.
  3. ↑ Lisbon, AN-TT, CRSA-MSCC, liv. 99, ff. 10v–12v.
  4. ↑ Porto, BPM, SC 4/23, f. 330va.
  5. ↑ Madrid, Complutense, 134, ff. 2ra–b.
  6. ↑ Flórez, Enrique (1767), España Sagrada 23, Madrid: Antonio Marín, 315-317; Herculano, Alexandre (1856), ‘Chronicon Complutense siue Alcobacense’, Portugaliae Monumenta Historica SS 1, Olisipone: Typis academicis, 17-19.
  7. 1 2 Bautista, Francisco (2009), "Breve historiografía: Listas regias y anales en la Península Ibérica (siglos VII-XII)", Talia Dixit 4, 113–190.
  8. ↑ Lisboa, AN-TT, CRSA-MSCC, liv. 99, ff. 2r–3v.
  9. ↑ Lisboa, AN-TT, CSL, liv. 1, f. 1r.
  10. ↑ Blöcker-Walter, Monica (1966), Alfons I. von Portugal. Studien zu Geschichte und Sage des Begründers der portugiesischen Unabhängigkeiten, Zurich: Fretz und Wasmuth Verlag.
  11. ↑ Furtado, Rodrigo (2021). "Writing history in Portugal before 1200", Journal of Medieval History 47, 145–173, p. 164.
  12. ↑ Mattoso, José (1993), "Anais", en Giulia Lanciani y Giuseppe Tavani, Dicionário da Literatura Medieval Galega e Portuguesa, Lisboa: Editorial Caminho, pp. 50–51; Krus, Luís (2011). "A produção do passado nas comunidades letradas do Entre Minho e Mondego nos séculos XI e XII. As origens da analística portuguesa", en Luís Krus, A Construção do Passado Medieval. Textos Inéditos e Publicados, Lisboa: IEM, pp. 235-237, and Gouveia, Mário (2010), "O limiar da tradição no moçarabismo conimbricense: os Anais de Lorvão e a memória monástica do território de fronteira (séc. IX-XII)", Medievalista 8, pp. 23-25.
  13. ↑ Furtado, Rodrigo (2021), "Writing history in Portugal before 1200", Journal of Medieval History 47, 145–173, pp. 163-166.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.