The Chronica Gothorum Pseudoisidoriana, [lower-alpha 1] also known as the Historia Pseudoisidoriana [lower-alpha 2] or the Chronicle of Pseudo-Isidore, is an anonymous 12th-century Latin chronicle from southern France. It presents the history of Spain from the time of the sons of Noah and their dispersal down to the Arab conquest in 711. [1]
The Chronica survives in a single manuscript, now BNF lat. 6113 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. In the 16th century, the manuscript was acquired by Pierre Pithou, who brought it to Paris. The Chronica is found on folios 27–48 under the title Cronica Gothorum a Sancto Isidoro edita. [lower-alpha 3] [2] Theodor Mommsen prepared the first critical edition of the Chronica in 1894 and gave it the name (pseudoisidoriana) by which it is now most widely known. [3]
While the Chronica relies heavily on the works of Isidore of Seville, it was not compiled by him. It is in fact a translation of an Arabic translation of a collection of Latin works. Its identified sources are the Chronicon of Jerome, the Seven Books of History Against the Pagans of Orosius, the Historia Gothorum of Isidore, the Cosmographia of Julius Honorius, the Chronicon of John of Biclar and the anonymous Mozarabic Chronicle . All of these have been garbled and interpolated in the stages of transmission before reaching their final Latin form. Toponyms and personal names, in particular, are frequently based on their Arabic forms. The Arabic translation of Orosius was also used by Aḥmad al-Rāzī (died 955) in his history of Spain, which likewise survives only in translation. [2]
The Chronica is of little use to the historian for the period it covers, although it sheds light on the time and place of its composition. [2] Internal evidence suggests that it was written in the 12th century, since it mentions Morocco, a name which did not appear before 1090, being derived from the city of Marrakesh, founded in 1055. The compiler also included a description of the ports of the western Mediterranean in which he mentions Saint Nicholas of Bari. The relics of the saint did not arrive in Bari until 1087. [4] The Arabic original of the Chronica was almost certainly compiled in Spain, where the translation was likely also made by a writer working in the Visigothic script. It was later copied in France, most likely at the monastery of Aniane. [5]
The Chronica has a unique perspective among Latin sources on the Arab conquest. It emphasis how Ṭāriḳ ibn Ziyād brought peace to the peninsula after the civil wars that plagued the last years of the Visigothic Kingdom. [5] It is also the earliest source to provide a name to the daughter of Count Julian who, according to legend, was raped by King Roderic. It names her Oliba, although this was subsequently forgotten as later accounts call her La Cava. [6]
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The Chronicle of Fredegar is the conventional title used for a 7th-century Frankish chronicle that was probably written in Burgundy. The author is unknown and the attribution to Fredegar dates only from the 16th century.
The Spanish era, sometimes called the era of Caesar, was a calendar era commonly used in the states of the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th century until the 15th, when it was phased out in favour of the Anno Domini (AD) system. The epoch of the Spanish era was 1 January 38 BC. To convert an Anno Domini date to the corresponding year in the Spanish era, add 38 to the Anno Domini year, such that Era 941 would be equivalent to AD 903. A date given in the Spanish era always uses the word era followed by a feminine ordinal number. This contrasts with the AD system that uses the masculine anno (year): i.e., era millesima octava versus anno millesimo octavo.
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The Historia Roderici, originally Gesta Roderici Campi Docti and sometimes in Spanish Crónica latina del Cid, is an anonymous Latin prose history of the Castilian warrior Rodrigo Díaz, better known as El Cid Campeador.
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The Historia silense, also called the Chronica silense or Historia seminense, and more properly Historia legionense, is a medieval Latin narrative history of the Iberian Peninsula from the time of the Visigoths (409–711) to the first years of the reign of Alfonso VI of León and Castile (1065–1073). Though originally intended as a gesta of Alfonso, it is primarily an original account of the reign of his father, Ferdinand I (1037–1065). For its earlier history it relies on the works of Isidore of Seville, Julian of Toledo, and the Vitas sanctorum patrum Emeritensium for the Visigothic period, the Chronicle of Alfonso III for the ninth century, the work of Sampiro for the tenth and early eleventh centuries, and the Chronicon of Pelayo of Oviedo for the eleventh century. The Historia along with Pelayo's Chronicon provide the only surviving versions of Sampiro's otherwise lost history.
The Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum is a Latin history of the Goths from 265 to 624, written by Isidore of Seville. It is a condensed account and, due to its diverse sources, somewhat inconsistent. The history of the Vandals is appended after that of the Goths, followed by a separate history of the Suevi.
Theodoric I was the King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. Theodoric is famous for his part in stopping Attila the Hun at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, where he was killed.
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.
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Hafs ibn Albar al-Qūṭī, commonly known as al-Qūṭī or al-Qurṭubî, was a 9th–10th Century Visigothic Christian count, theologian, translator and poet, often memorialised as the 'Last of the Goths'. He was a descendant of Visigothic royalty and held a position of power over the Christians of his region. He was possibly a priest or censor, but many scholars take him to be a layman. He describes himself as ignorant of the sacred sciences, and constantly allowed his works to be checked and commented on by those he called "best in their religion and a bright light in the sacred sciences", claiming that "all of them know what I do not know".
The Chronicon universale usque ad annum 741 is an anonymous Latin chronicle from the creation of the world to AD 741. It was written in Francia, probably in Burgundy, between 741 and 775. It survives wholly or partially in at least six manuscripts.