Chronicle of the Peninsular States

The Chronicle of the Peninsular States, also known as the Crónica de los estados peninsulares or Crónica navarro-aragonesa, is a general history of Spain written in the Aragonese language and focused on the kingdom of Aragon and its legendary origins in the kings of Sobrarbe preceding those of Navarre, whose first edition was completed in 1305, with its expansion in 1328. According to Antonio Ubieto Arteta, it was written by a monk from the Castle of Montearagón.

Origins

Historical context

Its sources are mainly the Historia de rebus Hispaniae by Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada through its Aragonese version Estoria de los godos and the Crónicas de San Victorián, in addition to oral history. Its author points out that "this is found in some crown sources, especially in those of Sant Vitorián de Ribagorza. It, in turn, served as a source for the expanded version of the Crónica de San Juan de la Peña.
The chronicle seems to lack the beginning and its end, which would cover the last kings of Aragon. Some relevant historical episodes in the history of Aragon are extensively treated, such as the Battle of Alcoraz, the interventions of El Cid in this kingdom, or the conquests of Alfonso I the Battler, highlighting his military expedition through Andalusia.

Document context

The writing of the "Aragonese Chronicle" came into being following the composition of a literary document entitled "De rebus Hispaniae", or "historia gótica" whose author is none other than the bishop of Toledo Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada. In fact, King Ferdinand III, known as the holy king of Castile, supported the Bishop of Toledo in the writing of this chronicle, the first production of which made it possible to use Latin as the vernacular language.
Also in 1253, the Aragonese version was published as Estoria de los Godos, allowing both versions of the history of the Goths to trace the legendary origins of the kingdom of Aragon, and Castile, in a context where the Christian kingdoms sought to legitimize their powers in order to regain control over the Iberian territories conquered by the Muslims since 711, where the Visigoth kingdom ceased to exist leading to the primacy of the Emirate of Cordoba between the 8th century and the 10th century. The Chronicle of San Juan de la Peña followed the second reissue of the "Aragonese Chronicle" republished in 1328. Indeed, the King of Aragon Peter IV participated in the rewriting of a legendary history of the kings of Aragon in its translation into Latin, allowing his legitimate power to be rooted in a dynastic heredity specific to the kings of Aragon.

Characteristics

Literary facts

The very first literary characteristic noted in the "Aragonese Chronicle" concerns the Catalan term poagra, whose root comes from the Greek podágra. This term was first documented, notably because of a disease marked by an increase in uric acid concentrated in the blood and which also affects the feet. A very specific mention explained and written down in the Aragonese chronicle shows the cause of the death of the king of León, Ordoño IV or Bermudo II, nicknamed "el Gotoso" because of adverse effects caused by poagra.

Historical facts

Secondly, the "Aragonese Chronicle" relates above all the context of the Reconquista, and the role played by the successions of kings of Aragon against the Muslims established in the Iberian Peninsula with sovereigns such Peter I. of Aragon, Peter II of Aragon, Peter III of Aragon “called the Great”; but also through the childhood of the future king of Aragon Peter IV “called the Ceremonious ”, and who was still only the presumptive heir to the Aragonese crown at the time of the second reissue of the vernacular chronicle in 1328. We can cite in particular the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa which took place in 1212, in which the Castillo-Aragonese coalition led by Peter I Aragon, and Alfonso VIII of Castile defeated the Muslim army, which allowed the chronicle to show how the kings of Aragon had their own roles to play, to liberate the Hispanic territories from Muslim domination at the beginning of the 13th . The battle of Alcoraz won by the Aragonese in the 10th century, the role played by Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar nicknamed “El Cid Campeador”, making it possible to fight effectively against the Moors established in the Iberian Peninsula, through his reconquest of the city of Toledo in the 11th in particular, testify to central elements of the "Aragonese Chronicle" '','' rooting the legitimacy of the literary and iconographic document propagated thanks to its publication, and considered as a history of dynastic origins conducive to the flourishing of the kingdom of Aragon, and linked in parallel to its territorial struggle against the Muslims during the context of the Reconquista, but also with the aim of strengthening the power of the kings of Aragon.