An electronic research environment and edition of the Estoria de Espanna of Alfonso X, King of Castile and Leon

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 Rome. 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. This aspect research on medieval chronicles, epitomised by Gabrielle Spiegel's study of thirteenth-century French chronicles (Romancing the Past: the rise of vernacular prose historiography in thirteenth-century France, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995), has led to much fruitful work in recent years. Such comparative and constrative contextual analysis is only possible through access to manuscript versions. One important function of the proposed edition is therefore to present to scholars the text of the different versions of the chronicle, thereby allowing a contextual study of their composition and their consequent meaning in context.

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.

The project aims to provide an electronic edition of the chronicle which, by means of a search engine and collation tool, will allow comparison of the three major versions and provide full searching ability for any of the transcriptions. The project will therefore permit access to an important and foundational series of medieval chronicles to a wide readership, both specialist and non-specialist. It will serve as a resource for future philological and historical enquiry, for example, the presentation of three almost contemporaneous major versions in a manner which permits the scholar to compare them, will allow significant advances in our understanding of the political context of their composition in the thirteenth century. The electronic edition will also facilitate access to the Estoria to a wider audience. The online research environment will encourage the addition of transcriptions of other manuscripts and also images of the codices in the future, which will guarantee the on-going viability of the project.

Who will benefit from this research?

The Estoria de Espanna is the most important medieval Iberian chronicle; the most influential in its time and one of the finest vernacular medieval examples anywhere in Europe of the way in which history was conceived and written. The impact of this project will obviously be felt in a range of academic communities. However, as has been seen from other other recent examples of electronic editing, medieval and ancient manuscripts are a source of enduring fascination to a much wider public. This edition will become the centre for continuing research on materials for the late medieval period, and a resource for anyone interested in closer knowledge of the basic sources of our knowledge. Although the Estoria de Espanna may not attain the heights of the one million hits achieved by the Sinaiticus project in the first six months of its existence, nonetheless, the project will provide access to museums, schools, universities, historical researchers and interested members of the general public in a variety of useful ways.

How will they benefit from this research?

The principal benefit to museums and libraries will lie in the publication of high-quality transcriptions for immediate consultation. In addition to the benefit accruing to holding libraries, which will be able to reduce the handling of fragile manuscripts, other libraries and museums will be able to provide access to transcriptions and images which will dovetail with their own holdings, thereby permitting such libraries and museums to be a "one stop shop" for the interpretation of text and context as users will have immediate access both to primary and secondary material in the same place.
The increasing use of on-line resources in primary, secondary and higher education is the context for the use of the electronic materials schools and universities. Access to individual manuscripts (both in transcription and image) can be used to build school and undergraduate-level packs which will help to de-mystify the world of manuscript sources. University-level teachers will be able to encourage the study of individual manuscripts. The manuscript raw material will also be of invaluable use in the study of philology and palaeography.
Historical researchers will have ready access to material that reveals the make-up of medieval society and its evolution over time and members of the general public with an interest in genealogy or medieval history generally will also be able to examine first-hand material which is not readily accessible outside of venerable printed editions.

What will be done to ensure that they benefit from this research?

The benefits will be long term; the project has in-built sustainability. In addition to the academic benefits, it is envisaged that the on-line presentation of blue-skies research is a way of democratising access to a range of materials not usually available to the uninitiated. The textual community concept extends this further, by offering a pathway for interested readers to contribute to the project. Presentation of the materials in this form to on-line virtual communities allows greater public access and divulgation. Members of the research team will be active internationally in disseminating the results of the research and the project generally. In particular, the colloquia organised for Birmingham, Oxford and Madrid will ensure widespread dissemination of the results of the project and in parallel the project blog will invite comments and inputs from a variety of stakeholders.