Alfonso el Sabio and the Estoria de Espanna: the past in the digital present

Historical manuscripts provide a wealth of information about the past and also about the ways in which people conceived of their own history. Recent technological advances permit the opening of archives beyond those specialists who previously had sole access to manuscripts, initially by the provision of high quality digital images which allow any interested viewer to see such manuscripts and subsequently through the addition of further digital tools which aim to facilitate engagement with the medieval past in ways not previously possible.
The current research project constructs a digital edition of one such set of manuscripts, the Estoria de Espanna - a thirteenth-century chronicle of Spain. Building on the research of the edition, we now aim to add a range of tools and activities in order to engage a wider public in the world of medieval texts and history. The tools in question will be adapted to serve and engage two different, and complementary, groups: (i) the public who visit libraries and exhibitions in Spain and the US and (ii) secondary school students in Spain. The tools will cover 4 key areas: (1) Contextual historical information on the Estoria de Espanna, its composition and contents. (2) Contextual information on Alfonso el Sabio, author of the chronicle. (3) Mapping and visualisation tools which will allow non-specialists to access the text of the Estoria from non-traditional perspectives. (4) Digital activities on five sections of the Estoria. Manuscript images of five sections of the Estoria will be available to all users of the digital tools and these sections of the respective manuscripts will also be on display at the simultaneous physical exhibitions at the Biblioteca Nacional de España, the Universidad de Salamanca, the Biblioteca Menéndez Pelayo in Santander and the University of Minnesota.

The public will be engaged by means of a digital exhibition which will accompany the physical display of the manuscripts of the Estoria de Espanna in our partner institutions: the National Library of Spain in Madrid, the University of Salamanca and the Biblioteca Menéndez Pelayo in Santander in Spain and the University of Minnesota Library in Minneapolis in December 2016, to coincide with the launch of the digital edition. In concert with the University of Sheffield's Humanities Research Institute, we will provide interactive material to (i) inform the public about the context of thirteenth-century Castile and León; (ii) connect members of the public in Spain with their shared past; (iii) challenge mis-conceptions about medieval Iberia and manuscript culture and (iv) engage the public with text and space by means of visualisation tools; (v) engage non-academic partners in the research-led activities of the Estoria Digital project.

The secondary school students will have the benefit of the same material, but this will be adapted to their specific needs. In concert with our partners in four schools in Spain we will develop specific learning exercises on five key sections of the chronicle (which will be available both in digital images and as the folios on display in the exhibitions). These will (i) challenge the students' pre-conceptions about the history of medieval Iberia and the sophistication of historical writing in the thirteenth century; (ii) expose the students to the depth and breadth of manuscript culture in Spain and (iii) engage the students in questions of literary and linguistic analysis emerging from the sections in question.

The project will build upon and give concrete realisation to the Impact aims of the original project. Whereas the Impact plan of the edition foresaw the provision of digital materials and tools in itself as a means to engage non-academic audiences, the current proposal goes beyond this by seeking actively to engage key groups: (i) heritage organisations, (ii) an educated public who visit library exhibitions and (iii) secondary school students. The project will seek to challenge deeply-held misconceptions about the nature of medieval manuscript culture and history and to engage the interest of the public in the reality of the medieval world. Fictional representations of medieval worlds, especially in the form of film, demonstrate that there is a public thirst for knowledge about the Middle Ages; the project aims to take advantage of this demand from new audiences by employing visual, digital means of access to non-fictional examples of medieval history, life and culture. The digital tools and materials developed in the project will therefore seek to challenge notions of past, present and future by taking unique medieval manuscripts beyond the archive and decoding them for a wider public.

In response to suggestions emerging from discussions with the Biblioteca Nacional, project members identified a number of ways in which targeted impact could be achieved. Visitors to Libraries will benefit in the following ways: the juxtaposition of the original codices and the digital materials will provide a connection between artefact and explanation. The online tool developed to explain and challenge notions of medieval textuality will be available to download for all visitors, and will therefore serve as a means of active engagement for those who are unable to visit the physical exhibitions. The engagement with the physical object in the exhibition will therefore be extended beyond the life of the exhibition though the online presence. Visitors will, in consequence, be encouraged to play an active role in the preservation of the past and be challenged to consider the interplay of past and present. The Biblioteca Nacional exhibition space has a monthly footfall of 20,000 visitors from all parts of the public and distinguished visitors. The Universidad de Salamanca exhibition space has an annual footfall of 3.5k visitors and is regularly visited by Heads of State and government, policy makers and distinguished guests to the University. We aim therefore to influence a range of actors in the social life of Spain and beyond.

School children will benefit from the direct digital access to materials usually out of sight in archives. The digital exercises in literary, palaeographical and historical analysis, based on the categories of the digital exhibition, will aim to change perceptions of medieval culture as remote and difficult and to engender a sense of excitement in the relevance of centuries-old artefacts. The pilot schools chosen, with one exception, are in Madrid or close by, so the students will initially be able to have access to the physical exhibition also. As the materials will be provided in both Spanish and English, they will be available subsequently for use in the undergraduate classroom in the English-speaking world also.