Roberto J. González-Casanovas

The Function of the Epic in Alfonso X's Estoria de Espanna: Cantares de gesta as Authority and Example for the Chronicler

This article will examine the manner in which Alfonso X's staff of historians incorporated heroic materials and narrative techniques from epic poetry into their Estoria de Espanna (1270- 75).1 What concerns us here is not the question of particular

1 The present article is a revised and expanded version of my paper, "Epic History and Literature in Alfonso X's Estoria de Espanna: Cantares de gesta as Authority and Example for the Chronicler," which I read at the Columbia University Medieval Guild in New York City, on 3 March 1990. Estoria de Espanna is the original title of the work, which was renamed the Primera Crónica General de España by Ramón Menéndez Pidal in 1906, so as to distinguish it from its sequels, among them the Crónica de Veinte Reyes, Crónica de Castillo, Crónica de Alfonso XI, and Crónica de 1344 (once known by scholars as Segunda Crónica General). Although in this article I refer to Alfonso X as principal author/editor, he was probably responsible for directing the chroniclers in their actual writing (as opposed to research or translation) on the periods up to the Moorish invasion (711-22); it was his son Sancho IV, often with the same historians under his supervision as had worked for his father, who continued the history through the reign of his grandfather Saint Fernando III (1217-52). There are many textual problems related to the manuscripts: the chronicle was not finished by Alfonso X (whose staff reached only chapter 616 in the versión regia), only half revised by his successor Sancho IV (up to chapter 896), and partly reworked during the century after their death, so that many of the latter chapters exist only in the versión vulgar or unpolished version. See Diego Catalán, De Alfonso X al conde de Barcelos (Madrid: Gredos/Seminario Menéndez Pidal, 1962) 17-94 and 95-204; José Gómez Pérez, "Elaboración de la Primera crónica general de España y su transmisión manuscrita," Scriptorium 17 (1963): 233-76; and Ramón Menéndez Pidal, "Estudio sobre la Primera Crónica General de España" and "Notas preliminares," which serve as introduction to his critical ed. of the Primera Crónica (Madrid: Gredos, 1955, rev. ed. in 2 vols., reprinted in 1978) I; xv-lvi and lvii-lxxii. 158 Olifant / Vol. 15, No. 2 / Summer 1990 sources nor the accuracy of the "facts," but the authority of the epic as history and its function as story.2 It should be noted at the outset that epic and chronicle share certain general narrative traditions, structures, and strategies.3 These include various rhetorical

2 Two fundamental studies on Castillan epic narratology in relation to chronicles are: D. G. Pattison, From Legend to Chronicle: The Treatment of Epic Material in Alphonsine Historiography, Medium Aevum Monographs, New Series 13 (Oxford: Society for the Study of Mediaeval Languages and Literatures, 1983), which was reviewed by Samuel G. Armistead, "From Epic to Chronicle: An Individualist Appraisal," Romance Philology 40 (1987): 338-59; and Fernando Gómez Redondo, "Fórmulas juglarescas en la historiografía," La Corónica 15 (1986-87): 225-39. Pattison's Conclusion (145-49) refers to certain epic techniques employed in vernacular historiography: selection, conflation, adaptation, and novelization. Armistead's critique of Pattison points out the cautious neoindividualist approach, which prevents Pattison from drawing further connections between oral traditions and written chronicles; the misleading terminology of "legends" to indicate prosified epic songs; and the many explicit references in the Estoria de Espanna (cited in pages 340-41) to oral sources precisely as cantares [de gesta]. In his concise and suggestive article, Gómez Redondo offers a catalogue, with subdivisions and examples, of the seven categories of formulaic style that he finds present in Castilian chronicles: oral textuality, descriptive detail, linguistic intensification, rendering of emotion, epic motif phrases, intensification in narrative series, and plot structuring. He concludes his survey by stressing the consequences of this oral influence for notions of genre: "La formula juglaresca resulta, así, un puente tendido entre la imaginación del poeta épico y el pensamiento del historiador oficial; puente por el que transitaron casi todos los grupos genéricos de la literature de los siglos XIII y XIV" (237). On Castillan historiography in relation to epic literature, see also Samuel G. Armistead, "New Perspectives in Alfonsine Historiography" in Romance Philology 20 (1966): 204-17; Brian Dutton, "Las fórmulas juglarescas: Una nueva interpretación," La juglaresca: Actas del Primer Congreso Internacional sobre la Juglaresca, Madrid, 1984, ed. M. Criado de Val (Madrid: EDI-6, 1986) 139-49; John S. Miletich, "Medieval Spanish Epic and European Narrative Tradition," La Corónica 6 (1977-78): 90-96; and Brian Powell, Epic and Chronicle: The "Poema de Mío Cid" and the "Crónica de Veinte Reyes" (London: Modern Humanities Research Association, 1983). Cf. Mercedes Vaquero, "The Poema de Alfonso XI: Rhymed Chronicle or Epic?," diss., Princeton Univ., 1984.

3 The importance for the Alfonsine historians of historiographie tradition (vs. oral tradition) and of vernacular prose stories (vs. lost epic songs) González-Casanovas / Alfonso X's Estoria de Espanna 159 conventions, didactic functions, sociopolitical codes, folk motifs, modes of heroic characterization, and manners of representing national events. In addition, each genre draws from the other at crucial stages in its development: Latin chronicles influence epic songs (oral and written), which in turn serve as models, along with learned sources, for vernacular histories.4 The episodes on Pelayo, is maintained by Colin Smith in "Epics and Chronicles: A Reply to Armistead," Hispanic Review 51 (1983): 409-28. Smith argues that the combination of written Castilian sources and extensive prosifications of epic were more decisive than cantares de gesta themselves in the literary development of Alfonso's historiography: the oral sources were submitted at an early stage of redaction to one general prosification (421) and the chroniclers' conventions constituted a written tradition (427-28). On the poetics (historical and theoretical) of the epic as oral and written narrative, see C. M. Bowra, Heroic Poetry (London: Macmillan, 1961) 179-214 and 254-98; Carolyn Bluestine, "Heroes Great and Small: Archetypal Patterns in the Medieval Spanish Epic," diss., Princeton Univ., 1983; Milada Buda, "From Truth to Fact: The Episteme of History in the Context of Early Narrative Genres," diss., Brown Univ., 1985; Alan D. Deyermond, El "Cantar de Mío Cid" y la épica medieval española (Barcelona: Sirmio, 1987); Alan D. Deyermond and Margaret Chaplin, "Folk-Motifs in Medieval Spanish Epic," Philological Quarterly 51 (1972): 36-53; Oswald Ducrot and Tzvetan Todorov, Dictionnaire encyclopédique des sciences du langage (Paris: Seuil, 1972) 198-99; Northrop Frye, 'The Rhythm of Recurrence: Epos" and "Specific Encyclopedic Forms," Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1971) 251-62 and 315-26, as well as 'Theory of Genres," Perspectives on Epic, ed. F. C. Candelaria and W. C. Strange (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1965) 114-20; Alvaro Galmés de Fuentes, Epica árabe y épica castellana (Barcelona: Ariel, 1978) 139- 141; Angelo Marchese and Joaquín Forradellas, "Epica," Diccionario de retórica, crítica y terminología literaria (Barcelona: Ariel, 1989) 129-32; Ramón Menéndez Pidal, "Orígenes de la epopeya castellana," La epopeya castellana a través de la literatura española (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1959,2nd ed.) 11-36, and Poesía juglaresca y orígenes de las literaturas hispánicas: Problemas de historia literaria y cultural (Madrid: Institute de Estudios Políticos, 1957,6th ed.) 240- 333; and Paul Zumthor, "L'épopée" and "Les chansons de geste," Essai de poétique médiévale (Paris: Seuil, 1972) 322-38 and 455-66, as well as Introduction à la poésie orale (Paris: Seuil, 1983) 103-24. See also these articles in Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, ed. A. Preminger (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1974): Albert B. Lord, "Narrative Poetry," 542-50, and "Oral Poetry," 591-93; and Seymor M. Pitcher, "Epic Theory," 242-47. 4 In the case of the Cid cycle, for example, cf. the Latin Historia Roderici (heroic chronicle) and Carmen Campidoctoris (epic panegyric), as well 160 Olifant / Vol. 15, No. 2 / Summer 1990

Bernardo del Carpio, Fernán González, the Infantes de Lara, and the Cid will be analyzed briefly in terms of historical interpretation, ideological objectives, oral tradition, narratological strategies, and contexts of reception.5 By investigating the process of assimilating as the hybrid chronicles of Lucas de Tuy and Ximénez de Rada (histories with materials and scenes from oral traditions), with the Castillan Cantar or Poema de Mío Cid (cantar de gestd) and Estoria de Espanna (epic chronicle). See Alan D. Deyermond, "Medieval Spanish Epic Cycles: Observations on their Formation and Development," Kentucky Romance Quarterly 23 (1976): 281-303; Ramón Menéndez Pidal, La epopeya castellana and Poesía juglaresca; and Colin Smith, "Historias latinas y épica vernácula," Estudios cidianos (Madrid: Cupsa, 1977) 87-106, originally published as "Latin Histories and Vernacular Epic in Twelfth- Century Spain: Similarities of Spirit and Style," Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 48 (1971): 1-19. 5 On questions of didactic narratology in thirteenth-century Spain, see Diego Catalán, "La Biblia en la literatura medieval española," Hispanic Review 33 (1965): 310-18; John E. Keller, "Alfonso X and Eastern Fiction," Alfonso X, El Sabio (New York: Twayne, 1967) 48-63, and Pious Brief Narrative in Medieval Castilian and Galician Verse: From Berceo to Alfonso X (Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1977); María Jesús Lacarra, Cuentística medieval en España (Zaragoza: Univ. de Zaragoza/Depto. de Literatura, 1979), and "El cuento en la Edad Media," introduction to Cuentos de la Edad Media (Madrid: Castalia/Odres Nuevos, 1986); Rameline Marsan, Itinéraire espagnol du conte médiéval (Paris: Klincksieck, 1974); Ramón Menéndez Pidal, "De Alfonso a los dos Juanes: Auge y culminación del didacticismo (1252-1370)," Studia Hispanica in honorem R. Lapesa (Madrid: Gredos/Seminario Menéndez Pidal, 1972) I: 63- 83; Juan Antonio Tamayo, "Escritores didácticos de los siglos XIII y XIV," Historia general de las literaturas hispánicas, ed. G. Díaz-Plaja (Barcelona: Vergara, 1969) I: 453-70; and John K. Walsh, "Religious Motifs in the Early Spanish Epic," Revista hispánica moderna 36 (1970-71): 165-72. As for didactic strategies found in Alfonsine historiography, see Manuel Alvar, "Didacticismo e integración en la General Estoria (Estudio del Genésis)," La lengua y la literatura en tiempos de Alfonso X: Actas del Congreso Internacional, Murcia, 5-10 marzo 1984, ed. F. Carmona and F. J. Flores (Murcia: Univ. de Murcia/Departamento de Letras Románicas, 1985) 25-78; Gerald Lee Gingras, "The Medieval Castilian Historiographic Tradition and Pero López de Ayala's Crónica Real de Don Pedro," diss., Indiana Univ., 1982; Francisco Rico, Alfonso el Sabio y la "General estoria," 2nd ed. (Barcelona: Ariel, 1984); R. B. Tate, "Mitología en la historiografía española de la Edad Media y del Renacimiento," Ensayos sobre la historiografía peninsular del siglo XV (Madrid: Gredos, 1970) 13-32; and Keith Whinnom, Spanish Literary Historiography: Three Forms of Distortion (Exeter Univ. of Exeter, 1967). González-Casanovas / Alfonso X's Estoria de Espanna 161 oral (popular) and written (clerical) sources and by reconstructing the hermeneutics of exemplary figuration, it becomes possible to judge how successfully the Wise King put into practice in the Estoria de Espanna the aims stated in his Prologue:6 to preserve popular traditions, create an encyclopedia of national culture, and interpret the patterns of heroism in the nation's past as lessons for present times of crisis and as models for future unity.7

6 Estoria de Espanna, prologue, in Primera Crónica General, ed. R. Menéndez Pidal, I: 3-4. On the importance of the Alfonsine prologues see Anthony J. Cárdenas, "Alfonso's Scriptorium and Chancery: The Role of the Prologue in Binding the Translatio Studii to the Translatio Potestatis," Emperor of Culture: Alfonso X the Learned of Castile and his Thirteenth-Century Renaissance, ed. R. I. Burns (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1990) 90-108, and "The Literary Prologue of Alfonso X: A Nexus between Chancery and Scriptorium," Thought 60, 239 (1985): 456-67.

7 On the cultural and political outlook of Alfonso X's reign and of the literary works he sponsored, see Leonard Bloom, "The Emergence of an Intellectual and Social Ideal as Expressed in Selected Writings of Alfonso X and Don Juan Manuel," diss., Univ. of Pittsburgh, 1967; R. I. Bums, "Castle of Intellect, Castle of Force," The Worlds of Alfonso the Learned and James the Conqueror: Intellect and Force in the Middle Ages, ed. Robert I. Burns (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1985) 3-22, and "Stupor Mundi, Alfonso X of Castile, the Learned," Emperor of Culture, 1-13; J. N. Hillgarth, "Ramon Lull and Alfonso X of Castile," The Spanish Kingdoms 1250-1516 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976) I: 215-21; Keller, Alfonso X, 30-37; Francisco Márquez Villanueva, 'The Alfonsine Cultural Concept," Alfonso X of Castile the Learned King (Harvard Univ. Symposium, 17 Nov. 1984), eds. F. Márquez Villanueva and C. Vega (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Studies in Romance Languages, 1990) 76-109; Joseph F. O'Callaghan, "Image and Reality: The King Creates His Kingdom," Emperor of Culture, 14-32; Evelyn S. Procter, Alfonso X of Castile, Patron of Literature and Learning (Oxford: Clarendon, 1951); and Cayetano Socarrás, "Alfonso X of Castile and the Idea of Empire," diss., New York Univ., 1969, and Alfonso X of Castile: A Study of Imperialistic Frustration (Barcelona: Hispam, 1976). For general interpretations of Alfonsine historiography, see Reinaldo Ayerbe-Chaux, ed. and introduction, Estoria de Espanna: Antología (Madrid: José Porrúa Turanzas, 1982); Benito Brancaforte, ed. and introduction, Prosa histórica of Alfonso X (Madrid: Cátedra, 1984); Diego Catalan, "España en su historiografía: De objeto a sujeto de la historia," introduction to Los españoles en la historia by R. Menéndez Pidal (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1982) 9-67; Francisco J. Díez de Revenga, ed. and introduction, Obras de Alfonso X el 162 Olifant / Vol. 15, No. 2 / Summer 1990

Alfonso X wished to compile in the vernacular a history of Spain from all available sources, both learned and popular.8 To this end he had Latin and Arabic chronicles translated; likewise he extended into Castilian letters the tradition of Latin historians who paraphrased and amplified in prose the cantares de gesta. These epic poems on heroes of the Reconquest were recited by professional minstrels and collected by chroniclers as reliable documents and exemplary episodes: Lucas de Tuy (known as the Tudense) and Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada (known as the Toledano) had included references from epic literature in the former's Chronicum mundi (1236) and the latter's Historia gothica or De rebus Hispaniae (ca. 1243).9 What is significant about Alfonso X's Estoria de Espanna

Sabio, Temas de España (Madrid: Taurus, 1985); Fernando Lázaro Carreter, "Sobre el 'modus interpretandi' alfonsí," Ibérida 6 (1961): 97-114; Franciso López Estrada, "Alfonso X: La historia," Historia 16, 96 (1984): 60-66; E. Benito Ruano, "La historiografía en la Alta Edad Media española," Cuadernos de historia de España [Buenos Aires] 17 (1952): 50-104; and Theodore Harvey Shoemaker, "Alfonso X as Historian," diss., Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison, 1941. On the collaborative effort and division of labor of translators and historians in writing the chronicles under Alfonso X's (and Sancho IV's) orders and supervision, see Diego Catalan, "El taller histórico alfonsí: métodos y problemas en el trabajo compilatorio," Romania 84 (1963): 354-75; Gonzalo Menéndez Pidal, "Cómo trabajaron las escuelas alfonsíes," Revista de filología hispánica 5 (1951): 363-80; and Procter, "The King and His Collaborators," Alfonso X of Castile, 113-39. 8 The sources of the Estoria de Espanna have been studied by C. E. Dubler, "Fuentes árabes y bizantinas en la Primera Crónica General," Vox romanica 12 (1951): 120-80; José Gómez Pérez, "Fuentes y cronología en la Primera Crónica General de España" Revista de archivos, bibliotecas y museos 67 (1959): 615-34; R. Menéndez Pidal, "Estudio" and "Fuentes" to his ed. of Primera Crónica General, I: xxxv-xlviii, I: lxxiii-cxxxii, and II: cxxxix-ccviii, and "Tradicionalidad de las Crónicas generales de España," Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia 136 (1955): 131-97; and Procter, "Historical Works," Alfonso X of Castile, 78-112. 9 See Lucas de Tuy, Chronicum mundi, in Crónica de España, ed. J. Pujol (Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, 1926); and Rodrigo Ximénez de la Rada, De rebus Hispaniae, in Opera, ed. F. A. Lorenza, 3 vols. (Madrid: Vidua Ioachimi Ibarra, 1782-93). On Ximénez de Rada or the Toledano, see José González-Casanovas / Alfonso X's Estoria de Espanna 163 is the concept of history itself as a form of popular didactic literature, as well as the practice of historiography as vernacular narrative.10 Hence the epic will be considered as a narratological

Gómez Pérez, "La más antigua traducción de las Crónicas del Toledano," Hispania 87 (1962): 1-17; and Benito Sánchez Alonso, "Las versiones en romance de las Crónicas del Toledano," Homenaje a Menéndez Pidal (Madrid, 1925) I: 341-54. Cf. Colin Smith, "Historias latinas y épica vernácula." 10 That the originality of Alfonsine historiography consists in large measure of its use of cantares de gesta, as well as its recognition of the affinity between epic and chronicle as popular narrative, has been noted by R. Menéndez Pidal in the "Estudio" to his ed. of the Primera Crónica, I: xli-lvi, by Diego Catalan in "Poesía y novela en la historiografía castellana de los siglos XIII y XIV," Mélanges offerts à Rita Lejeune (Gembloux: J. Duculot, 1969) I:423-41, and by Eric von Richthofen in "The Problem of Fiction Alternating with Historical Documentation in the Cid Epics and the Castillan Chronicles," Revista canadiense de estudios hispánicos 6 (1982): 359-76. Von Richthofen underscores the composite narratology of cantares and crónicas (365), which evolve into historical novels or romances; he also emphasizes that only medieval Christian Spain fully accepted and integrated the epic in its historiography (373). Catalan claims that Alfonso X's historians brought about two fundamental changes in Peninsular historiography: the secularization of historical writing (426-28) and the vulgarization of historical reception (441). Vulgar national chronicles led to the evolution of Castilian prose by following popular linguistic and literary models (cantares de gesta prosified into novelized histories). However, according to Catalan this process signifies a "degeneration" of post-Alfonsine historiography (423-24), as official chronicles become more like historical novels. Menéndez Pidal stresses the novelistic use of epic sources (xli-xliii); questions the relative weight of verse and prosified versions of the cantares de gestas (xliii-xliv); establishes the value of epic materials as documents of national history and monuments of literary history (xliv-xlix); explores the Castillan aspects (historical, linguistic, ideological, and generic) of Alfonsine historiography (xlix-lvi); and posits that Alfonso X's imperial and universalist aspirations in politics and culture, which in the Estoria de Espanna were in tension with the aims of a nationalist and popular appeal, led to the neglect of the fecho d'Espanna in favor of the General e Grand Estoria as an encyclopedic world chronicle (xxxiv-xxxv). It is worth noting that Alfonso X's contemporary, ally, and father-in- law James I the Conqueror, king of Aragon (reigned 1213-76), was engaged in similar projects of vernacular historiography and didactic prose: his autobiographical chronicle, Llibre dels fets, and moral treatise, Llibre de doctrina 164 Olifant / Vol. 15, No. 2 / Summer 1990 model for the chronicle in terms of literary tradition, poetic intention, generic action, heroic type, exemplary rhetoric, and a hermeneutics for reading history as story.

I. The authority of the Castilian epic tradition Alfonso X's purpose in writing the Estoria de Espanna was twofold: to gather all the information on the fecho d'Espanna, or historical action of the Spanish peoples, and to interpret it in terms of bien or mal fazer, according to the political and moral worth of the heroic actions of its leaders.11 It must be noted that in practice

(or de saviesa), were written during the same period as Alfonso's Estoria de Espanna. See Burns, ed., The Worlds of Alfonso the Learned and James the Conqueror; Beatrice Jorgensen Concheff, "The Hypothetical Epic-Narrative Sources for the Catalan Chronicles of James I, Desclot, and Muntaner," diss., Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison, 1976; Martin de Riquer, Historia de la literatura catalana (Barcelona: Ariel, 1964) I: 394-429; and Josep M. Sola-Solé, "Introducció" to Jaume I's Llibre de doctrina (Barcelona: Hispam, 1977). On the development of vernacular prose literature in thirteenth-century Castile, see Rafael Lapesa, "Creación de la prosa romance: Alfonso el Sabio," Historia de la lengua española (Madrid: Escelier, 1968) 165-72; Derek W. Lomax, "La lengua oficial de Castilla," Actele celui de-al XII-lea Congres International de Lingvistică şi Filologie Romanică (Bucharest: II Académie de la R.S.R., 1971) 411-17; and Margherita Morreale, "La fraseología bíblica en la General Estoria: Observaciones para su estudio," Linguistic and Literary Studies in Honor of Helmut Hatzfeld, ed. A. S. Crisafulli (Washington: Catholic Univ. of America Press, 1964) 269-78, and "Vernacular Scriptures in Spain," The Cambridge History of the Bible, ed. G. W. H. Lampe (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1969) II: 465-91.

11 On the ethical hermeneutics of the Alfonsine chronicles, see Hazel Dorothy Allen, "Christian Doctrine in the General Estoria of Alfonso X," diss., Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison, 1960; Gerald Lee Gingras, "Virtue and Vice: History Explained in Alfonso X's Primera Crónica General" Thought 60,239 (1985): 430-38; and Peter Linehan, 'The Politics of Piety: Aspects of the Castilian Monarchy from Alfonso X to Alfonso XI," Revista canadiense de estudios hispánicos 9 (1985): 385-404. For the political contexts of Alfonsine historiography, see Burns, "Castle of Intellect, Castle of Force"; Jerry R. Craddock, "Dynasty in Dispute: Alfonso X el Sabio and the Succession to the Throne of Castile and León in History and Legend," Viator 17 (1986): 197-219; Charles F. Fraker, "Alfonso X, the Empire, and the Primera Crónica" Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 55 (1978): 95-102, and "The Fet des Romains and the Primera Crónica General" Hispanic González-Casanovas / Alfonso X's Estoria de Espanna 165 the comprehensiveness was to prove selective and the exemplarity to serve as royal (even imperial) propaganda. The first aim, to write the complete history of Spain rather than of Castile, was epic in scope:

Compusiemos este libro de todos los fechos que fallar se pudieron della [Espanna]___ Et esto fiziemos por que fuesse sabudo el comienço de los espannoles, et de quáles yentes fuera Espanna maltrecha,... et cómo fueron los cristianos después cobrando la tierra; et del danno que uino en ella por partir los regnos, por qué se non pudo cobrar tan aýna; et después cuérno la ayuntó Dios, et por quáles maneras et en quál tiempo, et quáles reyes ganaron la tierra fasta en el mar Mediterráneo; et qué obras fizo cada uno, assí cuémo uinieron unos empós otros fastal nuestro tiempo. (EE Prol: I, 4)12 This concept of history as the drama of the birth, growth, crisis, decline, and recovery of a nation, all of whose leaders are seen as actors who influence the course of events by their personal traits and individual deeds, represents in itself an encyclopedic form of epic literature that, as Northrop Frye has pointed out, owes much to the historiographic and narratological model of the Bible.13 That the medieval historian should apply the patterns of epic history and literature taken from the Bible, which was the principal authority and the primary exemplar of his day, to the writing of a national chronicle follows from the clerical tradition of the Christian Latin world as a whole. What is central to the Estoria de Espanna, however, is the account of the Reconquest, or Christian crusade for the recovery of the land and its inhabitants from the Muslims. After dealing in the first part of the chronicle with classical and clerical

Review 46 (1978): 192-220; and Socarras, Idea of Empire and Imperial Frustration. 12 Quotations from the Estoria de Espanna (EE) are taken from R. Menéndez Pidal's ed. of the Primera Crónica General, and those from the General Estoria (GE) from Antonio G. Solalinde's ed. of Part I (Madrid: Centro de Estudios Históricos, 1930).

13 See Northrop Frye, "Specific Encyclopedic Forms," Anatomy of Criticism, 315-26, and the chapter on narrative in The Great Code: The Bible and Literature (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982) 169-98. 166 Olifant / Vol. 15, No. 2 / Summer 1990 sources for the Roman and Visigothic prehistory of the Reconquest, Alfonso's historians turn to the more familiar and vivid times of the recent past. In doing so, they combine the biblical epic model with national epic legends: one serves as a narrative framework and moral point of reference; the other provides the narrative episodes and the poetic mode of presentation. The link between national chronicle and epic story, providential history and heroic annals, is to be found in the action of the community (fecho d'Espanna) that emerges from the interplay of extraordinary deeds (gestas) and outstanding men (principes). Alfonso's second aim, the interpretation of Spain's history according to the good or evil done by her leaders, combines the didactic functions of the biblical and epic chroniclers with those of the national epic poets. The relation between history as memorable actions that unfold in time and history as exemplary acts that emerge in writing is made clear in the Prologues to both the Estoria de Espanna and the General Estoria. In the former Alfonso writes: Los sabios ancianos ... escriuieron otrossí las gestas de los príncipes, tan bien de los que fizieron mal cuemo de los que fizieron bien, por que los que después uiniessen por los fechos de los buenos punnassen en fazer bien, et por los de los malos que se castigassen de fazer mal, et por esto fue endereçado el curso del mundo de cada una cosa en su orden. (EE Prol: I, 3)

In the latter introduction, he states that the sages [F]izieron desto [los fechos que son passados] muchos libros, que son llamados estorias e gestas, en que contaron delos fechos de Dios, e delos prophetas, e delos sanctos, et otrosí delos reyes, e delos altos omnes, e delas cauallerías, e delos pueblos; et dixieron la uerdat de todas las cosas e non quisieron nada encobrir, tan bien delos que fueron buenos como delos que fueron malos. Et esto fizieron, por que delos fechos de los buenos tomassen los omnes exemplo pora fazer bien, et delos fechos delos malos que recibiessen castigo por se saber guardar delo non fazer. (GE, Part I, Prol: 3) In these prologues Alfonso X shows as much admiration for the sages, who preserve the past and draw lessons from it, as for the heroes whose deeds shape history and figure as models in its stories. What is clear is that the "sages" include both epic González-Casanovas / Alfonso X's Estoria de Espanna 167 chroniclers and epic poets, for they are committing to memory only the most important events as they affect the national self-image, they are considering not the bare facts but the truths to be drawn from exceptional experiences, and they are describing not what has already happened but the destiny of a nation as it evolves through the present into the future.14 These sages are retelling, like the minstrels, the story of Spain's heroes; at the same time they are rewriting, like the clerks, the history of all the Spanish people. For Alfonso, the cantares de gesta and the estorias de sabios are equally valuable as sources and models for the epic story of the fecho d'Espanna. What, then, is the particular contribution of the Castilian epic poets to this attempt to rewrite Spain's history as an epic story? The answer, in the case of the chronicle of the Reconquest, will become manifest when a contrast is made between: (1) those parts that are based, according to Ramón Menéndez Pidal, entirely on the clerical sources, in particular the Tudense and the Toledano; (2) those that assimilate oral poems on the heroes of Castile indirectly through prosifications; and (3) those that quote directly from the narratives and dialogues of epic cantares de gesta.15 Examples of the first model can be found in the passages on the "Loor de Espanna" (c 558), "Duello de los godos" (c 559), and Pelayo (c 564); of the second, in the sections on Bernardo del Carpio (c 619) and Fernán González (c 684); and of the third, in a series of chapters on the Siete Infantes de Lara (cc 737-42) and the Cid (cc 838-934). What is significant is that for the Alfonsine historians all three categories of national epic legends are of equal worth as "authorities." The distinction, then, proves to be not historical but literary: all provide dramatic episodes, heroic types, and ethical lessons; yet only the cantares de gesta themselves can offer the poetic language of depiction and imitation that captures the reader's interest, the vivid characterization of protagonists and antagonists that appeals to the

14 See Francisco Rico, "Pretérito perfecto, indicativo presente," Alfonso el Sabio y la "General estoria," 85-96. 15 For the sources of the chapters on the Moorish invasion and Christian Reconquest of Spain (cc. 555-1135), see R. Menéndez Pidal, "Fuentes" to his ed. of Primera Crónica General, I: cxxxi-cxxxii and II: cxxxix-ccviii. 168 Olifant / Vol. 15, No. 2 / Summer 1990 reader's emotions, and the exemplary experience of human individuals in a critical time which is lived out before the reader's ears and eyes. II. The function of the cantares de gestas as narrative examples As Alfonso X's historians (who continue to work under his son Sancho IV) move, in the second part of their chronicle of Spain, from the beginning of the Reconquest in the remote eighth century to its culmination in the founding and expansion of Castile in the tenth through eleventh centuries, there is a tendency to rely more on contemporary epic poems, whether in original versions or prose synopses, than on the clerks' historical summaries. This tendency is reinforced by the circumstance of the survival of epic songs in Castilian from later centuries (twelfth to thirteenth), but not from the earlier periods. The growing proximity in time calls for a greater immediacy in narrative style, which is supplied by the cantares de gesta that are still extant in Alfonso's times. Likewise, the growing importance of the leaders of Castile's struggle for survival, autonomy, and dominance leads to a heightened mode of representing their heroic figures that relies more on the poet's imagination than on the chronicler's erudition. Although Alfonso's historians in effect consult and adapt all available sources, their underlying directive to serve royalist and nationalist propaganda privileges native epic songs in the vernacular. The evolution in the epic dimensions and perspectives of the history can be traced in the shift in the narrative voice. First comes the orator's praise and lament in the rhetorical presentation of Spain as a person who experiences God's blessings and curses.16 The pedagogue then explains the patterns and symbols with the paradigmatic comparison of the figures of the early heroes, Pelayo, Bernardo del Carpio, and Fernán González, to the divinely- appointed judges of the Old Testament, as well as to the legendary

16 See John O. Ward, "Some Principles of Rhetorical Historiography in the Twelfth Century," Classical Rhetoric and Medieval Historiography, ed. E. Breisach (Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan Univ./Medieval Institute Publications, 1985) 103-65. González-Casanovas / Alfonso X's Estoria de Espanna 169 heroes of the neighboring Franks. Finally, the poet relives the human story of extraordinary times through the dramatization of the deeds of the heroes, the Infantes de Lara and the Cid, in all their greatness and with all their flaws. The Alfonsine historians begin their chronicle of the Reconquest with the "Loor de Espanna," so as to make the transition to the period of crisis and heroism.17 That is why they describe the nation in terms of a great knight and courtier: "Espanna sobre todas [las tierras] es engennosa, atreuuda et mucho esforçada en lid, ligera en affán, leal al sennor, affincada en estudio, palaciana en palabra, complida de todo bien ..." (EE c 558:I, 311). As long as Spain is true to her knightly estate, she will be strong and united; her leaders will remain identified with her. But as soon as she betrays her greatness and allows herself to be led by bad leaders, she will be divided and brought low; her leaders will then be isolated in their folly and weakness: "Este regno tan noble, tan rico, tan poderoso, tan onrrado, fue derramado et astragado en una arremessa [de los moros] por desabenencia de los de la tierra que tornaron sus espadas en sí mismos unos contra otros, assí como si les minguassen enemigos; et perdieron ý todos ..." (EE c 558: I, 312). By personifying the chivalric ideals in the nation, the chroniclers stress the collective nature of the suffering due to the invasion, as well as of the victory in the crusade to come. The "Duello de los godos" is transformed into mourning for Spain herself: Fincó toda la tierra uazía del pueblo, lena de sangre, bannada de lágrimas, conplida de appellidos, huéspeda de los estrannos, enagenada de los uezinos, desamparada de los moradores, bibda e dessolada de sus fijos, coffonduda de los bárbaros, esmedrida por la llaga, ffallida de fortaleza, fflaca de fuerça, menguada de conort, et desolada de solaz de los suyos. (EE c 559:I, 312) The epic story of Spain's trial and vindication thus becomes identified with the stories of the struggle of her people (from the Romans and Visigoths to the Asturians and Castillans), among

17 See José Jiménez Delgado, "El 'Laus Hispaniae' en dos importantes códices españoles," Helmántica 12 (1961): 177-259; and Josefina Nagore de Zand, "La alabanza de España en el Poema de Fernán González y en las crónicas latinomedievales,"Incipit 7 (1987): 35-67. 170 Olifant / Vol. 15, No. 2 / Summer 1990 whom the heroes will stand out as prototypical exemplars of virtue and valor, as well as agents of divine providence in the crusade against the Moors.18 After referring to Visigothic Spain in the rhetorical terms of general heroic traits and personified actions or reactions, in much the same way as the Latin chronicles of the Toledano,19 Alfonso's historians turn to the figure of Pelayo, the first hero of the Reconquest to be singled out in legend.20 In their attempt to explain the extraordinary feat of the Christian victory at Covadonga, they in effect compare the Spanish leader to one of the biblical judges: Dios poderoso de todas las cosas, pero que era ya yrado contra ella, non quiso oblidar la su misericordia, et menbróse de la su merced, e quiso por ende guardar all inffante don Pelayo pora ante la su faz, assí como una pequenna centella de que se leuantasse después lumbre en la tierra. (EE c 564:I,318-19) But the hero is as yet a collective agent submerged in the epic sweep of the story of God's dealings with the nation in its time of crisis: the Asturians, Basques, and Aragonese of the mountains "quiso los Dios guardar por que la lumbre de la cristiandad et de los sus sieruos non se amatasse de tod en Espanna" (EE c 564:I, 319). It is when the chronicle of the Reconquest begins to develop from the story of the nation into a nationalist history that the heroes of Spain grow in individuality and stature. It is also then that the

18 On the Visigoths in the chronicles, see Aníbal A. Biglieri, "Ascenso y caída del reino visigodo según la Primera Crónica General" Hispanófila 32 (1989): 1-11; Alan D. Deyermond, "The Death and Rebirth of Visigothic Spain in the Estoria de Espanna" Revista canadiense de estudios hispánicos 9 (1985): 345-68; and Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Los godos y la epopeya española, 2nd ed. (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1969) 9-57.

19 On the sources of the "Loor" and "Duello" of Spain, see R. Menéndez Pidal, "Fuentes" to Primera Crónica General. I: cxxxii. 20 R. Menéndez Pidal, "Fuentes," II: cxli. See also Elizabeth Kyle Freyschlag, "A Consideration of Pelayo in Spanish Literature," diss., Stanford Univ., 1965. González-Casanovas / Alfonso X's Estoria de Espanna 171

Alfonsine chroniclers, following the model of the Tudense and the Toledano, begin to incorporate epic legends and poems into their narrative. This occurs for the first time with Bernardo del Carpio, who emerges as the heroic counterfigure to Charlemagne and Roland, the protagonists of the French epic legends.21 The latter are now cast as symbols not only of bravery but also of expansionist politics, which the Spanish nobles and lords now oppose with as much force as they once resisted the Moors. The nobles advise the king (Alfonso II): [Q]ue reuocase lo que enbiara dezir al emperador [sil quisiese venir ayudar contra los moros, quel daríe el reyno]; sinon quel echaríen del reyno et cataríen otro sennor; ca más queríen morir libres que ser mal andantes en seruidumbre de los franceses. Et el que más fuerte et más rezio era en esta cosa su sobrino Bernaldo fue... (EE c 619: II, 353) But in the epic account of the battle of Roncesvalles, in which the combined forces of "Spaniards" and Moors defeat the "French," the action is summarized and enunciated in an impersonal narrative voice: "Bernaldo tollió de sí en aquella ora el temor de Dios, et fue ferir en vno con los moros en los françeses ... et fue la fazienda muy fuerte et muy ferida ademàs, et murieron ý muchos de cada parte" (EEc 619: II, 353). Once the French menace is overcome, the nationalist history evolves into the epic story of Castile itself, as the leading component of the Spanish peoples in the climactic phase of the Reconquest. The historical figure and legendary exploits of the founder of the county, Fernán González, lend themselves to paradigmatic treatment as the narrative combines a panegyric of the Castilian knight with another example of providential history.22 First, the epic material is

21 R. Menéndez Pidal, "Fuentes," II: cxlv-cxlvi. See also Marcelin Defourneaux, "La légende de Bernardo del Carpio," Bulletin Hispanique 45 (1943): 116-38; and Pattison, From Legend to Chronicle, 11-22. 22 R. Menéndez Pidal, "Fuentes," cliv-clviii. See also Juan Bautista Avalle-Arce, "El Poema de Fernán González: Clerecía y juglaría," Philological Quarterly 51 (1972): 60-73, revised and included in Temas hispánicos medievales (Madrid: Gredos, 1974) 64-82; and Pattison, From Legend to Chronicle, 23-42. 172 Olifant / Vol. 15, No. 2 / Summer 1990 interpreted by the chronicler in prototypical terms: "era ya a essa sazón grand cauallero, . . . muy uerdadero en su palabra, et derechero en juyzio, et buen cauallero en armas, et muy esforçado, et ganó mucha tierra de moros,... et ensanchó Castiella quanto él más pudo" (EE c 684: II, 390). Then, the epic hero is presented, from the clerical point of view, as the knight of God: Quando este conde Fernand Gonçález uio que era sennor de Castiella, alçó las manos contral cielo et gradesciólo mucho a Dios et dixo: «Sennor, ruégote que me ualas et que me ayudes en tal guisa por que yo te pueda seruir et sacar Castiella de la premia en que está.... Et, Sennor, seyendo yo tu uassallo, et faziéndome tú merced et ayuda, cuedo yo sacar a Castiella destas premias.» (EE c 684: II, 390) With this prayer, quoted from a clerical version of the epic poem,23 the Alfonsine chroniclers mark the passage to the story of Castile as found in the cantares de gesta themselves. From this point on in the chronicle the techniques found in epic poetry—such as presenting directly heroic actions, opposing in a dramatic manner the scenes with heroes and antiheroes, and quoting in a straight-forward yet expressive way the heroes' dialogue—will be employed to great advantage in the historical narrative. This is precisely the case in the stories of the Seven Infantes de Lara and of the Cid, in which the narrative pattern of providential history gives way to miscellaneous episodes from epic legends and poems that then circulated in various versions. Without entering into great detail, it is possible to note key passages in which epic techniques are now fully developed. In the case of the Seven Infantes de Lara, the history of the crusade against the Moors and of the rise of Castile is transformed into an epic story of feud, injury, murder, vengeance, betrayal, and massacre.24 In the process, the heroes are shown by the chronicler

23 Cf. lines 185-193 of the Poema de Fernán González, ed. Juan Victorio (Madrid: Cátedra, 1984) 85.

24 R. Menéndez Pidal, "Fuentes," II: clix-clx. See also Cesare Acutis, La leggenda degli Infantes di Lara: Due forme epiche nel Medioevo occidentale (Turin: Einadi, 1978); John J. Cummins, 'The Chronicle Texts of the Legend of González-Casanovas / Alfonso X's Estoria de Espanna 173 from the perspective of the poet. The scene of Gonzalo González' defenselessness while bathing in his underclothes provokes Doña Lambra, whose reaction unchains a series of acts of escalating violence, in which the dramatic action, as in the best epic poetry, is as much verbal as physical: Donna Llambla . . .quandol uio assí, . . . pesol muy de coraçón, et dixo ...: «Assí tomaré yo uengança de la punnada et de la muerte de mío primo Aluar Sánchez, ca esta ioglería a muchos empeeçerá ...» Los otros hermanos . . . començaron de reýr, mas non de coraçón; et díxoles [Gonzalo] estonces: «hermanos muy mal lo fazedes ... si a algún de uós contesçiesse esto que a mí, yo non querría uiuir un día más fasta quel non uengasse ...» Ellos fueron estonces pora ella, et tomáronle por fuerça el omne que teníc so el manto, et matárongele luego ý delante ... et de las feridas que dauan en ell, cayó de la sangre sobre las tocas et en los pannos de donna Llambla, de guisa que toda fincó ende enssangrentada.... Et lloró ella, et fizo tan grand llanto sobrell . . . et rompió todos sus pannos, llamándose bibda et que non avíe marido. (EE c 737: II, 433-34) This poetic climax in the narrative prepares the reader for an historical climax in the chronicle, as the scene of a battle is described in vivid terms: the Infantes are shown to die bravely at the hands of the enemy through the treachery of their uncle, Doña Lambra's husband, who thus avenges her injury: Quando [Gonçalo Gonçález] los hermanos uio descabeçados ante sí,... con el grand pesar et la grand sanna... dexóse yr a aquel moro ... et diol una tan grand punnada en la garganta, que dio luego con él muerto a tierra; et tomó muy aýna aquella espada con que los él descabeçaua, et mató con ella más de XX moros dessos que estauan en derredor dell, assí como cuenta la estoria. Mas los moros non cataron ya las feridas, et la muchedumbre dellos cercáronle, et prisiéronle a manos, et descabeçáronle ý luego. (EE c 742:II,441)

the Infantes de Lara" Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 53 (1976): 101-16; Ramón Menéndez Pidal, La leyenda de los Infantes de Lara, in Obras completas, I,3rd ed (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1971); Pattison, From Legend to Chronicle, 43-56; and Juan Portera, "La venganza en los Infantes de Lara y en el Cid" La juglaresca, ed. M. Criado de Val, 247-52. 174 Olifant / Vol. 15, No. 2 / Summer 1990

By quoting and imitating epic poets, the chronicler has gone from a synopsis to the deed itself. In the section on the Cid, which the Alfonsine historians did not have time to shape and revise as a coherent whole, there is even more reliance on cantares de gesta for both the episodes and the narrative.25 The epic sweep of the Reconquest's heroic actions disintegrates into a series of epic scenes drawn from various poems; these include the Cantar de Sancho II y Cerco de Zamora and the Cantar or Poema de Mío Cid. Yet the lack of historical focus in this part of the chronicle is compensated by the unity of the literary process. What these chapters have in common is not only the same hero as protagonist, but also the same type of poet as narrator. The story of the Cid's bravery, loyalty to his king, exile from Castile, victories, injuries to his honor, return to his land, and revindication is told effectively, as with the Infantes de Lara, by combining expressive dialogue and dramatized deeds. When the chronicler shows the Cid pursuing the traitor Vellido Adolfo, he epitomizes the hero's frustration in the poetic detail of the spurs: "non pudo[l] alcançar por las espuelas que non touo; mas... segudo[l] fasta las puertas de la villa, et allí maldixo el Çid a todo cauallero que sin espuelas caualgasse" (EE c 836: II, 510). Later, at the death scene of Sancho II, the chronicler-poet orchestrates the

25 R. Menéndez Pidal, "Fuentes," II: clxviii-cxci passim. See also Diego Catalán, "Crónica general y cantar de gesta: El Mío Cid de Alfonso X y el de pseudo Ben-Alfaray," Hispanic Review 31 (1963): 195-215 and 291-306; Louis Chalon, L'Histoire et l'épopée castillane du Moyen Age: Le cycle du Cid; le cycle des comtes de Castille, Nouvelle Bibliothèque du Moyen Age 5 (Paris: Champion, 1976); María Silvia Delpy, "Algunos aspectos de la coherencia narrativa de Cantar de Mío Cid" Filología 20 (1985): 61-67; Nancy Joe Dyer, "El Poema de Mío Cid en la Primera Crónica General y Crónica de Veinte Reyes" La juglaresca, ed. M. Criado de Val, 221-28, and "The Poema de Mío Cid in the Crónica de Veinte Reyes Prosifícation: A Critical Edition and Study," diss., Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1975; Leonardo Funes, "Gesta, refundición, crónica: Deslindes textuales en las Mocedades de Rodrigo: Razones para una nueva edición crítica," Incipit 7 (1987): 69-94; Pattison, From Legend to Chronicle, 81-92 and 115-42; and Powell, Epic and Chronicle: "Poema de Mío Cid" and "Crónica de Veinte Reyes." González-Casanovas / Alfonso X's Estoria de Espanna 175 king's confession of penance and the hero's renewal of loyalty in a dramatic counterpoint: Dixo el rey: .. . «bien tengo que esto fue por míos pecados ... [por que] passé el mandamiento que fíz a mío padre et la yura que fíz ... » Llegó el Çid . .. ant el rey et dixol assí: «... bien sabedes uós sennor que siempre uos consegé yo como leal uassallo deue conseiar a sennor ...» (EE c 838: II, 512) Afterwards, the Cid confronts the new king (Alfonso VI) in a scene full of quotations from oral poetry and of the verbal tension of epic narrative:26 Començó el Çid a coniurarle en esta guisa: «rey don Alffonso, uenídesme uós iurar que non fuestes uós en conseio de la muerte del rey don Sancho mío sennor?» Respondió el rey don Alffonso: «vengo». Dixo el Çid: «pues si uós mentira yurades, plega a Dios que uos mate un traydor que sea uuestro uassallo, assí como lo era Vellid Adolffo del rey don Sancho mío sennor». Dixo estonces el rey don Alffonso: «amén», et múdósele estonces toda la color. (EE c 845: II, 519) This oral mode of narrative reaches a fitting climax with the scenes from the epic poem in which the Infantes de Carrion verbally and physically do injury to their wives, the Cid's daughters:27

26 Cf. the similar oath in lines 159-67 of the Cantar de Sancho II y Cerco de Zamora, ed. Carola Reig, Cantar de Sancho II y Cerco de Zamora (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1947) 112-13, and the expanded oath from the epic ballad "Romance de la Jura de Santa Gadea," in two eds. of the Cancionero de Romances (Antwerp 1545-50 and 1550), lines 9-34 and lines 9-38 respectively, included in Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Estudios sobre el Romancero (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1973) 90, 92-93. See also Charles F. Fraker, "Sancho II: Epic and Chronicle," Romania 95 (1974): 467-507. 27 Cf. lines 2689-2760 of the Poema de Mío Cid, ed. Ian Michael (Madrid: Clásicos Castalia, 1976) 253-59. On the episode of the Afrenta de Corpes, see Alan D. Deyermond and David Hook, "The Afrenta de Corpes and Other Stories," La Corónica 10, (1981): 12-37; Gene W. DuBois, "The 'Afrenta de Corpes' and the Theme of Battle," Revista de estudios hispánicos 21 (1987): 1-8; Douglas Gifford, "European Folk-Tradition and the 'Afrenta de Corpes,'" "Mió Cid" Studies, ed. A. D. Deyermond (London: Tamesis, 1977) 49-62; 176 Olifant / Vol. 15, No. 2 / Summer 1990

Donna Elvira, la mayor, dixo a Diego Gonçález su marido: «¿por qué quisiestes que uós et nós fíncássemos solos en este lugar?» Et Diego Gonçález dixo: «callat, que agora lo veredes» ... Quanto ellas más bozes dauan et más llorauan, tanto ellos cada uegada más crudos eran en mal fazer, en manera que tales las pararon que todas estauan cubiertas de sangre et fincaron por muertas. . . . Caualgaron en sus bestias, et dixeron contra ellas: «Aquí fincaredes, fijas del Çid de Biuar; et más guysado es de fincar uós assý , que de ser uós casadas connusco. Et agora ueredes cómmo uos uengará uuestro padre et uuestro linage, ca nós ya uengados somos de la desonrra que nos fizo en Valencia con el león.» (EE c 933: II, 609) For the chronicler who wishes to animate his epic story with scenes from cantares de gesta, the poetic rendering of the dialogue proves as effective as the dramatic depiction of the action. By following the transitions in the Estoria de Espanna from the oratorical discourse of Spain's praises and the Goths' lament to the poetic dialogue of the Cid's changes in fortune, it is possible to examine the development of epic narratology in the part of the chronicle dealing with the heroes of the Reconquest. In this approximation to epic literature by Alfonsine historians, there are two distinct phases. The first involves the incorporation of epic materials as ready-made narrative episodes: these add an air of authenticity to the propagandistic story of the Christians' crusade against the Moors and provide exemplary models of Castilian leadership. The second phase comprises the adoption of epic techniques as dynamic narrative processes: these develop what appear as dramatic acts of prowess into the poetic experience of verbal actions of naming, imaging, exemplifying, and becoming. In the passage from one stage to the other, the historians (and readers) grow in literary awareness as they move from epic history as deeds to epic story as drama and to epic poem-in-prose as dialogue. What this means, in terms of the epic hermeneutics of the chronicle, is a growing sophistication on the part of historians, who are able to

Colbert I. Nepaulsingh, "The Afrenta de Corpes and the Martyrological Tradition," Hispanic Review 51 (1983): 205-21; and D. G. Pattison, "The 'Afrenta de Corpes' in Fourteenth-Century Historiography," "Mío Cid" Studies, 129-40. González-Casanovas / Alfonso X's Estaria de Espanna 177 blend diverse sources so as to transform the national history into a nationalist story, and an increasingly popularized reception on the part of readers (or listeners to the reading aloud of books), who are capable of recognizing familiar oral texts in the new contexts of royalist writings presented as official chronicles. This complex process of interpreting the Estoria de Espanna depends on the exemplarity of literature as history and of history as literature. The representation of good and bad times from the collective past reveals heroic paradigms of good and evil men, whose actions are modeled by means of didactic rhetoric and poetic narrative for the present fecho d'Espanna: Alfonso X's creation in deeds and words of a national state. III. Conclusion: The epic as literary model for the chronicler When the Alfonsine historians reached the climax of their chronicle of Spain, the account of the heroes who fought against the Moors and struggled to establish Castile, it was not surprising, given the popular nature and didactic purpose of their work, that they should incorporate epic legends that were circulating at that time in oral and written forms in both Castilian and Latin versions. What is striking is that, under the impulse of Alfonso X's program of a national culture based on books written in the vernacular, they should have preferred as literary models Castilian epic poems sung by minstrels to Latin chronicles redacted by clerks. The imitation of the linguistic style, rhetorical patterns, and narratological forms of the cantares de gestas (some of which only survive in versions preserved by Alfonsine historians) played a decisive part in the evolution of didactic and narrative prose in Castilian. Although for the sections on the history of the Reconquest the Estoria de Espanna borrows extensively from Latin chroniclers, it favors precisely those like the Tudense and the Toledano, who themselves borrowed from Castilian epic traditions. Moreover, the Alfonsine historians are not mere translators or editors: they not only adapt the texts and imitate the rhetoric of clerical writers, but they also extend the latter's practice of including new material from oral heroic poetry; in this process it is to their advantage to assimilate directly vernacular cantares de gestas that may have served as sources for Latin histories, as well as other versions omitted from these summaries and paraphrases which stand out for their poetic 178 Olifant / Vol. 15, No. 2 / Summer 1990 rather than documentary value. In the epic historiography of the Reconquest, Alfonso X's historians thus return to the historical, political, linguistic, and literary roots of Spanish/Castilian consciousness: this is the very fecho d'Espanna identified in the prologue as object and subject of the narrative. Since in the latter part of the Estoria de Espanna the ideological, paradigmatic, and narrative strategies are based on the propaganda and poetics of the epic, these chapters, in effect, constitute prose poems in praise of Castile's heroes. The latter part of Alfonso X's chronicle of Spain offers an extraordinary case of a popular national literature placed directly in the service of history and of a historiography conceived above all as well-told narrative. The Estoria de Espanna stands at the crossroads of exemplary literature: it combines the chronological linearity of the annals with the dramatic movement of the epic; it balances the objective discourse of the pedagogue and historian with the subjective dialogue of the orator and poet; it adds depth to the encyclopedic sweep of the centuries by highlighting and interpreting, in popular and nationalist terms, the most significant moments in "Spain's" history; and, by modeling heroic figures from the past, it relates the understanding of the Reconquest to Castile's evolution towards a new age of greatness. For Alfonso X, if a chronicle is to instruct and inspire the people about their common origins, trials, and destiny, it must be read as living history and as lively story. By vividly portraying Castilian heroes in all their greatness and imperfection, the Alfonsine chroniclers succeed in showing the epic and human dimensions of a whole nation's experience of history. Roberto J. González-Casanovas Catholic University of America

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