Chronicle Translated by John Forster with Historical Introduction and Notes by Pascual De Gayangos
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James I (The Conqueror) King Of Aragon Chronicle Translated by John Forster with Historical Introduction and Notes by Pascual De Gayangos In parentheses Publications Catalan Series Cambridge, Ontario 2000 Preface The present translation of the Chronicle of James I. of Aragon, surnamed “the Conqueror”—one of the most remarkable historical productions of the thirteenth century—was undertaken nearly eight years ago, though not quite finished, by the late John Forster, Esq., M.P. for Berwick during the period of 1852 to 1857. The idea sprang entirely from him after a private conversation held in the Athenæum Club in August, 1875. “The history of Spain,” said he to the writer of these lines, “particularly that of Aragon during the middle ages, is so exciting and full of interest, and at the same time so little known among us, that I am seriously thinking of translating James’s Royal Chronicle into English. I happen, as you know, to possess an imperfect copy of the rare edition of 1557, besides a modern Castilian it version—which by the by does not seem to me to be a faithful one—and I have besides by me M. de Tourtoulon’s remarkable work, Études sur la maison de Barcelone (Montpellier, 1863), which will, I have no doubt, be of great assistance to the scholar wishing to dive into the history of Aragon. Altogether, I have been so charmed with the perusal of the Royal Chronicle, that I have almost made up my mind to turn it into English! However, the Provençal, or, properly speaking, Catalan, language in which the Chronicle was written, has become antiquated; the Valencia edition is incorrect and full of blunders, so replete with obscure words, perhaps derived from the Arabic, and the meaning of which is quite unknown to me, that I apprehend serious difficulties in the accomplishment of my task. There are, moreover, questions connected with the authorship and composition of the Chronicle itself, to solve which, greater knowledge of the history and literature of the Spanish Peninsula during the middle ages is required than I happen to possess just now. Of the Spanish Arabs I myself know nothing at all. Will you help me?”1 Such a request on the part of a friend, whose acquaintance I had made many years before, and with whom I had been on familiar terms and correspondence ever since, could not well be declined. I accepted; Mr. Forster set to work immediately, and laying aside other works more or less connected with the history of Spain, in which he was engaged at the time, devoted himself exclusively to the translation of the Royal Chronicle. This was on the point of being completed, wanting only one or two chapters at the end, when on the night of the 7th of January, 1878, Mr. Forster was found dead in his library, surrounded by the many valuable books and manuscripts assiduously collected for the illustration of his intended work. After Mr. Forster’s death, deeply lamented by his relatives and friends—among which latter the undersigned had the pleasure and the honour to count himself—nothing remained to be done but to put in order and classify his various writings, separate those relating to a “History of the Spanish Inquisition”—a work of scrupulous research and patient labour, to which he had devoted the best part of his life—from his own English version of James’s Catalan Chronicle, and lastly, commit this latter to the press. 1The above is the substance of Mr. Forster’s conversation in 1875, and of his ideas on the subject. Letters written since show that he had not abandoned them up to the time of his death. Chronicle 3 An early application by one of Mr. Forster’s executors, the late Matthew Hutton Chaytor, Esq., Chairman of the Alliance Bank in London, could not be disregarded by the writer of these lines, and after considerable delay, owing to various causes, the Royal Chronicle comes at last before the public in English. It was, however, Mr. Forster’s original intention that his translation should be preceded by some sort of “Introduction,” or “Prolegomena,” on the history of Aragon before its union with Catalonia, as well as by detached pieces on the Mohammedan dynasties ruling over Mallorca, Valencia, and Murcia—Almoh\ades or Almoravides—at the time of their conquest by James. The former task the deceased evidently reserved for himself, though unfortunately he had no time to accomplish it; the latter he had from the beginning entrusted, as above stated, to the undersigned, as well as a Glossary of obsolete words, chiefly derived from the Arabic, and any other additional matter likely to illustrate the Royal narrative. He was not aware at his death in 1878 that the year before a second and more correct edition of James’s Chronicle was in course of preparation at Barcelona, its text having been first carefully collated with two manuscripts of the fourteenth century, one of which, made by Celestí Destorrens for the Abbot of Santa Maria de Poblet, on the 17th of September, A.D. 1343, is now preserved in the public library of that city. Had he been aware of this fact, Mr. Forster would undoubtedly have visited Barcelona, for the sole purpose of collating certain passages of the Chronicle evidently vitiated by scribes or printers, most likely by both, and which must have sorely puzzled the most accomplished and ingenious student of the Catalan language. As, moreover, the original manuscript, which according to all accounts was preserved at Poblet as late as 1651, is nowhere to be found,2 it naturally results that the second and revised Barcelona edition of the Catalan text, of which the translator could not avail himself, has supplied his present editor with the means of correcting its many blunders, and supplying its deficiencies. As to the much debated question of the authorship of the Chronicle itself, and its relative merits—one among others which the deceased reserved for himself—the reader is referred to the “Historical Introduction,” where it will be amply discussed. Among the numerous loose memoranda left by the deceased as materials for the illustration of his work, one is found in which, after abstracting what Tourtoulon says on the subject, he expresses his opinion that the Libre dels feyts esdevenguts en la vida del molt alt senyor En Jacme, lo Conqueridor, is really and truly the work of James, and could not have been written by any one else; also that the arguments produced by Villarroya in 1800 against the generally admitted opinion prove nothing at all. This opinion the undersigned shares also, and therefore, without hesitation on his part, the words (written by himself) have been added to the title page according to the translator’s desire. Pascual de Gayangos. 2It is generally asserted that Archbishop Marca, royal intendant of Catalonia for Louis XIV., during the short occupation of that principality by the French, took it away from Poblet. Historical Introduction Alfonso I. of Aragon, surnamed “El Batallador” (He of the battles), succeeded his brother, Pedro I., in the kingdoms of Navarre and Aragon in 1104, when no longer young, for he had greatly distinguished himself as early as 1094 in a campaign against the Moors. At his accession, Aragon comprised only the mountainous fringe of the Pyrenean range, and part of those valleys through which the Aragon and other rivers pour their waters into the Ebro to the east of what is now called “Aragon.” A marriage contracted about 1109 with Urraca, the daughter of Alfonso VI., and Queen of Castile and Leon in her own right, promised fairly for the Christians of the Peninsula, for shortly after Alfonso assumed the title of “Emperor of Spain,” and prepared to invade the Moslem territory. Unluckily for the Christian cause a bitter quarrel sprang up between husband and wife, followed by a desultory and cruel war between their respective kingdoms, ending in the total expulsion of Alfonso from Urraca’s dominions in Castile, Leon, and Galicia. Not at all discouraged by this reverse, Alfonso resumed with increased vigour the war against the Infidel, and conquered one by one the petty Moorish kingdoms in Aragon. In 1120 Saragossa, the capital, was taken, and in the ensuing years Calatayud and Daroca. He was prosecuting his successes against the Aragonese Moors, and endeavouring to secure further conquests to the east and south of Saragossa, when a campaign undertaken against Lérida and Fraga—two important cities—ended disastrously for him, he having been defeated close to the latter place on the 17th Of July, 1134. Alfonso died soon after, in September of that year, worn out, as it is asserted, by old age and fatigue, if not in consequence of wounds received in the battle, as generally believed.3 After the foregoing sketch of Alfonso’s field of action, it will seem rather strange—though the fact is recorded both by Christian and Moslem writers—that in 1123, just after his ejection from Castile, he should have personally led a most successful raid into Andalusia; should in his victorious career have approached Cordoba, reached the sea at Almeira, on the coast of Granada, and returned safely to his own dominions. Only by taking into account the distracted state of the Moorish settlements at the time, and the feeble cohesion of their Mohammedan rulers, no energetic hand happening at that moment to grasp the sceptre, can faith be attached to the narrative of Al-makkarí and other Arabian historians, describing Alfonso’s successful raid through the thickly populated provinces of Islam.4 3The battle was fought under the walls of Fraga, which Alfonso was besieging at the time.