Conquerors and Chroniclers of Early Medieval Spain

by Kenneth Baxter Wolf (Translator)

From the perspective of the Hispano-Romans, the Visigoths who invaded Spain in the midfifth century were heretical barbarians. But Leovigild's military success and Reccared's conversion to Catholic Christianity led to more positive assessments of the Gothic role in Iberian history. John of Biclaro (c.590) and Isidore of Seville (c.625) authored histories that projected the Gothic achievements back on to their uncertain beginnings, transforming them from antagonists of the Roman Empire to protagonists of a new, independent Christianity in Spain. The Muslim occupation of Spain in the early eighth century also prompted Christian historians to think creatively about the role of the invaders in the history of Spain. The fact that they did not, like their Gothic predecessors, convert to the religion of the peoples they conquered made it difficult for the Latin historians to present them as the heroes of their chronicles. Nonetheless, the anonymous authors of the Mozarabic Chronicle of 754 and the ninth-century Chronicle of Alfonso III modeled their efforts on those of Isidore and John of Biclaro, adopting and adapting their techniques for making sense of the conquest of a Christian territory by heterodox foreigners.

This volume will attract a broad readership among those interested in late antiquity, medieval studies, and historiography; it will be of particular value in the fields of Iberian and Hispano-American studies.

Kenneth Baxter Wolf was educated at Stanford University, where he received his B.A. degree in religious studies and his Ph.D. degree in history. He is the author of Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain and Making History: The Normans and Their Historians in Eleventh-Century Italy, available from the University of Pennsylvania Press. He is Associate Professor of History at Pomona College in Claremont, California.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Spain

203 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1991

Reviews

[Kevin Kaatz]

Great book for historiography and for primary sources.

[Thom Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

RECO from Neil, 4/22/13.