Narrative, Piety and Polemic in Medieval Spain
Biblical Rhetoric in the Reconquest Chronicles of León-Castile

By (author) Alun Williams

ISBN13: 9781350415270

Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Published: 30/10/2025

Availability: Not yet available

Description
This book presents an original perspective on the variety and intensity of biblical narrative and rhetoric in the evolution of history writing in León-Castile during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It focuses on six Hispano-Latin chronicles, two of which make unusually overt and emphatic use of biblical texts. Of particular importance is the part played by the influence of exegesis that became integral to scriptural and liturgical influence, both in and beyond monastic institutions. Alun Williams provides close analysis of the text and comparisons with biblical typology to demonstrate how these historians from the north of Iberia were variously dependent on a growing corpus of patristic and early medieval interpretation to understand and define their world and their sense of place. Narrative, Piety and Polemic in Medieval Spain sees Williams examine this material as part of a comparative exploration of language and religious allusion, showing how the authors used these biblical-liturgical elements to convey historical context, purpose and interpretation.
List of illustrations Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Introduction 1. Biblical Tests in the Latin West: Integration and Diversity 2. The Historia Silense and Pelayo’s Chronicle 3. Chronica Adefonsi Imperatoris: A Biblical Epic 4. The Chronica Adefonsi Imperatoris and the Literature of Conquest 5. Three Thirteenth Century Chroniclers 6. The Thirteenth Century and Biblical Conquest Postscript Notes Bibliography Index
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