Authoring the Past
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12th century
13th
14th
A01=Jaume Aurell
aragon
archive
aristocracy
Author_Jaume Aurell
autobiography
bernat desclot
Category=NHDJ
chivalry
chronicle
comparative literature
count
cronica
diplomacy
epic
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
expansionism
genealogy
gesta comitum barcinonensium
government
hispanic
historian
historiography
history
james 1
king
latin
llibre dels fets
medieval catalan
mediterranean
middle ages
monarchy
peter the ceremonious
political power
politics
ramon muntaner
realism
romance
royalty
self representation
spain
Product details
- ISBN 9780226032320
- Weight: 510g
- Dimensions: 15 x 22mm
- Publication Date: 11 Apr 2012
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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"Authoring the Past" surveys medieval Catalan historiography, shedding light on the emergence and evolution of historical writing and autobiography in the Middle Ages, on questions of authority and authorship, and on the links between history and politics during the period. Jaume Aurell examines texts from the late twelfth to the late fourteenth centuries - including the Latin Gesta comitum Barcinonensium, and four texts in medieval Catalan: "Jaume I's Llibre dels fets", the "Cronica of Bernat Desclot", the "Cronica of Ramon Muntaner", and the "Cronica of Pere el Cerimonios" - and outlines the different motivations for the writing of each. For Aurell, these chronicles are not mere archaeological artifacts but rather documents that speak to their writers' specific contemporary social and political purposes. He argues that these Catalonian counts and Aragonese kings were attempting to use their role as authors to legitimize their monarchical status, their growing political and economic power, and their aggressive expansionist policies in the Mediterranean.
By analyzing these texts alongside one another, Aurell demonstrates the shifting contexts in which chronicles were conceived, written, and read throughout the Middle Ages. The first study of its kind to make medieval Catalan writings available to English-speaking audiences, "Authoring the Past" will be of interest to scholars of comparative literature, students of Hispanic and Romance medieval studies, and medievalists who study the chronicle tradition in other languages.
Jaume Aurell is associate professor in the Department of History and dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Navarra, Spain.
