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15th century. Portugal. A group of short Portuguese-language histories. The codex Porto, Biblioteca Pública Municipal do Porto, ms. 79, containing the four Crónicas Breves and other minor historical texts, was copied in the second half of the century at the monastery of the Holy Rood at Coimbra. The chronicles record the lives and deeds of the early Portuguese kings, with a particular focus on the first, Afonso Henriques, and whenever possible underline their connections with the monastery. Crónica Breve I (fols. 2r-11v) is a very short annalistic text which starts with the …

(General Chronicle of Spain of 1344 - second redaction) late 14th century, possibly 1380s, or on another view ca 1400. Portugal. This chronicle in Portuguese prose revises and reworks Pedro Afonso's Crónica de 1344 with further sources, of which the most important is the first part of the Estoria de Espanna. In the 317 folios of the principal manuscript (Lisbon, Biblioteca da Academia das Ciências, 1 Azul), it covers a time span that runs from the Creation of the World to the kingdom of Fernando III of Castile and León. Unlike Pedro Afonso's first redaction, this version adds c…

[Pedro de Barcelos] d.1354. Portugal. The Count of Barcelos in northern Portugal, he was an illegitimate son of King Dinis of Portugal, and a great grandson of Alfonso X of Castile and León. He dedicated his mature years to intellectual work, composing the two most valued historical works of the time.The Livro de Linhagens do Conde D. Pedro (Lineage Book of Count Pedro) is a compilation of lineage data from the previous Livros de Linhagens, and a revised version of the Navarrese Liber regum and the lost Crónica Portuguesa de Espanha e Portugal. These sources are a mixture of family mem…

(Lineage books) 13th and 14th century. Portugal. There are three extant Portuguese genealogies: the Livro Velho de Linhagens , the Livro de Linhagens do Deão and the Livro de Linhagens do Conde D. Pedro (for which see Pedro Afonso). These works, in which the memories of ancestors and family ties are preserved, were written for the greater glory of, and to defend the prestige and the interests of, noble families, stressing therefore their importance as counterweight to the monarchy. The first two genealogies survive in a 17th-century copy of a lost manuscript, Lisbon, Biblioteca da Ajud…

1295-1312. Portugal. Chronicle of Iberia in Galician-Portuguese. This text was called Versão Galaico-Portuguesa de uma Crónica Geral de Espanha by Catalán; Tradução Galego-portuguesa da Variante Ampliada by LindleyCintra and finally Traducción Gallega de la Crónica General y de la Crónica de Castilla by Lorenzo, its editor. It consists of two previously independent parts.The first, from Ramiro I to Vermudo III, translates a text similar to that contained in the royal manuscript of the Estoria de Espanna. The second is a translation of the Crónica de Castilla, to which was added …