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17th century, purporting to be 15th century. Catalonia (Iberia). Boades is the pseudonymous author of the Llibre de feits d'armes de Catalunya (Book of the Feats of Arms of Catalonia) and fictitious chaplain of Blanes, whose year of death is given as 1444. In fact the work was written and the persona of Boades was invented by Catalan historian and friar Joan Gaspar Roig i Jalpí (1624-91). Roig i Jalpí was himself born in Blanes, but between 1670 and 1673 he lived in Madrid, where he was the chronicler of the Crown of Aragon. A supporter of the Hispanic Habsburg dynasty, he was opposed to the …

12th century. Catalonia (Iberia). Latin annalistic chronicle, which relates the history of the Benedictine monastery of Sant Martí del Canigó (Saint-Martin-du-Canigou) in Northern Catalonia, from its origins in 1001 until the 12th century. It contains details of the life of Count Guilfré I of Cerdagne (988-1035) the founder of the monastery, and a record of the duration of tenure of the abbots. It is an eminently local chronicle, influenced by the historiographical activity of the neighbouring monastery of Ripoll (see Chronicones Rivipullenses). The manuscript is lost. The t…

1411-1714. Catalonia (Iberia). Daybook or register of the main events in Barcelona and Catalonia. Written in Catalan by the escrivà major (principal notary) of the Diputació del General or Generalitat (Catalan government), the Dietari, or Manual as it was originally called, is composed of 109 volumes, preserved in Barcelona, Arxiu de la Corona d'Aragó. Each volume contains a period of nine years, subdivided in periods of three years. The Dietari, whose content is very varied, is a chronicle of the Generalitat, but one enriched with significant news of Catalonia and the world.The secti…

ca 940. Catalonia (Iberia). Chronicle of the Frankish kings from Clovis, founder of the Merovingian dynasty, to Louis IV (481-939), in Latin and Arabic versions. According to Ibn Hayyān ( Al-Muqtabis fī tarīkh Al-Andalus 5), Bishop Gotmar II of Girona, who headed an embassy to Córdoba on behalf of Count Sunyer of Barcelona (September 940), gave the book to the Cordoban Prince Al-Hakam. The book was translated into Arabic. Soon after, in 947-48, al-Masʿūdi found it in al-Fustāt (ancient Cairo), and he used it in his work Murūj adh-dhahab wa maʾādin al-jawāhir (The Meadows of Gold and t…

13th–15th century. Catalonia (Iberia). An annalistic chronicle in Catalan based on the Languedocien Chronicon Dertusense I, until the year 1260, and completed with Valencian annalistic data as late as 1437, some in account book form and related to the Dietari del capellà d'Alfons el Magnànim. The text is found in El Escorial, RMSL, d-III-2. There is no edition.David Garrido VallsBibliography Literature M. Coll I Alentorn, "La historiografia de Catalunya en el període primitiu", in Historiografia, 1991, 11-62.

11th century. Catalonia (Iberia). A knight during the reign of Count Raymond Berenger III of Barcelona (1055-82), to whom is attributed the Sumari de la població d'Espanya i de les conquestes de Catalunya. However, this chronicle was in fact written in the last third of the 15th century with the aim of exalting the Catalan nobility. The text is preserved in three manuscripts, El Escorial, RMSL, Y-III-4, El Escorial, RSML, Y-III-5 and Madrid, BNE, 7964. The Sumari picks up the legend of Otger Cataló and the "nine knights of the fame" and other legendary stories to justify the …

[a quodam monacho rivipullensi scripta anno Christi MCXLVII] 1147. Catalonia (Iberia). Latin annalistic chronicle written in Ripoll to legitimate the privileges and possessions of the Benedictine abbey. It embraces the period from the foundation of the monastery in 879 until 1147. The manuscript, now lost, was edited by Étienne Baluze in the appendix of Pèire de Marca's Marca Hispanica (1688). It is the most significant source of the Gesta Comitum Barcinonensium.David Garrido VallsBibliography Literature R. Beer, "Los manuscrits del monastir de Santa Maria de Ripoll", Boletín de…

(The End of the Count of Urgell) ca 1469. Catalonia (Iberia). An anonymous Catalan-language chronicle possibly written by an opponent of King Joan II of Catalonia and Aragon during the Catalan Civil War (1462-72). La fi del comte d'Urgell, written in dialogue, supports the claim of Count Jaume II of Urgell (d. 1433), called "el Dissortat" (the Unhappy), to the Catalan-Aragonese throne; a throne won by his adversary Ferran I of Antequera (King Joan II's father) after the Compromise of Caspe (1412).The earliest known manuscript, Paris, BnF, espagnol 554, is incomplete and dates fr…

15th century. Catalonia (Iberia). Author of an annalistic chronicle in Catalan, written at Perpignan in 1423. The Cronicó begins with the establishment of Roman Emperor Honorius in Ravenna (404) and it concludes with the Catalan victory against the French fleet in the bay of Naples (1284). Among other sources, the chronicle uses manuscripts of the same family (see Chronicones Barcinonenses) and the Crónicó dels fets d'Ultramar. The manuscript is Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Gl.Kgl. 432.David Garrido VallsBibliography Literature A. Fàbrega Grau, "La Biblioteca Real d…

15th century. Catalonia (Iberia). Bishop of Zaragoza and Catalan-Aragonese chancellor. Probable author of three chronicles on the lives of Ferran I, Joan I and Martí I. At any rate, the three works, which are transmitted together in two codices, had a single author who must have been linked to the royal chancellery. They were written ca 1418-24 in Catalan.The Crònica de Joan I [or Crònica del regnat de Joan I] is a history of the reign of the  Catalan-Aragonese King Joan/John I (1387-1396), son of Pere III "the Ceremonious".The Crònica de Martí I [or Crònica del regnat de Martí I] covers his …

(Daybook of Alphonso the Magnanimous's Chaplain) ca 1478. Catalonia (Iberia). Universal chronicle in Catalan from the creation of the world until 1478. Authorship of the Dietari was attributed by its first editor, Josep Sanchis i Sivera, to Melcior Miralles (ca 1419-1502), who was chaplain of King Alfonso the Magnanimous (Alfonso V of Aragón and IV of Catalonia; 1416-58). The original title of the work, as recorded in the oldest manuscript, is Llibre de les canòniques de Espanya e dels actes e fets del temps present (Book of the chronicles of Spain and of the acts and deeds of …

13th century. Catalonia (Iberia). An abridged version of the Historia Gotica of Archbishop Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, possibly written by Pere Ribera de Perpinyà, who was the author of a later Catalan translation. The Status Hispaniae ad principio usque nunc raises the profile of Catalonia in the Reconquest of Hispania (Spain), although it maintains the inherent logic of Jiménez de Rada's chronicle with its focus on the Asturian Leonese monarchy. The Status Hispaniae also foregrounds the contribution of King Jaume I of Catalonia and Aragon (1213-76), with whom the text concludes.…

(Historical Memoirs of Catalonia) 15th century. Catalonia (Iberia). Anonymous short chronicle in Catalan written in 1418, found in only one manuscript, Madrid, BNE, ms. 2,639. Based on the Crònica dels reis d'Aragó i comtes de Barcelona and De rebus Hispaniae by Archbishop Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada of Toledo, it recounts peninsular history from the legendary first settlement of Spain by Japhet (third son of Noah), Canòniques en quina manera se potblà Spanya ni de quines nacions, until the reign of Count Borrell II of Barcelona (947-92), where the narration is interrupted (fol. 59v): ...e …

[Crònica del Racional de la Ciutat] 15th century. Catalonia (Iberia). A Latin chronicle usually known by the Catalan form of the title used by its editor, the text takes the form of annalistic annotations, by three different hands, about events of the city of Barcelona between 1334 and 1417, in a codex (Barcelona, Arxiu Històric de la Ciutat de Barcelona, L-5) that also contains the privileges and laws of the city. The codex also contains the Cronicó Barceloní, belonging to the Barcinonense family. It is considered an intermediate step between the old Catalan chronicones, ( Chronicones Ba…

(Chronicle of Perpignan) 13th–15th century. Catalonia. An annalistic chronicle written in Catalan at Perpignan (Northern Catalonia, now Southern France), based on a text of the Languedocian annalistic group (see Chronicon Dertusense I), which includes annotations from the last years of King Jaume I of Catalonia and Aragon (1208-76) to 1284. A note on 1421 was added subsequently. At the present time, the manuscript with the Cronicó de Perpinyà is in the Catalan abbey of Montserrat (Biblioteca de Montserrat, ms. 1036).David Garrido VallsBibliography Text J. Moran I Ocerinjauregui, C…

(Comprehensive history) 16th or early 17th century, purporting to be 4th century. Aragon (Iberia). Also called the Chronicon of Pseudo-Dexter, the Omnimoda historia is an apocryphal chronicle, written by the Spanish Jesuit Jerónimo Román de la Higuera (1538-1611). A copy of this history, copied in 1618, is today in Copenhagen, Kongelige Bibliotek, AMM 822. It was published for the first time in Zaragoza in 1619De la Higuera claimed the text was the lost Omnimoda historia of Nummius Aemilianus Dexter, whom he erroneously called Flavius Lucius Dexter. Jerome's De viris illustribus rec…

13th-14th century. Catalonia (Hibernia). A Latin annalistic chronicle of the family of Ripoll (see Chronicones Rivipullenses), discovered by Villanueva in a parchment codex of the convent of the Discalced Carmelites of Barcelona (today in Barcelona, BU, ms. 588). Villanueva only transcribed excerpts and the chronicle remains unpublished. The Chronicon Rivipullense (title is given by a 16th century hand, fol. 11r) occupies fol. 11r-42v of the codex. This version is the most extensive in the Rivipullense family. It begins in the year 1 of the Hispanic Era (38 bc) and it continues to…

14th century. Catalonia (Iberia). Royal chaplain, and Catalan translator of the Chronicon Siculum or Sicilian Anonymous. The translation, entitled the Crònica de Sicília, was made ca 1380 on the orders of King Pere IV of Aragon (III of Catalonia). In this form, the chronicle enjoyed wide distribution in the Catalan-Aragonese court, and became the official history of Sicily governed by Aragonese kings.There are four parts in the narrative structure of Crònica de Sicília and Chronicon Siculum: a first legendary section up to the Arab conquest, a second dedicated to the Norman stage, a …

971?-1046. Catalonia (Iberia). Offspring of a noble Catalan family (third son of Count Oliba of Cerdanya and Besalú), Oliba was the abbot of the Benedictine monasteries of Santa Maria of Ripoll and Sant Miquel of Cuixà from 1008 and bishop of Vic from 1018. He is believed to be the author of three poems in Latin dealing with various aspects of the history of Catalonia.The first, the Epicedion Raimundi Comitis Barcinonensis was written in 1017-18 in honour of Count Raymond Borrell of Barcelona (d. 1017). The original manuscript is no longer extant although it is preserved in a 12th-century co…

10th–13th century. Catalonia (Iberia). A family of Latin annalistic chronicles emerging from the cultural environment of the Benedictine monasteries of Ripoll and Cuixà and dealing principally with the monastery of Ripoll. The text complex began around the last third of the 10th century and was encouraged by Abbot Oliba, bishop of Vic, who governed both monastic centers from 1008 to 1047. The oldest text is the Chronicon Rivipullense I, which was begun in the 10th century. The earliest evidence for the family outside Ripoll is the Chronicon Rotense II (not to be confused with the Chronico…