Estoria de Espanna Digital

The Estoria de Espanna Digital is the fruit of a four year project funded by the AHRC. It represents the digital edition of Alfonso el Sabio’s most renowned chronicle.

Estoria de Espanna

The project involved the transcription in TEI5 compliant xml and the construction of an edition and on-line research environment. It is the first such digital edition of a large scale work of medieval Iberian prose.

“The Estoria de Espanna is the chronicle of Spain composed […] some time in the early 1270s (although work on the project had probably begun much earlier). It is the history of Spain from its legendary origins up to the death of Fernando III, el Santo –Alfonso’s own father- in 1252. It is the first (and perhaps greatest) history of Spain to be composed in the vernacular. It can (must?) be understood in the political and social context of its time of composition- the period in the middle of Alfonso’s reign when the king retained the ambition to be declared Emperor. It might also be understood an element in Alfonso’s political and cultural ambitions in which it stood as a central part of an all-encompassing project which involved translations from a range of languages (not least Arabic) in a relentless effort to recast the very foundations of history, the law, science and literature and their place in the medieval kingdom. It was a pursuit of knowledge and understanding- and their role in contemporary society- which made of Alfonso’s court one of the most cultured and advanced of its day in Europe.” 

Project team:

Director - Aengus Ward 

Editors - Fiona Maguire, Enrique Jerez Cabrero, Bárbara Bordalejo, Polly Duxfield, Christian Kusi Obodum and Ricardo Pichel Gotérrez 

Software Developers - Cat Smith and Zeth Green

External resources:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/estoriadeespanna/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EstoriadEspanna 

Outcomes:

Digital edition of the Estoria de Espanna Digital 

Digital exhibition and teaching materials