La Crónica de Castilla, paradigma de la historia novelesca

Abstract

Abstract: This paper is the initial outcome of the research project «Cuenta la estoria: the post-Alphonsine chronicles and the opening of the horizon of literary fiction (1284-1344)», whose aim is to engage in a systematic study of the literary shift experienced by the vernacular chronicles produced in Castile in the wake of Alfonso X’s Estoria de España at the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth centuries. Our chosen object of study is the Crónica de Castilla (1290-1312), a text that represents the paradigm of the genre of historical fiction, as it is the one that best displays the deliberate deployment of poetic techniques by its author. Part One, «Textual issues», provides a summary of the conclusions textual scholars have reached concerning the relationship of the chronicle with the tradition of the Estoria de España. In Part Two, «The Crónica de Castilla: dramatised history?», the close reading of a short section of the chronicle allows us to formulate its shift towards fiction in the terms of a dramatization of the historical narrative.Keywords: Crónica de Castilla, Estoria de España, post-Alphonsine chonicles, fictional history, novelisation, dramatisation