Acknowledgements
Map of the county of Castile after 932 as depicted in the Poema de Fernan Gonzalez
Map of the Iberian Peninsula in 1252
From the Islamic invasion to the reign of Alfonso X: a chronology
The dynasty of the counts of Castile in the early tenth century
The rulers of Castile (House of Burgundy): 1126-1284
Illustrations
Introduction
1. The tale of Fernan Gonzalez
(i) The figure of Fernan Gonzalez: the intertwining of fact and legend
(ii) The manuscript of the Poema de Fernan Gonzalez and evidence of its missing content
(iii) The account of the hero's deeds in the Poema de Fernan Gonzalez and its relationship with historical fact
(iv) The epic,'popular' and 'learned'
(v) The Poema de Fernan Gonzalez and epic tradition
2. Inventing the past: a tenth-century hero in a thirteenth-century context
(i) The recovery of Christian Spain, the rise of the kingdom of Leon and the emergence of the county of Castile
(ii) The career and achievements of Fernan Gonzalez
(iii) After Fernan Gonzalez: the age of al-Mansur, conflict among the Christian kingdoms and their eventual supremacy over the Muslims
(iv) The twelfth century: the re-emergence of Navarre and rivalry between Castile and Leon
(v) The Plantagenets, the Castilian monarchy and an age of triumph
(vi) The Castilian court: a centre of learning and literary creation
(vii) The invention of a historical tradition
(viii) The monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza and its part in the development of a tradition
(ix) The reign of Alfonso X, the crisis of 1253-1255 and the African crusade: the background to the composition of the Poema de Fernan Gonzalez
3. Men of learning and juglares: the art of the mester de clerecia and the use of stylistic features associated with oral poetry
(i) The Libro de Alexandre and the mester de clerecia
(ii) Elements of oral narrative poetry incorporated in the work of the clerecia poets: direct speech, direct address and features of the spoken language
(iii) Other features of oral-formulaic style:'epic' epithets, 'pair phrases' and 'physical expressions'
(iv) The Poema de Fernan Gonzalez and the world of learning
(v) The construction of the Poema: features of folk narrative?
(vi) The creation of the Poema: drawing together the materials
4. Kingship and the social order, conquest and crusade: the themes of the Poema de Fernan Gonzalez
(i) The portrait of the hero
(ii) Sancha: a heroine in a masculine world of conflict
(iii) Castile and the Castilians: a chosen people
(iv) The Crown of Castile under Alfonso X: king and state, loyalty and treachery
(v) Fernan Gonzalez: a model and inspiration for a thirteenth-century monarch in a time of conflict
(vi) Castile and Leon
(vii) Christianity and Islam: the ruler's duty
(viii) Interpreting the Poema
(ix) Binding the poem together: the image of the hunt
5. Note on the Spanish text
6. The translation
Select bibliography
The POEMA DE FERNAN GONZALEZ: text, translation and notes
