Chronicle of 754

Mozarabic Chronicle is a modern term for an anonymous traditional Latin medieval chronicle. It was written in 754 by a Christian author who was cleric and al -Andalus, the dominated by the Muslims of the Iberian Peninsula, lived. The then living under Muslim rule, Christians are called Mozarabs; of this term is derived the present name of the Chronicle. Its value as a source for a relatively low source term is estimated by modern research is very high. It is considered a reliable narrative source for the final phase of the Western Goth and describes its destruction during the Islamic expansion.

Names and history of research

The plant was formerly known under other names. The first editor, Bishop Prudencio de Sandoval, who edited the Chronicle in 1615, she called Historia de Isidoro obispo de Badajoz ( " historical work of Bishop Isidore of Badajoz "). He held namely a bishop of Pax Iulia named Isidore ( Isidore Pacensis ) for the author and identified Pax Iulia with Badajoz. This was a double mistake; neither the author nor Isidor Badajoz is the ancient Pax Iulia. Isidore Pacensis is rather a fictional character that came into being through a mediaeval spelling errors; meant was originally the bishop and historian Isidore of Seville ( Isidorus Hispalensis ). However, this can not be the author, since he lived in the 7th century. The alleged chronicler Isidore Pacensis was called in the early modern period to distinguish it from Isidore of Seville also Isidore the Younger ( Isidore Iunior ).

1885 Jules Tailhan published in Paris a new edition of the Chronicle. It was clear that the authorship traditionally adopted the Bishop Isidor is a mistake. Therefore he called the author Anonyme de Cordova ( " Anonymous of Cordoba" ), because he said it had probably been a resident of Córdoba. Theodor Mommsen, who edited the Chronicle in 1894, she called Continuatio Isidoriana Hispana ( " Hispanic continuation of [ the Chronicle ] Isidore [ of Seville ]"). The editor Juan Gil led in 1973 the name Chronica Muzarabica a; another editor, José Eduardo López Pereira, called the work in his edition of 1980 " Mozarabic Chronicle of 754 ".

Author and Content

The Mozarabic Chronicle includes a variety of late antique chronicles and treats the period from the accession of the Emperor Heraclius to 754 The events in Hispania or al -Andalus are the focus, but is also the chronicler of the history of the Byzantine Empire and the Caliphate one. Although there are errors in the description, increases the reliability, the more the chronicler of his own time approaches. Especially for the circumstances of the Arab conquest, which he describes as a disaster, as well as for the subsequent period, he provides valuable information. The Arab rulers, both the governor of al -Andalus and the Caliph in Damascus, the chronicler assessed without religious bias according to their merits or evils and donates some of them high praise. He avoids mentioning the religious antagonism between Christians and Muslims, or to say anything about Islam, and does not identify Muslims as such, but referred to them as expressions of ethnic Arabs, Moors or Saracens. One of the Arab governor of al -Andalus, Yahya ibn al - Kalbi Sallama ( 726-728 ), which he criticized as horrible and cruel rulers, he accuses to have the Christians returned goods that had been taken from them by the Muslim invasion. He probably saw this action as a threat to internal peace.

Is about the person of the author, except that he was a Christian and in all likelihood clergyman, nothing is known. He apparently had access to information from oral or written Arabic sources, and perhaps was also active for the Arab administration. When his place of residence to be taken into the research Cordoba, Toledo and Murcia into consideration; a stay in Córdoba refer indirectly to his own words. His good knowledge of late antique and early medieval literature points to a first-class cultural center like Toledo. He used different systems, including the year 38 BC incipient " Spanish era," the Islamic era and the years of the reign of the Byzantine emperor and the caliph for dating. He admits to have also written a more detailed historical work, which he called Epitoma ( " outline "); it was about civil war turmoil in al -Andalus in the forties of the 8th century and has not been preserved.

Another chronicle of the 8th century, known as the Chronicle of 741 or Chronica Byzantia Arabica, Hispania dealt with only marginally and is dedicated primarily to the events in the eastern Mediterranean. But it is originated in the Iberian Peninsula, as the chronicler dated after the Spanish era. The previously held view, this work was known to the author of the Mozarabic Chronicle and has been recovered from him, has proven to be incorrect.

The downfall of the Western Goth, the author of the Mozarabic Chronicle radically different to that which began in the 9th century chronicles of the Christian Kingdom of Asturias, which shaped the medieval and early modern history of Spain. The questions asked by the Asturian chroniclers in the foreground legends, according to which the Visigoth Witiza was one of the main culprits in the decline and fall of the Western Goth and cooperated Witizas sons with the attacking Muslims and so much contributed to the Visigothic defeat, do not occur in the representation of the Mozarabers, rather he judged Witizas government positively. His account has significantly contributed to the fact that modern research could expose the treachery legend.

Linguistically, written in the very vulgar Latin work of the Mozarabic chronicler is one of the most difficult Latin texts of the early Middle Ages. It is thus also a witness to the decline of the Latin language skills among educated Mozarabs the 8th century.

Among the medieval historians who used the Mozarabic Chronicle, include Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Musa ar - Razi ( 10th century ), the unknown author of the Historia Pseudo- Isidoriana (12th century) and Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada.

Editions and translations

• Juan Gil (eds.): Corpus scriptorum Muzarabicorum, Volume 1, Instituto " Antonio de Nebrija ", Madrid 1973, ISBN 84-00-03910-6, pp. 15-54
• José Eduardo López Pereira ( ed.): Crónica de Mozárabe 754, Zaragoza, 1980, ISBN 84-7013-166-4 ( Latin text and Spanish translation )
• Kenneth Baxter Wolf ( ed.): Conquerors and Chronic coupler of Early Medieval Spain, 2nd Edition, Translated Texts for Historians. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool 1999, ISBN 0-85323-554-6, pp. 25-42 (Introduction), 111-160 (English translation )
• Continuatio Isidoriana Hispana a DCCLIV. In: Theodor Mommsen (ed.): Auctores antiquissimi 11: Chronica minora SAEC. IV V VI. VII (II). Berlin 1894, pp. 323-369 ( Monumenta Historica Germaniae, digitized )