Chronicle of San Juan de la Peña facts for kids
The Chronicle of San Juan de la Peña (also known as Crónica pinatense) is an important history book from the old Kingdom of Aragon. It was written in Latin around the year 1359. King Peter IV of Aragon asked for it to be created.
This book was the first big history of Aragon. It was probably made to show the king's special rights and powers. This helped him against the powerful nobles, called the baronage. It also aimed to be as good as the Estoria de España, a similar history book from Castile that was written about a hundred years earlier. Later, between 1369 and 1372, the Chronicle was translated into Navarro-Aragonese and Catalan.
Contents
How the Chronicle was Made
The Chronicle is a collection of stories and facts from many different sources. Some of these sources were more historically accurate than others. Even though it is named after the San Juan de la Peña monastery, only parts of it were actually written there.
Starting the Project
As early as 1345, King Peter IV asked the monasteries of San Juan and Ripoll to start gathering information. This information was for a general history of his kingdom.
Contributions from Monasteries
The Ripoll monastery only added a version of the Gesta comitum Barchinonensium. This was a history of the counts of Barcelona, updated to 1310. Only about one-third of the Chronicle, dealing with events specific to the San Juan monastery, was likely written there. The monks at San Juan used a book called De rebus Hispaniae a lot. This book was written by Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada and covered the history of Spain up to 1137.
Putting it All Together
The materials collected at Ripoll and San Juan were eventually sent to Barcelona. There, they were put together into one complete work. A finished copy of the book was sent by the king to the Cathedral of Valencia in 1372. This original copy is still kept in the cathedral library today.
Modern Translations
The Chronicle of San Juan de la Peña has been translated into modern languages. An Spanish translation by Antonio Ubieto Arteta came out in 1964. An English translation by Lynn H. Nelson was published in 1991.
See also
In Spanish: Crónica de San Juan de la Peña para niños
