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57-601: The Estoria de España ("History of Spain"), also known in the 1906 edition of Ramón Menéndez Pidal as the Primera Crónica General ("First General Chronicle"), is a history book written on the initiative of Alfonso X of Castile "El Sabio" ("the Wise"), reigned 1252-1284, and who was actively involved in the chronicle's editing. It is believed to be the first extended history of Spain in Old Spanish ,

114-480: A West Iberian Romance language that forms part of the lineage from Vulgar Latin to modern Spanish. Many prior works were consulted in constructing this history. The book narrates a history beginning in Biblical and legendary origins and continues through the history of Castile under Fernando III of Castile . In the style of chronicles of its time, it begins by retelling the stories of remote origins found in

171-472: A century earlier by John of Salisbury and then in vogue in political circles of the Christian West: the kingdom is a body, the king its head and heart, the people the limbs. Recognizing the difficulty of putting into practice the precepts inspired by these ideas, the king proposed to develop a panoply of scientific, literary, artistic, and historical works intended to convey his political ideas through

228-458: A literary language. Alfonso's nephew Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena , author of Tales of Count Lucanor ("Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio") was greatly inspired by the Estoria. Ram%C3%B3n Men%C3%A9ndez Pidal Menéndez Pidal was born in A Coruña , Galicia , Spain. His father, Juan Menéndez Fernández, was a lawyer and magistrate from Asturias . His mother

285-582: A moral basis for the king and his designs by furnishing positive and negative examples to his subjects—at least those who had access to books. Though that was a relatively small proportion of the populace, it was a relatively large proportion of the often rebellious nobility . For example, the narration of the fall of the Visigoths provides an occasion to denounce the evil of internal wars. This history of Spain written in Castilian court served also to support

342-501: A nit-picking classicist" and only the "technical research into languages and families". In The Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis , the main character, Elwin Ransom, is a philologist – as was Lewis' close friend J. R. R. Tolkien . Dr. Edward Morbius, one of the main characters in the science fiction film Forbidden Planet , is a philologist. Philip, the main character of Christopher Hampton 's 'bourgeois comedy' The Philanthropist ,

399-567: A position that he held until his retirement in 1939. In 1900 he married María Goyri , who in 1896 became the first Spanish woman to receive a degree in Philosophy and later, in 1909, became the first woman to attain a non-medical doctorate at a Spanish university. They spent their honeymoon retracing the geographic locales of the Poem of the Cid ( Cantar de Mio Cid ). Menéndez Pidal was elected to

456-473: A reconstructed text accompanied by a " critical apparatus ", i.e., footnotes that listed the various manuscript variants available, enabling scholars to gain insight into the entire manuscript tradition and argue about the variants. A related study method known as higher criticism studies the authorship, date, and provenance of text to place such text in a historical context. As these philological issues are often inseparable from issues of interpretation, there

513-531: A script used in the ancient Aegean, was deciphered in 1952 by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick , who demonstrated that it recorded an early form of Greek, now known as Mycenaean Greek . Linear A , the writing system that records the still-unknown language of the Minoans , resists deciphering, despite many attempts. Work continues on scripts such as the Maya , with great progress since the initial breakthroughs of

570-588: Is a professor of philology in an English university town . Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld , the main character in Alexander McCall Smith 's 1997 comic novel Portuguese Irregular Verbs is a philologist, educated at Cambridge. The main character in the Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012, Footnote , is a Hebrew philologist, and a significant part of the film deals with his work. The main character of

627-462: Is contrasted with linguistics due to Ferdinand de Saussure 's insistence on the importance of synchronic analysis . While the contrast continued with the emergence of structuralism and the emphasis of Noam Chomsky on syntax , research in historical linguistics often relies on philological materials and findings. The term philology is derived from the Greek φιλολογία ( philología ), from

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684-524: Is known as a philologist . In older usage, especially British, philology is more general, covering comparative and historical linguistics . Classical philology studies classical languages . Classical philology principally originated from the Library of Pergamum and the Library of Alexandria around the fourth century BC, continued by Greeks and Romans throughout the Roman and Byzantine Empire . It

741-516: Is no clear-cut boundary between philology and hermeneutics . When text has a significant political or religious influence (such as the reconstruction of Biblical texts), scholars have difficulty reaching objective conclusions. Some scholars avoid all critical methods of textual philology, especially in historical linguistics, where it is important to study the actual recorded materials. The movement known as new philology has rejected textual criticism because it injects editorial interpretations into

798-440: Is the study of language in oral and written historical sources . It is the intersection of textual criticism , literary criticism , history , and linguistics with strong ties to etymology . Philology is also defined as the study of literary texts and oral and written records, the establishment of their authenticity and their original form, and the determination of their meaning. A person who pursues this kind of study

855-417: Is treated amongst other scholars, as noted by both the philologists R.D Fulk and Leonard Neidorf who have been quoted saying "This field "philology's commitment to falsification renders it "at odds with what many literary scholars believe because the purpose of philology is to narrow the range of possible interpretations rather than to treat all reasonable ones as equal". This use of falsification can be seen in

912-538: The Estoria de España , but, given the focus back to Biblical times, the subject matter overlapped significantly. Work was not resumed until 1282, when Alfonso established his court in Seville. In the light of recent and difficult times, Alfonso disowned the original version of 1271, and proposed a new edition reflecting the experience of facing a rebellious forces including even his own son Sancho . This "Critical" version

969-797: The Middle French philologie , in the sense of 'love of literature'. The adjective φιλόλογος ( philólogos ) meant 'fond of discussion or argument, talkative', in Hellenistic Greek , also implying an excessive (" sophistic ") preference of argument over the love of true wisdom, φιλόσοφος ( philósophos ). As an allegory of literary erudition, philologia appears in fifth-century postclassical literature ( Martianus Capella , De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii ), an idea revived in Late Medieval literature ( Chaucer , Lydgate ). The meaning of "love of learning and literature"

1026-703: The Neogothic ideology the kingdoms of León and Castile were the repositories of the authority of kings Visigoths who fled the Muslim conquest . In claiming the legacy of the Goths, who had secured the political and religious unity of the entire peninsula, the Castilians sought to impose their hegemony on various peninsular kingdoms: Aragon , Navarre , Portugal and of course the Muslim territories. The sources upon which

1083-510: The Primera Crónica General , can be attributed not to the will of Alfonso, but to Menéndez Pidal making use of late and unsatisfactory manuscripts of the Estoria . In 1906, philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal published the texts of two manuscripts (the second continuing the story of the first, which concludes with the Muslim conquest of Spain) conserved at the library of El Escorial , which he believed to be originals from

1140-772: The Roman Empire . The second tells the history of the barbarian and Gothic kings, treated as antecedents within the Iberian Peninsula . The third is a history of the Kingdom of Asturias from which the Reconquista (the Christian reconquest of Iberia from Muslim rule) began. The fourth and final part is a history of the Kingdoms of León and Castile . As discussed below, not all of the Estoria de España

1197-853: The Romanz del Infant García ("Romance of Prince García") and the Cantar de Sancho II ("Song of Sancho II"), as well as large fragments of the Cantar de los Siete Infantes de Lara ("Song of the Seven Lara Princes"), the Poema de Fernán González ("Poem of Fernán González") and the Mocedades de Rodrigo ("Deeds of the Young Rodrigo"). Arabic influences can be seen in Alfonso's style, with

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1254-579: The Spanish Civil War , Menéndez Pidal forcibly became an "independent scholar" and revised much of his earlier work. However, from this period is his sweeping essay "Los españoles en la Historia," a study that traces the struggle between liberals and conservatives in the entire course of Spanish history. He also summarised his findings on the ballads in Romancero Hispánico: Teoría e historia (1953) and applied his theory of

1311-400: The "triumph" of Castilian. A ballad collection, designed for the general public, Flor nueva de romances viejos (1928) became a best seller, and includes some versions of ballads that Menéndez Pidal had authored himself. Finally, La España del Cid (1929) traced the career of the 11th century warrior lord, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar ("El Cid"), in a scholarly biography of some 1000 pages. After

1368-420: The 1270s, already had the four-part structure. Unfortunately for Alfonso X, the following years were hardly more peaceful: Maghrebi invasions, rebellions, the premature death of his designated heir Fernando de la Cerda . Furthermore, Alfonso undertook another monumental literary project: the compilation of a universal history entitled General estoria or Grande e general estoria . This interrupted work on

1425-549: The Bible, classical Latin historiography, ecclesiastical legends, chansons de geste , and Arab historians. The existence of written epics in languages descended from Vulgar Latin was not unprecedented, but there had never before been such detailed and expansive chroniclers' prose versions of these poems, tho the point where one can reliably reconstruct lost chansons de geste , such as the Condesa traidora ("Traitor Countess"),

1482-479: The Bible. From the time of Moses onward, the mix begins to include Greek sources on ancient history. However, as the story continues, the details become increasingly detailed, especially from the Germanic invasions to the time of Alfonso's father Fernando III . The work is divided into four large parts. The first includes a history of Ancient Rome : the medieval European monarchs considered themselves heirs to

1539-735: The Nobel committee received 95 nominations for Menéndez Pidal, including nominations from the Royal Spanish Academy, Real Academia de la Historia and a number of professors from various universities. He was an elected international member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society . Philology Philology (from Ancient Greek φιλολογία ( philología )  'love of word')

1596-541: The Spanish Royal Academy ( Real Academia Española ) in 1901 and was elected director in 1925. However, he resigned in 1939 under pressure from academics who wanted a director more acceptable to the Franco regime. While neither Menéndez Pidal or his wife took an anti-Franco position, the authories were suspicious of María Goyri's liberal views. In December 1947 he was re-elected director unanimously, and he held

1653-599: The ancient languages of the Near East progressed rapidly. In the mid-19th century, Henry Rawlinson and others deciphered the Behistun Inscription , which records the same text in Old Persian , Elamite , and Akkadian , using a variation of cuneiform for each language. The elucidation of cuneiform led to the decipherment of Sumerian . Hittite was deciphered in 1915 by Bedřich Hrozný . Linear B ,

1710-418: The chapter numbers are from Menéndez Pidal's edition: There were two major periods of work on the book. The first occurred between circa 1260 and 1274. The second, producing the version known as the "critical version", was written between 1282 and 1284, the date of Alfonso's death. As early as 1271 Alfonso authorized a version, known as the "Royal" or "Primitive" version, which carried the history only down to

1767-483: The debate surrounding the etymology of the Old English character Unferth from the heroic epic poem Beowulf . James Turner further disagrees with how the use of the term is dismissed in the academic world, stating that due to its branding as a "simpleminded approach to their subject" the term has become unknown to college-educated students, furthering the stereotypes of "scrutiny of ancient Greek or Roman texts of

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1824-475: The earlier parts of the second came from the royal ateliers. The rest was an assemblage of manuscripts of various origins, dating from the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th. These were undoubtedly brought together by chancellor Fernán Sánchez de Valladolid towards the end of the reign of Alphonse XI . The Estoria puts forth a worldview heavily influenced by the Policraticus written

1881-427: The ever wider circulation of manuscripts of the Estoria and other works in the court, to the nobility, and to the monasteries and cathedrals. This began the cultural hegemony that led Castilian to become the dominant language of Spain and, later, its empire. This adoption of Castilian as the language for the work led to a true process of literary creation. Under Alfonso X , in this and other works, Castilian becomes

1938-535: The famous decipherment and translation of the Rosetta Stone by Jean-François Champollion in 1822, some individuals attempted to decipher the writing systems of the Ancient Near East and Aegean . In the case of Old Persian and Mycenaean Greek , decipherment yielded older records of languages already known from slightly more recent traditions ( Middle Persian and Alphabetic Greek ). Work on

1995-463: The original principles of textual criticism have been improved and applied to other widely distributed texts such as the Bible . Scholars have tried to reconstruct the original readings of the Bible from the manuscript variants. This method was applied to classical studies and medieval texts as a way to reconstruct the author's original work. The method produced so-called "critical editions", which provided

2052-670: The origins of epic poetry to French literature in La Chanson de Roland y el neotradicionalismo (1959). Menéndez Pidal worked for many years on a comprehensive history of the Spanish language, which he could not complete in his lifetime; the two volumes have been published posthumously as "Historia de la lengua española" (2005). He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature a record 154 times, but never won. In 1956 alone,

2109-524: The origins of older texts. Philology also includes the study of texts and their history. It includes elements of textual criticism , trying to reconstruct an author's original text based on variant copies of manuscripts. This branch of research arose among ancient scholars in the Greek-speaking world of the 4th century BC, who desired to establish a standard text of popular authors for both sound interpretation and secure transmission. Since that time,

2166-615: The phonetic approach championed by Yuri Knorozov and others in the 1950s. Since the late 20th century, the Maya code has been almost completely deciphered, and the Mayan languages are among the most documented and studied in Mesoamerica . The code is described as a logosyllabic style of writing. In English-speaking countries, usage of the term "philology" to describe work on languages and works of literature, which had become synonymous with

2223-578: The position for the rest of his life. In 1910, he became the head of the philology section at the Centro de Estudios Históricos (Center for Historical Studies), a division of the liberal and Europe-oriented Junta para Ampliación de Estudios  [ es ] , which also had sections devoted to medicine, physics, chemistry, and mathematics. In 1914 the Centro founded the Revista de Filología Española ( Journal of Spanish Philology ), which would become

2280-632: The practices of German scholars, was abandoned as a consequence of anti-German feelings following World War I . Most continental European countries still maintain the term to designate departments, colleges, position titles, and journals. J. R. R. Tolkien opposed the nationalist reaction against philological practices, claiming that "the philological instinct" was "universal as is the use of language". In British English usage, and British academia, philology remains largely synonymous with "historical linguistics", while in US English , and US academia,

2337-548: The premier scholarly journal in the fields of linguistics and Medieval and Renaissance Spanish literature. During the 1920s Menéndez Pidal published in rapid succession a series of major studies: Poesía juglaresca y juglares (1924) traced the development of minstrel poetry in medieval Spain. Orígenes del español (1926), a landmark in Romance linguistics, retraces the pre-literary phase of the Ibero-Romance dialects, and

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2394-447: The reign of Fernando I of Castile (reigned 1033–1065), with some rough drafts down to the time of Alfonso VII of León and Castile (reigned 1135–1157). A serious political crisis in 1272 —a rebellion by nobility hostile to Alfonso's imperial ambitions—postponed work for several months. The team of scholars continued working with less supervision from the king, producing the "Concise" or "Vulgar" version in 1274. These editions completed in

2451-449: The relationship between languages. Similarities between Sanskrit and European languages were first noted in the early 16th century and led to speculation of a common ancestor language from which all these descended. It is now named Proto-Indo-European . Philology's interest in ancient languages led to the study of what was, in the 18th century, "exotic" languages, for the light they could cast on problems in understanding and deciphering

2508-508: The results of human mental processes. This science compares the results of textual science with the results of experimental research of both psychology and artificial intelligence production systems. In the case of Bronze Age literature , philology includes the prior decipherment of the language under study. This has notably been the case with the Egyptian , Sumerian , Assyrian , Hittite , Ugaritic , and Luwian languages. Beginning with

2565-536: The several juridical collections he drafted, notably the Espéculo and the Siete Partidas . The Estoria played a role in elaborating a common past for the nation (in the medieval sense of that word), to build an identity, and for the individual to find his place in this group. National history is recounted in such a way as to inspire in the readers behaviors sought by the monarchy. The Estoria elaborates

2622-515: The terms φίλος ( phílos ) 'love, affection, loved, beloved, dear, friend' and λόγος ( lógos ) 'word, articulation, reason', describing a love of learning, of literature, as well as of argument and reasoning, reflecting the range of activities included under the notion of λόγος . The term changed little with the Latin philologia , and later entered the English language in the 16th century, from

2679-404: The text and destroys the integrity of the individual manuscript, hence damaging the reliability of the data. Supporters of new philology insist on a strict "diplomatic" approach: a faithful rendering of the text exactly as found in the manuscript, without emendations. Another branch of philology, cognitive philology, studies written and oral texts. Cognitive philology considers these oral texts as

2736-410: The time of Alfonso X. He entitled the collection the Primera Crónica General de España - Estoria de España que mandó componer Alfonso el Sabio y se continuaba bajo Sancho IV en 1289 ("First general chronicle of Spain: History of Spain ordered to be composed by Alfonso the wise and continued under Sancho IV in 1289"). Later critics—especially Diego Catalán —demonstrated that only the first manuscript and

2793-461: The use of comparisons and similes not habitual in the Western prose of the time. They can also be seen in an historic perspective and a notable equilibrium in episodes to which Andalusian sources brought a different focus. Arab historiography can also be credited for the awareness in the Estoria de España of economic and social aspects of history. The great originality of the Estoria de España

2850-401: The wider meaning of "study of a language's grammar, history and literary tradition" remains more widespread. Based on the harsh critique of Friedrich Nietzsche, some US scholars since the 1980s have viewed philology as responsible for a narrowly scientistic study of language and literature. Disagreements in the modern day of this branch of study are followed with the likes of how the method

2907-507: The work draws most heavily for details were the lengthy Latin chronicles that, at that time, constituted the most complete account of the history of Spain: the Chronicon mundi (1236) by Lucas de Tuy , bishop of Tuy , known as el Tudense , and De rebus Hispaniae (1243) by Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada , bishop of Toledo , known as el Toledano . Besides these sources, Alfonso and his collaborators drew on other medieval Latin chronicles,

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2964-511: Was Ramona Pidal, also an Asturian. His older brother, Juan Menéndez Pidal , whom he outlived by more than fifty years, was also a literary scholar of the folk poetry of Asturias. Another older brother, Luis Menéndez Pidal , was a realist painter and professor of art history. He studied at the University of Madrid . In 1899 he was appointed chair in Romance studies in the same university,

3021-413: Was completed during the reign of Alfonso X. The edition of Ramón Menéndez Pidal does not show all of the work actually completed during that reign and endorsed by Alfonso, but has the advantage of providing a linear narrative that offers the reader a comprehensive narrative history of Spain from its origins to the death of Fernando III, as intended by Alfonso. The Estoria is divided into four large parts;

3078-525: Was eventually resumed by European scholars of the Renaissance , where it was soon joined by philologies of other European ( Romance , Germanic , Celtic ), Eurasian ( Slavic , etc.), Asian ( Arabic , Persian , Sanskrit , Chinese , etc.), and African ( Egyptian , Nubian , etc.) languages. Indo-European studies involve the comparative philology of all Indo-European languages . Philology, with its focus on historical development ( diachronic analysis),

3135-413: Was narrowed to "the study of the historical development of languages" ( historical linguistics ) in 19th-century usage of the term. Due to the rapid progress made in understanding sound laws and language change , the "golden age of philology" lasted throughout the 19th century, or "from Giacomo Leopardi and Friedrich Schlegel to Nietzsche ". The comparative linguistics branch of philology studies

3192-431: Was not completed in Alfonso's lifetime. Sancho, succeeding Alfonso as Sancho IV of Castile, continued the work, producing the "Amplified" version of 1289. In its various versions, the Estoria de España spread, expanded, and served as historical canon well into the modern era. A definitive edition was approved by Alfonso X up to chapter 616. The contradictions identified in the latter chapters of Menéndez Pidal's edition,

3249-462: Was to write such a work in the Castilian language of its time, rather than Latin. Since the time of Alfonso's father Fernando III, this had become a language of court. A translation of the Libro Juzgo , a compendium of Visigothic law, had been translated during Fernando's reign. Still, systematic use of what would now be called Old Spanish begins in the time of Alfonso X, in particular because of

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