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Laddar... The Quest for El Cid (1989)av Richard Fletcher
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Gå med i LibraryThing för att få reda på om du skulle tycka om den här boken. Det finns inga diskussioner på LibraryThing om den här boken. Would be 5-star if not for the unfortunate effect this book had in Barcelona ( ) First, this is a good book. Informative, trenchant, and convincing, despite the author's occasional awkward syntax or frustrated word choices. It reminds me of an era of historical study not so long ago that avoided sentimental assurances meant to assuage contemporary feelings or, alternatively, settle for psychologically driven needs to reinforce disintegrating national mythoses. Instead, the Spain that Fletcher describes emerges from the Visigothic remnants of the sixth century to the disintegrating Islamic caliphate of the 11th century. This is the world into which El Cid was born, a fissile society prone to intrigue, opportunity, and violence. Finally, Fletcher notes that his is not a work meant to "stand up to academic scrutiny". And, indeed, it does not. Little ground is given to a review of the literature or the historiograhy of the period. Neither is his source material as helpful as it could be, although in all honesty this sort of intellectual breeziness is a hallmark of much contemporary British scholarship--at least as it compares with its American contemporaries. Nevertheless, this slim volume remains a valuable read, an important, even, survey of the time and the persons involved. inga recensioner | lägg till en recension
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Rodrigo Diaz, the legendary warrior-knight of eleventh-century Castile known as El Cid, is remembered today as the Christian hero of the Spanish crusade who waged wars of re-conquest for the triumph of the Cross over the Crescent. He is still honored in Spain as a national hero for liberating the fatherland from the occupying Moors. Yet, as Richard Fletcher shows in this award-winning book, there are many contradictions between eleventh-century reality and the mythology that developed with the passing years. By placing El Cid in a fresh, historical context, Fletcher shows us an adventurous soldier of fortune who was of a type, one of a number of "cids," or "bosses," who flourished in eleventh-century Spain. But the El Cid of legend--the national hero--was unique in stature even in his lifetime. Before his death El Cid was already celebrated in a poem written in tribute of the conquest of Almería; posthumously he was immortalized in the great epic Poema de Mio Cid and became the centerpiece for countless other works of literature. When he died in Valencia in 1099, he was ruler of an independent principality he had carved for himself in Eastern Spain. Rather than the zealous Christian leader many believe him to have been, Rodrigo emerges in Fletcher's study as a mercenary equally at home in the feudal kingdoms of northern Spain and the exotic Moorish lands of the south, selling his martial skills to Christian and Muslim alike. Indeed, his very title derives from the Arabic word sayyid meaning "lord" or "master." And as there was little if any sense of Spanish nationhood in the eleventh century, he can hardly be credited for uniting a medieval Spanish nation. In this ground-breaking inquiry into the life and times of El Cid, Fletcher disentangles fact from myth to create a striking portrait of an extraordinary man, clearly showing how and why legend transformed him into something he was not during his life. A fascinating journey through a turbulent epoch, The Quest for El Cid is filled with the excitement of discovery, and will delight readers interested not only in Spanish history and literature, but those who want to understand how myth can shape our perception of history. Inga biblioteksbeskrivningar kunde hittas. |
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Google Books — Laddar... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)946.02History and Geography Europe Spain and Iberian Peninsula Spain Moorish kingdom 711-1479Klassifikation enligt LCBetygMedelbetyg:
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