Monarchs throughout the ages have commissioned official histories that cast their reigns in a favorable light for future generations. These accounts, sanctioned and supported by the ruling government, often gloss over the more controversial aspects of a king's or queen's time on the throne. Instead, they present highly selective and positive readings of a monarch's contribution to national identity and global affairs. In Clio and the Crown, Richard L. Kagan examines the official histories of Spanish monarchs from medieval times to the middle of the 18th century. He expertly guides readers through the different kinds of official histories commissioned: those whose primary focus was the monarch; those that centered on the Spanish kingdom as a whole; and those that celebrated Spain's conquest of the New World. In doing so, Kagan also documents the life and work of individual court chroniclers, examines changes in the practice of official history, and highlights the political machinations that influenced the redaction of such histories. Just as world leaders today rely on fast-talking press officers to explain their sometimes questionable actions to the public, so too did the kings and queens of medieval and early modern Spain. Monarchs often went to great lengths to exert complete control over the official history of their reign, physically intimidating historians, destroying and seizing manuscripts and books, rewriting past histories, and restricting history writing to authorized persons. Still, the larger practice of history writing-as conducted by nonroyalist historians, various scholars and writers, and even church historians-provided a corrective to official histories. Kagan concludes that despite its blemishes, the writing of official histories contributed, however imperfectly, to the practice of historiography itself.

A masterful, comprehensive survey of the history of 'official' historiography in medieval and early modern Spain, from Isidore to Charles III. -- Jorge Canizares-Esguerra, The University of Texas at Austin

About the Author
Richard L. Kagan is a professor of history at the Johns Hopkins University. He is the editor, with Philip D. Morgan, of Atlantic Diasporas: Jews, Conversos, and Crypto-Jews in the Age of Mercantilism, 1500-1800, and the translator and editor, with Abigail Dyer, of Inquisitorial Inquiries: Brief Lives of Secret Jews and Other Heretics, both published by Johns Hopkins.

Reviews
Kagan gives shape to an adversarial process among Spanish historians, royal advisers, and rulers to establish some measure of objective truth, ever so elusive, in official, commissioned histories of Spain's kings between the late Middle Ages and the reign of Charles II... This work provides fascinating, welcomed research on writing official history behind the scenes. Highly recommended. Choice 2010 Researched and written with characteristic skill and grace, Clio and the Crown offers a much-needed survey of the social and intellectual milieus in which scholars from Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada in the thirteenth century to Juan Bautista Munoz in the eighteenth labored to create a national historiography suitable to the needs of the Spanish court. Renaissance Quarterly 2010 Deeply researched and well-written work... Both the book and its extensive bibliographies of primary and secondary sources will therefore remain indispensable to future researchers for years to come. American Academy of Research Historians of Medieval Spain Newsletter 2010 Clio and the Crown is a considerable achievement for the understanding of history in the Renaissance and its aftermath. -- John M. Headley Journal of Modern History 2011



Book Information
ISBN 9780801892943
Author Richard L. Kagan
Format Hardback
Page Count 376
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 658g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 29mm