Alonso, Cristóbal Rodríguez, ed., trans., Las Historias de los Godos, Vándalos y Suevos de Isidoro de Sevilla (León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación)
Text name(s): De Origine Gothorum; On the Origin of the Goths; Historia Wandalorum; History of the Vandals; Historia Sueborum; History of the Suevi
Number of pages of primary source text: 154
Author(s):
Dates: 590 - 636
Archival Reference:
Original Language(s):
- Latin
Translation:
- Translated into another language (see translation comments).
- Original language included.
Translation Comments: The translation into Spanish is found on the pages facing the original Latin. Every page of both the Latin and the Spanish is broken into columns, each of which contains one of the two redactions of the text.
Geopolitical Region(s):
- Europe
- Spain
County/Region:
Record Types:
- Chronicle, Annals
Subject Headings:
- Historiography
- War - Military History
- Conversion
- Early Germanic Peoples: Goths, Franks, etc.
- Church Fathers
- Nobility / Gentry
Apparatus:
- Index
- Introduction
Comments:
Isidore, Archbishop of Seville and Doctor of the Church, was one of the most significant figures of Visigothic Spain, exerting a tremendous influence in his own time (through his vigorous participation in the various synods of the early seventh century) as well as on education throughout the Middle Ages (through his extensive writings). His vast learning and debt to the Latin classics has led him to be considered “the last scholar of the ancient world.” One of the two main historical works of Isidore (the other being the Chronica maiora), the Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum, et Suevorum is primarily a chronologically-arranged history of the West Goths from their descent from the Alps in 256 CE, replete with praise for the land of Spain and the Gothic heritage found there. Although it is a compendium building on other accounts, the Historia itself is regarded as an authoritative history of the Goths in the West. Isidore also appends brief histories of the Vandals and Suevi to the main text on the Goths. This volume is the published version of a doctoral dissertation, and includes an extensive study of the text and index of Latin words in addition to an authoritative critical edition and translation.
Introduction Summary:
The introductory material is broken into three sections. The first (59 pp.), a “literary study,” discusses problems of authenticity and the double redaction of the text. The second, a “study of the sources” (53 pp.), provides a listing of Isidore’s citations of external sources next to the full text of the cited source, and explains how Isidore uses his sources. The third section, a “critical study” (42 pp.), details at length the textual history of the Historia de regibus Gothorum.
Cataloger: WLL
