From The Editor

With volume 45.2, we begin a new venue for publication that will be of great interest to the readers of La corónica and medievalists in general. The section titled "Texts and Translations" will be dedicated to short editions and translations of works that are difficult to access, but of particular interest to students of Iberian medieval literature. Our first publication in this series, "Romance Literature in Hebrew Language with an Arabic Twist: The First Story of Jacob ben El'azar's Sefer ha-meshalim, is an excellent example of the kind of works we hope to continue publishing in "Texts and Translations". As an original English rendition of the first chapter of Ben El 'azar's Book of Stories, Isabelle Levy and David Torollo's edition makes an important contribution to our field, since the nuanced translation itself is the first of its kind, opening up another source of Hebrew literature to a broad audience of scholars. In the words of one anonymous reviewer, Ben El 'azar's book is "one of the most inaccessible but also alluring works from thirteenth-century Toledo", and as such it deserves the kind of critical attention that our diverse readership can bring to bear.

Isabelle and David's work here can serve as a model for authors interested in publishing in our "Texts and Translation" series. It is a work that clearly meets the needs and interests of our audience, particularly as we continue to incorporate more Arabic and Hebrew sources into our fields of research. Publications in "Texts and Translations" should provide access to important works that have traditionally been overlooked, unpublished, or available only to the most specialized scholars. Furthermore, these publications should provide critical approaches to their texts. As in Isabelle and David's edition, the authors share an original thesis and introduction to Ben El 'azar's Book of Stories. Finally, publications in "Texts and Translations" should follow our guidelines for style, length, and language. As I have mentioned several times now in these notes from the Editor, we continue to publish in Spanish, English, Portuguese, and Catalan, and the same will apply to works published in this new series.

I am sure our readers will also be excited to find in this volume another outstanding Critical Cluster; this one dedicated to the histories, representations and receptions of Pedro I, sometimes known as "El Cruel", and sometimes "El Justiciero", as Clara Estow reminds us in her concluding essay "What's in a Name?". I want to thank the Guest Editors, Rosa Rodríguez Porto and Sacramento Roselló Martínez for taking on such an ambitious task, and coordinating all the work of the contributing authors. I cannot forget to thank Emily Francomano for working with Rosa and Sacramento from the very beginning of this cluster. Her wisdom and experience will be greatly missed as she steps down as Associate Editor. Finally, I want to write a special note of gratitude to our wonderful Editorial Assistants whose sedulous attention to detail always improves the final product of every publication. I am personally thankful for their help, and the authors who contribute to our pages owe them many thanks as well for reviewing their work before we go to press. Their support too often goes unnoticed, and they deserve our gratitude for maintaining the standards of La corónica.