Histories of the Islamic World in the Chronicles of the Kingdom of León (End-Ninth to Mid-Twelfth Centuries)

What did medieval Christians know about the history of Islam? This paper takes as a case study the situation of medieval Spain, focusing on a series of chronicles produced in Christian Spain from the late ninth to mid-twelfth centuries. It examines how their authors framed the Islamic world, in answer to their contemporary interests; in other words, how they translated within their own historical traditions the history of Islam. It argues that far from being absent in the texts analysed, the history of Islam provided a background, albeit diffuse, informing both the chroniclers’ view of the world they lived in, and the rationale of their works.