From the Editor

It is a great honor for me to be in this new role as editor of La corónica, a journal that was instrumental in my own career as a junior scholar and in which I found some of the most exciting new theoretical approaches to the study of medieval Iberia—approaches that helped me to formulate what it was I wanted to do in my own scholarship, and that provided me and many others with models of what excellent, thought-provoking scholarship on the many aspects of medieval Iberian cultural production could look like. This is the first volume I have seen through as editor of the journal, and it has been a learning experience that makes me even more appreciative of how much work and collaboration such an undertaking requires. It has been a pleasure to get to know Montserrat Piera (who has taken over the role of Associate Editor) and David Arbesú (Book Review Editor), as well as to get a glimpse of the extensive work being done behind the scenes to make sure La corónica can bring you the best in Hispanomedieval scholarship two times a year, in fall and spring. And I would like to thank the seemingly inexhaustible Isidro Riveira (the Managing Editor), who has been so instrumental not only for the current volume, but for several years of previous volumes. In addition Ángel María Rañales Pérez, Christina Ivers, Indira Y. A. García, Francis Turco, and Tim Frye, have all helped with revisions on multiple versions of the articles. I also want to thank Joe Snow, who so kindly agreed to write about Nancy F. Marino’s scholarship and impact on the field, and who has provided us a wonderfully succinct, but poignant portrait of his friend and colleague, whose efforts in supporting and advancing Hispanomedievalism has touched most of us working in the field. It also gives me great pleasure to announce in this volume the creation of the Nancy F. Marino Award for Best Essay in Hispanomedieval Studies to be awarded at next year’s Annual Medieval Studies Congress in Kalamazoo. This prize, which carries both professional recognition and a cash prize, is possible thanks to the generosity of Frank MacBath, Nancy’s husband, in honor of her service to the field and particularly her mentorship and support of emerging scholars. I encourage junior scholars (who have received their PhDs in the last 4 years) and any graduate students currently enrolled in a MA or PhD program who will be presenting at the Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo next year to submit their papers by April 15 to be considered!

It was also my great honor to be able to award the annual La corónica book award to S. J. Pearce for her 2017 monograph, the Andalusi Literary and Intellectual Tradition: The Role of Arabic in Judah ibn Tibbon’s Ethical Will (Indiana UP) at Kalamazoo this year (as I am sure most of you saw on La corónica Commons). Special thanks to the evaluators who selected Pearce’s monograph and put in the time reading and evaluating the several excellent books on aspects of Hispanomedieval Studies in 2017. Without their work, and that of the many article reviewers who lend us their expertise and valuable time, La corónica would not be possible. I encourage anyone who has not had the chance to read Pearce’s study to take a look at it. Professor Pearce demonstrates just how powerfully Arabic models informed Jewish literary production within Iberia, and then beyond Iberia itself, thereby connecting Iberian history to broader histories that cannot be fully comprehended without their Iberian ties.

The articles in this volume explore how historical events informed medieval Iberian imaginative literature, as well as how such literature was read and collected. You will find examples of close readings exploring how medieval Andalusi authors such as al-Saraqusṭī imagined al-Andalus as part of the larger Islamic world (Snowden), as well as the imagined role of the court adviser in medieval Castile (Fraustro Vilchis). Cañizares Ferriz focuses on how the first Conde de Haro worked...