The first known chronicle of an explicitly official nature, also known as “Chronicon Tudense”, it constitutes the last testimony of the ancient kingdom of Leon, before finally being superseded by Castile.
Its author, Bishop Lucas de Tuy, was commissioned to write this ambitious chronicle by Queen Berenguela of León, for whom he worked as official chronicler. It is possibly the first attempt to draw up a general history of Spain, from the world’s beginnings until 1236, when Cordoba was conquered by Ferdinand III the Saint.
The sources used in ‘El Tudense’ are stories from Saint Isidore of Seville, Juan de Biclaro, Hydatius and Paulus Orosius, although for contemporary events he relies on his own testimony and that of other chroniclers of the time, such as Sampiro and ‘El Silense’.
The main merit of this chronicle is that it was the first to use epic poems as historical sources. In this context, “Chronicon Mundi” contains some epic testaments that would not otherwise have survived: the legends of Bernardo del Carpio and of the Moorish woman Zaida, for example.
