Completing the Chronicle: Eastern and Western Interpolations in the «Gran Conquista de Ultramar»

The Old Spanish work known as «La Gran Conquista de Ultramar» (late 13th century) is a remarkable example of hybridisation between chronicle materials and epic tradition concerning the Crusades: based mainly on the «Eracles» (the French translation of William of Tyre’s «Historia») and its continuations, the «Gran Conquista» incorporates other narratives taken from some chansons de croisade, in particular those related with Godfrey de Bouillon; and because of this mixture of history and fiction it is sometimes considered a forerunner of the novela en prosa. However, the translation and aggregation process wasn’t followed by a complete rewrite, leaving intact along the text several changes in structure and point of view, as well as other clues of stratification of different sources. Furthermore, a close comparison between the «Gran Conquista», particularly in its final section, and the French Continuations shows that the Hispanic text offers some interpolations that could match the same dynamics detected inside the chronicles, and could be derived from a model written in the Latin East: in these insertions we are told about minor facts occurring in the Latin East as well as about crucial events of European history.