Las Navas de Tolosa en Chronicon mundi y en Historia de rebus Hispanie

Abstract

Lucas, bishop of Tuy, and Rodrigo, archbishop of Toledo, are the authors of the two principal Latin histories of Spain written in the thirteenth century. They were also contemporaries and witnessed many of the same events related to the epic battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. Their individual narrations of the battle are not contradictory, but they do reveal vastly different conceptions of the factors that led to the battle, the nature of the enemies they confronted, and the meaning of the victory. An examination of these two descriptions of Las Navas reveals a surprisingly complex portrayal of this singular event and of the men responsible for its legacy.