The second anonymous Chronicle of Sahagún: Structure, writing and corrections of a text

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The Second Anonymous Chronicle of Sahagún narrates the disputes between the monastery and the town council of Sahagún concerning the governance of the town between 1229 and 1255. It actually consists of four chronicles, each one about an abbot, and two prologues, the first about Alfonso VI and the second about the background to this dispute in the twelfth century. This article studies the writing process by analysing aspects of the content and language in the oldest known manuscript (mid-fifteenth century). The chronicle was written in Latin by one or more authors, in various phases, from the mid-thirteenth century. Itwas then translated to Castilian. The style was corrected in the fifteenth century, first by the person who copied the oldest manuscript and then by others in the second half of that century. In this long process, the text suffered changes and additions which, nonetheless, do not detract from its historical value.