Rodrigo Ximenez de Rada’s <i>Minor Histories</i>

This book provides the first complete English translation of works by the Toledan archbishop Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada (1170–1247 CE). The Minor Histories, serving as supplements to Rodrigo’s much larger Gothic History, covered the Romans, Huns, Vandals, Alans, Suevi, Ostrogoths and Arabs, explaining how these peoples contributed to what he saw as Spain’s tragic history of calamities. The last work in the series – his History of the Arabs – can be regarded as the first surviving Western monograph on Arab and Islamic history, and as such is an essential source for topics of Christian–Muslim relations and Western depictions of Islam, Muslims and Arabs.

In addition to the translation of the Minor Histories, complete with annotations, this work includes a thorough and accessible introduction to the life and works of Rodrigo, who was an important figure in a crucial transition period of Spain’s history that saw the balance of power in the Iberian peninsula shift decisively to the Christian kingdoms. Besides his biography, the introduction provides an in-depth assessment of Rodrigo’s historiography and as such serves as a useful discussion of the use of sources by medieval historical writers.