Alfonso de Palencia como cultor ueritatis: la historia y la sátira

Abstract

From the first moment readers of Gesta Hispaniensia were perplexed by its tone; they accused Palencia of being “biased”, “mordant”, motivated by “malignity”. He, meanwhile, consistently presents himself as the cultor veritatis, bound by an “oath” to uphold the truth. Taking this contradiction as its starting point, the article undertakes a theoretical analysis of the historian's mask. Such a strategy is a defining mark of the genre of satire; Palencia presents his testimony not as factual history, nor as an autobiographical eye-witness, but in the assumed persona of a cynic philosopher criticizing human society from above. This technique, the fruit of his humanist studies, was revolutionary. The final section is a brief look at his contemporaries' theories on Roman satyra; it adduces examples to suggest that the new method was a conscious and intentional invention, though one inevitably destined not to be understood at that time.

Keywords

• Gesta Hispaniensia
• medieval historiographical theories
• humanism
• pre-Renaissance
• satire
• cultor veritatis