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Prof Thomas (T. F.) Earle publishes modern critical edition of ‘Crónica de D. Afonso V’ by Rui de Pina
12 July 2024
Eleven years ago, Oxford’s Bodleian Library acquired a manuscript by the early modern chronicler Rui de Pina, the Crónica de D. Afonso V (Chronicle of King Afonso V). Prof Thomas (T. F.) Earle was just retiring from his career as King John II Professor of Portuguese and Fellow for Portuguese at St Peter’s, but this did not stop him from investigating further. As an expert in early modern Portuguese culture and book history, Prof Earle knew of Rui de Pina’s importance and that the Crónica was a masterpiece of Portuguese historical writing. Now an early manuscript had landed right on his doorstep.
Comparing the Oxford manuscript to other extant manuscripts of Rui de Pina’s Crónica, Prof Earle’s 2015 Portuguese Studies article remarked that the Oxford manuscript would be valuable to a hypothetical future editor of a critical edition. He spent the following years, his ‘retirement’, making the hypothetical a reality, comparing copies and manuscripts, developing extensive historical and historiographical notations, and preparing an edition of the Crónica that would demonstrate the literary and historical importance of the text.
Prof Earle shared some insights into the Crónica, which is, naturally, only available in Portuguese at present:
‘Rui de Pina was the official chronicler of the kingdom and keeper of the state archives, and was a well-informed contemporary commentator on events in which, to a limited extent, he participated. The king succeeded to the throne as a young child in 1438, and died in 1481. Pina recounts with relish the dramatic events of the regency which occupied the first 10 years of the reign, the king’s only partially successful attempts to carve out a military empire in North Africa and his ill-judged intervention in the affairs of Portugal’s powerful neighbour, Castile, which ended with the accession to the Spanish throne of his enemies, Isabel and Fernando, the Catholic Monarchs. Though a salaried employee of the crown, Pina was not afraid to criticize the king and other important people for their faults of character and of judgement.’
Published by the Coimbra University Press in 2024, Prof Earle’s Crónica de D. Afonso V de Rui de Pina is a unique contribution to the study of Portuguese and Portuguese history and historiography, making Rui de Pina’s historical chronicle available and accessible for modern scholars of the early modern period. You can learn more about the book and read it online here.