A Singular Manuscript: The Crónica Geral de Espanha de 1344 of the Academia das Ciências of Lisbon

Abstract

The Crónica Geral de Espanha 1344 of the Academia das Ciências of Lisbon is a unique manuscript in the panorama of Late Medieval Portuguese miniature. The abundant use of figurative and narrative elements, along with a host of ingenious formal solutions, contrasts with the predominantly stereotyped ornamentation of most of the illuminated books produced in Portugal during the same period. This essay identifies and interprets the artistic specificities of this work, analyses the moral sense of its visual speech and seeks its artistic affiliation in illuminated chronicles, herbals and hygiene and health treatises from Lombardy.