Alfonso el Sabio and the Estoria de Espanna: the past in the digital present

历史手稿提供了关于过去的丰富信息，也提供了关于人们对自己历史的构想的方式。最近的技术进步使档案的开放超越了以前只能接触到手稿的专家，最初是通过提供高质量的数字图像，使任何感兴趣的观众都能看到这种手稿，然后通过增加更多的数字工具，旨在以以前不可能的方式促进与中世纪过去的接触。目前的研究项目构建了一套这样的手稿的电子版，《Estoria de Espanna》是一部13世纪的西班牙编年史。在版本研究的基础上，我们现在的目标是增加一系列工具和活动，以便让更广泛的公众参与到中世纪文本和历史的世界中来。这些工具将被调整，以服务和吸引两个不同的、互补的群体：(I)参观西班牙和美国图书馆和展览的公众，以及(Ii)西班牙的中学生。这些工具将涵盖4个关键领域：(1)关于Estoria de Espanna的背景历史信息、其组成和内容。(2)关于编年史作者阿方索·萨比奥的上下文信息。(3)绘图和可视化工具，使非专业人员能够从非传统的角度查阅Estoria的文本。(4)Estoria五个部分的数字活动。Estoria的五个部分的手稿图像将提供给所有数字工具的用户，这些部分的手稿也将在2016年12月在西班牙国家图书馆、萨拉曼卡大学、桑坦德的门德斯·佩拉约图书馆和明尼苏达大学同时举行的实体展览上展出。公众将通过数字展览的方式参与，与Estoria de Espanna的手稿在我们的伙伴机构：马德里的西班牙国家图书馆、西班牙的萨拉曼卡大学和明尼阿波利斯的明尼苏达大学图书馆同时展出，以配合数字版本的推出。我们将与谢菲尔德大学人文研究所合作，提供互动材料，以便(I)向公众介绍13世纪卡斯蒂利亚和莱昂的背景；(Ii)将西班牙公众与他们共同的过去联系起来；(Iii)挑战关于中世纪伊比利亚和手稿文化的错误观念；(Iv)通过可视化工具使公众与文本和空间接触；(V)让非学术合作伙伴参与Estoria Digital项目以研究为主导的活动。中学生将受益于相同的材料，但这将根据他们的特定需求进行调整。我们将与我们在西班牙四所学校的合作伙伴一起，针对编年史的五个关键部分制定具体的学习练习(将以数字图像和展览中展示的对开本的形式提供)。这将(I)挑战学生对中世纪伊比利亚历史和13世纪历史写作的复杂性的先入为主的观念；(Ii)使学生接触到西班牙手稿文化的深度和广度；(Iii)让学生参与相关章节中出现的文学和语言分析问题。

Historical manuscripts provide a wealth of information about the past and also about the ways in which people conceived of their own history. Recent technological advances permit the opening of archives beyond those specialists who previously had sole access to manuscripts, initially by the provision of high quality digital images which allow any interested viewer to see such manuscripts and subsequently through the addition of further digital tools which aim to facilitate engagement with the medieval past in ways not previously possible. The current research project constructs a digital edition of one such set of manuscripts, the Estoria de Espanna - a thirteenth-century chronicle of Spain. Building on the research of the edition, we now aim to add a range of tools and activities in order to engage a wider public in the world of medieval texts and history. The tools in question will be adapted to serve and engage two different, and complementary, groups: (i) the public who visit libraries and exhibitions in Spain and the US and (ii) secondary school students in Spain. The tools will cover 4 key areas: (1) Contextual historical information on the Estoria de Espanna, its composition and contents. (2) Contextual information on Alfonso el Sabio, author of the chronicle. (3) Mapping and visualisation tools which will allow non-specialists to access the text of the Estoria from non-traditional perspectives. (4) Digital activities on five sections of the Estoria. Manuscript images of five sections of the Estoria will be available to all users of the digital tools and these sections of the respective manuscripts will also be on display at the simultaneous physical exhibitions at the Biblioteca Nacional de España, the Universidad de Salamanca, the Biblioteca Menéndez Pelayo in Santander and the University of Minnesota.The public will be engaged by means of a digital exhibition which will accompany the physical display of the manuscripts of the Estoria de Espanna in our partner institutions: the National Library of Spain in Madrid, the University of Salamanca and the Biblioteca Menéndez Pelayo in Santander in Spain and the University of Minnesota Library in Minneapolis in December 2016, to coincide with the launch of the digital edition. In concert with the University of Sheffield's Humanities Research Institute, we will provide interactive material to (i) inform the public about the context of thirteenth-century Castile and León; (ii) connect members of the public in Spain with their shared past; (iii) challenge mis-conceptions about medieval Iberia and manuscript culture and (iv) engage the public with text and space by means of visualisation tools; (v) engage non-academic partners in the research-led activities of the Estoria Digital project. The secondary school students will have the benefit of the same material, but this will be adapted to their specific needs. In concert with our partners in four schools in Spain we will develop specific learning exercises on five key sections of the chronicle (which will be available both in digital images and as the folios on display in the exhibitions). These will (i) challenge the students' pre-conceptions about the history of medieval Iberia and the sophistication of historical writing in the thirteenth century; (ii) expose the students to the depth and breadth of manuscript culture in Spain and (iii) engage the students in questions of literary and linguistic analysis emerging from the sections in question.