Surely if they asked us what is the oldest text in Spanish in history We would not know what to answer, but we would dare to affirm that it is kept somewhere in the National Library or in any museum in Spain, but to the disbelief of almost everyone, the oldest text in Spanish has been found these days in Scotland in the hands of an individual.
This text, which has 32 engravings and 44 folios, is entitled "The story of the seven wise men of Rome" and it was found by Professor María Jesús Lacarra, who works daily at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Zaragoza, in a curious way to say the least.
And it is that this teacher came across this incunabula while reviewing the works that were in an English digital database on incunabula. In the work file it was specified that to obtain more information about the work, one would have to go to the Edinburgh Library. This Aragonese teacher of course did not go to the Library, but she did contact them, who helped her to get in touch with the owner who finally, after arduous negotiations, decided to send her a scanned copy of the work for her study. and analysis.
This work is very popular worldwide and has been translated into practically all existing languages. At first it is believed that It could have belonged to the Spanish Royal House in the XNUMXth century, which was taken over after it was printed in Zaragoza. Later the work passed into the hands of the English painter Charles Fairfax Murray, a great fan of books as well as painting and who saw his prestigious collection being auctioned after his death. In that auction, this incunabulum was almost certainly obtained by its current owner.
Without a doubt it is a very interesting and invaluable find, which unfortunately and for the moment cannot be preserved and exhibited in Spain or in any country where Spanish is the official language and will continue in Scotland where its owner is not. he knew that he had in his possession the oldest text in Spanish in history.
Excellent discovery, hopefully we can meet him soon.
Congratulations !!!
I am intrigued to know what the text says ...
Are you referring to the XNUMXth century BC. ?
Well, this poorly written article leaves no doubt:
Was the painter resurrected to see the auction?
What date is the document? Of course it is from the s. XIX is not very old….
Is it older than the Cid romance of the XNUMXth / XNUMXth century?
"Later the work passed into the hands of the English painter Charles Fairfax Murray, a great fan of books as well as painting and who saw his prestigious collection being auctioned after his death." Happy the English painter, who after his death saw his collection auctioned. He must have sold his soul to the devil to get to see the auction. What a regrettable article, how badly expressed everything. The author should blush.
After seeing how it is written and the inconsistencies it says, one doubts the truth of the news.
That's right, I also think that no more credit should be given to it.
Not only is it badly written, but it lacks any rigor. An incunabula is a printed book, this means stamped by a printing method usually called printing. The oldest known printed books are from the 90th century, so according to what the text tells us, we would have to assume that this incunabula in Spanish could be traced back at most to that century, the XNUMXth. But no, then it would not be the oldest text in Castilian, so again we have to correct the article and where it puts incunabula to suppose that it means "illuminated" or "miniaturized" which are the books that are on parchment and not on paper like the Printed, they were usually made by hand by writing monks and copyists. If the image provided by the article is related to the aforementioned text, that image is that of a hand-lit book on goat skin known as parchment. In this case, we could assume that those located in the Valpuesta monastery, XNUMX kilometers from the capital of Burgos, are earlier. The oldest documents (from the XNUMXth century) that include terms in Spanish were found there, in sentences in which Latin was disappearing and the logical order of the new language was appreciated.
These writings were known as Cartulary of Valpuesta and the classic historian and reference of the language, Ramón Menéndez Pidal, already mentioned them in his study Origins of Spanish.
It would not be surprising that perhaps after so much incongruity the painter and collector Charles Fairfax Murray rises again from the grave to put order again
Also, he says that "he saw how his collection was auctioned after his death ..." How are you?
And the photo is from a book written in something that looks French ...
A medieval text illustrated with 'engravings'? Let's see if we study a little!