Resumen de Pero López de Ayala and the politics of rewriting the past
Around 1379, Pero López de Ayala began work on the Crónica del rey don Pedro y del rey don Enrique to legitimize Enrique II's right to the crown of Castile. Ayala's historical narrative was an important part of Enrique's political program that justified not only his rule but also that of his descendants. However, less than ten years after its completion Ayala significantly rewrote the chronicle, rearranging, eliminating, and adding material to his previous work. Given the work's centrality to Trastámara legitimacy, why would Ayala change his earlier version? In this article, I argue that Ayala rewrote the chronicle to adapt to the changing historical, political, and literary context in which he was writing. I contend that the differences between the earlier versión primitiva and the later versión vulgar reflect the differences between the political programs of Enrique II and his immediate descendants, Juan I and Enrique III, and constitute a response to contemporary interpretations of the recent past.
