Personal and power networks in the paratextes of the Galician Chronicles between 1550 and 1615: Some reflections

Abstract

This article will analyze the paratexts of the first three Galician chronicles printed inside and outside the Galician territory, between the middle of the fifteenth century and the first decades of the sixteenth century. The legal preliminaries -approvals and licenses- and the authorial preliminaries -dedications and prologues- had a decisive influence on the reading and interpretation of the writings. As for the former, the royal regulations were strict in the face of the need to control ideologically the texts that came out of the printing press, but, as will be seen, they did not always conform to legality. For their part, the dedications and prologues to the reader, written by the authors, gave a glimpse of the purpose of the chroniclers in completing their works, their main aspiration being social promotion. Thus, the purpose of this paper will focus on examining the personal ties developed between the chroniclers and their patrons and, in turn, between the latter and the officials of the Council of Castile, the ecclesiastical power or the Crown. Probably, as we will try to demonstrate, these power networks facilitated the publication of the works and the upward mobility of the chroniclers.