View source for Book of Knowledge of All Kingdoms

{{Short description|14th-century Castilian geographical and armorial manual}}
{{nofootnotes|date=October 2015}}
{{italic title}}
[[Image:Libro del conocimiento.jpg|thumb|Title page illustration of the "Z" manuscript, with the [[Heraldry of Castile#Quartering with the arms of León|coat of arms of Castile and León]] and the [[Royal Bend of Castile]] of [[Alfonso XI of Castile|Alfonso XI]].]]
The '''{{lang|osp|Libro del Conosçimiento de todos los rregnos}}''' or '''''Book of Knowledge of All Kingdoms''''', also known as the '''''Book of All Kingdoms''''', is an anonymous 14th-century [[Old Spanish language|Castilian]] geographical and armorial  manual (dated to {{Circa|1385}}).
It is written in the form of imaginary autobiographical travelogue of a [[Crown of Castile|Castilian]] [[mendicant orders|mendicant friar]], as he travels through the entire world, known and fanciful, from the westernmost [[Atlantic islands]], through Europe, Asia, Africa and the Arctic, identifying all the lands, kings, lords and their [[coat of arms|armorial devices]] as he passes them.
The only explicit information is that the anonymous author claims to have been born in [[Castile (historical region)|Castile]] in 1305.
The full title is also cited as {{lang|osp|Libro del conosçimiento de todos los reynos y tierras y señoríos que son por el mundo, et de las señales et armas que han cada tierra y señorío por sy y de los reyes y señores que los proueen}} "Book of the Knowledge of all the Kingdoms, Lands and Lordships that are in the World, and the arms and devices of each land and lordship, or of the kings and lords who possess them"  (Markham 1912).
The book's principal objective may have been as an [[roll of arms|armorial]] roll. Its choice of presenting itself in the form of an imaginary travelogue may have been whimsical, to tap into the fashionable [[travel literature]] of the era, popularized by [[Marco Polo]] and [[John Mandeville]].
Its geographical features are closely related to those of the [[Medici Atlas]] (notionally dated 1351, but probably c.1370). Also near-contemporary is the [[Catalan Atlas]].
Four manuscripts of the work are known, designated "Z", "N", "R" and "S".
A manuscript copy of the {{lang|osp|Libro}}, once owned by the 16th-century historian [[Jerónimo Zurita y Castro]], and subsequently held by the count of San Clemente in Zaragoza, was reported lost sometime around 1680.  It is believed this was the manuscript that resurfaced in London in 1978, popularly known as Manuscript "Z", currently held by the [[Bavarian State Library]] in [[Munich]], as "Cod.hisp. 150".  This manuscript, written in the late 14th century, is replete with miniature [[Illuminated manuscript|illuminations]] drawn by an [[Kingdom of Aragon|Aragonese]] illustrator.
A facsimile was published in 1999.  In the introduction to that edition, editor Lacarra doubts the original c.1350 dating, and proposes instead that the {{lang|osp|Libro}} was probably composed a bit later, probably around 1385.
Manuscripts "N" and "R"  are kept in the [[British Library]].
A further manuscript of the {{lang|osp|Libro}} was discovered in 1874 and compiled and published in 1877 in [[Madrid]], by Marcos Jiménez de la Espada.
This is  the most complete of the extant copies, known as Manuscript "S", kept in the [[Spanish National Library]].<ref>''El Libro del Conosçimiento de todos los rregnos et tierras e señoríos que son por el mundo et de las señales et armas que han cada tierra y señorío por sy y de los reyes y señores que los proueen, escrito por un franciscano español á mediados del siglo XIV'' (Marcos Jiménez de la Espada ed., 1877, Madrid: Impr. de T. Fortanet [https://books.google.com/books?id=0lMEEgk1U-kC&pg=PR1 online])</ref> In his introduction, the editor presented the book as an authentic travelogue of a Castilian [[Franciscan]] mendicant friar written around 1350. However, immediately upon its appearance, contemporary scholars (not without a touch of mockery at the editor) noted the travelogue was largely fantastical and imaginary, and that there was no clear indication that the author was a friar, Franciscan or otherwise.{{cn|date=June 2024}}
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
* Marino, Nancy F., ''El libro del conoscimiento de todos los reinos = The book of knowledge of all kingdoms'',  Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies 198 (1999) [https://archive.org/details/ellibrodelconosc00mariuoft]
* [https://archive.org/details/s2bookofknowledg29markuoft]
* English summary of the ''Libro del Conoscimiento'' in [[National Geographic Magazine]] (1917) "Heroic Flags of the Middle Ages: the geography of the earth as known in Medieval times, symbolized in 96 historic standards",  ''National Geographic Magazine'', vol. 32, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RQgVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA388 pp. 388–399]
* Riquer, Martin de (1987) "[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212344/http://revistas.ucm.es/fll/02122952/articulos/DICE8787110313A.PDF La heráldica en el Libro del Conoscimiento y el problema de su datación]", ''Dicenda: cuadernos de Filologia Hispanica'', No. 6, p.&nbsp;313–19.
*Markham, Clements R., ''Book of knowledge of all the kingdoms, lands, and lordships that are in the world, and the arms and devices of each land and lordship, or of the kings and lords who possess them'' (1912) [https://archive.org/details/s2bookofknowledg29markuoft]
*María Jesús Lacarra, María del Carmen Lacarra Ducay, Alberto Montaner (eds.), ''«Libro del Conosçimiento de todos los Regnos et Tierras et Señorios que son por el Mundo, et de las señales et armas que han» Edición facsimilar, transcripción, estudio y notas del Manuscrito Z de la Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, de Munich [Cod. Hisp. 150] procedente de la «Alacena de Zurita»'', 1999, Zaragoza: Institución "Fernando el Católico" (CSIC)-Excma. Diputación Provincial.
== External links ==
{{commonscat|Libro del conocimiento}}
*[https://archive.org/details/s2bookofknowledg29markuoft Book of Knowledge of All Kingdoms, Clements Robert, 1912. Archive.org]
{{authoritycontrol}}
[[Category:Rolls of arms]]
[[Category:14th-century books]]
[[Category:Old Spanish literature]]
[[Category:Travel books]]
[[Category:Illuminated heraldic manuscripts]]
[[Category:Kingdom of Castile]]