A Working Paper on the History of Spain
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A Working Paper on the History of Spain
An educational publication from Agile Guidebooks

by Mick Arellano

In the study of history, a working paper is an accumulation of research information put into narrative form. A fairly refined working paper is often the penultimate step in the process of writing a history book or article (monograph). The last step in this process, and the most difficult, is to draw clear of the working paper and create a unique piece of scholarship. Not every such effort reaches its conclusion, however, so the working paper at hand is certainly not alone in never having achieved its final rendering.

Working papers by themselves can be very useful to readers of history. By definition, they present data put forth by experts, and they reveal conflicts and disagreements within the scholarly community about the data presented. They also show how the author of a scholarly effort is forced to struggle with conflicting research and opposing views, while at the same time weighing the demands of thoroughness against the desire to be succinct. Material in the study of history, like most scholarly fields, is not a series of watertight compartments laid out for all to see; instead, it's a jumble of information in fragmented layers that researchers and writers try to identify, synthesize, and make available to readers in a balanced and compelling way.

It might be best to think of a working paper as a kind of commentary. Throughout history, the role of commentators has been critical to our understanding of scholarship. Ancient Greek philosophy texts, for example, would be unintelligible (or at least less understood) were it not for famous medieval commentators who translated, explained, and commented upon the subject of their studies. In a certain sense, a good working paper performs a similar function because it helps explain a subject matter while simultaneously presenting information from traditional sources.

The following survey or general history of Spain was researched and developed from 1978 to 1983. Due to its length, only the section on Ancient Spain (the first section of a six-section working paper) is included here. Someday, maybe the entire narrative, including those five longer sections omitted here, will magically metamorphose into something original, complete, and altogether wonderful. Meanwhile, the author hopes these pages convey some of the excitement of scholarly research that he himself experienced many years ago.

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The Lady of Elche, 5th Century BC Iberian Sculpture

The study of ancient Spain is fascinating in itself. Several modern scholars have spent entire lifetimes uncovering the pre-Roman world in Iberia. From Bronze Age societies that we know little about, to more well-known Greek and Carthaginian colonizers, these ancient peoples all left important marks on the peninsula. But it was Roman colonizers and the Visigoth invaders that followed them who left the biggest impressions on Iberia, in large part because both tried to unify the entire peninsula under one government. The Romans institutionalized the Latin language and the Catholic Church, and they gave the peninsula the generic name Hispania. The Visigoths, on the other hand, institutionalized the three privileged estates that would later give rise to the Christian kingdoms in the north after Visigoth political failures led to the establishment of Muslim kingdoms in the south. What ensued was a rich medieval tapestry with a cultural dialectic unique to the west—a medieval tapestry that was made possible by Spain’s vibrant ancient history.

Ancient Spain (44 pages with bibliography)
A Working Paper Written and Annotated by Mick Arellano.
$40.00 USD. Order this publication.

Maps of the Iberian peninsula during the Ancient and Medieval periods:
Roman Hispania and the entire Roman Empire in 395 AD, near the end of antiquity
Visigoth Iberia in 600 AD, rule that aggravated divisions between north and south
Emirate of Cordoba in 800 AD, less than 100 years after the fall of the Visigoths
Muslim Taifa Kingdoms in 1030 AD, midpoint in Islamic Spain’s 800 year history
Christian Kingdoms in 1360 AD, after the Reconquest isolated Muslim Granada

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Citation: Arellano, Mick. A Working Paper on the History of Spain.
Written 1978 to 1983. Annotated 2007. Published 2007 by Agile Guidebooks.
URL: www.agileguidebooks.com/guidestohistory/spain

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A Working Paper on the History of Spain
URL: www.agileguidebooks.com/guidestohistory/spain
Copyright © 1978-2007 by Mick Arellano. All rights reserved.
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