The Story of Wamba

The Story of Wamba offers the first complete English translation of Julian's political narrative. Joaquín Martínez Pizarro provides annotations to the text and a thorough introduction to the work's historical and literary backgrounds. The historical study focuses mainly on the tension between royal and aristocratic power during the reigns of Wamba and his two predecessors, Chindasvind and Reccesvind. The position of the church, caught in these secular conflicts, is analysed in detail, as is the plight of Julian, the son of converted Jews, as he took his first steps at court and in the Visigothic church. The literary study focuses on the political vocabulary of the text, the ideological messages implicit in its various sources and models, and its unique combination of classical, late antique and medieval elements.