| Summary: | The Estoria de España was written under the auspices of Alfonso X the Wise, king of Castile and León from 1252 to 1284. This major project aimed to stage the history of the origins of the Iberian Peninsula based on all the sources that the Wise King could have available. The narrative of foundations of peninsular cities is not always found in the chronicle, which implies that narrative choices were made, especially as some foundations are not mentioned in the two main sources of the Estoria de España. In the Middle Ages, the historiographic legitimization rests on the “Authorities” whom each chronicler has to claim to adhere to if they hope to convince their audience. Hence, turning to these Authorities – the Ancients and the Church Fathers – is the indispensable condition for a text that claims to be truthful. In addition to this prerequisite, met by Alfonso X, other sorts of discourse tools operate. This is especially the case with the logical demonstration, so dear to Aristotle, which relies on reason and which enables the reader to accept the argument as proof, to agree with the discourse proposed, and ultimately to believe the narrated story. We propose to analyse these foundations in a twofold way. First, we will take into account the peoples and the lords whom the Wise King links to the foundation of each city, then we will highlight the argumentative devices developed and used by Alfonso X in order to prove and convince.
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