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TheLibro del Conosçimiento de todos los rregnos orBook of Knowledge of All Kingdoms, also known as theBook of All Kingdoms, is an anonymous 14th-centuryCastilian geographical and armorial manual (dated toc. 1385). It is written in the form of imaginary autobiographical travelogue of aCastilianmendicant friar, as he travels through the entire world, known and fanciful, from the westernmostAtlantic islands, through Europe, Asia, Africa and the Arctic, identifying all the lands, kings, lords and theirarmorial devices as he passes them.The only explicit information is that the anonymous author claims to have been born inCastile in 1305.
The full title is also cited asLibro 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 anarmorial roll. Its choice of presenting itself in the form of an imaginary travelogue may have been whimsical, to tap into the fashionabletravel literature of the era, popularized byMarco Polo andJohn Mandeville. Its geographical features are closely related to those of theMedici Atlas (notionally dated 1351, but probably c.1370). Also near-contemporary is theCatalan Atlas.
Four manuscripts of the work are known, designated "Z", "N", "R" and "S".
A manuscript copy of theLibro, once owned by the 16th-century historianJerónimo Zurita y Castro, and subsequently held by the count of San Clemente inZaragoza, 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 theBavarian State Library inMunich, as "Cod.hisp. 150". This manuscript, written in the late 14th century, is replete with miniatureilluminations drawn by anAragonese illustrator. Afacsimile was published in 1999. In the introduction to that edition, editor Lacarra doubts the original c.1350 dating, and proposes instead that theLibro was probably composed a bit later, probably around 1385.
Manuscripts "N" and "R" are kept in theBritish Library.
A further manuscript of theLibro was discovered in 1874 and compiled and published in 1877 inMadrid, by Marcos Jiménez de la Espada.This is the most complete of the extant copies, known as Manuscript "S", kept in theSpanish National Library.[1] In his introduction, the editor presented the book as an authentic travelogue of a CastilianFranciscan 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.[citation needed]
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