The 'Crónica General' by Florián de Ocampo and the rhetorical invention of Spanish history

Abstract

In the 16^th century, Ocampo was the first author to attempt to offer a general history of Spain. His narration of the Iberian Peninsula´s ancient past held considerable sway in both modern historiography and the collective imagination, though he was branded a fraudster for inventing sources and using the works of falsifiers. However, if Ocampo is studied as the creator of an historical discourse able to give shape to an emerging nation through the invention of its origins, by following the models of Isocratean historiography, stemming from classical epidictic oratory, we will gain a valuable assessment not only of Ocampo´s effort, but also of the uses of classical tradition in the process of creation of modern nations.