ABSTRACT
The earth turned for centuries, days speeding by as night followed day. During the long wheeling motions of the terrestrial sphere, the Arabs were defeated and driven out by the expanding Christian kingdoms of the North. The purpose of the nationwide investigation of relics and books was to arrive at a narrative of the ninth century that would do justice to the grand imperial role of the new world power of Spain. The collection of books and manuscripts would be principally earmarked for the royal library that Philip II looked to incorporate into the Escorial, his monumental royal palace being built outside Madrid. The conflicted aftermath of Eulogius’s martyrdom in 852, the disarray of the Christian Church and the unhappy circumstances prior to Albarus’s death seem to be overcome a century later in the references of a tenth-century calendar or almanac, known today as the Calendar of Cordoba.
