A chronicling poem, found in the same manuscript volume with the last, but very unskilfully copied in a different handwriting, belongs probably to the same period. It is on the half-fabulous, half-historical achievements of Count Fernan Gonzalez, a hero of the earlier period of the Christian conflict with the Moors, who is to the North of Spain what the Cid became somewhat later to Aragon and Valencia. To him is attributed the rescue of much of Castile from Mohammedan control; and his achievements, so far as they are matter of historical rather than poetical record, fall between 934, when the battle of Osma was fought, and his death, which occurred in 970. The poem in question is almost wholly devoted to his glory.[149] It begins with a notice of the invasion of Spain by the Goths, and comes down to the battle of Moret, in 967, when the manuscript suddenly breaks off, leaving untouched the adventures of its hero during the three remaining years of his life. It is essentially prosaic and monotonous in its style, yet not without something of that freshness and simplicity which are in themselves allied to all early poetry. Its language is rude, and its measure, which strives to be like that in Berceo and the poem of Apollonius, is often in stanzas of three lines instead of four, sometimes of five, and once at least of nine. Like Berceo’s poem on San Domingo de Silos, it opens with an invocation, and, what is singular, this invocation is in the very words used by Berceo: “In the name of the Father, who made all things,” etc. After this, the history, beginning in the days of the Goths, follows the popular traditions of the country, with few exceptions, the most remarkable of which occurs in the notice of the Moorish invasion. There the account is quite anomalous. No intimation is given of the story of the fair Cava, whose fate has furnished materials for so much poetry; but Count Julian is represented as having, without any private injury, volunteered his treason to the king of Morocco, and then carried it into effect by persuading Don Roderic, in full Cortes, to turn all the military weapons of the land into implements of agriculture, so that, when the Moorish invasion occurred, the country was overrun without difficulty. [149] See a learned dissertation of Fr. Benito Montejo, on the Beginnings of the Independence of Castile, Memorias de la Acad. de Hist., Tom. III. pp. 245-302. Crónica General de España, Parte III. c. 18-20. Duran, Romances Caballerescos, Madrid, 1832, 12mo, Tom. II. pp. 27-39. Extracts from the manuscript in the Escurial are to be found in Bouterwek, trad. por J. G. de la Cortina, etc., Tom. I. pp. 154-161. I have a manuscript copy of the first part of it, made for me by Professor Gayangos. For notices, see Castro, Bibl., Tom. I. p. 199, and Sanchez, Tom. I. p. 115.