La thèse « Ovide dans la General estoria d’Alphonse X » a pour objectif l’étude de la réception du poète latin dans l’histoire universelle conçue au sein de l’atelier dirigé par Alphonse X pendant le dernier quart du XIIIe siècle (ca. 1270-1284). Ladite œuvre prétendait relater l’histoire de l’homme depuis la Genèse jusqu’au règne du roi Alphonse lui-même. La source fondamentale de la General estoria est la Bible. S’ajoutent à la matière biblique diverses notices païennes ou « gentilles » (étrangères au peuple hébreu). Dans les deux premières parties de la General estoria, les sources fondamentales pour les récits gentils sont les Métamorphoses et les Héroïdes d’Ovide. Cet usage est complété par un emploi fragmentaire des Fastes, des Remèdes à l’amour, de l'Art d’aimer et des Pontiques. Nous avons porté notre attention aussi bien sur la méthode de traduction de l’œuvre d’Ovide que sur les techniques de compilation de la General estoria. Ainsi, cette thèse est structurée de la façon suivante : 1) une introduction où nous décrivons les règles qui caractérisent la lecture d’Ovide au Moyen Âge (ch. 1) ; 2) une étude des éléments contextuels du texte latin en trois sections : une étude des accessus, des gloses et des commentaires qui accompagnaient le texte latin dans l’étape médiévale (ch. 2) ; une analyse des œuvres mythographiques qui s’insèrent dans la compilation (ch. 3) ; enfin, la description des caractéristiques qui définissent l’utilisation des œuvres d’Ovide moins employées: les Fastes, l'Art d’aimer, les Pontiques et les Remèdes à l’amour (ch. 4). Finalement, dans le deuxième bloc de la thèse (ch. 5), nous avons fait une analyse exhaustive et détaillée des fragments empruntés aux œuvres d’Ovide dans la General estoria. / The aim of the dissertation “Ovid in Alfonso X’s General estoria” is to study the translation of the Latin poet in the universal history conceived within the workshop directed by Alfonso X during the last quarter of the 13th century (ca. 1270-1284). The aforementioned work intended to recount the history of man from Genesis up to the reign of King Alfonso himself. The main source of the General estoria is the Bible. Various pagan or “Gentile” (non-Jewish) notes are added to the biblical material. In the first two parts of the General estoria, the basic sources for the Gentile stories are Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Heroides. This usage is complimented by fragments of the Fasti, the Remedia Amori, the Ars Amatoria and the Epistulae ex Ponto. The study is also centred on the translation method of Ovid’s work as well as on the compilation techniques of the General estoria. Thus, the present dissertation is structured as follows: 1) an Introduction where the rules that characterize the reading of Ovid in the Middle Ages are described (ch. 1); 2) a study of the contextual elements of the Latin text in three sections: a study of the accessus, the glosses and commentaries that accompanied the Latin text in the medieval stage (ch. 2); an analysis of the mythographic works inserted in the compilation (ch. 3); finally; the description of the characteristics which define the employing of Ovid’s less used works: the Fasti, the Remedia Amori, the Ars Amatoria and the Epistulae ex Ponto (ch. 4). In the end, the second part of the dissertation (ch. 5) develops an exhaustive and detailed analysis of the fragments taken from Ovid’s works in the General estoria.

My dissertation analyzes the role of Ovid’s Heroides in Alfonso X’s General Estoria, a massive historical compilation in six volumes that the “Learned King” commissioned in 1272. The way in which eleven of these fictional epistles were incorporated by the Alfonsine translators sheds light on how ancient texts were perceived by medieval scholars. According to the study, King Alfonso relies on Ovid as an accurate historical source and uses the epistles of the heroines as historical documents while preserving their literary dimension. The thesis is divided into six sections. Chapter one introduces the topic of translation in relation to history and literature and argues for the use of a culturesemiotic perspective in the study of medieval translations. Chapter two looks into the General Estoria in order to frame the generic register/s to which the Heroides and Ovid belonged in Alfonso’s historic discourse. Some of these issues include literature and its historical value, and how the ancient past (in this case the times of characters in the Heroides) was used in order to investigate and interpret the concerns of the present, and form decisions about the future. Chapter three speculates on the bearing that the habitus or socio-cultural conditioning of a potential translator like Archbishop Jiménez de Rada could have had in the Alfonsine approach to translation. Chapter four analyzes the uses of and references to Ovid as a writer and his works throughout Europe in order to recreate the position both him and his works held in the socio-cultural milieu of thirteenth-century literature, history, epistolography, and rhetoric. Chapter five focuses on how the Latin text was initially adapted and segmented according to translation patterns and norms. This observational analysis of the Heroides in the GE approaches the text from the perspective of the discipline of Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS). My research does not seek to propose or refute any theories but, rather, to make a contribution to DTS in the form of an observational analysis.