La transformación de la historia: el exemplum histórico.

This paper examines the blurred boundaries between the historical narrative and the exemplum. After outlining the main links between the two and the fundamental role of rhetoric to each, the study turns to a specific case: the unexpected death of King John I of Castile. This event is captured in literary form in Alfonso Álvarez de Villasandino's poem Crónica de Ayala, as well as Diego Rodríguez de Almela's Crónica del Despensero and Valerio de las Estorias escolásticas e de España. Drawing from these examples, the article posits four basic principles that underpin the composition of the historical exemplum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]