Researcher Teresa Araújo has discovered an edition that predates all known editions of the important 17th-century poetic collection Floresta de varios romances, sacados de las historias antiguas de los hechos famosos de los doze Pares de Francia.

In her study, which precedes the facsimile of this 1642-43 printing, published by the prestigious FAH – Frente de Afirmación Hispanista, the author examines another 17th century printing (1688), which she also discovered in Aix-en-Provence. Both of these finds were instrumental in explaining Damián López de Tortajada’s book. According to Teresa Araújo’s “Introduction”, completed as part of the research project Literary revisions: the creative application of ancient ballads (15th-18th centuries), the poem was organised with historical criteria and purposes of political warning at a time when the Spanish crown was threatening Valencian autonomy and the tercios were being led into various wars in Europe.