[Source:] The titles in the following list are those given in James York's 1868 translation into English.[5]
The Prologue
1. Relates to what happened to a Moorish king of Cordova. This story is based on the life of Al-Hakam II: his battles repulsing the last Norman attacks, and the struggle against the Zirids and the Fatimids in northern Morocco.
2. Treats of that which happened to Lorenzo Suarez Gallinato, and Garciperez of Vargas, and another knight ...5. Of that which happened to the Emperor Frederick[disambiguation needed] and Don Alvar Fañez, with their wives
6. Of that which happened to the Count of Provence and Saladin the Sultan of Babylon
7. Of that which happened to a King and three Impostors
In these titles, to what noun phrase does (the relative pronoun) that refer ?
I know that 'which' starts the restrictive relative clause modifying that.
(I was going to write '...relative clause THAT modifies that', but this looks confusing)
Obiter dictum: I was reading The Emperor's New Clothes which linked to this page.
Answer
Michael Swan, author of Practical English Usage (1995), considers that which to be an older form of what. In fact, he says that the form that which is very unusual in modern English. However, a search in Google shows that there are over 1.5 million hits for that which; surely, that many sources can't be completely off the mark!
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