Black Legend

The Black Legend (in {{ll|Spanish}}, leyenda negra) is the excessive depiction of Spain and the Spaniards as bloodthirsty and cruel, greedy and fanatical. The term was coined by Julián Juderías in his 1914 book La leyenda negra y la verdad histórica (The black legend and the historical truth). This is contrasted with the White Legend (in Spanish, leyenda rosa, which means rosy legend) which promoted an idealized view of Spaniards. Each term tends to satisfy a certain prejudice.

Westward Ho!

Charles Kingsley's popular historical romance of 1855, Westward Ho!, draws its inspiration from the black legend: the buccaneering hero sets out from Elizabethan England to defeat the Spanish at sea and on land; the Spanish characters are vain, arrogant and cruel; the Irish too are treated with hostility. Many articles in the early-20th century Dictionary of National Biography (heavily drawn upon by academic historians in Britain and America) cite Westward Ho! as a factual source when dealing with Elizabethan figures.

Related Topics:
Charles Kingsley - Westward Ho! - Dictionary of National Biography

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