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.

The classic sources

The Spanish Inquisition was the most important topic of the Black Legend in the 16th century. Although the Inquisition had existed in many European countries before it existed in Spain, Ferdinand II of Aragon instituted the inquisition in Spain primarily to investigate and punish conversos, former Jews and Muslims who had converted to Roman Catholicism, but whose conversions were not entirely trusted. Some of the most famous support for the legend comes from two Protestants: the Englishman John Foxe, author of the Book of Martyrs (1554) and the Spaniard Reginaldo González de Montes, author of the Exposición de algunas mañas de la Santa Inquisición Española (Exposition of some vices of the Spanish Inquisition, 1567).

Related Topics:
Spanish Inquisition - 16th century - Inquisition - Ferdinand II of Aragon - Conversos - Roman Catholic - Englishman - John Foxe - Book of Martyrs - Reginaldo González de Montes - Exposición de algunas mañas de la Santa Inquisición Española

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Another early source is Girolamo Benzoni's Historia nuovo (New History), first published in Venice in 1565.

Related Topics:
Girolamo Benzoni - Venice

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No small part of the Black Legend comes from self-criticism in Spain itself. As early as 1511, some Spaniards criticized the legitimacy of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In 1552, the Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas published his Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies), a polemical and some consider exaggerated account of the excesses that accompanied colonization, in which he compares the natives with tame ewes and blames Spaniards for the murder of 30,000 to 50,000 Arawaks on the island of Hispaniola (now home to the Dominican Republic and Haiti).

Related Topics:
1511 - Spanish colonization of the Americas - 1552 - Dominican - Bartolomé de las Casas - A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies - Arawak - Hispaniola - Dominican Republic - Haiti

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Recent genetic research contradicts the theory of the total Spanish genocide in the Caribbean. Mitochondrial and Y-chromosome analysis have shown that 62% of Puerto Ricans come from an Amerindian ancestry and well over 70% have a white ancestry; see Demographics of Puerto Rico for further information. Indeed, the irony of the Brevissima Relación has been noted as follows: "The most powerful indictment of Spain's cruelty and avarice is at the same time a monument to its humanitarianism and sense of justice" {{ref|casas}}.

Related Topics:
Caribbean - Mitochondrial - Y-chromosome - Puerto Ricans - Amerindian - White - Demographics of Puerto Rico

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The work of Las Casas was first referred to in English, with the publication in 1583 of The Spanish Colonie, or Brief Chronicle of the Actes and Gestes of the Spaniards in the West Indies, at a time when England and Spain were preparing for war in the Netherlands.

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The Duke of Alva's actions in the Netherlands contributed to the Black Legend. Sent to a part of Europe where printing presses were a constant source of heterodox opinion to stamp out heresy and political unrest in August 1567, one of Alva's first acts was to gain control of the book industry. In a single year, several printers were banished and at least one was executed. Book sellers and printers were raided in the search for banned books, many more of which were added to the Index librorum prohibitorum. In 1576 Spanish troops attacked and pillaged Antwerp, over three terrible days that came to be known as "The Spanish Fury". The soldiers rampaged through the city, killing and looting; they demanded money from citizens and burned the homes of those who refused to (or could not) pay. Plantin's printing establishment was threatented with destruction three times but was saved each time when a ransom was paid. Antwerp was economically devastated by the attack, and Plantin's business suffered. Such facts similar to German rampages in the sack of Rome (1527) were enlarged upon to enhance the Black Legend.

Related Topics:
Duke of Alva - Netherlands - 1567 - Index librorum prohibitorum - 1576 - Antwerp - The Spanish Fury - Plantin - Sack of Rome - 1527

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Other critics of Spain included Antonio Pérez, the fallen secretary of King Philip II of Spain. Pérez fled to England, where he published attacks upon the Spanish monarchy under the title Relaciones (1594).

Related Topics:
Antonio Pérez - Philip II - Spanish monarchy

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These books were extensively used by the Dutch during their fight for independence from Spain, and taken up by the English to justify their piracy and wars against the Spanish. Foxe's book was among Sir Francis Drake's favourites; Drake himself was and is regarded by the Spaniards as a cruel and bloodthirsty pirate. The two northern nations were not only emerging as Spain's rivals for worldwide colonialism, but were also strongholds of Protestantism while Spain was the most powerful Roman Catholic country of the period.

Related Topics:
Dutch - Fight for independence - English - Francis Drake - Protestantism - Roman Catholic

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The imprisonment of Don Carlos by his father, King Philip II of Spain, which was followed by the Prince's mysterious death, added to the legend, according to which the young heir had been murdered.

Related Topics:
Don Carlos - Philip II of Spain

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In the 17th century, Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia that had by then been unwillingly absorbed into the Spanish monarchy dominated by Castille, was the great producer of these libels.

Related Topics:
17th century - Barcelona - Castille

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