The Catholic Monarchs have been a national symbol for some and for others: for the liberals of the 19th century they were exemplary monarchs in contrast to those that happened to them, who were foreigners, incompetent and absolutist; then it is Franco who puts Isabel la Católica on her private altar. And that’s without going back further to the rebellion of Pelayo in Covadonga, which was never documented and is probably fictitious. Only some (France) have been more successful than others (Spain). Today the United States dominates the world without having conquered it,” he concludes. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. For example, Catalan remained the common language in Catalonia both among the people and in the churches after the Castilian language had been introduced as the official language of governance. “There is a misconception that all empires are based on conquest, but that cannot be said of any of them following the Roman Empire,” he says. Kamen refuses to be drawn into the controversy between Empirephobia and Empirephilia, the books written by Elvira Roca Barea and José Luis Villacañas, respectively, which present clashing interpretations of the “black legend” – anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic propaganda allegedly generated by Spain’s north European rivals, starting in the 16th century. The Bourbon unification did not just crush, in his opinion, the localities so entrenched in the Peninsula. “In the winners of the Civil War there was no culture, except for some intelligent Falangists like José Antonio. 1256-1258; Richard L. Kagan, ‘Philip of Spain by Henry Kamen’, The American Historical Review , Vol. “As late as 1870, they were unable to recruit peasants for the army because they did not understand their language. It’s not that invention is bad; all modern states have had to create an identity over the last two centuries based on fantastical interpretations of the past. The author refuses to accept the union of Castile and Aragon as the moment when the Spanish nation was founded. Kamen has just published La invención de España (The Invention of Spain, Espasa), which unmasks the myths on which the country’s national identity has been built. “In the 19th century, France also had problems concerning cohesion, nationalism and linguistic unity,” he says. To visit EL PAÍS with the best experience, update it to the latest version or download one of the following supported browsers: British historian Henry Kamen is irritated by the debate among politicians over whether Spain is one nation or a collection of nations – some say as many as eight. And it has been used since then by conservatives “to underline the supposed glory of Spain, using a misconception to serve an ideology,” he says. A resident of Barcelona since the 1990s, Kamen is surprised by the way “Catalanism” has evolved recently from nationalism to separatism, which, he believes, is far from being the same thing. IN HIS VIGOROUSLY ARGUED PIECE RECENTLY PUBLISHED IN THIS journal,' Henry Kamen reappraised the notion long prevalent in his-torical studies of the "decline of Spain", and finding it inadequate in several respects, urged its removal from historians' conceptual ap-paratus. The aim of his new book, “The invention of Spain: Legends and illusions that have built the Spanish reality” (Spain), is to face the story that the chroniclers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries imagined against the evidence. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Historian Henry Kamen creates a vivid portrait of a dysfunctional, violent country that, since the destruction of the last Muslim territories in Granada in 1492, has expelled wave after wave of its citizens in a brutal attempt to create religious and social conformity. The Spanish Inquisition: A … In the sixteenth century, remember, the bishops lamented in their writings the ignorance of the people of their own religion. Author of The Spanish Inquisition, The Disinherited, The iron century, Empire, The rise of toleration, Golden Age Spain, European society 1500-1700, Inquisition and society in Spain Henry Kamen | … The same can be said of The War of Independence. In the 16th century, he says, members of the Church complained about people’s general ignorance regarding their own religion. As regrets the weakness of the central government for political fragmentation, which in his opinion makes it difficult to find solutions that stabilize the country. “These two conflicts have in common that the decisive element was foreign intervention.” Only that after 1808 English interests were imposed on the French, unlike in 1714. I. He divides his time between Barcelona and the United States. ”. It’s just that some, such as France, have been more successful at it than others, such as Spain. In the more than two centuries that followed the union of the crowns of Isabel and Fernando, no measures were taken to achieve the political union of the Peninsula. The persecution, he maintains, never gripped the entire land and the aim was mainly one of social control. “It’s a shame,” he says. This historian is irritated by the debate among politicians about whether Spain is a nation or if there are several nations in it, some say eight. Posted by. Kamen discusses how perceptions of key aspects of early modern Spain, such as the monarchy, the empire, and the Inquisition, were influenced by ideologies that continue to play a role in the formation … Henry Kamen’s most popular book is The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision. From the inability of the … So some Lutheran ideas did make their way to Spain. “Actually, it didn’t even create a State. The Spanish Inquisition. This book, the latest contribution by eminent historian Henry Kamen, is a unique analysis of the myths that Spaniards have held, and continue to hold, about themselves and about their collective past. Nuestro servicio ayuda a comprender entre los residentes de habla inglesa y los medios de comunicación en español, a la vez que ofrece más visitantes a cada artículo original. Archived. Title. A distinguished scholar and a professor emeritus at Cornell University, Netanyahu presented some of his arguments as long ago as 1966 in his study The Marranos of Spain According to Contemporary Hebrew Sources, which was reissued in 1973. He even minimizes the influence of the Catholic religion in the modern age. Kamen shows how the Spanish Crown used the Inquisition to deal with its fear of an Andulus (former Muslim rulers of Spain) Fifth column and the rise of Protestantism in Western Europe. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. John Lynch, Spain Under the Habsburgs: vol 2 Spain and America (1959) online pp 62–145. But the same is true of the War of Independence. The book is irreverent with the idea of ​​a Spanish nation, but not less with Catalan independence. The term Reconquest does not even appear until 1796 and has been used ever since by conservatives “to emphasize the supposed glory of Spain, using a mistaken concept to serve an ideology,” he says. In the two centuries and more that came after the merging of Isabella and Ferdinand’s crowns, no measures were taken to achieve the political union of the Peninsula,” he says. ” It is from 1700 when the Bourbons will undertake political unification, initially only administrative. Nor did they expect to come to power, so they had to look in the past for the essences of an ideology that didn’t exist. It’s just a play on words.”. Recent well-known works … Franco had no ideology because he knew nothing at all. A leading authority on Spanish history, he is author of over twenty studies in the field, some of them best-sellers that have been translated into several languages. “Fernando and Isabel did not resume a process that had been interrupted, but instead began a different stage,” he says. It’s just that some, such as France, have been more successful at it than others, such as Spain… — Fourth Edition. He/She studied at the University of Oxford (United Kingdom), in which Saint-Anthony completo College holds a PhD. Jaar: 1998. Henry Kamen is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in London and an emeritus professor of the Higher Council for Scientific Research in Barcelona. The Catholic Monarchs have long been viewed as symbolic figures in Spain on both sides of the political divide. Kamen’s new book may be irreverent about the idea of a Spanish nation, but it also scoffs at the idea of Catalan independence. Buy Spain, 1469-1714: A Society of Conflict 3 by Kamen, Henry (ISBN: 9780582784642) from Amazon's Book Store. 103, No. 90n the religion of the converses see Benzion Netanyahu, The Marranos of Spain from the Late XIVth to the Early XVIth Century, According to Contemporary Hebrew Sources (New York: American Academy for Jewish Research, 1973). Henry Kamen, the author of Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492-1763 , in the LAT (March 21, 2004): More than any other Western country, Spain has lived on intimate terms with Islam. On the side of Hernán Cortés, he fought local people against his enemies in America; just as in Flanders they fought troops of many nationalities; or the Spanish presence in the Philippines never passed a small portion of the territory. And the root cut: “I don’t see any reason to use that concept of the black legend. World Federalist. Kamen doesn’t buy the story of an idealized Al-Andalus either, which he says is the fabrication of 19th-century foreign romantics who were fascinated by Spain's Islamic heritage. Henry Kamen demonstrates here, however, that the king initiated significant developments in politics, imperial policy, finance, government, and the army that laid the basis of the modern Spanish state. “They have prepared a mythical version of the mass uprising of the people; that never happened, it is a total forgery ”. That conflict, he says, was rather a civil confrontation between Catalans in an international war. Historian Henry Kamen - YouTube. Kamen denies that Spain was cut off from contact with the outside world, then admits the “unquestionable isolated state of peninsular culture” (p. 135). Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. He calculates that the Holy Office did not carry out more than 3,000 executions in Spain throughout its history, that it was never deployed throughout the territory and that its role was primarily social control. Chiyo Ishikawa, Spain in the Age of Exploration, 1492–1819. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. It’s just a pun, ”says Henry Kamen (Rangoon, Burma, 1936), a British Hispanic Hispanic resident in Barcelona, ​​a PhD in Oxford, a member of the Royal Historical Society of London, author of about thirty books on Spain and a friend of the controversy. THE DECLINE OF SPAIN: A HISTORICAL MYTH? He also notes that political fragmentation has led to a weak central government, which in his opinion makes it difficult to find solutions to stabilize the country. Politicians would do well to do the same. “Nor did England conquer India, because she wouldn’t have been able to. University of Nebraska Press (2004). The underlying problem, he defends in his book, is that “to unite Spain, the nation had to be invented, while seeking to accept a thousand years of diversity and contradiction in it.” The British author openly disputes each and every one of the national myths: from Sagunto and Numancia to Covadonga and Lepanto, figures as ambiguous as El Cid, concepts as diffuse as the Hispanic race or the discourse of inexorable decline. They have not investigated what is meant by speaking of nation. The Bourbon unification did not, according to Kamen, completely do away with the provincialism that was so deeply rooted in the Peninsula. “The Church had power and wealth, but the people had little in the way of devotion,” he says, while adding that there were of course folkloric manifestations of faith. Henry Kamen. For example, Spain did not have a flag until well into the 19th century, and the Royal March was not adopted as the national anthem until the 20th century, which Kamen believes was due to weak national sentiment. Politicians, he adds, would do well to do the same, Franco had no ideology because he had no idea about anything. The circumstances of Granada’s capture in 1492 have nothing to do with those affecting the outcome of the battle of Navas de Tolosa almost three centuries earlier in the context of an international crusade. Aantal Pagina's: 369. Henry A. Kamen, né le 4 octobre 1936 à Rangoun, à l'époque en Birmanie britannique, est un historien britannique . Politicians, he adds, would do well to do the same. This browser is no longer supported. Henry Kamen's examination of the Spanish Empire serves as a deconstruction of the very idea of Spain itself. Muslims, Jews, Protestants, … He regrets that the electoral system in Catalonia benefits the countryside over the city, and thus ensures the nationalist dominance of the Parliament. “I think the current one works very well,” he says. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2000). What there was was “a plot, conceived by a handful of Catalan leaders, to invite the British to occupy Catalonia and help separate from Spain.” And he adds: “Did the British find a people anxious to free themselves from their oppressors Bourbons? In the winners of the Civil War there was no culture, except for some intelligent Falangists like José Antonio. He is the author of Empire: How Spain Became a Great Power, 1492-1763, as well as several other books on Spain. If Spain did not exist, then precisely who presented the most formidable presence in Europe and the force capable of colonizing the New World? In the winners of the Civil War there was no culture, except for some intelligent Falangists like José Antonio. Nuestro servicio es confiado por muchos expatriados de habla inglesa, jubilados y turistas. Remember Spain controlled a good part of the present day Netherlands and Belgium as well as Parts of Germany. Kamen, Henry. “There was little in the way of culture when it came to those who triumphed in the Spanish Civil War, with the exception of a handful of intelligent Falangists such as José Antonio [Primo de Rivera]. “The Church had power and wealth, but the people had little devotee,” beyond the folkloric manifestations, he says. The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision, Fourth Edition Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76XZ-OZFhJs. If unpleasant things happened in a country, they need to be analyzed, According to Kamen, the Inquisition didn’t have that much impact. In this work on the Inquisition, he discreetly hides the learned apparatus at the end of the volume, and writes … Only some (France) have been more successful than others (Spain). “Politicians, of all parties and all times, always want to distort the past to serve their expectations of the future,” the Briton warns in an interview with ABC. 454 (Nov., 1998), pp. No military campaign lasts 8 centuries". “Did the British find a people eager to free themselves from their Bourbon oppressors? The historian who is most responsible for correcting this view is Henry Kamen, with his landmark paper, “The Decline of Spain: A Historical Myth?” published in 1978. Cada artículo tiene un enlace a la fuente original en la parte inferior del artículo. The greatest myth of all may be the reconquest. In his view, the reason Spain lagged behind culturally and scientifically lies in education. Colonization, he adds, was not a conquest, but trade with international participants. “Gore” and “metalero”, this is the Shakespearean “Titus Andronicus” of Prior and Rico, They remove in Chile the statue from the epicenter of the protests to restore it. About how ethnonationalism twists historical facts to fit its narrative. “Ferdinand and Isabella did not restart a process that had been interrupted; they embarked on a different one,” he says. “Today’s politicians have no idea what a nation or a nation of nations might be,” says Kamen, who was born in Burma in 1936 and now lives in Barcelona. “What these two conflicts have in common is that the decisive element was foreign intervention,” he says, remarking that from 1808 onwards, it was English interests that were imposed on the French, unlike in 1714. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Henry Kamen, Inquisition and Society in Spain in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985). And Franco placed Queen Isabella I of Castile on his private altar. “They have done no research into the term, nation. Even in 1870, they failed to recruit peasants for the Army because they did not understand their speech. He is also irritated by the tendency of political power to manipulate the past, from the Reconquest to the Catalan defeat of 1714, to give a historic varnish to his (poor) speech. As far as he is concerned, the Spanish identity was built around that of Castile, but he questions whether the Bourbon centralization policy was as repressive as it is depicted to have been. No way”. Kamen refers to José María Blanco White to describe the 1812 Constitution as “a fantasy on a piece of paper.”, The mythical version of 1714 as the uprising of the Catalans is a total forgery. Nor were the people as devout as is sometimes made out, The mythical version of 1714 as the uprising of the Catalans is a total forgery. Kamen debunks what he considers the myth of the Cadiz Cortes while he is at it, recalling the words of José María Blanco White to describe the 1812 Constitution as “a fantasy on a piece of paper.”. He is particularly irritated by the myth of September 11, 1714, the date Barcelona fell in the War of Succession, which is presented by some as a heroic resistance by the Catalans against Castilian absolutism. Henry Kamen is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in London and an emeritus professor of the Higher Council for Scientific Research in Barcelona. The conquistadores were wrongly named. The image of a profoundly Catholic Spain is rather due to thinkers such as Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo, who in the late 19th century “exaggerated the reality of the religiosity of the Spanish people in order to confront the anticlerical liberals.”. 113, No. And many of the strongest and strongest criticisms were made by Spaniards. Historian Henry Kamen creates a vivid portrait of a dysfunctional, violent country that, since the destruction of the last Muslim territories in Granada in 1492, has expelled wave after wave of its citizens in a brutal attempt to create religious and social conformity. Henry Kamen has 48 books on Goodreads with 4335 ratings. Destroy another myth: the Cortes of Cádiz. The British refuses to participate in the controversy between Imperiophobia and Imperiophilia, the books of Elvira Roca Barea and José Luis Villacañas, respectively, with opposite visions of the black legend. Todos los artículos son traducidos de la fuente original. Not only has Kamen earned a doctorate from Oxford University and membership of the Royal Historical Society of London, he has also penned around 30 books on Spain and warns that most experts have abandoned the debate on what a nation is because it will always be a moot point. 9 months ago. Kamen has just published La invención de España (The Invention of Spain, Espasa), which unmasks the myths on which the country’s national identity has been built. Spain: A History. This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO … You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Kamen publishes now The invention of Spain (Espasa), a devastating essay for all the myths on which the national identity has been built. He is also disturbed by the tendency of those in power to manipulate the past, from the Reconquest to the defeat of Catalonia in 1714, allowing them to bolster their arguments with self-serving versions of history. It doesn’t make sense. He is particularly irritated by the myth of September 11, 1714, the fall of Barcelona in the Civil War presented as a heroic resistance of the Catalans against Castilian absolutism. ‘The Surrender of Granada,’ by Francisco Pradilla. A lot of the strongest and most sweeping criticisms were made by Spaniards.”. According to the author, the classic aspiration of nationalism was “to play a strong role in the destiny of Spain, to be important in Madrid.” He says it’s a shame that the electoral system in Catalonia favors the countryside over the city, thereby ensuring the nationalist dominance of the Catalan Parliament. “No military campaign in the history of mankind has lasted so long.” The same term Reconquista does not appear until 1796. Henry Kamen: "There was no … Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Henry Kamen, Vicissitudes of a World Power, 1500–1700, in: Raymond Carr (ed.). “It does what it has to do.” He adds that the Spanish royals have a complicated history behind them because the Spanish “are always expelling their monarchs, inviting or rejecting royal families, and declaring republics.” He concludes that this has led to the Spanish royals to have less support than their British counterparts. The circumstances of the capture of Granada in 1492 have nothing to do with those that decided the battle of Navas de Tolosa, almost three centuries before and in the context of an international crusade. Since the sixteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition has been synonymous with terror, bigotry, and persecution. 56. Who rates it best, the "pros" or the "otakus". Kamen denies that the Inquisition played as important a role in Spanish history as is often made out and estimates that the Holy Office carried out no more than 3,000 executions in Spain in total. He divides his time between Barcelona and the United States. This book, the latest contribution by eminent historian Henry Kamen, is a unique analysis of the myths that Spaniards have held, and continue to hold, about themselves and about their collective past. Henry A. Kamen (born 1936 in Rangoon) is a British historian, who has published extensively on Europe, Spain, and the Spanish Empire. “When I was a student I didn’t like studying Isabella – I thought she was a fascist queen,” Kamen jokes. Franco had no ideology because he had no idea about anything.”. “In reality, it did not even create a state. The answer he … pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. Nor did they expect to come to power, so they had to search the past for the essence of an ideology that didn’t exist. He has also produced many other deeply learned works. “But it’s a very important institution that has to be maintained.”, Kamen warns that most experts have abandoned the debate on what a nation is because it will always be a moot point. “I think the current one works very well. “It was not until the Cadiz Cortes of 1810 [Spain’s first national assembly to claim sovereignty] that the spark of patriotism was ignited in Spain, but even then the fusion of the regions into one nation was a process that depended a lot on myth and legend,” says Kamen. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. “France also accused, in the nineteenth century, … “Nor did England conquer India, because it would not have been able to. Most experts, he warns, have abandoned the debate about what a nation is because there is no way to reach an undisputed conclusion. There was no reason why Spain could not have followed the same path.”. Henry Kamen: "There was no Reconquista. It even relativizes the influence of the Catholic religion in the modern age. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Arguing that early modern Spain cannot in fact have de- The Spanish Inquisition / Henry Kamen. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. “They have produced a mythical version of a mass uprising of the people that never happened; it is a total falsification,” he says. Henry Kamen was until recently professor of the Higher Council for Scientific Research, Spain, and is Visiting Professor in the University of Chicago¿s programme in Barcelona. Zet op verlanglijst. The historian, Henry Kamen, has been accused of "rubbishing the history of Spain" and "destroying the foundations of the Spanish empire", in his book, Empire. I see no reason to use that concept of the black legend. Si desea que se elimine un artículo, puede contactarnos con la URL y la prueba de los derechos de propiedad para eliminar cualquier artículo de nuestro sistema. The author refuses to accept the dynastic union of Castile and Aragon as the founding moment of the Spanish nation. His doctoral thesis, directed by illustrious hispanist Raymond Carr, took the title of the war of succession in Spain, 1700-1715 and was published in 1969. Factual conversation. His position takes the often cited observation that Spain did not exist in any concrete sense during the early modern period to one extreme. Todo el contenido y las fotografías son propiedad de la fuente original. The splendor of Al-Andalus, he says, is limited to a very short period in Córdoba, in the 10th century, and a later period in Granada. Not even the people were as devout as they say. That being the invention without offense: all modern states have had to create their identity in the last two centuries with fanciful readings of their past. Copyright © All rights reserved Spain's News. He has a critical vision of the Spanish Empire, but refuses to speak of the “conquest of America.” “There is the wrong idea that all empires are based on conquest, when after the Roman none was like that.” Colonization was not a conquest, but a company with international participation. It does what it has to do. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Omschrijving. If unpleasant things happened in a country, they will have to be analyzed. Philip of Spain by Henry Kamen (New Haven and London 1997) The Grand Strategy of Philip II by Geoffrey Parker (New Haven and London 1998) The … Il a publié de nombreux ouvrages et articles sur l'Europe, l'Espagne et l' Empire espagnol. Beoordeel dit boek als eerste! Today the US dominates the world without conquering it,” the discussion ditch. It’s not that invention is bad; all modern states have had to create an identity over the last two centuries based on fantastical interpretations of the past. In his view, what did happen was a plot conceived by a handful of Catalan leaders to invite the British to occupy Catalonia and help separate it from Spain. The basic problem, he argues in his book, is that “to unite Spain, a nation had to be invented while simultaneously trying to assimilate a thousand years of diversity and contradiction.” The British author makes no bones about debunking each and every one of the nation’s legends, from Sagunto and Numancia to Covadonga and Lepanto – figures as ambiguous as El Cid and concepts as vague as the Hispanic race and its inexorable decadence.