The Mirror of Spain, 1500-1700: The Formation of a Myth (review)

In this lengthy but highly readable volume, distinguished medieval historian J.N. Hillgarth examines outsiders' perceptions of Spain during the early modern period. His approach to this broad subject is methodical. He offers thorough discussions of foreigners' (mainly other Europeans') responses to and interpretations of Spanish society, religion and politics. The final section briefly reviews overall trends in perceptions of Spain, using depictions of the tragic death of Philip II's son, don Carlos, as a case in point, and delineates the origins and development of the largely negative "myth" that is familiar to most Hispanists as the Leyenda Negra, or Black Legend, of Spain.

Hillgarth has assembled and analyzed with considerable sensitivity an array of sources in several languages, yet he has some difficulty in avoiding the almost inevitable redundancy that the limitations of those sources impose. The majority of those who left a written record of their impressions of Spain in this period were bureaucrats and diplomats, along with some merchants and intellectuals, individuals who for the most part traveled or resided temporarily in Spain on private or public business (or sometimes never visited the country at all). Inevitably their feelings about Spain were shaped by their own (or their countries') ambitions in an age when Spain occupied a key and dominant place in European and Atlantic politics. Jealousy, rivalry, and fear thus played a significant part in shaping many of these observers' responses to Spain and its people. Attitudes toward elements of Spanish society that seemed distinctive or even bizarre—which could include everything from dress and manners to traditional celebrations of Catholic holidays and the quality and quantity of food served—inevitably were conflated with, or distorted by, resentment or fear of Spain's political power. Not surprisingly the most sympathetic foreign observers usually were those who were Catholic (sometimes covertly, as in the case of some British visitors), spoke at least some Spanish, and spent sufficiently long periods in the country that they forged some real connections with Spanish society.

The author offers a useful discussion of graphic depictions of Spain by foreign artists who traveled there, pointing out that visual representations often were far more perceptive, detailed and accurate than much of the contemporary writing about the country. He also shows that despite the disdain for Spanish culture and society evinced by foreign observers, Spain's cultural influence extended well beyond its borders, particularly into France, where by the early seventeenth century everything from dance, dress and diet to theater and literature reflected admiration for Spanish fashions and literary productivity.

In tackling such a broad topic the author encounters inevitable problems, among them deciding where his story begins. In his chapter on "Alternative Religions," dealing with the descendants of Jews, Muslims and the workings of the Inquisition, he makes the important point that foreign views of Spain often were colored by fundamental misunderstandings about the place and significance of ethnic (or religious) minorities within Spanish society. In order to establish the source of these erroneous perceptions, however, he includes long discussions of the origins and development of the converso and morisco groups that could have been summarized more briefly. Similarly the impact of the writings of Bartolomé de las Casas, first in the Netherlands and later in England, is a topic that has been well covered elsewhere, although given this book's focus could hardly have been omitted entirely.

Ideally the pointed, frequently negative opinions of diplomats, writers or merchants would be balanced by some sense of the responses of ordinary people—French immigrants, soldiers from the Habsburg dominions, for example—who found themselves in Spain temporarily or permanently. That they are not is due to the nature of the available sources, not to the failure of the author, who has made every effort to be as inclusive as possible...