What was the Black Legend (Spanish: Leyenda negra)?
It was a term coined by Juli?n Juder?as in his 1914 book La leyenda negra y la verdad hist?rica (The Black Legend and Historical Truth), to describe the depiction of Spain and Spaniards as “cruel”, “intolerant” and “fanatical” in anti-Spanish literature, starting in the sixteenth century. The Black Legend propaganda is said to be influenced by national and religious rivalries as seen in works by early Protestant historians and Anglo-Saxon writers, describing the period of Spanish imperialism in a negative way. Other examples of the Black Legend are said to be the historical revision of the Inquisition, and in the villains and storylines of modern fiction and film. The Black Legend and the nature of Spanish colonization of the Americas including contributions to civilization in Spain’s colonies have also been discussed by Spanish writers, from G?ngora’s Soledades until the Generation of ’98. Inside Spain, the Black Legend has also been used by regionalists of non-Castilian regions of Sp
