page_title: Black legend (Spain)
hierarchical_section_title: Black legend (Spain)
caption_attribution_description: Spaniards killing women and children and feeding their remains to dogs. From "Illustrations de Narratio regionum Indicarum per Hispanos quosdam devastattarum"
context_page_description: The Black Legend, or the Spanish Black Legend, is a theorised historiographical tendency consisting of anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic propaganda. Its proponents claim that its roots date back to the 16th century, when it was originally a political and psychological weapon that was used by Spain's northern European rivals in order to demonize the Spanish Empire, its people and culture, minimize Spanish discoveries and achievements, and counter its influence and power in world affairs.
  The assimilation of originally Dutch and English 16th century propaganda into mainstream history is theorised to have fostered an anti-Hispanic bias among subsequent historians along with a distorted view of the history of Spain, Latin America, and other parts of the world. This 17th century propaganda found its basis in real events during the Spanish conquest of the Americas, which did involve atrocities, but it often employed lurid and exaggerated depictions of violence, while ignoring similar behaviour by other powers.
  Although the existence of a 16th- and 17th-century Spanish black legend is agreed upon by the majority of scholars, aspects of the legend are still debated.
context_section_description: The Black Legend (Spanish: La leyenda negra), or the Spanish Black Legend, is a theorised historiographical tendency consisting of anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic propaganda. Its proponents claim that its roots date back to the 16th century, when it was originally a political and psychological weapon that was used by Spain's northern European rivals in order to demonize the Spanish Empire, its people and culture, minimize Spanish discoveries and achievements, and counter its influence and power in world affairs.
  The assimilation of originally Dutch and English 16th century propaganda into mainstream history is theorised to have fostered an anti-Hispanic bias among subsequent historians along with a distorted view of the history of Spain, Latin America, and other parts of the world. This 17th century propaganda found its basis in real events during the Spanish conquest of the Americas, which did involve atrocities, but it often employed lurid and exaggerated depictions of violence, while ignoring similar behaviour by other powers.
  Although the existence of a 16th- and 17th-century Spanish black legend is agreed upon by the majority of scholars, aspects of the legend are still debated. Charles Gibson described it as "The accumulated tradition of propaganda and Hispanophobia according to which the Spanish Empire is regarded as cruel, bigoted, degenerate, exploitative and self-righteous in excess of reality". Like other black legends, the Spanish black legend combined fabrications, de-contextualization, exaggeration, cherry picking and double standards with facts. There is disagreement among scholars over whether a biased portrayal of Spanish history continues into the present day, and the degree to which it might be significant if it does.
caption: A 1598 engraving by Theodor de Bry of a Spaniard feeding slain women and children to his dogs. De Bry's works are characteristic of anti-Spanish propaganda which was a result of the Eighty Years' War.
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