Black Legend The Black Legend ( ) is a phrase used to describe the anti - Spanish historical propaganda created by mostly Protestant or Italian writers starting in the 16th century , thought to counter Spain ' s increasing influence and power on the world stage . According to one historian , this propaganda unfairly depicts Spain or the Spanish Empire as " cruel , bigoted , exploitative and self - righteous in excess of reality . " The term was coined by Julián Juderías in his 1914 book " La leyenda negra y la verdad histórica " ( " The Black Legend and Historical Truth " ) . Advocates of the term belong to a pro - Spanish historiographical school that has emerged in Spain and to some extent in the Americas . In turn , some critics have branded this revisionist narrative as a White Legend , grossly distorted so as to erase all blemishes from Spain ' s historical legacy . Definitions . The creator of the term , Julián Juderías , described it in 1914 in his book " La Leyenda Negra " as Philip Wayne Powell , in his book " Tree of Hate " , also defines the Black Legend : One recent author , Fernández Álvarez , has defined a Black Legend more broadly : Origins . The historian Sverker Arnoldsson from the University of Gothenburg , in his book " The Black Legend . A Study of its Origins " , locates the origins of the black legend in medieval Italy , unlike previous authors who locate it in the 16th Century . Arnoldsson cites studies by Benedetto Croce and Arturo Farinelli to affirm that Italy in the 14th , 15th , and 16th Centuries was extremely hostile to Spain . Arnoldsson ' s theories have been disputed by numerous historians . In general , they raise the following objections : Maltby further argues that there is no connection between the Italian criticisms of Spain and the later form of the black legend in the Netherlands and England Elements . 16th century . The Conquest of the Americas . The origin of the Black Legend can also be traced to self - critical texts from within 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 famous " Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias " ( " A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies " ) , an account of the wrongdoings that accompanied the colonization of New Spain , and especially the island of Hispaniola ( now home to the Dominican Republic and Haiti ) . In the section regarding Hispaniola , Las Casas compares the indigenous Arawak s to tame ewes and writes that when he arrived in 1508 , " there were 60 , 000 people living on this island , including the Indians ; so that from 1494 to 1508 , over three million people had perished from war , slavery , and the mines . Who in future generations will believe this ? I myself writing it as a knowledgeable eyewitness can hardly believe it . " The work of Las Casas was first cited in English with the 1583 publication " 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 . The Netherlands . Spain ' s war with the United Provinces and in particular the victories of the Duke of Alba contributed to the anti - Spanish propaganda . Sent in August 1567 to counter political unrest in a part of Europe where printing presses were a source of heterodox opinion , especially against the Roman Catholic Church , Alba took control of the book industry and several printers were banished and at least one was executed . Book sellers and printers were prosecuted and arrested for publishing banned books , many of which were added to the " Index Librorum Prohibitorum " . After years of unrest in the Low Countries , the summer of 1567 saw renewed violent outbursts of iconoclasm , in which Dutch " ' Beeldenstorm ' " Calvinists defaced statues and decorations of Catholic monasteries and churches . The Battle of Oosterweel in March 1567 was the first Spanish military response to the many riots , and a prelude to or the start of the Eighty Years ' War . The 80 Years ' War can be seen to have started on 13 March 1567 with the defeat of the rebels at Oosterweel . In October 1572 , after the Orange forces captured the city of Mechelen , its lieutenant attempted to surrender when he was informed that a larger Spanish army was approaching . They tried to welcome the Duke ' s forces by the singing of psalms , but Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo , son of the Governor of the Netherlands , and commander of the Duke ' s troops , allowed his men three days of pillage of the archbishopric city . Alba reported to his King that " " not a nail was left in the wall " " . A year later , magistrates still attempted to retrieve precious church belongings that Spanish soldiers had sold in other cities . This sack of Mechelen was the first of the " Spanish Furies " ; several events remembered by that name occurred in the four or five years to come . In November and December of the same year , with permission by the Duke , Fadrique had the entire populations of Zutphen , bloodily , and of Naarden killed , locked and burnt in their church . In July 1573 , after half a year of siege , the city of Haarlem surrendered . Then the garrison ' s men ( except for the German soldiers ) were drowned or got their throat cut by the duke ' s troops , and eminent citizens were executed . During the three days long infamous " Spanish Fury " of 1576 , Spanish troops attacked and pillaged Antwerp . 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 . Christophe Plantin ' s printing establishment was threatened with destruction three times but was saved each time when a ransom was paid . Antwerp was economically devastated by the attack . The propaganda created by the Dutch Revolt during the struggle against the Spanish Crown can also be seen as part of the Black Legend . The depredations against the Indians that De las Casas had described , were compared to the depredations of Alba and his successors in the Netherlands . The " Brevissima relacion " was reprinted no less than 33 times between 1578 and 1648 in the Netherlands ( more than in all other European countries combined ) . The " Articles and Resolutions of the Spanish Inquisition to Invade and Impede the Netherlands " imputed a conspiracy to the Holy Office to starve the Dutch population , and exterminate its leading nobles , " as the Spanish had done in the Indies . " Marnix of Sint - Aldegonde , a prominent propagandist for the cause of the rebels , regularly used references to alleged intentions on the part of Spain to " colonize " the Netherlands , for instance in his 1578 address to the German Diet . Portugal . Other critics of Spain included Antonio Pérez , the fallen secretary of King Philip . Pérez fled to France and England , where he published attacks upon the Spanish monarchy under the title " Relaciones " ( 1594 ) . Philip , at the time also king of Portugal , was accused of cruelty for his hanging of supporters of António , Prior of Crato , the rival contender for the throne of Portugal , on yardarms on the Azores islands , following the Battle of Ponta Delgada . Reception in England . 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 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 . All of this contributed to the evolution of the Black Legend . White Legend . The term " White Legend " refers to a counter narrative to the black legend that depicts Spanish colonial history in an idealized way as enlightened and benevolent , minimizing any negative consequences of Spanish colonialism and denying any oppression against minorities in mediaeval Spain . In spite of being actively promoted by members from every side of the political spectrum , these narratives are often seen as being associated with mainly with the dictatorial regime of Francisco Franco , which associated itself with the imperial past that was depicted in thoroughly positive terms . But also American historians of the 19th and 20th centuries , such as John Fiske and Lewis Hanke , have been described as going too far towards idealizing Spanish history in their attempts to counter the Black legend . Scholarly analysis . In recent years a group of historians including Alfredo Alvar , Ricardo Garcia Carcel , Lourdes Mateo Bretos and Carmen Iglesias have argued that the black legend does not currently exist , the black legend instead being merely the Spanish perception of how the world views Spain ' s legacy . Carmen Iglesias describes the black legend as " the external image of Spain as Spain perceives itself . " Garcia Carcel even directly denies the existence of the black legend in his book " The Black Legend " , arguing " It is neither a legend , insofar as the negative opinions of Spain have genuine historical foundations , nor is it black , as the tone was never consistent nor uniform . Gray abounds , but the color of these opinions was always viewed in contrast which we have called the white legend . " In the view of historian and Hispanist Henry Kamen , the concept of " black legend " ceased to exist in the English - speaking world for many years , although it remains an internal Spanish political issue . Kamen ' s position and his book " Empire " have been strongly criticized by Arturo Pérez - Reverte and José Antonio Vaca de Osma . The historian Joseph Pérez also believes that the black legend is gone , but still find traces here and there , as prejudices about Spain are indistinguishable from those that exist for other countries . The Argentine writer Ernesto Sabato in his article " Neither Black nor White Legend Legend " published in the paper " El País " proposes an overcoming of the " false choice " between two legends , to present an approach that appreciates the positive results of Spanish conquest without denying or ceasing to deplore the atrocities that were perpetrated .