The Black Legend: How Spain's Enemies Shaped Its Image

Spain's global dominance in the 16th and 17th centuries was accompanied by a dark narrative that persists today: the Black Legend. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how Spain's rivals—especially Protestant powers in the Netherlands and England—crafted a propaganda campaign portraying Spaniards as uniquely cruel, greedy, and fanatical. We trace the origins of the Leyenda Negra to the works of Bartolomé de las Casas, whose fiery indictments of Spanish atrocities in the Americas were seized upon by Dutch and English printers. We examine the role of the Inquisition's auto-da-fé in shaping foreign perceptions, and the impact of the Spanish Fury at Antwerp in 1576. The conversation also covers how the legend influenced later conflicts, from the Spanish-American War to modern Hollywood depictions. We ask: how much of the Black Legend was rooted in truth, and how much was distortion? And what does it mean for how we remember Spain's empire today? #BlackLegend #LeyendaNegra #SpanishEmpire #BartolomeDeLasCasas #SpanishInquisition #SpanishFury #Antwerp #Netherlands #England #Propaganda #AutoDaFe #SpanishAmericanWar #History #FexingoHistory #Spain #Colonialism #Hollywood #HistoricalMyths Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo