SPANISH ICONO-VILLAINS: THE CATHOLIC MONARCHS, CHARLES I, PHILIP II, AND OTHERS

The primary reference point for Spanish nationalism is the Catholic Monarchs, as they are considered the founders of Spain, having completed the Reconquista and initiated the Spanish Empire. However, the reality is that they committed large-scale crimes, causing suffering that was no less severe than that caused by James I:

• King Ferdinand of Aragon subjected the conquered inhabitants of Malaga to slavery.
• Later, his wife Isabella did the same with the inhabitants of the fallen Kingdom of Granada.
• Subsequently, she did so with the Guanches, the natives of the conquered Canary Islands—or rather, with those who had not committed suicide by throwing themselves off cliffs to avoid enslavement.
• As they did not have enough to satisfy their greed, they then conquered America, stole the lands and wealth of the indigenous people, and subjected them to the encomienda system—a type of servitude or forced labor theoretically less burdensome than slavery, but which in practice was often similar.
• Furthermore, they expelled the Jews from Spain.
• And, as if that were not enough, they promoted the torture and horrors of the Inquisition.

The second most important icon of the Spanish nationalist narrative is the one they call Charles I of Spain and V of Germany, although at the time he was called Charles V (which is how he is known everywhere except Spain).

Quite a few Spaniards feel proud of him because they consider him a Spanish monarch who secured a great empire for his country where the sun never set, spanning much of Europe, America, and parts of Asia.

To begin with, this is not the case, as he was actually a Belgian with ancestors from various parts of Europe whose language was French and who did not learn Spanish until he was named King of Spain. Nor did he live in these lands; instead, he moved through the different parts of Europe where he participated in wars. And he did not secure an empire for the Spanish people, but rather a vast estate for himself and his family, with his Spanish subjects being just another part of his possessions.

But what interests us here is the immense suffering he caused to innocent people, both in the Old and New Worlds:

• In the Americas, he undertook the conquest of new territories, accompanied by the murder of innocents, the theft of land, and the oppression and mistreatment of indigenous people—denounced in detail by Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, to which the emperor reacted, albeit with some lukewarmness.
• Furthermore, it was during his reign that the transatlantic slave trade of Africans to his colonies truly began.
• In Europe, he dedicated a large part of his life to wars and conquests to feed his ego, at the expense of great suffering for a vast number of people.
• It was during his reign that Protestantism appeared in Germany, where he was emperor. His reaction was not to tolerate this different way of thinking, but to persecute and repress it through force, causing, once again, much harm.

The third icon of the Spanish nationalist narrative is his son, Philip II, who was even more sinister than his father and more relentless in the persecution of Protestants.

And we cannot forget the conquistadors of whom some Spanish patriots are so proud, especially Hernán Cortés, Pizarro, or Núñez de Balboa, who were in fact vile criminals who committed great atrocities against innocent people, even using cruel methods such as unleashing their killer dogs to tear apart homosexual indigenous people.

And yet, unlike countries such as France, Germany, or Belgium, where there is a tendency to remove icono-villains from public spaces or recontextualize them, this civilizing process is not taking place in these lands.

Read more at: Andorra and others: Charlemagne.