And why should this be of importance beyond Spain? Because, as this book has shown, events there have a nagging habit of presaging what will take place in other Western countries – even if those countries are unaware of this fact. The Occupy movement is just the most recent example, but this further pattern of Spanish history stretches back well over a thousand years, through the Second World War, Western colonialism, the Renaissance, the Crusades and even beyond. If Spain is set to take one of two possible paths into the future, her neighbours and partners should be watching her decisions very closely, for they will almost certainly herald in some way developments which the peoples of France, Germany, Britain, the US and many other nations will soon be facing. For at present these countries, like Spain, are facing keen problems brought about by complications with the very democratic principles upon which they are built. What those developments may be remains unclear, but Spain’s role as a harbinger of things to come should not be doubted: it is a part the country has played since its beginnings.
The Trojans ignored the truth of Cassandra’s predictions at their own peril. Can we afford to turn a blind eye to events in Spain?
People often boast that today we have moved on from the past, that we have learned the lessons of history, that history never repeats itself.
Perhaps it doesn’t. Perhaps we really have reached a moment in human history where we can break old patterns of behaviour and forge different futures for ourselves. I certainly hope so. Current trends, however, might suggest otherwise.
Nevertheless, history need not be a straightjacket. It only binds us when we ignore it. The patterns of behaviour can be broken, even those laid down over a thousand years. But this can only happen with an increase of self-awareness and understanding of what those patterns are and how they operate.
My own fascination with Spain began with the Moorish period. From there it extended to cover all the country’s history and culture. Along the way it seemed that each new facet I discovered was entirely different compared to what I already knew, and so ‘Spain’ itself, its essence, appeared elusive: there was always something else to learn, something which would almost certainly contradict what I thought I already understood. That journey has not ended, I’m certain, but after three and a half decades of focusing on the country in one form or another, I can see now that each facet is simply that – a different face of what is, in fact, a complete whole. Here, for me, lies the mystery and magic of Spain, a vastly complex yet somehow integrated thing of beauty that remains just beyond ordinary sight or reach. In some ways it might best be symbolised by the fruit which forms the smallest section of its coat of arms, the pomegranate; each segment, each seed may consider itself individual, yet only together do they form the complete thing itself. Spain is greater than the sum of her parts, and for her to break up into fragments would, in my own opinion, be a tragedy in so many ways. And yet the alternative is equally unappealing: dictatorship or authoritarianism of some description holding everything together by force. The problem today is intractable.
And yet if Spain’s history tells a tale of perpetual conflict and bloodshed – of darkness – it also demonstrates the country’s ability to illuminate. Turbulent and more violent times may lie ahead, yet her past also suggests that somewhere, somehow, new light will also eventually emerge, just as Averroes laboured away against the backdrop of Almohad fundamentalism, and Don Quixote was written against the leaden weight of Inquisitorial terror. The alchemical process in Spain never sleeps: it has always produced gold and will continue to do so. What Spain needs is to see this truth for herself, recognise her exceptional, crucible nature, and embrace her possibilities.
Santiago the Slayer and Santiago the Seeker are the same person; they need not be locked in perpetual conflict.
Perhaps, if they learned to accept each other, they might come to comprehend this, and in time see that, combined, they are also both a first, an original, Santiago, at the same time: James the Apostle, the Man from the East who brought to Spain a message of love.
It is in the hope that he may prevail that this book has been written.
1 The couple lost their titles of Duke and Duchess of Palma de Mallorca before sentence was passed.
2 Every church in the land had a plaque on the facade with the word ¡Presente! followed by the names of parishioners who had been killed – but only those on the Francoist side. Many of these have been removed in recent years.
3 At the time of writing, over fifteen hundred Spanish politicians, mostly from the ruling parties, have been implicated in corruption cases. Some four hundred have been found guilty, of whom only a fifth are currently serving prison sentences.
4 92 per cent out of a total of almost 2,300,000 votes, with a turnout of 43 per cent.
5 ETA’s violent campaign for Basque independence, while dominating the news for so long, was ultimately doomed to failure once Spain joined the family of democratic European nations – then the EEC – in the 1980s. Thenceforth, any international support or sympathy for their cause quickly faded. In contrast, the Catalan independence movement is overwhelmingly peaceful, giving it a more morally powerful position.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Mike Ivey for setting up the framework from which this book could emerge. Also to Matthew Hamilton and Andreas Campomar for having the cojones to go where others feared to tread. Mary Chamberlain remains the best copy editor one could hope for, and my thanks to her for her combined diligence and breadth of vision. Jules Stewart gave very generously of his time and experience, and helped steady things at a late stage. Claire Chesser and Clara Díaz at Little, Brown are both wonderful to work with.
This book is a condensation of many years’ experience in and of Spain, and it would be impossible to thank everyone who has shaped my ideas of a country which has been my adopted home in one form or another since the early 1990s. Some, however, need mentioning, including Enrique Murillo, Alex Gómez, Vicente Tamarit, Vicente Monsonís, Marta Sol, Sandra Ferrández, and Víctor Amela. José Valdivia was the person who first opened my eyes to the richness of Spanish history and it is with great sadness that I cannot thank him today.
There is, however, one person without whom my books would never have been written, the source of my inspiration, and to her must go the greatest thanks, as always. Gracias, mi amor.
Index
15-M (15 May movement) 392
1492 see also ‘Reconquest’
fall of Granada 125, 182–7
‘hidden hand’ of history 179
Jewish expulsion 29, 188, 190–1, 257–8
making Spain possible 197–8
‘Reconquest’ 125, 186
1984 (Orwell) 356
A
Abbasids 96
Abd al-Rahman 96–7
Abd al-Rahman II 99
Abd al-Rahman III 112–14, 166
Abilyx 44
absolutist monarchies 291–2
Abulcasis (al-Zahrawi) 4, 108–9
aceite (oil) 216
aceitunas (olives) 216
administrative districts 275
los afrancesados 285
Africanistas 323
Al-Andalus see also Moorish Spain
advanced European country 98
Almoravid control 153–5
Christians 102–3, 105
civil conflicts 93–7
Jews 102–3, 105
land distribution 91
meaning of name 89–92
rise and fall 112–19
Umayyad emirate 97
Alans 68
Albufera wetlands (Valencia) 214
Alcalá-Zamora, Niceto 326
Alcázar palace, Seville 180
Alcázar siege, Toledo 56
alcuzcúz (couscous) 217
Alexander II, Pope 148
alférez (‘second lieutenant’) 137
Alfonsine Tables 172
Alfonso VI of Castile 152–3, 167
Alfonso VII of Castile 155
Alfonso XII 300, 309, 316
Alfonso XIII 109, 316, 318–19, 326, 327, 373–4
algebra and algorithms 170
‘Alhambra Decree’ (1492) 190–1
Alhambra (Red Fort) 183–4
Alhucemas amphibious landings (1925) 324–5
Aljamiado (Moriscos language) 256
Almería 130–1, 245–6
Almohads 155–6, 205
Almoravids 153–6, 166, 193–4, 205
Altamira cave paintings 36–8
Alvarus, Paul 105
Amadeo I, Duke of Aosta 306–7
American dollar 44n1
anarchism 333–4
Anarchist militia groups 354–5, 357–8
Ancient Greeks and the Carthaginians 52
scholarship 172
Tasks of Hercules 43
trading posts 28
Andalusi Golden Age 97
Andalusia
food 218
Hispania baetica 50
independence movement 263
Sierra Morena 21
Animal Farm (Orwell) 356
Antar and Abla romance 138–9
anti-austerity and pro-democracy protests 392
anti-Catalan sentiments 398
anti-Semitism see Jews
anticlerical violence 330–1
Antonio, José 341–2
Antonio of Lebrija 198–200
apertura (‘opening up’) 375–6
apricots 213n1
Arab Spring 392
Arabs 30, 95–6
Aragon 50, 180
Aristotle 162
Armada, Alfonso 386
Army of Africa 343, 352, 359, 362
arroz con espinacas 217
Arthur 138, 139
Asal (Hayy bin Yaqzan) 159
Asín Palacios, Miguel 245
asparagus 100
Astray, Millán 325
astrologers 101
Asturian coal 320
Asturias 338
Atapuerca caves 32–6
Atlantic voyages 193–6
Atlantis 42–3, 91–2
Augustus, Emperor 49
‘autarchism’ 374–5
authoritarians 356
Averroes (Ibn Rushd) 86, 156, 158, 161–4, 216
Azaña, Manuel 331
B
Badajoz massacre (1936) 361
Baghdad 114
al-Bakri (chronicler) 135–6
Balmís, Francisco Javier de 110–11
Barcelona 68, 320, 321, 356
La Barraca (travelling theatre) 335–6
Basque Country 69, 296–7, 302, 357, 377
Basque iron 320
Battle of Alarcos (1195) 156–7
Battle of Bailén (1808) 284–5, 287
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212) 157, 179
Battle of Lepanto (1572) 235, 256
Battle of Poitiers (732) 95
Battle of the Ebro (1938) 359
Battle of Trafalgar (1805) 281
Belmonte Jews 206n1
Berbers 30
Al-Murabitun (warrior monks) 153
see also Almoravids
divisions with Arabs 117
organised persecution 167–8
revolt (739) 95
sacking Cordoba (1013) 118
Spanish Civil War 94n1, 95
Berenguer, Dámaso 326
Berlanga, Luis 370
Bethune, Henry Norman 111
bi-party system 315–16, 387
bienio negro cabinets 338
‘black biennial’ 336
Black Prince, Edward of Woodstock 181
Blanco, Carrero 377, 379
blanco y negro (‘us’ and ‘them’) 397
Blitzkriegs 149n2, 347
blood transfusions 111
Blue Division 369–70
Boabdil (Moorish king) 77, 182
Bohemian Lights (Valle-Inclán) 321
Bonaparte, Joseph (José I) 282, 286, 289
Borbón, Cristina de (Infanta Cristina) 389
Borbón-Parma, Prince Carlos Javier de 298n2
Borrow, George 396
Bourbons 270, 272–3, 309, 315
Breviarium Apostolorum 12
Britain 281, 347, 351, 370
Bronze Age cultures 27
‘buckaroos’ (cowboys) 138n1
bullfighting (la tauromaquia) 275
Bulliet, Richard W. 124–5
Buñuel, Luis 332–3
Busk, George 25
Byzantines 69–70, 115
C
Cabanellas Ferrer, Miguel 374
Cabrera (Balearic islet) 284
Cabrera, Ramón (el Tigre) 297, 298
Cádiz 28, 44
Calderón de la Barca, Pedro 251
Calpe (Gibraltar) 44, 93–4
Calvo-Sotelo, Leopoldo 386
Camino de Santiago 32, 68n2, 146–7, 245
El Campeador see El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz)
Cánovas de Castillo, Antonio 315, 328–9, 387
Cánovas–Sagasta duopoly 315–16, 318
cantons 307–8
capital city 239–40
Carlist Wars 295–8, 308
Carlos de Borbón (Don Carlos) 295–6, 297
Carlos I 227–9
Carlos II (‘the Bewitched’) 264–5, 269–70
Carlos III 274–7
Carlos IV 281, 282
Carmen Franco, Duchess of Franco 393
Carranza, Bartolomé 209n2
Cartaginensis 50
Carthaginians 28, 52
Casas Viejas, Jerez 334
Cassandra complex 1, 2, 51, 52, 356, 392, 400
Castile 50, 180
civil war 1474—79 185
decline 269
defeat at Alarcos (1195) 156–7
rise of 133
Castile and Aragon monarchs 184–5, 186, 225, 226–7
Castilla–La Mancha 21–2
Castilla–León 21
Castillo, Alonso de 257
cat gut 109
Catalan Republic (1931) 331
Catalan Republic (1934) 338
Catalonia
‘anthem’ (Els segadors) 325
football rivalry 395
independence movement 398
nationalism 331
referendum on independence 395–7
regionalism 382
revolt (1640) 262–3, 269
textile industry 302, 320
War of Spanish Succession 272–3
Catholicism
establishment of 67, 70
unifying factor 197–8, 229
‘Caudillo’ see Franco, Francisco
CEDA (political party) 336–7, 339
Celtiberians 53–4
centralised states 283
Cervantes, Miguel de
Don Quixote 249–53, 285–6
Entremeses 210
Ceuta (African exclave) 31, 210
Chadwick, Henry 62
Chanson de Roland 138
chaos (1868-1874) 304–9
Charles Archduke of Austria 270, 272
Charles Martel 95
chess 101
chivalry 137–44
Christian Spain 133, 229–30
Christians
Al-Andalus 102–3, 105
Almoravids persecutions 154
cultural collaboration 171
cultural deficiencies 152–3, 166
foot soldiers of the ‘Reconquest’ 207
martyrdom 104–7
mystics 247
Toledo translation movement 166
Church
anticlerical violence 330–1
sale of lands 302
Church-based education 302
los cinco reinos (‘the Five Kingdoms’) 180
‘Circumambient Sea’ (Atlantic) 193
Cisneros, Francisco Jiménez de 199, 227
civil wars see also Spanish Civil War
Fitna
(1008-1031) 118–19, 123
Fitna (1808—1874) 278–9
national story 399
nineteenth century 278–9
Clark, Kenneth 2
el Clásico (Real Madrid and FC Barcelona) 395
Clavijo hill fort (La Rioja) 149
Cluniac monastic order 147–8
CNT trade union 333
Codex Calixtinus, Book V 146–7
Cold War 348, 374
Columbus, Christopher 193, 194–6
Communists 354, 355, 359, 371
Companys, Lluis 338
Compostela 10, 12, 62, 145–7, 150
Comuneros movement 228
concentration camps 284, 367
Condor Legion 360
conservatives 376–7
Constanza (wife of King Alfonso) 167
Constitution (1978) 383
Constitution of Cádiz 1812 (La Pepa) 287–9, 291, 293
constitutional monarchy 315–16, 380–1, 387
conversos (‘new Christians’) 189–90, 254
Copernicus, Nicolaus 172
Copper Age 26
Coquilles Saint-Jacques 150
Cordoba
Almohads’ rule 156
Berbers sacking (1013) 118–19
‘Golden Age’ 113–19
Great Mosque 115, 117, 150
libraries and schools 115
medical knowledge 108
translation ‘school’ 114, 166
women 115
Cordoba Martyrs 102–7
coriander 217
corrupt ruling elites 261, 303
Cortes Generales 288
coups (pronunciamientos) 278, 301
July 1936 341, 393 see also Spanish Civil War
Primo de Rivera coup (1923) 322, 323–4
revolution (1868) 305
Sanjurjo coup (1932) 331, 338
Serrano coup (1874) 308–9, 385–7
Tejero coup (1981) 381, 385–7
Courtly Love movement 140
couscous (alcuzcúz/el cuscús) 217
‘cowboy’ (vaquero) 138n1
Cranium 5 (‘Miguelón’) 35
Cranium 17 35–6
Cro-Magnon early humans 24
crop cultivation 213
Crusader movement 148–9
Cuba 316–17
Cubillas, Modesto 36
cuisine 212–19
Curve of Conversion (Bulliet) 124
D
Dante Alighieri 74, 147, 163
Darb al-Mugharririn (‘Street of the Adventurers’) 194
Darwin, Charles 25
Defoe, Daniel 160
democracy 381, 383–5, 398–9
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