Castile in the first Spanish National Historiography, 1833-1900

Abstract

The analysis of the histories of Spain in the nineteenth century compromises the argument that Spanish nationalism introduced, almost from the beginning, a close identification between the ideas of Castile and Spain. Historians have tried to give the Spanish liberal State a long historical basis that usually goes back to the first settlers of the Iberian Peninsula, filled with a Volksgeist that would have resisted all invasions and later civilizations, as well as Middle Age, populated by heroes and cradle of freedom. They have also discussed the role of Castile in shaping the History of Spain, but they have failed to take the perspective of essentialist Castilianism, insensitive to plurality and based on the identification of Castile with Spain.