ABSTRACT
The view of Spanish history as exceptionally intolerant is often attributed to the ‘black legend’. But in the nineteenth century, this view was not exclusive to critics of Spain. While attitudes to Spanish intolerance varied – some condemned it, others praised it, and still others regarded it ambivalently –, very few questioned its reality and exceptionality. It was, in fact, Spain's apologists, and especially those of reactionary leanings, who most emphasised the extraordinary efforts of its kings, its inquisitors and its people to preserve for centuries a religious unity in which they saw the very essence of the Spanish nation. It is paradoxical, therefore, that at the beginning of the twentieth century, Julián Juderías blamed the 'legend' of Hispanic intolerance on Spain's foreign critics and unpatriotic Spaniards. And that, following Juderías, so many subsequent historians have assumed, against all evidence, that the idea of an intolerant Spain was always an anti-Spanish rhetorical weapon. The far more complex reality shows that identical historical and national stereotypes can serve political purposes that are not only distinct, but even contradictory.
