Black Legend
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The Black Legend or the Spanish Black Legend is a purported historiographical tendency which consists of anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic propaganda. Its proponents argue that its roots date back to the
A 1598 Dutch engraving by Theodor de Bry depicting a Spaniard feeding slain Indigenous American women and children to his dogs. De Bry's works are characteristic of anti-Spanish propaganda which resulted from the Eighty Years' War.
Contemporary, anonymous anti-Spanish propaganda painting of the 4 November 1576 Spanish Fury in Antwerp
The Spanish Fury at Maastricht in 1579
The Spanish Brute, US cartoon, 1898
Philip II of Spain
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Philip II, sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent, was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He was also jure ux
Black Legend
…de Toledo (son of the governor of the Netherlands and commander of the duke's troops) allowed his men three days to pillage the city; Alba reported to King Philip II that "not a nail was left in the wall". A year later, magistrates were still attempting to retrieve church artifacts which Spanish soldiers had sold…
Portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1565
The Baptism of Philip II in Valladolid, Castile. Historical ceiling preserved in Palacio de Pimentel (Valladolid).
Philip, in the prime of his life, by Anthonis Mor
Philip II wearing the Order of the Garter by Jooris van der Straeten, c. 1554