At a time when the blame for the decline of the Spanish world power was being accorded solely to external enemies, and the nation seemed to be suffering from a collective inferiority complex, it was not impractical to look for an explanation for this situation in early centuries and prove that domestic and foreign enemies had always sought to drag Spain's glorious past through the mud, minimise the great successes in Spanish history or even invert them into negatives.

In 1909, the latter reached a temporary climax in the so-called Semana Trágica, the 'tragic week' in August during which many people died in clashes between workers and the Spanish army in Barcelona and Catalonia.

Juderías wrote his work at a time when Spain was in deep crisis, not only due to the loss of the last parts of its empire in 18, but also because of the numerous social conflicts within the country.

In 1917, Juderías published a completely revised edition, which was repeatedly reprinted – the last time in 2003, and created with his work a term that from that point onwards was a fixed part of the repertoire not only of historiography, but also of journalism and other humanities. Estudios acerca del concepto de España en el extranjero 1 ('The Black Legend. His winning text first appeared in five parts between 19 in this journal and then as a monograph in 1914 under the title La leyenda negra. In 1913, a functionary of the Spanish foreign ministry, Julián Juderías y Loyot (1877–1918), received a prize from the weekly La Ilustración Española y Americana for the best work describing the image of Spain abroad. Therefore, it almost seems strange that the concept itself only emerged in the 20th century. In addition, it also creates the impression that outside ' Spain' people have been systematically talking badly of the 'Spanish' ever since the beginning of the early modern period. Even this short and not very illuminating statement shows clearly that the leyenda negra is primarily a negative concept. The Emergence of the Concept of the Leyenda NegraĪccording to the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española, the leyenda negra, the black legend, is an anti-Spanish disposition that has spread since the 16th century. See also the article 'Les catholiques et l’Europe au xixe siècle' in the EHNE. Rezeption der griechisch-römischen Medizin Istanbul as a hub of early modern European diplomacy Islam-Christian Transfers of Military Technology British and American Constitutional Models

Tree of Hate by Philip Wayne Powell