Revolt of the Comuneros: Difference between revisions

At the beginning of the 19th century, the image of the comuneros began to be rehabilitated by scholars such as Manuel Quintana as precursors of freedom and martyrs against [[Absolutism (European history)|absolutism]].<ref>[[#Per01|Pérez 2001]], p. 238.</ref> The decline of Castilian liberty was linked to the later decline of Spain.<ref name="nietoviahal">[[#Hal81|Haliczer 1981]], p. 7. Haliczer is citing [[#Nie73|Gutiérrez Nieto 1973]], ppp. 57–58 for Quintana's views; p. 84 for Danvila's views; and p. 98 for Marañón's views.</ref> The first major commemorative event came in 1821, the third [[wikt:centenary|centenary]] of the [[Battle of Villalar]]. [[Juan Martín Díez]], a nationalistic liberal military leader who had fought in the [[Peninsular war#Guerrilla war|resistance against Napoleon]], led an expedition to find and exhume the remains of the three leaders executed in 1521. Díez praised the comuneros on behalf of the [[Trienio Liberal|liberal government in power at the time]], likely the first positive governmental recognition for their cause. This view was challenged by conservatives who viewed a centralized state as modern and progressive, especially after the anarchy and fragmentation of the [[Glorious Revolution (Spain)|1868 Revolution in Spain]].<ref name="nietoviahal" /> [[Manuel Danvila]], a conservative government minister, published the six-volume ''Historia critica y documentada de las Comunidades de Castilla'' from 1897 to 1900, one of the most important works of scholarship on the revolt.<ref>[[#Sea28|Seaver 1928]], p. 376.</ref> Drawing on collected original sources, Danvila emphasized the fiscal demands of the comuneros, and cast them as traditionalist, reactionary, medieval, and feudal.<ref name="nietoviahal" /> Though a liberal, intellectual [[Gregorio Marañón]] shared the dim view of the comuneros that again prevailed in Spain; he cast the conflict as one between a modern, progressive state open to beneficent foreign influence against a conservative, reactionary, and xenophobic Spain hypersensitive to religious and cultural deviance with an insistence on spurious racial purity.<ref name="nietoviahal" />

[[Francisco Franco|General Franco]]'s government from 1939 to 1975 also encouraged an unfavorable interpretation of the comuneros.<ref name="clavero" /> According to approved historians such as [[José María Pemán]], the revolt was fundamentally an issue of petty [[Nationalisms and regionalisms of Spain|Spanish regionalism]], something which Franco did his best to discourage. Additionally, the comuneros did not properly appreciate Spain's "imperial destiny."<ref>[[#Nie73|Gutiérrez Nieto 1973]], p. 96. Nieto is referring to Pemán's ''Breve Historia a España'', ppp. 208–211.</ref>