Rebel with a cause? From traitor prince to exemplary martyr: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz's representation of San Hermenegildo

El mártir del sacramento, San Hermenegildo is an auto sacramental or Eucharistic play, written in the 1680s by the Mexican nun and literary superstar, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. The play centres on the story of a (purportedly Catholic) Visigothic prince who died in Seville in 586 by order of his Arian father, Leovigild. Contempary sources vary in their portrayal of Hermenegild, with most painting him as a traitor who rebelled against his father for political gain. Gregory the Great, however, championed Hermenegild as an exemplary martyr who died in defence of the Faith. One thousand years on, Spain saw a revival of its Visigothic ‘Golden Age’, and Hermenegild was among those to be venerated; he was canonised in 1585 and his memory was brought to life in various artistic forms; in poetry, paintings and even on the stage. This paper will examine the part that Sor Juana's auto played within this tradition, exploring the purpose of the play and the various historical and biblical sources used to create it.     

El pulso de Centro América a través de la novela

This article offers a new reading of Miguel de Unamuno's San Manuel Bueno, mártir. Critics have traditionally focused on the question of the protagonist's supposed lack of faith and sought to relate San Manuel's doubts in the novel to Unamuno's own religious views. Although this novel is very much concerned with religion, eschatology, and social issues, it is also an extremely sophisticated literary narration wherein the use of irony and ambiguity remains perhaps unequalled in Spanish contemporary literature. By considering the principles of linguistic pragmatics, this article shows that in her account of San Manuel's life, the female narrator tells the dramatic story of the love she and San Manuel felt for each other. By means of a complex use of ambiguity, Unamuno writes a novel that can be read in two different ways: the religious novel and the love novel.     

Emblems and enigmas: Revisiting the ‘sword’ belt of Fernando de la Cerda

The belt of Fernando de la Cerda is on permanent display in the Museo de Telas Ricas, Burgos. Presently, scholars believe the belt dates from 1252–75, is of Hispano-Islamic work and was worn as a baldric. This article suggests that the belt is English, that it was commissioned by King Henry III and was worn around the waist. Henry gave the belt to the count of Champagne, Thibault II, during his first diplomatic visit to France. In turn, Thibault probably gave the belt to Fernando de la Cerda, the infante of Castile, in 1269, at Fernando's wedding. The belt's burial with the Castilian infante provides important evidence of the close familial and political relationships that linked the ruling dynasties of north-west Europe during the thirteenth century. Commissioned as a gift and richly decorated, the belt should be seen as an example of the aesthetic accomplishment of Henry III, his use of propaganda and political aspirations.     

La prudencia de Cortés: teoría política y práctica retórica en la Historia de la conquista de México de Antonio de Solís

The Historia de la conquista de México, published by Antonio de Solís in 1684, and later extensively reissued and translated, has been praised for the ‘elegance’ and ‘sweetness’ of its style. From very early on these qualities made the Historia to be read as a prose model worthy of imitation. Different scholars have studied Solís's sources and the way he manipulated them on the one hand, and, on the other, the extent of the reliability of his account. However, very little has been said about the actual writing practices of the Historia in the context of contemporary historiographical theories, or the author's own ideas about history or politics. This paper analyzes how some of these rhetorical techniques (I particularly focus on the use of oratio figurata, sententia, and epiphoneme) gave shape to Solís's political ideas, in particular the concept of prudence.     

Algérie: Les retours de la mémoire de la guerre d'indépendance

After independence, the history of national liberation in Algeria was largely managed by the single-party state. Founding figures of Algerian nationalism such as Messali Hadj and Ferhat Abbas were shrouded in silence. Since 1988 a plurality of voices has emerged and a number of historic figures have been rehabilitated. The state of quasi-civil war which has existed since 1992 between government forces and Islamic insurgents has, nevertheless, continued to inhibit discussion of human rights abuses during the war of independence. The recent resurgence in France of the debate over the use of torture during the Algerian war has been largely ignored by the Algerian government. The status of harkis , Algerian Muslims who fought on the side of the French during the war of independence, also remains acutely sensitive in official Algerian circles. Events such as the 'Berber Spring' of 2001 are continuing to press the authorities towards greater openness.     

Transformative Topographies: The Natural World in Historia de los Triumphos de la Santa Fee by Andrés Pérez de Ribas,S.J. (1645)

This essay analyzes the representation and cross-fertilization of natural and spiritual landscapes in Andrés Pérez de Ribas's Historia de los Triumphos de Nuestra Santa Fee (1645), a massive history of Jesuit evangelization in northwestern New Spain. Pérez de Ribas confers a major role to the natural world by deploying its wonders as well as its utilitarian riches in the service of imperial expansion and conversion, resignifying native landscapes in the process. The essay argues that Pérez de Ribas uses a ‘double optics’ of empirical observation and religion in order to make the northern periphery visible to readers at the centers of imperial power, and to participate in the Jesuit enterprise of knowledge making that was so much a part of their global enterprise.     

Analysis of the Gulf of Mexico’s Veracruz-Havana Route of La Flota de la Nueva España

During colonial times, an active maritime trade existed between Spain and the New World, with convoys sailing annually to and from Mexico and returning via Havana, Cuba, after wintering in America. A database constructed from secondary and open sources revealed that Spanish vessels were sailing over open waters along a northern path near Louisiana and a southern path across the central Gulf of Mexico. These routes were traversed in about one month and scheduling for the convoy was based on an understanding of the Americas’ meteorological and oceanographic climate. However, other factors may also have been involved in the directional layout of the routes. Today these ancient routes crisscross planning areas for oil and gas lease sales in the US Exclusive Economic Zone and the information presented in this article may aid in identifying areas where historic shipwrecks may lie. Maps and documents found during this study helped piece together the evolution of our understanding of the Gulf of Mexico surface circulation and how this knowledge influenced sailing during colonial times.