The Times - UK (2022-04-09)

18 saturday review Saturday April 9 2022 | the times

W

hat is Spain? The ques-
tion has always troubled
Spaniards. Is it best un-
derstood as the land of
Velázquez, Cervantes
and Almodóvar, epitomised by the exu-
berant noise of Barça fans, the aching
beauty of the Alhambra and by King Juan
Carlos delivering democracy?
Or is Spain defined by its darkness: the
Inquisition, the slave trade, the cruelty of
Cortés, Francoist fascism and King Juan
Carlos taking bribes? Throughout their
history, Giles Tremlett writes, the Spanish
people have “struggled... to fuse together
a fractured soul”.
When the Spanish national anthem is
played at the World Cup, players simply
hum; they do not sing. That’s because the
song has no words. According to Tremlett:
“Spaniards disagree so profoundly about
their own history that they dare not put
words to it.” The ability to ignore the past
remains an important component in social
harmony. Forgetting — olvidando — has
occasionally been an official policy. Eyes
are intentionally averted from bodies
secretly buried.
Tremlett, formerly the Madrid corre-
spondent for The Economist, has lived in
Spain almost continuously for 35 years.
This book is his attempt to distill centuries
of Spanish history — from Roman times to
the present — into something informative
and accessible, but still profound. He loves
Spain, but is not blind to its many faults.
He’s especially interested in that “lack of
a homogenous identity [that] is Spain’s
defining trait”.
Confusion over identity arises in part

because of the Moorish period. In the early

8th century invaders from north Africa

conquered Spain and it became an exten-

sion of the Umayyad dynasty. According

to some estimates, the Iberian peninsula

was 80 per cent Muslim by the year 1100.

Moorish Spain enjoyed “a period of cultur-

al glory which contrasted with Western

Europe’s status as an ignorant backwater”.

Cordoba, Tremlett writes, “was a great and

sophisticated Arab city that had been

transplanted onto European soil”. The

grandeur was abundantly evident, but was

it really Spanish?

An attempt to drive out the Moors — the

Reconquista — began shortly after they

arrived and took 781 years to complete.

The Spanish made a hero of Santiago

the Moorslayer, a soldier admired for his

brutal determination to reassert Spanish

identity. The process was completed in

1492, when Boabdil, the last Muslim king

of Granada, was driven from the

Alhambra.

Although the rulers

changed, the gran-

deur remained. The

marriage of Ferdi-

nand and Isabella

in 1469 united

Aragon and

Castile, giving

rise to a country

geographically

resembling

modern Spain.

The Spanish

then extended their

power across the

oceans, creating a global

empire that, according to

Tremlett, “helped unite Spain,

not least because so many Spaniards could

share in the project of despoiling it”. That

said, gold and silver from America never

trickled down to the very poor, whose mis-

ery worsened as Spain’s prestige grew.

Spain’s golden age coincided with an

attempt at spiritual purification, in the

form of the Inquisition, which began in

1478. Religious faith, crudely assessed,
      became a measure of Spanish identity.
      Those who failed the test were often exe-
      cuted. The dead were sometimes dug up
      and burnt at the stake, or descendants
      were fined for the transgressions of rela-
      tives long deceased. The opportunities for
      exploitation were immense, which might
      explain why the Inquisition continued for
      400 years, until 1834.
      When Ferdinand died in 1516, his crown
      went to Charles I, who was also ( just to
      confuse things) Charles V, Holy Roman
      Emperor. In addition to Spain his domin-

books

Why Spain

keeps falling

for dictators

This affectionate portrait is brutally

honest about the darkness in Spanish

history, says Gerard DeGroot

ions included the Low Countries, southern

Italy and a good chunk of central Europe,

not to mention those colonies abroad.

Spaniards today call him Carlos Primero,

fittingly also the name of a rather splendid

brandy. He embodies Spain’s Golden Age,

even though he could not speak Spanish

when he assumed the throne.

Charles had a jutting jaw — a family

trait. The Habsburg jaw, a genetic disorder

compounded by inbreeding, relates in-

versely to the quality of governance. “The

kings’ chins grew longer,” Tremlett writes,

“and their brains (or interest in governing)

grew feebler.” Charles II, the last Habsburg

king of Spain, had a jaw that looked like a

misplaced trowel. He inherited the throne

at age four, suffered from epilepsy and

rickets, and failed to produce an heir.

The period from the end of Habsburg

rule in 1700 until the death of the fascist

dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 was one

of persistent decline. Long periods of abso-

lutism were interrupted by short and un-

successful experiments with liberal demo-

cracy. Civil wars were common, as were

coups and assassinations. There were 50

coups between 1814 and 1981. Franco’s re-

pressive regime (1936-75) brought a sem-

blance of stability but, with creativity and

dynamism stifled, Spain stood still in com-

parison with her liberal European coun-

terparts. She never realised her potential.

For many Spaniards, absolute power

seemed the best response to instability.

Throughout their history, Spaniards have

been rather too fond of dictators. In the

1820s a battle cry went: “Muera la libertad

y vivan las cadenas!” — “Death to freedom

and long live our chains!” Even today

there’s an unhealthy nostalgia for Franco.

Tremlett negotiates Spain’s chaotic his-

tory with admirable clarity and style. His

love of his adopted country is readily ap-

parent; a light is shone on Spain’s perfidy,

but also its vibrant culture. The abundant

photographs in this beautiful book are as

bright as the Spanish sun. Appropriate

emphasis is given to the

strength of Spanish women,

who have provided a

backbone of stability

through centuries of

anarchy. After the

Franco years of

misogynistic re-

pression, Span-

ish women have

assumed their

rightful place in

business, medi-

cine, academia

and government.

Nowadays Spain

seems uncharacteris-

tically stable, despite the

disruptions caused by eco-

nomic recession, pandemic and

Catalan separatism. Yet is it a nation?

There’s still that nostalgia for absolutism,

that predilection for corruption and that

tendency to dwell on differences. “May

God protect you,” the poet Antonio Ma-

chado wrote in 1912. “One of the two

Spains will freeze your heart.” A century

later those words still ring true.

Yet is any nation ever really homogene-

ous? Tremlett describes a country troub-

led by its imperial past, a nation both inclu-

sive and bigoted. A dysfunctional royal

family and corrupt politicians regularly

dominate the news. Sound familiar? What

makes Spain different from Britain is the

deep anxiety these issues cause. The Span-

ish wear their hearts on their sleeves. The

British, perhaps, are just better at covering

up the past, at synthesising national pride.

It’s ironic that the Spaniards, so deter-

mined to forget, remain so proficient at

remembering.

reigns in spain Charles the First. Below right: a fascist parade in Salamanca, 1937

In the 1820s a battle

cry went: ‘Death to

freedom and long

live our chains!’

ALAMY

España

A Brief History

of Spain

by Giles Tremlett

Head of Zeus, 320pp; £25

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give me moor The 1492 conquest of Granada and seizure of the Alhambra marked the end of Moorish Spain