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On August 4, 1578, in an ill-conceived attempt to wrest Morocco back from the hands of the infidel Moors, King Sebastian of Portugal led his troops to slaughter and was himself slain. Sixteen years later, King Sebastian rose again. In one of the most famous of European impostures, Gabriel de Espinosa, an ex-soldier and baker by trade-and most likely under the guidance of a distinguished Portuguese friar-appeared in a Spanish convent town passing himself off as the lost monarch. The principals, along with a large cast of nuns, monks, and servants, were confined and questioned for nearly a year as a crew of judges tried to unravel the story, but the culprits went to their deaths with many questions left unanswered. Ruth MacKay recalls this conspiracy, marked both by scheming and absurdity, and the legal inquest that followed, to show how stories of this kind are conceived, told, circulated, and believed. She reveals how the story of Sebastian, supposedly in hiding and planning to return to claim his crown, was lodged among other familiar stories: prophecies of returned leaders, nuns kept against their will, kidnappings by Moors, miraculous escapes, and monarchs who die for their country. As MacKay demonstrates, the conspiracy could not have succeeded without the circulation of news, the retellings of the fatal battle in well-read chronicles, and the networks of rumors and correspondents, all sharing the hope or belief that Sebastian had survived and would one day return. With its royal intrigues, ambitious artisans, dissatisfied religious women, and corrupt clergy, The Baker Who Pretended to Be King of Portugal will undoubtedly captivate readers as it sheds new light on the intricate political and cultural relations between Spain and Portugal in the early modern period and the often elusive nature of historical truth.… (más)
I found this book hard to get into. I don't think it was written for a general audience because it doesn't follow a narrative track. It looks at different perspectives of the events rather than telling a story. For example, the death of the main character is mentioned in passing when discussing something else (..."by that time [he] was dead...) I would have preferred reading an account centered around the baker himself and, at least roughly, chronological.
Despite those challenges, once I got into the style, I found the story interesting and I learned about a slice of history I'd not known about before. Very well researched. ( )
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
"We can't help the way a king smells; history don't tell no way..."Well, anyways, I doan' hanker for no mo' un um, Huck, Dese is all I kin stan.' "It's the way I feel, too, Jim. But we've got them on our hands, and we got to remember what they are, and make allowances. Sometimes I wish we could hear of country that's out of kings." What was the use to tell Jim these warn't real kings and dukes? I wouldn't a done no good; and besides, it was just as I said; you couldn't tell them from the real kind. -- Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn
Dedicatoria
Primeras palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
On August 4, 1578, in the blazing Moroccan sun, King Sebastian of Portugal led his troops to slaughter.
Citas
Últimas palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
Ossorio, as it happens, lived at the Jesuit institute founded by Luis de Quijada and Magdalena de Ulloa, the caretakers of Juan of Austria and his daughter, Ana, who died in her last home on November 28, 1629, and was buried in a chapel built in her honor at the food of the convent's central nave.
On August 4, 1578, in an ill-conceived attempt to wrest Morocco back from the hands of the infidel Moors, King Sebastian of Portugal led his troops to slaughter and was himself slain. Sixteen years later, King Sebastian rose again. In one of the most famous of European impostures, Gabriel de Espinosa, an ex-soldier and baker by trade-and most likely under the guidance of a distinguished Portuguese friar-appeared in a Spanish convent town passing himself off as the lost monarch. The principals, along with a large cast of nuns, monks, and servants, were confined and questioned for nearly a year as a crew of judges tried to unravel the story, but the culprits went to their deaths with many questions left unanswered. Ruth MacKay recalls this conspiracy, marked both by scheming and absurdity, and the legal inquest that followed, to show how stories of this kind are conceived, told, circulated, and believed. She reveals how the story of Sebastian, supposedly in hiding and planning to return to claim his crown, was lodged among other familiar stories: prophecies of returned leaders, nuns kept against their will, kidnappings by Moors, miraculous escapes, and monarchs who die for their country. As MacKay demonstrates, the conspiracy could not have succeeded without the circulation of news, the retellings of the fatal battle in well-read chronicles, and the networks of rumors and correspondents, all sharing the hope or belief that Sebastian had survived and would one day return. With its royal intrigues, ambitious artisans, dissatisfied religious women, and corrupt clergy, The Baker Who Pretended to Be King of Portugal will undoubtedly captivate readers as it sheds new light on the intricate political and cultural relations between Spain and Portugal in the early modern period and the often elusive nature of historical truth.
Despite those challenges, once I got into the style, I found the story interesting and I learned about a slice of history I'd not known about before. Very well researched. ( )