Latin American historiography has until recently treated “resistance” and “rebellion” in the colonial period as a reaction by indigenous, black, mulatto, and mestizo peoples against misrule by the Spanish crown or its agents. The history department of Louvain University, however, has initiated a relevant project that offers new perspectives for the study of the seventeenth century through the comparative examination of rebellions and resistance in the Hispanic world; that is, in the regions subject to the Hapsburg monarchy.
In an age of external conflict and internal disruption, the greatest challenge for this empire was how to govern a group of nations marked by distinctive political traditions, languages, and cultures. In principle, the only cohesive element was loyalty to the king (p. 16). Yet is it possible to attribute a particular identity to this conglomeration?
Starting with the assumption that the best way to discover the degree of homogeneity in a society is by examining the resistance against it as a whole (p. 10), this publication offers 19 colloquium papers that consider social movements in the Low Countries, the Mediterranean area, and the American colonies. Along with an analysis of the different mechanisms that common people and the aristocracy employed to express their dissatisfaction with a central power, Miguel A. Echevarria introduces the study of espionage as a political weapon. Two notable contributions in the Latin American field are Anthony McFarlane s fine general analysis, “Challenges from the Periphery: Rebellion in the Spanish American Colonies,” and Stuart B. Schwartz’s study of the Portuguese in Hispanic America, “Panic in the Indies: The Portuguese Threat to the Spanish Empire, 1640-1650.”
Although the editors assert that “much more interesting conclusions could be drawn from comparative studies within the same political unit” (p. 9), further work will be required to develop a comparative framework, given that the volume only brings together a series of individual case studies.
The editors’ intention of establishing connections and coordinating historical research about the Hispanic world will certainly benefit future historiographic development. It is worth nothing here that the Aviosos de Flandes series, under Louvain University’s auspices, is intended to circulate unpublished or little-known documents and monographs focusing on the relations of the Low Countries and present-day Belgium with the Hapsburg Empire and the Ibero-American world.
