The use of the term leyenda negra to refer specifically to a biased, anti-Spanish depiction of history gained currency in the first two decades of the 20th century, and is most associated with JuliГЎn JuderГas. 'Golden' and 'black legends' had been used by Spanish historians and intellectuals with the same meaning in reference to aspects of Spanish history Antonio Soler used both terms about the portrayal of Castilian and Aragonese monarchs.

The term 'black legend' was first used by Arthur LГ©vy in reference to biographies of Napoleon, and he primarily used it in the context of two opposing legends, a 'golden legend' and a 'black legend': two extreme, simplistic, one-dimensional approaches to a character which portrayed him as a god or a demon. Historiography and definitions of the Spanish Black Legend There is disagreement among scholars over whether a biased portrayal of Spanish history continues into the present day, and the degree to which it might be significant if it does. Like other black legends, the Spanish black legend combined fabrications, de-contextualization, exaggeration, cherry picking, and double standards with facts. ДЄlthough the existence of a 16th- and 17th-century Spanish black legend is agreed upon by the majority of scholars, aspects of the legend are still debated. This 17th-century propaganda found its basis in real events which occurred during the Spanish colonization of the Americas, which involved atrocities, but it often employed lurid and exaggerated depictions of violence, and it ignored similar behavior by other powers. Along with a distorted view of the history of Spain and the history of Latin America, other parts of the world in the Portuguese Empire were also affected as a result of the Iberian Union and the Luso-Dutch Wars. The Protestant Revolutionary propaganda which was published during the Hispano-Dutch War and the Anglo-Spanish War against the Catholic monarchs of the 16th century, is said to have fostered an anti-Hispanic bias among subsequent historians. Its proponents claim that its roots date back to the 16th century, when it originally was a political and psychological weapon that was used by Spain's European rivals in order to demonize the Spanish Empire, its people, and its culture, minimize Spanish discoveries and achievements, and counter its influence and power in world affairs. The Black Legend ( Spanish: Leyenda negra) or the Spanish Black Legend (Spanish: Leyenda negra espaГ±ola) is a theorised historiographical tendency which consists of anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic propaganda.

The black legend debate