Historiografía - History Lab

Observations on the elementary principles of history

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:40 +0000

The work of Josep Mora i Catá is a synthesis of the new historiographical trends that were circulating in Catalonia as a result of its proximity to other territories such as Valencia and France. Josep Mora i Catá was president of the Academy of Belles Lettres and wrote a work entitled “Observations on the elementary principles of history”, divided into two parts. For the first he proceeded to make a bibliographical criticism and for the second a palaeographical and diplomatic criticism. These were two current trends which he had brought together in his work. In the fragment in question, he deals with the historian’s relationship with the homeland and in this sense, he pointed out two problems related to truth: The first was when the historian’s love for his homeland led him to detach himself from the documents in order to indulge in fables (a direct criticism of the false chronicles that had permeated the writings up to that time). The second problem stemmed from the use of truth in cases where the image of the fatherland or its princes was damaged. The latter was a truth that had bad consequences, so Josep accepted the dissimulation of the truth.

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Education in the periodical papers of the Spanish Enlightenment

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:29 +0000

This is a fragment of great importance in which Carmen Labrador Herráiz and Juan Carlos de Pablos Ramírez clarify the nature of the Enlightenment movement, putting its emergence in context and denying the aura of exclusivity that has always been given to it with respect to previous knowledge. It is very common in historical interpretation to exaggerate certain changing junctures, presenting the era that is closing with respect to the one that is opening as an absolute contrast. This occurs, for example, when modern history is contrasted with medieval history, the earlier age being understood as a dark period rather than an epoch of transition to the next. Similarly, the enlightened man was heir to previous educational paradigms, and in many cases all that had been done was to secularise the inherited knowledge. Likewise, great care must be taken when pinning down the character of the Enlightenment movement, for it must not be lost sight of the fact that it was only elitist in scope.

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Nipho and 17th century Spanish journalism

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:29 +0000

The journalist Nipho’s statements will have major implications for Spanish historiography on the problem of modernisation/industrialisation. Jordi Nadal’s work on industrialisation in Spain has a precedent that has subsequently sown the seeds for all the historiographical debate that has enriched this issue in Spanish history. It seems that the idea of an industrialisation that contrasts between Catalonia and the rest of the country is not an original idea of Nadal’s, as we find it reflected in the writings of this journalist. Nadal’s thesis is that the process of industrialisation in Spain had been a failure due to many factors. Among them, the absence of a state to direct and facilitate efforts in this direction (such as the injection of liquidity, lack of organisation of the initiative, etc.). In Nadal’s analysis, the Catalans had managed to promote a small-scale industrialisation which, on the other hand, did not have the financial support of a state concerned with the industrialisation process, which decided its failure due to the fact that it was self-sustaining. Nadal’s analysis also contrasted the Catalan industrialisation trend with the stagnation of the Castilian cereal dynamic. This type of postulate, which also tended to evaluate the industrialisation process on a national scale, was later qualified in the collective work directed by Nicolás Sánchez Albornoz published in 1985 (La modernización económica de España 1830-1930). This proposed a change of perspective that tended to analyse the industrialisation process from an intersectoral and regional perspective. Indeed, not even 18th and 19th century England maintained the same levels of industrialisation as Liverpool and Manchester in other parts of the country, as there were also contrasts in which there were areas of rampant de-industrialisation.

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