The baker who pretended to be King of Portugal / Ruth MacKay.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mackay, Ruth.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sebastião, King of Portugal, 1554-1578.

Sebastião.

António, Prior of Crato, 1531-1595.

António.

Philip II, King of Spain, 1527-1598.

Philip.

Espinosa, Gabriel de, -1595.

Espinosa, Gabriel de.

Ana, of Austria, Abbess, -1629.

Ana.

Portugal--History--Sebastião, 1557-1578.

Portugal.

Portugal--Kings and rulers--16th century.

Portugal--History--Spanish dynasty, 1580-1640--Biography.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (328 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

List of Characters

Prologue

1. Morocco: King Sebastian

2. Portugal: Don António and Fray Miguel

3. Castile: King Philip II and the Baker, Gabriel de Espinosa

4. Madrigal: Ana of Austria

Epilogue

Appendix. The 1683 Pamphlet and Other Chronicles

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9786613655264

9781280678332

128067833X

9780226501109

0226501108

OCLC:

795159246