Supplicant Empires

This volume is a collection of reflections from leading senior and junior historians regarding the merits of historical comparativism in the field of Iberian history. The first purpose of the book is to encourage a dialogue between scholars of the Iberian Empires and to foster a reconsider how they see the broader history of the early modern world in light of recent historiography. The second aim of the book is to prompt scholars of other regions in global history to consider the recent literature on the Iberian Empires anew, to move beyond the tropes of the Black Legend and narrative of growth, splendour, and decline, and to study those imbrications had connected disparate parts of the world and which the postcolonial turn has unearthed. In a series of articles and interviews, contributors were encouraged to consider the role of linguistic divides in the growth of historiographical strands, and to speak plainly about the possible siloes that have emerged in the field. Contributors discuss the Atlantic turn, corporate cultures, the Catholic adoption of Protestant ideals, gender and race, all while drawing on insights from scholars who work on early modern nuns, the material history of sugar and coffee, or those who are exploring the uses of the concept of barbarity in borderlands.

Introduction. Who Prayed for the Iberian World? Incomparable Empires in Global History
Edward Jones Corredera

Part 1

Corporations, Normative Pluralism, and Jurisdictional Culture. Explaining the Political Landscape of Early Modern Iberia
Pedro Cardim

Comparative Approaches to Gender and Ethnicity. Early Modern Iberian & British Empires
Bethany Aram

Rustics and Barbarians. Otherness and Counter-hegemony in the Early Modern Iberian World
David Martin Marcos

Imperial Blind Spots. Iberian Rhizomatic Worlds. Indeterminacy, Thickness, and Multispecies Interactions in Early Modern Travel Accounts
Fabien Montcher

From Manifest Destiny to destino manifiesto. The Hispanic Reformulation of Manifest Destiny (1820-1920
Marcos Reguera

When did Spain Go to Sleep? An Empire Dead to the World
Edward Jones Corredera

Part 2 - Testimonials

Is Spain Exceptional? Reflections on Thirty Years of Research and Writing
Tamar Herzog

Interviews

Notes on the Contributors