Reflexiones en torno a los escritos políticos e históricos de Francisco de Quevedo

Abstract

210

The life and literary works of Francisco de Quevedo present many and difficult problems of interpretation. As for his historical writings, the author considers that these can be clearly understood when Quevedo’s life is placed within the context of the political faction to which he belonged and the transformation experienced by the Hispanic Monarchy between the sixteenth and the seventeenth century. Quevedo belonged to the so called ≪Castilian≫ party, whose members shaped the Hispanic Monarchy of Philip II politically and ideologically. When Quevedo reached the age in which he could participate in the government of the Monarchy, the Prudent King had died and the Castilian party was banished from power by a group whose ideals and members were different and even opposed to the ones that had forged the Hispanic Monarchy. It appears logical that he denounced the new evolution of the Monarchy and the aims it pursued, that in his opinion were wrong. That is why he opposed the ideological and historical foundations of the Hispanic Monarchy to the new political and religious justifications that were adopted as its reason of existence, and that precisely caused its decline.

Keywords

Quevedo, catholic monarchy, decadence, «Castilian Party», political ideology, Baroque