It is a very suggestive exercise to review how other countries have perceived Spain and the Spanish people throughout history. If we take the opinions of some illustrious people, from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, we find that there are some clichés that are repeated. Especially, that we are a rebellious people.
This poses a problem for us, and it means assuming that there is a subject, a “we” with certain characteristics, as the German romantics of the 19th century believed. A classic liberal would say that there are as many ways of being Spanish as there are Spaniards, but not the romantics, who thought that people have a mentality, a charisma and a character that define them, a volksgeist ("spirit of the people"), as they called it. they.
And where would this supposed spirit come from? Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803), who is the father of German Romanticism, attributed it to “racial traits, the region they inhabited, the adopted system of life and education, as well as the preferred occupations and exploits of their early life.” history that were their own.”
Without wishing to enter into that debate, here we will limit ourselves to collecting what throughout history has been said about the Spanish, and let each one draw their own conclusions.
