OANA ANDREIA SÂMBRIAN, Imaginea protestantismului transilvan în Spania secolului al XVII-lea: Francisco de Quevedo şi Gabriel Bethlen [The image of transylvanian protestantism in 17th Century Spain: Francisco de Quevedo and Gabriel Bethlen]

OANA ANDREIA SÂMBRIAN
Cercetător ştiinţific III, dr., Institutul de Cercetări Socio-Umane „C. S. Nicolăescu-Plopşor”, Craiova, al Academiei Române;
E-mail: oana.sambrian@gmail.com

Abstract
Transylvanian protestantism was received in Spain with many different reactions. After the long period of collaboration between Transylvania and Spain that marked the 16thcentury, once the protestant princes became rulers of Transylvania, the way this space was being perceived in the Spanish collective memory suffered significant changes. The vocabulary of the chronicles became more aggressive, including Transylvania alongside the great infidels, such as the Ottoman Empire or the Low Countries. Meanwhile, political literature and plays also reflect the hostility towards the new heathens. In this context, we are faced with two types of sources that will influence the Spanish collective memory regarding protestant Transylvania: on the one hand, there are the indirect sources of those who take the information from the newspapers of those times (relaciones de sucesos), and on the other, the memories of some characters that had the chance to meet the Transylvanian court directly, such as Diego de Estrada, whom we have tackled several times in the past in our works. Our article aims at showing the way in which the works of one of the great politicians of the 17th century, Francisco de Quevedo, illustrated prince Gabriel Bethlen in his extended works, with an important impact on Spanish mentality.

Keywords
Spain, Transylvania, Protestantism, Gabriel Bethlen, Queved.