Description
Book SynopsisArms and Letters analyses the unprecedented number of autobiographical accounts written by Spanish soldiers during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These first-person retrospective works recount a range of experiences throughout the sprawling domain of the Hispanic monarchy. Reading a selection of autobiographies in contemporary historical context including the coalescing of the first modern armies, which were partially populated by forced recruits and the urban poor Faith S. Harden explains how soldiers adapted the concept of honour and contributed to the burgeoning autobiographical form. Harden argues that Spanish military life writing took two broad forms: the first as a petition, wherein the soldier’s service was presented as a debt of honour, and second, as a series of misadventures, staging honour as a spectacle that captivated an audience.
Honour was inevitably gendered and performative, and as such, it functioned as one of the overarching met
Trade Review
"Harden’s study focuses on specific texts, but her in-depth analysis and conclusions provide new insights into the social, historical, military, religious, cultural, and literary implications of soldier writing in early modern Spain." -- Iana Konstantinova, Southern Virginia University * Journal of Military History *
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Introduction: Arms and Letters 1. Virtue, Honour, and Exemplarity 2. Professional Honour and the Production of Knowledge 3. Spiritual Honour and Religious Authority 4. Playing the Pícaro Conclusion Notes Works Cited Index
