HISTORICAL DICTIONARY A–Z - Spain and Portugal: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 253

tions won him a place at court in the reign
of P HILIP II. Having gained access to the
royal heir, he quickly won an ascendancy
over the young man who became P HILIP III
in 1598. The new monarch was disinclined
to the business of kingship, and his privado
(political favorite) became the effective
ruler or Spain.
In the sphere of foreign affairs Lerma
favored the maintenance of peace and
encouraged the king to end the conflicts
with England (1604) and the Dutch rebels
(1609) and to avoid hostilities with France.
However, he had no interest in remedying
the defects of the government or in improv-
ing the economy. As a Valencian nobleman,
Lerma could not persuade the Castilian
magnates to undertake necessary reforms.
Moreover his own avariciousness and nep-
otism were the source of endless scandal.
Ultimately his domestic policy was reduced
to holding on to the king's favor, fending off
mounting criticism from aristocrats and
commoners alike, and letting sleeping dogs
lie when it came to national decline.
By 1618 Lerma's corruption had spread
throughout the administration, which was
packed with his relatives and henchmen.
His greed became almost manic as he
obtained ever more titles and property for
himself and bestowed civil and ecclesiasti-
cal offices upon his relatives, particularly
his son, the duke of Uceda. When a murder
by one of Lerma's underlings threatened to
precipitate an irresistible attack on the
favorite's position, Uceda persuaded his
father to seek the protection of papal inves-
titure as a cardinal, thus securing himself
against criminal proceedings. The scheme
worked to the extent that it saved Lerma
from personal destruction, but his role as
all-powerful favorite was over. Uceda

briefly took his father's place, but with the
death of Philip III in 1621, P HILIP IV
ascended to the throne and installed his
own favorite, the count of O LIVARES , as
chief minister. In the purge that followed,
Lerma's “creatures” were executed, impris-
oned, or stripped of their wealth. The car-
dinal-duke died a few years later amid the
ruins of his former grandeur.
Contemporary observers described Lerma
as the arch villain of Philip III's reign, sug-
gesting that the young monarch was able
and well informed and would have suc-
ceeded had he not been dominated by the
favorite. Yet Philip was under no obligation
to surrender his power to Lerma and freely
chose to sign whatever the latter put before
him. No single individual, sovereign or
statesman, can be blamed for the decline of
the country, but Lerma, as a “monster of
egotism,” remains an enduring symbol of
the ruin that was overtaking early 17th-
century Spain.

Leyenda Negra (Black Legend)
This term has been applied to the character-
ization of Spain, its people, and its historical
record in general as totally negative and
profoundly evil. The precise origin of the
phrase in unclear, but it evidently began as
a Spanish reaction to a growing flood of
denunciation and outright calumny that
can be traced back to the 16th century. Ele-
ments that contributed to the Black Legend
were Spain's harsh treatment of ethnic and
religious minorities, its policies in the con-
quest and rule of the Americas, its persecu-
tion of dissenters (particularly the activities
of the S PANISH I NQUISITION ), and its aggres-
sive political-military policies in Europe.
Spain's wealth and power and undeniable