“Above all, to thy own self be true”: Pedro de Valencia, the history of Chile and selfcensorship

A lo largo del reinado de Felipe III, el reino de Chile estuvo en crisis. La «pacificación» del sur de aquel lejano reino iba mal, y en la corte real se debatían las tácticas militares necesarias para garantizar la seguridad de aquella región. Había un partido que estaba a favor de una «guerra defensiva» y otro que se mostraba favorable a una «guerra a fuego y a sangre». En medio de este debate, Pedro de Valencia, uno de los cronistas oficiales de Felipe III, decidió, en un acto premeditado de autocensura, abandonar la historia del reino de Chile que se le había encargado escribir. La interrelación entre la crisis en Chile, Valencia y la autocensura es complicada, pero demuestra, ya a principios del siglo XVII, la existencia de un mundo globalizado, en el que una crisis militar en un hemisferio tenía la capacidad de catalizar en otro una crisis de conciencia que, a su vez, resultó en un acto de autocensura. En las páginas siguientes, intentaré hacer todo lo posible por desenredar estos varios hilos que unían lo que, en la superficie, parecen dos crisis totalmente diferentes.Al llarg del regnat de Felip III, el regne de Xile va estar en crisi. La «pacificació» del sud d’aquell regne llunyà anava malament i a la cort reial es debatien les tàctiques militars necessàries per garantir la seguretat d’aquella regió. Hi havia un partit que estava a favor d’una «guerra defensiva» i un altre que es mostrava favorable a una «guerra a foc i a sang». Enmig d’aquest debat, Pedro de Valencia, un dels cronistes oficials de Felip III, va decidir, en un acte premeditat d’autocensura, abandonar la història del regne de Xile que hom li havia encomanat escriure. La interrelació entre la crisi a Xile, Valencia i l’autocensura és complicada, però demostra, ja a principis del segle XVII, l’existència d’un món globalitzat, en el qual una crisi militar en un hemisferi tenia la capacitat de catalitzar en l’altre una crisi de consciència que, al seu torn, va donar com a resultat un acte d’autocensura. A les pàgines següents, intentaré fer tot el possible per desenredar aquests fils diversos que unien allò que, a la superfície, semblen ser dues crisis totalment diferents.During the reign of Philip III, crisis prevailed in the kingdom of Chile. The “pacification” of the southern part of that distant kingdom was going badly, and in royal court a debate raged over the type of military tactics needed to guarantee the region’s security. One party favored “defensive war,” while another opted for a “war of fire and blood.” In the middle of this debate, Pedro de Valencia, one of the king’s official chroniclers, decided, in a premeditated act of self-censorship, to abandon the history of Chile he had been especially commissioned to write. The connections between the crisis in Chile, the chronicler and self-censorship are many and complex, but they demonstrate, already at the start of the seventeenth century, the existence of a globalized world in which a military crisis in one hemisphere was able to trigger a crisis of conscious in another and which resulted in an act of self-censorship. In the following pages, I will attempt to unravel the various threads uniting what, at least on the surface, appears to be two separate and unrelated crises

The count of Los Arcos as collector and patron of El Greco

Pedro Laso de la Vega, Count of Los Arcos (1567-1637) was a prominent courtier during the reigns of Philip III and Philip IV. A noted patron of the arts, Arcos amassed a collection of approximately 500 paintings, including eight by El Greco. This article offers a brief biography of the patron together with an detailed analysis of his art collection. Arcos' relationship with El Greco merits particular attention, as do the reasons why Arcos, towards the end of his life, saw fit to sell most of the El Greco paintings in his collection

"Ante todo, nunca te mientas a ti mismo" : Pedro de Valencia , la "Historia de Chile" y la autocensura

A lo largo del reinado de Felipe III, el reino de Chile estuvo en crisis. La «pacificación» del sur de aquel lejano reino iba mal, y en la corte real se debatían las tácticas militares necesarias para garantizar la seguridad de aquella región. Había un partido que estaba a favor de una «guerra defensiva» y otro que se mostraba favorable a una «guerra a fuego y a sangre». En medio de este debate, Pedro de Valencia, uno de los cronistas oficiales de Felipe III, decidió, en un acto premeditado de autocensura, abandonar la historia del reino de Chile que se le había encargado escribir. La interrelación entre la crisis en Chile, Valencia y la autocensura es complicada, pero demuestra, ya a principios del siglo XVII, la existencia de un mundo globalizado, en el que una crisis militar en un hemisferio tenía la capacidad de catalizar en otro una crisis de conciencia que, a su vez, resultó en un acto de autocensura. En las páginas siguientes, intentaré hacer todo lo posible por desenredar estos varios hilos que unían lo que, en la superficie, parecen dos crisis totalmente diferentes.Al llarg del regnat de Felip III, el regne de Xile va estar en crisi. La «pacificació» del sud d'aquell regne llunyà anava malament i a la cort reial es debatien les tàctiques militars necessàries per garantir la seguretat d'aquella regió. Hi havia un partit que estava a favor d'una «guerra defensiva» i un altre que es mostrava favorable a una «guerra a foc i a sang». Enmig d'aquest debat, Pedro de Valencia, un dels cronistes oficials de Felip III, va decidir, en un acte premeditat d'autocensura, abandonar la història del regne de Xile que hom li havia encomanat escriure. La interrelació entre la crisi a Xile, Valencia i l'autocensura és complicada, però demostra, ja a principis del segle XVII, l'existència d'un món globalitzat, en el qual una crisi militar en un hemisferi tenia la capacitat de catalitzar en l'altre una crisi de consciència que, al seu torn, va donar com a resultat un acte d'autocensura. A les pàgines següents, intentaré fer tot el possible per desenredar aquests fils diversos que unien allò que, a la superfície, semblen ser dues crisis totalment diferents.During the reign of Philip III, crisis prevailed in the kingdom of Chile. The "pacification" of the southern part of that distant kingdom was going badly, and in royal court a debate raged over the type of military tactics needed to guarantee the region's security. One party favored "defensive war," while another opted for a "war of fire and blood." In the middle of this debate, Pedro de Valencia, one of the king's official chroniclers, decided, in a premeditated act of self-censorship, to abandon the history of Chile he had been especially commissioned to write. The connections between the crisis in Chile, the chronicler and self-censorship are many and complex, but they demonstrate, already at the start of the seventeenth century, the existence of a globalized world in which a military crisis in one hemisphere was able to trigger a crisis of conscious in another and which resulted in an act of self-censorship. In the following pages, I will attempt to unravel the various threads uniting what, at least on the surface, appears to be two separate and unrelated crises

Human Posterior Parietal Cortex Plans Where to Reach and What to Avoid

In this time-resolved functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we aimed to trace the neuronal correlates of covert planning processes that precede visually guided motor behavior. Specifically, we asked whether human posterior parietal cortex has prospective planning activity that can be distinguished from activity related to retrospective visual memory and attention. Although various electrophysiological studies in monkeys have demonstrated such motor planning at the level of parietal neurons, comparatively little support is provided by recent human imaging experiments. Rather, a majority of experiments highlights a role of human posterior parietal cortex in visual working memory and attention. We thus sought to establish a clear separation of visual memory and attention from processes related to the planning of goal-directed motor behaviors. To this end, we compared delayed-response tasks with identical mnemonic and attentional demands but varying degrees of motor planning. Subjects memorized multiple target locations, and in a random subset of trials targets additionally instructed (1) desired goals or (2) undesired goals for upcoming finger reaches. Compared with the memory/attention-only conditions, both latter situations led to a specific increase of preparatory fMRI activity in posterior parietal and dorsal premotor cortex. Thus, posterior parietal cortex has prospective plans for upcoming behaviors while considering both types of targets relevant for action: those to be acquired and those to be avoided

La luna de España: Mapas, ciencia y poder en la época de los Austrias

Des de diversos angles, la Lluna i els espais celestes estaven presents en les reflexions de l’Edat Moderna. Aquest article se’n ocupa, a través sobretot del viatge sideral fictici que Juan de Maldonado va escriure el 1532 i de la topografia llunar realitzada pel destacat cosmògraf d’Anvers Miquel Florenz Van Langren en la dècada de 1630. A més de proporcionar una oportunitat per a retrats de costums curiosos, el primer, o per a un singular nomenclàtor llunar en honor de la Casa d’Àustria, el segon, ambdós casos mostren la forta presència dels mapes i de la representació gràfica de la Terra en la cultura de l’època. Aquest fet, que està a la base de la preparació cartogràfica adquirida per Felip II, és posat en relació amb la pràctica seguida per ell mateix i per Felip IV, i pròpia també d’altres governants, de mantenir ocults els mapes i altra informació cartogràfica, com si de secrets d’estat es tractès, en una época de creixent competència internacional en els camps polítics, militars i científics.Through different approaches, the Moon and celestial spaces were present in Early Modern reflections. This article deals with them specially by means of a fictious sideral voyage written by Juan de Maldonado in 1532 and the Lunar topography established by the leading Antewrp cosmographer Miquel Florenz Van Langren during the 1630's. Besides giving the opportunity for description of curious costums, the former, or for a unique Lunar nomenclator honouring the House of Habsburg, the latter, both cases show the strong presence of maps and graphic representation of the Earth in contemporary culture. This feature, wich lies in Philip II’s cartographic education, is placed in relation to the practice by himself and Philip IV, and also by other rulers, to keep maps and cartographical information hidden, as if they were state secrets, by a time of increasing international concurrence in the political, military and scientific arenas

Space representation for eye movements is more contralateral in monkeys than in humans

Contralateral hemispheric representation of sensory inputs (the right visual hemifield in the left hemisphere and vice versa) is a fundamental feature of primate sensorimotor organization, in particular the visuomotor system. However, many higher-order cognitive functions in humans show an asymmetric hemispheric lateralization—e.g., right brain specialization for spatial processing—necessitating a convergence of information from both hemifields. Electrophysiological studies in monkeys and functional imaging in humans have investigated space and action representations at different stages of visuospatial processing, but the transition from contralateral to unified global spatial encoding and the relationship between these encoding schemes and functional lateralization are not fully understood. Moreover, the integration of data across monkeys and humans and elucidation of interspecies homologies is hindered, because divergent findings may reflect actual species differences or arise from discrepancies in techniques and measured signals (electrophysiology vs. imaging). Here, we directly compared spatial cue and memory representations for action planning in monkeys and humans using event-related functional MRI during a working-memory oculomotor task. In monkeys, cue and memory-delay period activity in the frontal, parietal, and temporal regions was strongly contralateral. In putative human functional homologs, the contralaterality was significantly weaker, and the asymmetry between the hemispheres was stronger. These results suggest an inverse relationship between contralaterality and lateralization and elucidate similarities and differences in human and macaque cortical circuits subserving spatial awareness and oculomotor goal-directed actions

The Spanish Craze in the United States: Cultural Entitlement and the Appropriation of Spain’s Cultural Patrimony, ca. 1890-ca. 1930

At the time of war of 1898, the image of Spain in the United States has been traditionally seen as one much influenced by the Black Legend. Notwithstanding the importance of this negative image of Spain, this article suggests that even in that critical historical period there existed another line of thinking that viewed Spain and its culture in a much more positive light. Focusing primarily on topics relating to architecture and art, it further underscores the extent to which Americans of that era sought to incorporate elements of that culture into their own.Tradicionalmente se ha visto la imagen de España en los Estados Unidos durante la guerra de 1898 como muy influida por la llamada ‘leyenda negra’. Pese a la importancia de esta imagen negativa de España, este artículo sugiere que incluso en aquel crítico período histórico existió otra corriente de pensamiento que veía a España y su cultura de una forma mucho más positiva. Analizando principalmente cuestiones relacionadas con la arquitectura y el arte, subraya además el interés con que los estadounidenses de la época buscaron incorporar elementos de aquella cultura en la de su propio país

Students and Society in Early Modern Spain

Originally published in 1974. The close connection between universities and bureaucratic institutions such as church and state was perhaps first noticed by Max Weber. Such institutions, he observed, require a dependable source of cadres to run them. Thus, the size and composition of university enrollments are often a function of bureaucratic needs. Richard Kagan examines the dynamics of this relationship historically by racing the growth and decline of the university system in Castile, the heart of the Spanish monarchy, between 1500 and 1809. This period marked the emergence of a strong Habsburg state and a militant Catholic church, both of which looked to the universities for "educated" men. Accordingly, the universities grew rapidly, and by 1600 Castile was perhaps the best-educated kingdom in Europe. But this did not last. Jobs were increasingly filled through nepotism, causing students to abandon the universities in search of other careers. By 1700, the universities were small, backward institutions. Kagan begins by examining the nature and position of primary, secondary, and university institutions in Hapsburg Spain, concentrating on the extent and purpose of literacy. In Part II, Kagan discusses the growth and development of the ruling hierarchies in the bureaucratic world and gives special consideration to the criteria used to recruit officials. The author concludes with an assessment of the impact of bureaucratic changes in church and state on the universities of Castile. The data he collects on changes in the curriculum, the professorate, and the social and geographical backgrounds of the students are used to support hypotheses about the spectacular rise and collapse of university education in Spain, the process of modernization, the development of bureaucracies, and the crisis of the Spanish monarchy. Students and Society in Early Modern Spain demonstrates that institutions of higher learning often collapse when they become over-professionalized and fail to respond to changing conditions. Thus, Kagan provides a study of education and social change—of why educational institutions are central to a society in one century but only peripheral to it in the next. The author casts new light not only on the short lived educational revolution of the sixteenth century but also on education in other societies, both past and present

Effects of Pulvinar Inactivation on Spatial Decision-making between Equal and Asymmetric Reward Options

The ability to selectively process visual inputs and to decide between multiple movement options in an adaptive manner is critical for survival. Such decisions are known to be influenced by factors such as reward expectation and visual saliency. The dorsal pulvinar connects to a multitude of cortical areas that are involved in visuospatial memory and integrate information about upcoming eye movements with expected reward values. However, it is unclear whether the dorsal pulvinar is critically involved in spatial memory and reward-based oculomotor decision behavior. To examine this, we reversibly inactivated the dorsal portion of the pulvinar while monkeys performed a delayed memory saccade task that included choices between equally or unequally rewarded options. Pulvinar inactivation resulted in a delay of saccade initiation toward memorized contralesional targets but did not affect spatial memory. Furthermore, pulvinar inactivation caused a pronounced choice bias toward the ipsilesional hemifield when the reward value in the two hemifields was equal. However, this choice bias could be alleviated by placing a high reward target into the contralesional hemifield. The bias was less affected by the manipulation of relative visual saliency between the two competing targets. These results suggest that the dorsal pulvinar is involved in determining the behavioral desirability of movement goals while being less critical for spatial memory and reward processing