Political literature and «public opinion» in Catalonia’s 17th century wars

Abstract

Abstract: This article sets out to show an overview of the interest and the use of «political literature» in current historiography. The author also tries to see how these texts were also popular texts in regular use in the spheres where they circulated, specifically during the 17th century. This period of the early modern era evokes an increasing importance of «public opinion» and the strength of its impact, especially in periods of war. And although that these texts could not be read by everyone, they became well known through other forms of diffusion. The paper describes this by making reference to the instruments of this literature, to the creative authors and, finally, to the people who were the opinion leaders of their day. The text presented here links historiography in general, relating political history to the history of literature and culture, and vice versa.

Key words: early modern history, Catalonia, war, literature, politics, first person writings, Europe.