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Question: Plain English translation please!?! What is the gist of this excerpt!?
Please excuse any typos!
"In Spain, which underwrote the voyages of Columbus, the formation of the nation state had been accompanied by a seven hundred year war against the Moors and the reconquest by Christian spaniards of a country dominated by Islam!. If Catholicism proved to be particularly bellicose and aggressive it must be attributed, in part at least, to the reality that in the fifteenth century religion and nationalism, religion and the formation of the nation-state, had become inseperable in thge Spanish mind!. The fortunes of Holy Church, buttressed by an Inquisition which vetted men's beliefs with powers of life and death, were at once an ideology for expansion, a justification for conquest, and a guarantee of eternal life!." Spanish Jamaica - Patrick Bryan
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Sentance by sentance translation:
This starts with the setting of where Spain was during this time!. This is also called a badly written histography!.
Spain had:
*financed Columbus' voyages across the sea,
*survived the seven hundred year war against the Moors (Egyptians), and was now forming a nation state/becoming stronger
The author clarifies: Moors were Islamic, and Spaniards were Christian
This last statement transitions into the point:
The religious reasons for the conflict, and the the Spanish view of nationality!.:
Catholisism was becoming agressive/willing to instigate fights with other religions, because the church was considered part of the key factors that distinguished a Spaniard from any other culture or nation!. They based their nationalism off of their religion!. Church and state were inseperable in the Spaniard minds!.
The next two sentances are modivations for why the church would want to expand, and their rationale/justification!.
*The church could gain money in the expansion, and this was reinforced by the urgency that the religion teaches that accepting Jesus as your savior is a matter of life or death in the after life!. There was no con if they were helping people acheive eternal life after death!. The religion itself was a reason to expand!.
So in summary the writer was saying that religion was the basis for the conflict with the Moors, and the justification for why the Spanards were willing to expand into other nations with the justification that they were doing what was right in their own eyes!. also, their religion was the basis for their national identity!.
So now break down the question:
Nationalism: national identity
Religion: Catholisism
Forming a Nation-State: creating a solid foundation for the counry to grow
Why were these words all factors that were all part of the definition of what it was to be a Spaniard at this time!? Why couldn't you seporate them and still have a Spaniard!?
If they were not Christian, they would have a fundamental difference from other Spaniards, and would serve to destroy the unity needed to make a nation-state!.
If they did not think of themselves as one people and establish nationalism, they could not have the necessary unity to form a nation state!.
If they did not form a nation-state they would be over run and absorbed into the boundries of a neighbor, because most wars at the time were over changes in leadership in order to test and see if the leader was strong enough to hold onto their land!. It was not a time for weakness, and according to this reading, religion was the strongest uniting force they had to use to survive!.
After reading this excerp I see why my university history department stressed good writing!.!. Wow!.
That's my 2 cents!. Hope it helps!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
At that point in history, the Spanish - and a great deal of europe - who were mainly catholics, were part of a society where politics (nationalism) and religion were so mixed in with each other, that politics underpinned the religious beliefs and vice versa!. Today for example, we invade countries for political reasons e!.g!. oil, ports, nuclear reserves etc - not religious ones - religion still gets used as an excuse for violence where regligion is politicised e!.g!. Northern Ireland - catholicism is synonymous with nationalism and separation from the UK!. Protestants are pro-monarchy and so on!. Www@QuestionHome@Com
This part of it means that the Spaniards felt that the Catholic religion was so closely tied to the formation of the nation-state (i!.e!. the country becoming the Spain we know now rather than the previous Islam state) that they considered the Catholic religion to be an aggressive force!.!.!.!.!.!. in that the Catholics fought aggressively for 700 years to win and therefore were considered a "force"!.So basically the Christians were considered a fighting force by Spaniards!. Hope this helps!!!Www@QuestionHome@Com
"!.!.!.nationalism, religion and the formation of the nation-state, had become inseparable in the Spanish mind!."
Being Spanish meant being Catholic!. They were one in the same thing!. Being a Spanish Catholic meant creating a Spanish Catholic country was something which must be done!. It could not (MUST not) be avoided!. And of course the Catholic Church must be the driving force behind that new country!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
tjoyce2002
if you hadn't spelt sentence (sentance) wrongly we might have believed you wrote the rest of that answerWww@QuestionHome@Com