Document Type
Book Review
Publication Version
Version of Record
Publication Date
Winter 2013
Abstract
In this captivating study of the interdependent realms of fact and fiction, Ruth MacKay explores an episode in early modern Iberian history that could easily be found alongside any of the intercalated tales in Cervantes’s Don Quixote: that of an itinerant pastalero, or baker, who pretended to be the long lost King Sebastian of Portugal. Sorting through the letters, chronicles, and inquisitorial documents of troubled monarchs, conspiring nobles, and restless religious, MacKay weaves together an impressive array of Spanish and Portuguese archival sources to re-create the conspiracy that surfaced in the Castilian town of Madrigal de las Altas Torres in 1594 and ultimately sought to remove Philip II from the Portuguese throne. Beginning with the premise that this ‘‘conspiracy relied on news’’ and that this news was circulated by the ‘‘startling number of people traveling along the Iberian peninsula’s network of roads,’’ MacKay shows that the stories crafted by the individuals in this case reveal their perceptions of the lived world and, more importantly, of the world they thought was possible (xxii).
Publication Title
Renaissance Quarterly
Volume
66
Issue
4
First Page
1462
Last Page
1463
Format
application/pdf
Language
en
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Rights
© 2013 by University of Chicago Press.
Recommended Citation
Garst-Santos, Christine, "Review of The Baker Who Pretended to Be King of Portugal by Ruth MacKay" (2013). School of American and Global Studies Faculty Publications with a Focus on Modern Languages and Global Studies. 1.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/mlgs_pubs/1
Comments
This book review is from Renaissance Quarterly 66.4 (Winter 2013): 1462-63. Posted with permission.