Invisible enemies: the devastating effect of gossip in Castile at the end of the fifteenth century

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article explores the content, examples, audience and aims of Hernando de Talavera’s “Treatise on gossip”. By locating the work in the overall context of the author’s production and in its time-space coordinates, the objective is to emphasise the meaning and relevance of the treatise in the turbulent events of the last quarter of the century. Working on the effects of “slanderous rumours” on “publica fama”, we will explore the consequences of gossip and distrust after the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition in order to show how social practices reflected the cultural, religious and political debates and developments in the construction of the “monarquía católica” at the turn of the century.