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Institut Nova Història

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The Institut Nova Història (INH) is a cultural foundation with headquarters in Barcelona. The objective of the foundation, based on the premise that the history of Catalonia has been systematically manipulated and hidden as from the 15th century,[1] aims to "recover and disseminate it, to rewrite the authentic history of Catalonia and create a new historical concept among the Catalans".[2][3] To achieve this, it promotes research, study and dissemination through publications, conferences and symposia.[2][4]

The INH has collaborated often with the Catalan National Assembly in organizing conferences on the history of Catalonia.[5]

Origin

The INH was created in 2007 as a spin-off of the Foundation of Historical Studies of Catalonia.

Its founders and leaders were Albert Codines[6] and Jordi Bilbeny. From its inception, the INH has undertaken the study and dissemination of the Catalan background and/or culture of Christopher Columbus, Miguel de Cervantes, Lazarillo de Tormes, all topics defended by Bilbeny.[7]

As for public events and outreach, since its inception, the INH has supported and organized, together with the municipality of Arenys de Munt, the Simposis sobre la descoberta catalana d'Amèrica (Symposium on The Catalan Discovery of the Americas),[1] held since 2001, where speakers, generally interested in the history of all fields of knowledge, submit their research on the Discovery of America by the Catalans.[8] In 2013, the Institute organized the first Universitat Nova Història in Pla de l'Estany, under the sponsorship of the Provincial Council of Girona, the municipality of Arenys de Mar, Cercle Català de Negocis (Catalan Business Circle), asamblea.ca], the Regional Council of Pla de l'Estany and Fundació Catalunya Estat.[2][9]

Support from the Catalan independentism and awards

Jordi Bilbeny (far left) at the count of the 2009 independence referendum in Arenys de Munt

The INH is funded by the Catalan autonomous government.[10] In 2013 it was awarded the Premi Nacional President Lluís Companys (President Lluís Companys National Awards) by the Sants-Montjuïc branch of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya.[11] In 2012 the former president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Jordi Pujol, wrote to Bilbeny congratulating him on his book Discovery and Catalan conquest of America. A history rewritten by the Castilians, noting that the books published by the INH "are very convincing", while in 2014, the former vice-president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Josep Lluís Carod-Rovira, participated at the reissue of Bilbeny's Brief account of the destruction of history, where he spoke in praise of the book.[12]

The 2015 INH symposium in Arenys de Munt, under the title "The Catalan Discovery of America", was financed by the councils of Arenys de Munt and Arenys de Mar, together with associations such as the Ateneu Independentista of Arenys de Munt. Muriel Casals, representative of Junts pel Sí, gave the closing speech entitled "From the erased past to political independence".[13]

INH members have given talks on their theories in the main Catalan television and radio channels such as TV3, Catalunya Ràdio, El Punt Avui TV, and others.[14][15][16][17]

Cristicism

The INH has been described by one academic as "a group of Catalan self-styled scholars trying to prove and promote the idea that, throughout History, a massive conspiracy by the Crown of Castille, the Inquisition, and any institution that may be related to Castille, has been orchestrated against the nation of Catalonia to deprive it of its History and cultural identity in order to promote Castile".[18] It was criticised in the Catalan parliament by the pro-Spanish party Ciudadanos spokeswoman, Carina Mejías, who described its theories as "ridiculous".[19] Javier Barraycoa, vice-chancellor of the Abat Oliba CEU University, former secretary of the Carlist Traditionalist Communion in Catalonia,[20] and member of the anti-Catalanist organisation Somatemps, said that the INH "has absolutely no recognition in the academic world" and that its members "have not been invited to any serious congress because it is impossible for them to defend these things."[21]

Researchers

Víctor Cucurull in 2011

The principal researcher — also the founder — of the Institut Nova Història is Jordi Bilbeny (born in Arenys de Mar, 14 October 1961). Bilbeny has a degree in Catalan Philology by the Autonomous University of Barcelona and has been a professor of Catalan language classes for adults at the Islamic Cultural Council of Catalonia and at the Women's Penitentiary of Barcelona (Wad-Ras), among other places.[22] He launched the "Symposium on the Catalan discovery of America" in 2001.[23] Bilbeny is a member of the "Arenysian Movement for Self-Determination", a local independentist movement, and of the Arenys de Munt's Popular Unity Candidacy,[24] and was one of the organizers of the 2009 Catalan independence referendum in Arenys de Munt, for which he composed the anthem.[25][26]

The president of the Institute is Albert Codinas,[1] entrepreneur and graduate in Contemporary History. Codinas is also vice president of the Fundació Catalunya Estat, secretary of the Associació Catalunya 2014, member of the executive board of the Catalan Association of Leisure, Sports and Culture Companies, co-founder of the Platform for the Right to Decide and former member of the executive board of the Catalan Business Circle. According to Codinas, "Castile, which was scarsely relevant in the history of the Western world until the Discovery of America, has pinched and sabotaged the history of others to justify its authority".[27]

Another of the best-known researchers of the foundation is Víctor Cucurull,[28] president of the Fundació Societat i Cultura,[29] member of the national secretariat of the Catalan National Assembly[30] and one of the ideologues of the "V" performed in Barcelona for the 2014 National Day of Catalonia.[31] Cucurull also is very well known for the video for his June 2013 conference in Navàs, which was reported by several newspapers.[5][32][33]

Theses defended by the Institute

The INH considers that the history of Catalonia has been manipulated and distorted since the end of the 15th century to favor the construction of a concept of a Spanish state differing from the "proto-federalism" of the Crown of Aragon and closer to the "supremacism" of the Crown of Castile. By miniminizing the role of Catalonia — or the Crown of Aragon — in Spanish collective history through falsification, concealment and censorship — and the "appropriation" — of certain historical episodes, the prevalence of Castilian ideology was favored for creating the idea of the nascent Spanish state. Bilbeny does not trust history books, prints, etc. dated from the 16th century onwards because he suspects that they were subject to censorship and manipulation.[34][35][36][37]

The main thesis disseminated by the INH is that the Catalans discovered America[38] since Christopher Columbus hailed from there[10] and that his real name was Joan Colom i Bertran "a Catalan noble that fought against Ferdinand II in the Catalan civil war of 1462-1472 and so he needed to change identity in order to avoid persecution by royalist forces".[18] Joan Colom i Bertran (Columbus) would be the grandson of the founder of the first public bank in the world and a direct ancestor of the former president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Artur Mas. Columbus would also be the father of Erasmus[18] whose real name was Ferran.[32][39] As the son of Columbus, Erasmus was a Portuguese prince on his mother's side, and his essay, In Praise of Folly, gives voice to Joanna of Castile. These hypotheses were built without any documentary proof and by just "reading between the lines".[40] The feat of discovery and conquest would have been accomplished entirely by Catalans,[1] the only ones who would sail to America until 1518:[35] Hernán Cortés[18] was actually Ferran Cortès, a Catalan noble,[41][42][1] as well as Francisco Pizarro, who in fact would have been Francesc Pinós De So i Carròs, and Diego de Almagro, whose real name would be Jaume d'Aragó-Dalmau;[43] the ships of Columbus would have sailed from the port of Pals rather than from Palos de Moguer.[18][44] The explorer Amerigo Vespucci,[18] whose last name was apparently a distortion of the surname "Despuig", would also have been Catalan and his voyage to the new world would have been made in the name of the "King of Catalonia".[1][32][45]

The thesis on the port of Pals was entirely rejected by Francesc Albardaner, Nito Verdera, Miquel Manubens and other historians or researchers at Barcelona's Center for Colombian Studies based on documentation, although they agreed with the theory that Columbus was Catalan. The distances traveled and the diverse documentation confirm that the expedition sailed from Palos de la Frontera (Andalusia), the place of birth of the Pinzón brothers.[46][47][48][49][50]

The INH also claims that the authors of several works of 15th and 16th-century Spanish literature were from Catalonia. Thus, Miguel de Cervantes was Catalan.[10][18][38] His real name, according to the INH, was Joan Miquel Servent, was a native of Xixona,[51] and the El Quixote would be a faulty translation of the original work in Catalan, El Quixot that was then destroyed by the Castilians,[52][53] and "passed off as Castilian in a conspiracy against Catalonia".[1] In fact, according to the author Miquel Izquierdo i Perán of the INH, Joan Miquel Servent would end up fleeing Spain and would publish his works in England under the pseudonym "Shakespeare", and hence, Servent, Cervantes and Shakespeare would have been the same person.[54][55][56]

The original versions of La Celestina and Lazarillo de Tormes— the latter having been written, according to the INH, by Joan Timoneda — were in Catalan and were later destroyed after having been translated into Castilian.[32] Garcilaso de la Vega would actually be Galceran of Cardona;[57] Francisco de Quevedo would have plagiarized part of his poetic work written by the dean of Vallfogona;[58] and Saint Teresa of Ávila was actually Teressa Enrìques de Cardona, abbess at the Monastery of Pedralbes for thirty years.[5][59]

They also claim that Michael Servetus was a "universal Catalan", stating that "Vilanova de Sixena", where Servetus was born, was a "Catalan population under Aragonese administration"[60][61][62] — suggesting that Michael Servetus was the father of Miguel de Cervantes. ("Joan Miquel Servent", according to the Institute) — [63]

El Cid, according to the INH, was not an individual but rather a Catalan lineage.[64][65] Another text published by the Institut claims that the first university in the Iberian Peninsula was the University of Barcelona, rather than the universities of Salamanca and Palencia.[66]

According to one of the recent theories of the INH, explained in the documentary Desmutant Leonardo (Deconstructing Leonardo), Leonardo da Vinci was Catalan,[10][18] born in a town near Montserrat, such as Manresa, Vic or La Garriga."[67][68][1][17][16] According to the researchers of the institute, Mona Lisa was actually Isabella of Aragon, the mountains depicted at the bottom of the portrait would be the Montserrat mountain range and Da Vinci's coat of arms was very similar to that of the "Catalan Royal House".[1]

They have also spread the idea that the design of the flag of the United States was inspired by the Catalan senyera.[69]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Segura, Cristián (26 November 2014). "Were Columbus, Cervantes and Leonardo da Vinci really Catalan?". El País. Madrid. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Primera Universitat Nova Història durant l'agost". llibertat.cat (in Catalan). 3 July 2013. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013.
  3. ^ Codinas, Albert (1 May 2010). "Som? Què som? Què han dit que som?". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 13 July 2014.
  4. ^ "QUI SOM". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 30 June 2014.
  5. ^ a b c Guil, Janot (11 June 2014). "La Asamblea Nacional Catalana se apropia también de Santa Teresa de Jesús". ABC (in SP).{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  6. ^ Mas, Andreu (3 November 2009). "Colom era català, barceloní, i d'una nissaga noble" (PDF). El Punt (in Catalan).
  7. ^ Marí, Francesca (30 November 2009). "Castella no té història universal". dBalears (in Catalan).
  8. ^ Bassa, David (1 May 2009). "Manifest a favor del Simposi d'Arenys de Munt". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 4 August 2014.
  9. ^ "1a Universitat Nova Història, de l'1 al 4 d'agost a Crespià". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan). 2 July 2013.
  10. ^ a b c d Garín, Alberto (2018). "A Non-Manifesto of Liberal History". What is Classical Liberal History. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books. pp. 211–212. ISBN 9781498536103. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "L'Institut Nova Història serà guardonat amb el Premi Nacional President Lluís Companys". llibertat.cat (in Catalan). 16 October 2013.
  12. ^ Fernández, A. (3 July 2014). "Jordi Pujol y Carod se suman a la teoría de que Colón y los Pinzón eran catalanes". El Confidencial (in Spanish).
  13. ^ Ruiz Coll, M.A. (25 November 2015). "ERC reúne a 40 historiadores con dinero público para demostrar que Da Vinci, Marco Polo, Colón y Cervantes eran catalanes". ok diario (in Spanish).
  14. ^ TV3. "Desmuntant Leonardo".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ "Entrevista Mònica Terribas: Bilbeny/Grau (1/4) histocat.cat". youtube.
  16. ^ a b "Jordi Bilbeny «Desmuntant Leonardo» a El Punt Avui TV". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan). 4 August 2014.
  17. ^ a b "Parlem de 'Desmuntant Leonardo' a Catalunya Ràdio". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan). July 28, 2014.; Interview with Jordi Bilbeny at Catalunya Ràdio.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h Rodríguez López-Abadía, Arturo (2014). "The origins of Christopher Columbus, a never-ending controversy". Revista Internacional Digilec. Vol. 1 (1): 1 to 10. ISSN 2386-6691. Retrieved 9 April 2018. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  19. ^ Sallés, Quico (22 April 2014). "C's: «És ridícul dir que Cristòfol Colom és català»". NacióDigital.cat (in Catalan).
  20. ^ "Directorio General de la Comunión Tradicionalista Carlista" (PDF). Comunión Tradicionalista Carlista (in Spanish). January 2013.
  21. ^ Moreno, Rosalina (10 July 2014). "Barraycoa: 'Cataluña vive un delirio colectivo'". La Gaceta (in Spanish).
  22. ^ Riera, Ignasi (14 June 2010). "Català a les presons". Avui (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 11 March 2012.
  23. ^ "Error intencionat? Un simposi d'historiadors a Arenys de Mar debatrà el possible origen català de Colom i per què es va negar". El Punt Avui (in Catalan). 16 November 2010.
  24. ^ "imenis i Bilbeny analitzen les consultes en una xerrada a Besalú aquest divendres". Llibertat.cat (in Catalan). 3 November 2009. Archived from the original on 4 August 2014.
  25. ^ "Una discogràfica ripollesa edita l'himne de les consultes independentistes". El Ripollès.info (in Catalan). 22 April 2010. Archived from the original on 24 July 2013.
  26. ^ "Campanes de Llibertat". e-notícies. 8 September 2009. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009.
  27. ^ Marfull i Pujadas, Andreu (26 August 2014). "Entrevista a l'Albert Codinas a la revista LA FADA de Sarrià". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 22 November 2014.
  28. ^ Alonso de la Torre, J. R. (3 September 2014). "Pizarro era de Cataluña". hoy.es (in Spanish).
  29. ^ "Conferència amb Víctor Cucurull". ANC Vilafranca per la Independència (in Catalan). 13 February 2014.
  30. ^ Segura, Cristian (23 November 2014). "Complot històric contra Catalunya". El País (in Catalan).
  31. ^ Cabús, Rubés (11 August 2014). "El rubinenc Víctor Cucurull és l'ideòleg de la V de la Diada, que ja té un tram reservat a Rubí". rubitv.cat (in Catalan).
  32. ^ a b c d Ferández, Antonio (30 June 2014). "Las teorías independentistas que convierten en catalanes a personajes históricos". El Confidencial (in Spanish).
  33. ^ Leguina, Joaquín (2014). Los 10 mitos del nacionalismo catalán. Barcelona: Ediciones Temas de Hoy. p. 74. ISBN 9788499984414.
  34. ^ Pere Forès i Malleu, Pere (19 November 2010). "Esborrant la traça catalana". Presència. No. 2021. Barcelona. pp. 28–31. GI-143-1965.
  35. ^ a b Marí, F. (30 November 2009). "Castella no té història" (PDF). Diari de Balears (in Catalan).
  36. ^ Alexandre, Víctor (5 December 2011). "La censura espanyola sobre la descoberta d'Amèrica". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  37. ^ Casanova, Eugeni (14 March 2011). "El robatori més gran de la història". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  38. ^ a b Crameri, Kathryn (2012). "History Written by the Losers: History, Memory, Myth and Independence in Twenty-First Century Catalonia" (PDF). Hispanic Issues on Line (11). Minnesota: University of Minnesota: 39. ISSN 1931-8006. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  39. ^ Mayolas, Pep (24 April 2014). "La meva hipòtesi és que Erasme era català i fill d'En Colom". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  40. ^ Colomé, Silvia (21 April 2014). "Pep Mayolas: "Mi hipótesis es que Erasmo era catalán e hijo de Colón"". La Vanguardia.
  41. ^ "Hernán Cortés también era catalán y se llamaba Ferran Cortès". elmanifiesto.com (in Spanish). 29 April 2014.
  42. ^ Giménez, Ivan (13 March 2014). "Hernán Cortés: hidalgo extremeny o descendent de sang reial catalana?". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  43. ^ Mayolas, Pep (17 April 2014). "Francisco Pizarro i Diego de Almagro, dos conquistadors de nissaga reial catalana". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  44. ^ Bilbeny, Jordi (27 October 2013). "Raons i proves per la identificació de Palos de Moguer amb Pals de l'Empordà". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  45. ^ Jordi Bilbeny (22 February 2012). "Américo Vespuche era un Despuig. Primera part de l'estudi d'en Jordi Bilbeny". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  46. ^ Verdera, Nito (1994). "Sobre els Pinzón i Palos ([About Pinzón and Palos)" (PDF). Butlletí del Centre d'Estudis Colombins (in Catalan) (14): 8–10. DL B-16689 - 1993. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  47. ^ Catalá i Roca, Pere (1993). "Sobre el port de Palos (Resposta indirecta a la qüestió de Pals [About the port of Palos (Indirect response to the issue concerting Pals]" (PDF). Butlletí del Centre d'Estudis Colombins (in Catalan) (14): 18–19. DL B-16689 - 1993. Retrieved 10 April 2018. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  48. ^ Fernández Navarrete, Martín (1825). Colección de los Viages y Descubrimiento que hicieron por Mar los Españoles (in Spanish). Vol. Vol. I. Madrid: Imprenta Real. p. 21. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  49. ^ Colón, Fernando (1892). "Chapter XIV". Historia del almirante Don Cristobal Colón. Vol. Vol. I. Madrid. p. 73. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  50. ^ Casas, Bartolomé de las. "Chapter 35". Historia de las Indias. Caracas: Biblioteca Ayacucho. ISBN 980-276-018-8.
  51. ^ Esquivel, Francisco (16 October 2012). "Cervantes, català". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  52. ^ Villarrodà, Jordi (30 January 2013). "El Quixot és la traducció d'una obra catalana, d'en Joan Miquel Servent". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  53. ^ Riera, José (1 March 2010). "El Quixot és una mala traducció de l'original en català". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  54. ^ Puigtobella, Bernat (22 July 2014). "Shakespeare era català". Punt de Llibre (in Catalan).
  55. ^ Nerín, Gustau (7 April 2016). "Van ser Cervantes i Shakespeare la mateixa persona?". El Nacional.cat (in Catalan).
  56. ^ Fernández, Laura (13 April 2016). "Un libro sostiene que Cervantes y Shakespeare eran la misma persona: un catalán". El Mundo (in Spanish).
  57. ^ "Garcilaso de la Vega... o... Galceran de Cardona?". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan). 1 March 2010.
  58. ^ Mestre i Sureda, Bartomeu (15 February 2011). "Va plagiar Quevedo al rector de Vallfogona?". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  59. ^ Montañés, José Ángel (24 December 2014). "Sin rastro de Santa Teresa en el monasterio de Pedralbes". El País (in Spanish).
  60. ^ "Servet 'catalán universal'". lavozdebarcelona.com (in Spanish). 21 January 2013.
  61. ^ "El instituto Nueva Historia Catalana llama a Servet "catalán universal"". El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 18 January 2013.
  62. ^ Balagué, Raimon (4 January 2013). "Miquel Servet, català universal". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  63. ^ Renom, Esteve (19 September 2012). "En Servet i En Servent eren pare i fill?". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  64. ^ "El Cid no va ser una persona sinó un llinatge català, passava de pares a fills". Diari de Girona (in Catalan). 28 February 2016.
  65. ^ Mayolas, Pep (27 December 2015). "El Cid de València era català o Quan i com els catalans van fer Espanya". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  66. ^ Fernández, Antonio (26 December 2016). "La última teoría independentista: Barcelona ya tenía universidad antes que Salamanca". El Confidencial (in Spanish).
  67. ^ Mendo, A. (8 July 2014). "Colón y Da Vinci son catalanes, según un grupo de historiadores nacionalistas". Antena 3 (in Spanish).
  68. ^ Espejo, Jose Luis (5 May 2009). "Leonardo, Montserrat i el secret de la Gioconda". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
  69. ^ Bilbeny, Jordi (5 December 2010). "Sobre l'origen de la bandera dels Estats Units d'Amèrica". Institut Nova Història (in Catalan).
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