Holland's holandas: fabricating loyalty to the Empire in Quevedo's El chitón de las tarabillas

Abstract

The ailing Spanish empire took August 7 1628 one of its most discussed measures: currency deflation of the copperplate vellón. The Count-Duke of Olivares hired Francisco de Quevedo, who, as a skilful propagandist, wrote his famous prose-work El chitón de las Tarabillas against critics of the deflation. Among other problems associated with the currency, the Dutch were pouring fake vellón into the streets, which caused, according to Quevedo, the devaluation of the silver real. At the same time, the last historical reference present in the piece mentions Spain’s loss of the sites of the Hanseatic Wesel (now in Germany) in August 19, and ‘ s-Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-duc) on September 14, 1629. Moreover, the conflict was at least partially subsidized by the noblemen who enjoyed wearing textiles from the Netherlands. Quevedo intertwines the monetary and the martial conflicts and scatters mentions to several kinds of weaving from Cambray to «gazas» or «Holandas», in which the quality and texture of the garment become a semiotic sign of their owner. Quevedo fabricated a powerful message against those noblemen who criticized the measure while enjoying Dutch spinning. The noblemens’ holandas are scrutinized as to their texture and quality as a metonymy of their loyalty to the Spanish Empire.