El entorno de los plomos: historiografía y linaje

Abstract

The aim of this article is to propose new ideas concerning the authorship of the Lead Tablets from the Sacromonte, locating them, on the one hand, in the political context of the years in which they were forged, and on the other, in connection with the genealogical and historiographic works that were produced in the same period. This study proposes that the Lead Tablets were inserted into these historiographical and genealogical literature in response to their polemical nature, by making use of both History and the Arabic language as a means for ennobling Arab descent, principally by presenting the main Spanish heroes of the moment, the Christian martyrs, as Arabs. This particular use of History favours the noble lineages of the Grenadine new converts, and must have been encouraged or supported by members of those lineages. The thesis of this article is that the most likely involved in the Lead forgeries is the family Granada Venegas. This thesis is supported by showing the connections between the affair of the Lead Tablets with various members of the literary society that used to meet at the home of don Alonso Granada Venegas.