Forging the Past

Spain’s infamous “false chronicles” — the documents about Spanish sacred history fabricated by a little-known Jesuit priest — shaped scholarly discourse, religious practice, and local heritage throughout that nation for centuries after they appeared in 1595. Forging the Past: Invented Histories in Counter-Reformation Spain analyzes intellectual, cultural, and political history while reinvigorating debate on the nature of historical and religious truth. Katrina B. Olds *09 is a history professor at the University of San Francisco.