During the reign of Isabel II (1843-1868), at a time in which the consolidation
of the liberal revolution in Spain took place, historiography experienced an
extraordinary upsurge, related both to the Romantic mentality of the time and
to the need of legitimacy of the new liberal and national State. However, there
was no general consensus among those who at the time formulated a global
discourse about the past of the nation. The dominant interpretation, related to
Spanish "moderantism" and to the centralizing guidelines of the State, came to
be contested by other ideological perspectives - both liberal and anti-liberal - and
by representatives of the geographical periphery. This gave rise to an authentic
"battle for the past" that would have as one of its central themes the discussion
about the historical role of the regions, and of their different cultural and political
traditions, within the nation as a whole.
