Sverker Arnolsson (1908–1959) was a Swedish historian and humanist. He was one of the most important Historians and Hispanists of the 20th century. He was born in

Sundsvall Sundsvall () is a city and the seat of Sundsvall Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It has a population of 58,807 as of 2020; more than 95,000 live in the municipal area. It is Sweden's 21st largest city by population. Old town i ...

, February the 17th 1908, and died in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, November the 10th 1959. He started his career interested in Swedish military history but quickly got interested in the history of the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

. He is most recognized for his work regarding the Spanish Black Legend.

Bio

Arnoldsson got his PhD from

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...

in 1937. His thesis, ''Svensk-fransk krigs- och fresdapolitik i Tyskland 1634–1636'' ("The policy of war and peace Swedish-German in Germany 1634–1636". Gotemburg, 1937), was based around the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine, or disease, whil ...

. Initially, his main interest was Swedish History, but through his thesis work he got fascinated with the

. Arnolsson was particularly interested in written expressions of history, such as archives, poems, and propaganda. His interest in

Hispanic culture The term Hispanic () are people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an ethnic or meta-ethnic term. The term commonly applie ...

was mainly focussed on culture and literature. He is one of the authors that explored the Spanish Black Legend. In 1937 he got a position as assistant professor. He won a Rockefeller scholarship to study in the Argentinian, Mexican, and USA's National Archives. This work was followed by various studies in Spain and Portugal in 1954 and 1958. His work during that time got him special recognition in Europe. In 1958 he was invited to Spain as a special Speaker during the celebration of the IV centenary of the death of

Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise Others * Charles V, Duke ...

. He became member of the National Academy of History of Buenos Aires.

Publications

#Svensk-fransk krigs- och fresdapolitik i Tyskland 1634-1636 (“The policy of war and peace Swedish-German in Germany 1634-1636”. Gotemburg, 1937) # Krigspropagandan i Sverige före trettioåriga kriget (“Political propaganda política in Sweden prior to the Thirty Years War in Acta Universitatis Gotoburgensis, XLVII, Gotemburg, 1941). #Johan III:s litterära själprotarair (“The Literary Self-Portrait of John III, in Studier tillägnade Curt Weibull, Gotemburg, 1946). #“Svarta Legenden” (“The Black Legend”, Göteborgs Morgonpost, 1947) #“Nicolás Guillén – svart skald från Cuba” (“N. G. – black poet of Cuba”. Göteborgs Morgonpost, 1948). #“Den spanska erövringen av Amerika i eftervärldens dom” (“The Spanish Conquest in America according to the judgement of Posterity-leftovers of The Black legend. Svensk Tidskrift, XI, nr. 6, Estocolm, 1953). #“Några intryck från spanskamerikanska arkiv och biblioteket” (“Some thoughts from archives and libraries of Spain and Hispano-America”, Arkiv, smahälle och forskning. Estocolm, 1953). #San Martín y sus contemporáneos suecos”, ("San Marín and his Swedish contemporanies." Tribute from the National Academy of History in the Centenary of his Death, 1850–1950. Tomo I. Buenos IAres, 1951) # “La historiografía moderna en Suecia”, ("Modern historiography in Sweden" in Boletín de la Academia Nacional de la Historia (XXV. Buenos Aires, 1951).

Translations

He translated to Swedish various books of

Latin American Poetry Latin American poetry is the poetry written by Latin American authors. Latin American poetry is often written in Spanish, but is also composed in Portuguese, Mapuche, Nahuatl, Quechua, Mazatec, Zapotec, Ladino, English, and Spanglish. The unifi ...

, such as Pablo Neruda's and Romeo Murga´s poems, in Götheborgske Spionen (12, nr. 3, Gotemburgo, 1947); poems by Jaime Torres Bodet and Nicolás Guillén, in Ord y Bild (59, nr. 4, Estocolmo 1950); poems by César Vallejo, in Svenska Dagbladet ( 1951), and by Fernán Silva Valdés, in Götheborgske Spionen (1952). He is the author of an anthology of Latin American poetry translated to Swedish: Hettan spränger natten (“The heat that scratches the night”. Estocolm. Gebers, 1956).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnoldsson, Sverker 1908 births 1959 deaths People from Sundsvall 20th-century Swedish historians Swedish humanists