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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer

@gvb1554.bsky.social
1.8K followers 429 following 192 posts

Historian of the global Spanish Empire in the early modern period, with particular focus on the Philippines at the University of Bristol. Looking at race, society, marriage, intimacies, religion & politics. www.instagram.com/gonzavelasco1554

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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Leaving Bluesky (and most social media) for a while. How long that will be without being tempted into it again I have no idea, but it's taking too much of my time and everything is becoming gradually more toxic so I need a break. If you want to get in touch do so via Instagram or institutional email
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
El 25 de julio de 1554, día de Santiago, patrón de España, se celebró el enlace entre Felipe, príncipe de Asturias, rey de Nápoles y Jerusalén y duque de Milán y la reina María I de Inglaterra e Irlanda. La elección del día no fue casual, sino que se escogió a Santiago para
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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Oh man. In 2018 there were still VCs who could say this. How quickly #UKHE 'leadership' has been captured.
Clive’s link to Stephen Toope the Cambridge VC’s piece is instructive, it clearly shows the distance between, broadly speaking, liberal values of academic freedom & the wider ‘positive externalities’ of higher education’s value and the pseudo-marketisation and narrow assetisation of universities and especially their students. In 2018 Toope observed:

for a generation now, politicians of all stripes have talked as if UK universities are broken, and hence in need of “market discipline”. They talk as if our students, smart and energetic people, are in need of protection. This is an own goal.

We are just beginning yet another review covering higher education that fails to get to the heart of concerns around the role of universities.  The focus should be on what values our society expects to see reflected in our universities, not just value for money.
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I love quirky coincidences in research that can make one go down a rabbit hole, however distracting it might be. I've been using the @librarycongress.bsky.social copy of Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola's "Conqvista de las Islas Malvcas" (1609) for one of the pieces I'm currently writing
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Javier Traité @javiertraite.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Cuando en las fuentes medievales aparecen basureros infectos, calles intransitables de residuos, y demás ideas que dan pie a lo de "en la EM todo daba asco siempre, el 100% del tiempo, porque les gustaba retozar en mierda", pensad más bien en cosas así. Tira y afloja, consistorio útil o inútil, etc
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Juego de paleografía: “son manifiestamente grandes…?” 🙈
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Cuando te llama al despacho el director pero se te ocurre la excusa de que te han subido unos humos al “celebro” que te abstraen de tus sentidos. Dramas en el archivo.
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Dear friends and colleagues I'm going to be in Seville doing research 30 June to 7 July. If you're around let me know and let's meet up. 🙂
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Francois Soyer @fsoyer.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
September 1550: the Augustinian Sebastião Toscano is denounced to the Lisbon Inquisition by scandalized churchmen for claiming in a sermon preached in the presence of the king that “after Christ no soul was more perfect in grace and virtue than that of Saint Augustin.”
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Neil Younger @neilayounger.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
24 June 1583: In London, a man called Ananias Dare, apparently a tiler and bricklayer, marries Eleanor White, daughter of John White. White is a painter and has accompanied a voyage to North America with Martin Frobisher (where he probably produced this image) ... 1/ #earlymodern
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Update: I drank both.
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
(Historical) choices to beat the heat! 🥵🍎
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Estoy escribiendo un texto sobre cómo la frontera de la Monarquía de España se percibe y negocia en los papeles de méritos y servicios de Filipinas y he encontrado a uno de los soldados más globales del XVII. Servicios en: Nápoles y reinos de Italia (1596-1604), Levante y jornada
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Lou Roper @roperlou.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
that's (not 😁) shocking! (ed. after all, 'absolutism', as w/'feudalism' and other 'isms' didn't exist until 19C authors invented them)
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Francois Soyer @fsoyer.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
January 1537: an enslaved African named Francisco Fernandes came to the Lisbon Inquisition and accused a 15-year-old boy named Braz Caldeira of having said that he did not know whether God was present in the consecrated host. Interestingly, Francisco signed his name in his own hand.
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Derbyshire Record Office @derbyshiredro.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Our latest #NewAccession is this beautiful manuscript of arms and pedigrees, all written in the hand of Mr Thinne in 1569. It’s packed with exquisite penmanship and finely drawn coats of arms. A real treat for anyone who loves heraldry and early modern manuscripts!
Coat of arms, drawn in pen and ink. Two quarters of the design feature a lion, the other two quarters portraits of three people. A four-legged mammal is standing on top of the shield.A double page of the manuscript, filled with names of people and notes on the relationship between them. All written in very beautiful but not easy to read handwriting.

In amongst notes on family relationships are two portraits of women and a coat of arms, all drawn in pen and ink.A hand drawn coat of arms, with two quarters showing a rampant lion and the other two quarters showing a phoenix. The head of a unicorn is sticking out on from the top of the shiels.
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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Each uni has a consultancy in that tells them how to run a degree cheaply. They all simply say 'mega lectures' (LOL, infrastructure) & 'generic modules staff is interchangeable on'. It's pitched as rationalising, creating a 'sustainable' portfolio. But its destroying what university actually is.
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
“Tan poco hay que fiar de esperanzas mundanas y tan poco va de la mocedad a la muerte, que no es más viejo el que tiene más años, sino el que está más cerca de morir”. Francisco de Roa SJ, "Relación del horrible terremoto que sucedió en las islas Filipinas a 30 de noviembre del
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Francois Soyer @fsoyer.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Let's hear it for the unnamed man denounced to the Inquisition of Lisbon for blasphemy on 14 December 1537 and whom history will only remember because of their nickname: "stuffed bread" (pão relheno, perhaps because of their corpulence? Or because of their fondness for that food?)
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Qué maravilla esto de Mateo Rosas de Oquendo (1598) en la BNE, extraído de Cañizares-Esguerra y Masters “The Radical Spanish Empire”: Que buena fuera la mar Y amiga de gente grave Si lo que haze con los vinos Hiciera con los linaxes Que avinagrando ruines Los buenos perfisionase
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Happy 499th birthday to the 🐐!
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UCL Early Modern Exchanges @uclearlymodxcha.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Spanish-English Translations Database, 1500 – 1640 This freely accessible database records translation activity between England & Spain in the early modern period, with detailed title page transcriptions, copy specific details and index of dedicatees & printers. spanish-english-translation.ucl.ac.uk
spanish-english-translation.ucl.ac.uk
EMS Translations
Early Modern Spain: Spanish-English translations database
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Henry (20.02.2013-08.05.2026). You came to us on a 7th of May and you’ve gone to sleep on the 8th. A full thirteen-year cycle of love and the best of times. You were the loveliest, funniest, smartest, whiniest, quirkiest and most wonderful dog. We will miss you forever. Cor rotto
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John McCafferty @jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
A broadside on a banquet in York House, London, held in honour of the special Spanish ambassador Diego Hurtado de Mendoza on 18 Nov 1623 Showing James VI & I, de Mendoza sitting at a table underneath a canopy, on the left is Prince Charles. (British Museum)
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Siguiendo la última moda en Twitter, subo mi árbol de costados con las comunidades de las que provienen mis antepasados hasta la generación de mis bisabuelos. Si subimos otra generación llegaríamos al reino de Valencia también, aunque tengo documentados ascendientes de toda España excepto de Ceuta.
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Thoroughly enjoying “The Radical Spanish Empire” by Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra and Adrian Masters. The historiography of the Spanish monarchy is vast and complex and this is a fruitful addition. Their assessment of different meta narratives applied to its history in the intro is superb and
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Pam Lock @pamplemoussepam.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Wondering if my piece with psychiatrist Iain Smith on how ideas about spontaneous human combustion influenced alcohol medicine might be of interest to people thinking about this - we mix science, medicine, history, & literature and needed all of them to build a fuller picture doi.org/10.1111/add....
doi.org
How did investigations into spontaneous human combustion influence alcohol medicine? An examination of the medical and literary discussions that brought the two together
Background and Aims The presence of sections or chapters on spontaneous human combustion in more than half of the key texts in English on the action of alcohol on the body and mind in the first half.....
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Lou Roper @roperlou.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Is his incessant not responsible for all of the world's ills? 🤣
Don Diego Sarmiento de Acuna. conde de Gondomar, portrayed as 'Machiavell' in an English pamphlet
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John McCafferty @jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
4 Mar 1554: As Mary I reconciles with #Rome steps begin #otd to deprive all married bishops in #England of their sees (British Museum)
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History Rage Podcast @historyrage.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
🚨 THIS WEEK TO PATREON AND APPLE 🚨 Forget the caricature. ❌👑 @drlindaporter.bsky.social challenges the myth of Mary, Queen of Scots as naïve or disconnected from Scotland. The reality is far more complex. 🎧 www.patreon.com/post... #MaryQueenOfScots #HistoryMyths #WomenInHistory 📜
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Memorial to Dr Robert Ferrar, bishop of St David’s, burnt at the stake in the market square of Carmarthen in 1555, during the reign of Philip and Mary.
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History at Bristol @uobrishistory.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Fancy knowing more about the Bayeux Tapestry? At a free public lecture and reception?? Look no further! 👁️ 👁️
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Arts Matter Bristol @uobartsmatter.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
'Most arrested royals were accused of treason and conspiracy, but these charges were often compounded with accusations of heresy and witchcraft.' Dr @gvb1554.bsky.social (@uobrishistory.bsky.social) reflects on the history of royal arrests for The Conversation theconversation.com/there-have-b...
theconversation.com
There have been 59 royal arrests in UK history – Charles I was not the last before Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
Often it was family members calling for arrest over fears of succession.
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
A great article and a must for anyone with an interest in Marian England, early modern persecution, the English Reformation and refreshing, less Anglo-centric historiographical perspectives.
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The Conversation UK @uk.theconversation.com · 23/02/2026
Often it was family members calling for arrest over fears of succession.
tcnv.link
There have been 59 royal arrests in UK history – Charles I was not the last before Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
Often it was family members calling for arrest over fears of succession.
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
I've written a short piece for @uk.theconversation.com on royal prisoners in the past. Andrew's arrest might be unusual in modern times, but it's certainly not unprecedented! I've identified 58 previous royals so far (surely there are more) theconversation.com/there-have-b...
theconversation.com
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Last time the sibling of a monarch was arrested was 1554, when Princess Elizabeth was taken to the Tower for conspiring against her sister, Mary I. She was the moved & released after King Philip interceded in 1555. Last brother of the monarch was George, Duke of Clarence, executed by Edward IV 1478.
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Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 19/02/2026
While we're on historical parallels, I'm thinking today of Tudor lord Walter Hungerford, whose wife's complaints of domestic abuse were ignored until his patron Thomas Cromwell got in trouble. Only then did people start paying attention. He went to the block in 1540 alongside Cromwell.
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
🧵Following Andrew's arrest there's been a lot of talk in different media about this being 'unprecedented'. It most certainly is NOT! It might be in the modern age, but not before the 18C. I have identified 49 close relatives of the monarch put in custody from 1066.
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
#OTD 500 years ago, the little girl in the miniature (painted in 1522, attributed to Lucas Horenbout) turned 10 years old. Born in Greenwich in 1516, Princess Mary was the bright and much-loved daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. The only surviving child out of six
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Really looking forward to my trip to Cambridge next month to discuss family formation and notions of blood and nation in the Philippines.
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
The latest review of Habsburg England by Peter Stiffel for British Catholic History. resolve.cambridge.org/core/journal...
resolve.cambridge.org
Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer, Habsburg England: Politics and Religion in the Reign of Philip I (1554-1558), Leiden: Brill, 2023, pp. XVIII, 344, €146.00, ISBN: 978-90-04-42196-7 | British Catholic Histor...
Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer, Habsburg England: Politics and Religion in the Reign of Philip I (1554-1558), Leiden: Brill, 2023, pp. XVIII, 344, €146.00, ISBN: 978-90-04-42196-7 - Volume 38 Issue 1
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
I lived in Antwerp in 2009-10 and I haven’t been back since I left. I’m now back for the weekend (thanks to my husband for a lovely Christmas present) and going down memory lane, visiting my old abode in Prinsesstraat 9 and falling in love with the city all over again.
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Holly Brewer @earlymodjustice.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Double-checking quotes for my copy edits for my forthcoming book. This speech about why England should make war on Spain (given in Charles I’s Privy Council April 1625) to gain colonies in the Caribbean is feeling relevant today.
Page 2 of a privy council speech from April 1625 about why England should make war on Spain to gain colonies in the Caribbean. 
This section is about how Charles I can share in the “Treasures & Trade” & that some English subjects are eager & need his support & otherwise the “Hollanders” will offer opportunities to them.
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Vincenzo DM @vincenzodm.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
In Mechelen, Belgium, you’ll find ‘Emperor’s Street’ featuring two palaces: one (Hof van Kamerijk) where Emperor Charles V was raised and one (Hof van Savoye) where his formidable aunt Margaret presided over a grand court. Photos: Wikimedia Commons
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
You can read the original Italian of the source explored in this thread in my Instagram account www.instagram.com/gonzavelasco...
instagram.com
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
One of the most commonly held misconceptions about the reign of Philip of Spain in England (1554-1558) is that he was widely unpopular and resented by the English population, sentiments that the king allegedly reciprocated. The archival record is full of references that
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Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer @gvb1554.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Muy emocionado de recibir primera reseña en español de mi libro "Habsburg England" sobre el reinado de Felipe II en Inglaterra de la mano de Beatriz Álvarez García (UCM). Una reseña muy amable y generosa por la que estoy muy agradecido. Capta con claridad revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CH...
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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
OMG. Apple is Catholic.
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Mark Hailwood @markhailwood.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
As you dig out your chunky knitwear from the back of the draw, I know you are wondering: 'How did people prepare for winter 400 years ago?' Read today's post to find out (and whet your appetite for our new book The Experience of Work in Early Modern England) manyheadedmonster.com/2025/10/07/t...
manyheadedmonster.com
The Experience of Work in Early Modern England I: Winter is Coming
This post is part of a series that marks the publication of The Experience of Work in Early Modern England. The book is co-authored by monster head Mark Hailwood, along with Jane Whittle, Hannah Ro…
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