Institut Nova Història

The Institut Nova Història (INH, "New History Institute") is a Catalan cultural foundation with headquarters in Barcelona committed to revisionist pseudohistorical research. Its members, of which the most prominent is the Catalan nationalist writer Jordi Bilbeny, hold that history has been systematically manipulated by the Spanish (or "Castilian") state since the 15th century to eliminate the Catalan contribution to world history. The foundation promotes research, study and dissemination through publications, conferences, documentaries and symposia of its vision of Catalan history.^[1] in particular the annual "Symposium on the Catalan Discovery of America" in Arenys de Munt. This has led them to create a "history of their own" whose theses, "more or less picturesques ”, are rejected by both scholars and Academia. Alberto Reig Tapia, from University of Rovira i Virgili considers that their members do not make history but "Parody of History"'. Josep Colomer, from Georgetown University, has called them “cartoon satirists” ».^[2] The Institut Nova Història claims that major historical figures, including Christopher Columbus, Erasmus, Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci, Saint Teresa of Ávila and others were Catalan. It is funded by the Catalan autonomous government,^[3][4] and has received support from Catalan nationalist politicians.

History

The INH was created in 2007 following a split in the Foundation of Historical Studies of Catalonia.^[5] The principal researcher of the INH is Jordi Bilbeny, a member of the "Arenysian Movement for Self-Determination", a local independentist movement, and of the Arenys de Munt's Popular Unity Candidacy,^[6] who launched the "Symposium on the Catalan Discovery of America" in 2001.^[7] From its inception, the INH has undertaken the study and dissemination of the alleged Catalan background and/or culture of Christopher Columbus, Miguel de Cervantes, Lazarillo de Tormes, all topics put forward by Bilbeny.^[8] The president of the Institute is Albert Codinas,^[9] vice president of the Fundació Catalunya Estat, secretary of the Associació Catalunya 2014, and co-founder of the Platform for the Right to Decide.^[10] Víctor Cucurull, another researcher,^[11] is president of the Fundació Societat i Cultura,^[12] and a member of the national secretariat of the Catalan National Assembly^[13]

The INH has supported and organized, together with the municipality of

The INH considers that the history of Catalonia has been manipulated and distorted since the end of the 15th century to favour the construct of a centralised Spanish ("Castilian") state. By minimising the role of Catalonia—or the Crown of Aragon—in Spanish collective history through falsification, concealment and censorship or "appropriation" of certain historical episodes, the prevalence of Castilian ideology is established.^[16] Among its claims are:

• That
  Palos de Moguer.^[19] The theory is not new; it was originally proposed by Peruvian historian Luis Ulloa Cisneros in Paris in 1927.^[20]
• That Erasmus of Rotterdam was actually named Ferran, and was the second son of this Joan Colom i Bertran (Columbus).^[21][22]
• That Hernán Cortés was actually Ferran Cortès, a Catalan noble;^[9][23] Francisco Pizarro was Francesc Pinós De So i Carròs; Diego de Almagro's real name was Jaume d'Aragó-Dalmau;^[24] Amerigo Vespucci's last name was a distortion of the surname "Despuig", and his voyage to the new world was made in the name of the "King of Catalonia".^[9][21][25] Thus, the feat of discovery and conquest was accomplished entirely by Catalans, the only people who sailed to the Americas before 1518.^[8]
• That
  Xixona;^[26] that Don Quixote was a faulty translation of the original work in Catalan, El Quixot, which was destroyed by the Castilians,^[27][28] and "passed off as Castilian".^[9] In fact, according to Miquel Izquierdo i Perán from INH, Servent had to flee Spain and once in England, published his works under the pseudonym “Shakespeare”, thereby making Servent, Cervantes and Shakespeare one and the same person.^[29][30][31]
• That Leonardo da Vinci was Catalan, born in a town near Montserrat, such as Manresa, Vic or La Garriga;^{[32][33][9][34]} that Mona Lisa was actually Isabella of Aragon; that the mountains depicted at the bottom of the portrait were the Montserrat mountain range; and that Da Vinci's coat of arms was very similar to that of the "Catalan Royal House".^[9] These ideas were put forward in a 2014 documentary, Desmutant Leonardo (Deconstructing Leonardo), on El Punt Avui TV.^[35]
• That the original versions of La Celestina and Lazarillo de Tormes—the latter having been written by Joan Timoneda—were in Catalan and were destroyed after having been translated into Castilian.^[21]
• That Saint Teresa of Ávila was actually Teressa Enrìques de Cardona, abbess at the Monastery of Pedralbes for thirty years.^[36][37]
• That the first university founded in the Iberian Peninsula was the University of Barcelona, rather than the universities of Salamanca and Palencia.^[38]
• That the design of the flag of the United States of America was inspired by the Catalan senyera.^[39]

Support from Catalans

The INH is linked to organizations funded by the Catalan autonomous government.

The 2015 INH symposium in Arenys de Munt, under the title "The Catalan Discovery of America", was financed by the councils of Arenys de Munt and Arenys de Mar, together with associations such as the Ateneu Independentista of Arenys de Munt. Muriel Casals, representative of the separatist coalition Junts pel Sí, gave the closing speech entitled "From the erased past to political independence".^[42]

INH members have given talks on their theories in the main Catalan government-owned television and radio channels such as