Por el bien de la patriala obra del magistrado José de Olmeda y León (1740-1805) y su percepción de España

Abstract

This article analyzes the work of the jurist José Olmeda y León (1740-1805). The magistrate —official of the Audience of Seville since 1778 and member of the Royal Society of Madrid since 1779— dedicated his life to the writing of translations and treaties, being «Elementos del derecho público» (1771) its publication most celebrated. His contributions, mainly analyzed by historiography from the point of view of law, are interpreted as a contribution to the construction of the national imaginary and the configuration of a shared cultural memory. After reviewing his biographical trajectory and contextualizing his writing, my objective is to analyze how the author perceives the past and fixes its value as an identity recognition. His individual contribution, linked to other texts, such as that of his colleague José de Cadalso, allows us to understand the complexity and breadth of the diverse perspectives that make up the apologetic movement of the second half of the 18th century.