Roger Osborne

The Dreamer of the Calle de San Salvador. Visions of Sedition and Sacrilege in Sixteenth-Century Spain

London 2001

Stron VI+252, format: 16x22 cm

Spell-binding, horrific, poetic, apocalyptic, heart-rending,
disturbing, prophetic, seditious, compelling and utterly
fascinating - the dreams of Lucrecia de Leon have lain
virtually undisturbed in the archives of the Spanish
Inquisition for more than four hundred years.
Lucrecia was a nineteen-year-old Madrilena when,
in 1587, her dreams began to be recorded and
published by a disaffected group of clerics. Over the
next three years they transcribed four hundred of
Lucrecia's dreams which they considered to be
messages from God. The dreams warned of the
defeat of the Armada, of the death of King Philip II,
of the fall of Spain and of a new beginning under a
new king - all told in bold and highly original visions.
As some of her prophecies came true and as the
Spanish court grew more discontented, she fell foul of
the authorities and was arrested by the Holy Order.
The Dreamer of the Calle de San Salvador produces
thirty-five of Lucrecia's most captivating dreams.
The imagery and inventiveness of her visions are
astonishing, while the stories that they tell are
compelling and of immense historical significance.
Roger Osborne weaves a commentary around each
dream which allows us to see the world through the
eyes of Lucrecia and helps us to understand the
nature of her visions and the time and place she
inhabited. This pioneering work shows us what
history is like seen from the inside out.