In Cervantes short novel Las dos doncellas (‘The Novel of the Two Damsels’), a gentleman arrives at an inn in La Mancha, and the people there run to ask him for the latest news from the court. Their main interest is the war against both the Dutch rebels and the Turks, but specially the deeds of ‘the Transylvanian’.1 They were referring to Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania (1588–1598), a popular hero in contemporary Spain because he rebelled against his lord, the Ottoman sultan, and carried on a crusade against the Turks. The construction of his image as a perfect Christian prince took place in Spain through the spread of reports narrating Báthory’s military successes and through the influential comedy El prodigioso príncipe transilvano (‘The Prodigious Transylvanian Prince’). The Jesuits had a central role in this process: the information circulated through their communication networks between the Transylvanian Court of Alba Iulia and the Jesuit College in Lima, passing by way of Rome and Seville. Moreover, Báthory was a key ally of the Jesuits, and they sought the support of King Philip II of Spain for his military initiatives. So, popular interest in the Transylvanian Wars was linked to discussions of high politics at the Spanish court.

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