De villano a héroe durante el Trienio Liberal (1820-1823): La imagen periodística y propagandística de Jerónimo Merino, el Cura Merino

Abstract

Jeronimo Merino, a clergyman dubbed as the “Priest Merino”, was one of the most important and well-known guerrilla leaders during the Peninsular War (1808-1814). Merino owed his fame to the Napoleonic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, not only because of his military prowess, but also due to his widespread presence in the press of the time. At the end of the conflict, Merino returned to his ecclesiastical life. This article addresses the journalistic and propaganda perception of Merino during the Liberal Triennium (1820-1823), a time when the priest took up arms once again, this time to defend the interests of the absolutist rule against those of the liberals in what has come to be considered as the first contemporary Spanish civil war.