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Jerónimo Zurita
Jerónimo Zurita | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Jerónimo Zurita for the Retratos de los españoles ilustres, 1791. Engraving by Miguel Gamborino after a drawing by José Maea. | |
| Chief Chronicler of the Kingdom of Aragon | |
| In office 1548–1580 | |
| Preceded by | - |
| Succeeded by | Jerónimo de Blancas |
Jerónimo Zurita y Castro (Zaragoza, December 4, 1512 – Zaragoza, November 3, 1580) was a Spanish historian and Chief Chronicler of the Kingdom of Aragon.
Biography
He was born in Zaragoza in 1512 and studied rhetoric, Latin and Greek in Alcalá de Henares under the well-known Hellenist Hernán Núñez. He also made sure to learn several modern languages, such as French, Italian, Portuguese and Catalan.
In 1530, thanks to the influence of his father Miguel de Zurita, who was physician to Ferdinand the Catholic and Charles I, he obtained the post of magistrate of the city of Barbastro and continuo of the Royal Household, and shortly afterward was appointed baile of Huesca.
In 1537 he was appointed assistant-secretary of the Inquisition in the service of Cardinal Juan Tavera, who held the offices of member of the Council of State, Inquisitor General and Archbishop of Toledo.
In 1548 he was appointed chronicler of the Kingdom of Aragon, and in 1566 Philip II named him secretary for the council of the Inquisition, as well as secretary of his Council and Chamber, delegating to him all matters of sufficient importance to require the King's signature.
Zurita obtained a sinecure in Zaragoza and resigned his previous posts on January 21, 1571 in order to devote himself entirely to the composition of his Anales de la Corona de Aragón, whose first volume appeared in 1562. He lived to see the last volume published in Zaragoza on April 22, 1580. He died on November 3 of that same year.
Works
Jerónimo Zurita's magnum opus, on which he worked for thirty years, is the Anales de la Corona de Aragón (1562–1580). In it he narrates the events of Aragon in chronological order from the Islamic period to the reign of Ferdinand the Catholic.
Its scope goes beyond Aragon, since in the course of the chronicle all the peninsular kingdoms become interwoven, including Portugal.
Another important work, also related to the History of Aragon, is his Indices rerum ab Aragoniae regibus gestarum (Zaragoza, 1578), a chronicle of the kings of Aragon up to Martin I the Humane, to which is appended the History of Sicily written by Geoffrey Malaterra and other historians. To the same subject belongs Progresos de la Historia en el reino de Aragón (Zaragoza, 1580).
Historia del rey don Fernando el Católico completes the last period covered in the Anales and delves into the figure of this king, who gave rise to the creation of the Modern State. The approach to Ferdinand II of Aragon is a recurring subject in Aragonese historiography. Thus, he was also the object of attention of Baltasar Gracián, who took him as a model in El político don Fernando el Católico.
Of a historiographical nature is Enmiendas y advertencias en las crónicas de los reyes de Castilla que escribió don López de Ayala, which was not published until 1683. In it he criticizes the chronicles by Pero López de Ayala of Kings Peter I, Henry II, John I and Henry III of Castile. Of a similar character are his Comentarios a los Claros varones de Pulgar, in which he examines the work of Hernando del Pulgar, Claros varones de Castilla, of 1486, which portrayed the illustrious figures of the court of Henry IV of Castile.
Zurita's style may seem austere today, but his authority as a modern chronicler and his rigorous historiographical method are unquestionable. He displays a new conception of the duties of a historian and, not content with the ample materials kept in the archives of Aragon, he sought his sources in the Low Countries, Rome, Naples and Sicily, in order to find first-hand documents that would allow him to reconsider history from its most reliable materials.
References
- Jerónimo Zurita (Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa). Archived 2020-05-31 at the Wayback Machine
- J. J. Iso (coordinators), «Nota preliminar sobre la vida y obra de Jerónimo Zurita», in Presentación a los Anales de Zurita [online search engine], Institución «Fernando el Católico», Zaragoza, 2008.
Bibliography
- GASCÓN PÉREZ, Jesús, «Y los cronistas de Aragón... ¿qué se fizieron? [dead link] Estado actual de nuestros conocimientos y propuestas de investigación», Agustín Ubieto (ed.). VI Jornadas de Estudios sobre Aragón en el umbral del siglo XXI, Andorra 19-21 de diciembre de 2003, Zaragoza, Instituto de Ciencias de la Educación; Universidad de Zaragoza, 2005, 1st ed., pp. 163–182.
- PEDRAZA GRACIA, Manuel José and Rosa Santos Lorite, «La edición de libros por parte de la Diputación del Reino de Aragón en los siglos XV y XVI» [dead link], in Agustín Ubieto (coordinator), II Jornadas de Estudios sobre Aragón en el umbral del siglo XXI, Alcorisa 17-19 de diciembre de 1999, Zaragoza, Instituto de Ciencias de la Educación; Universidad de Zaragoza, 2001, 1st ed., pp. 905–922.
External links
Online editions
- Anales de la Corona de Aragón, digital edition. Virtual Library of the Institución Fernando el Católico.
- Historia del rey Don Fernando el Católico. De las empresas, y ligas de Italia, digital edition. Virtual Library of the Institución Fernando el Católico.
Online resources
- "Jerónimo Zurita". Documentos y Archivos de Aragón (DARA) (in español). Retrieved December 1, 2012. Portal dedicated to Jerónimo Zurita.
- Libri Chronicarum. Zurita y otros cronistas en la Biblioteca Universitaria
- Jerónimo Zurita y los cronistas de Aragón. Revista de Historia Jerónimo Zurita, 88 (2013), Zaragoza, Institución «Fernando el Católico» (CSIC), 2013. Complete PDF file. ISSN 0044-5517
- Meléndez, F., Jerónimo Zurita, 1512-2012 (polyptych) (online version), Zaragoza, Institución «Fernando el Católico» (CSIC), 2012.
See also
- Wikisource. Portrait of Jerónimo Zurita with an epitome of his life included in Retratos de Españoles ilustres, 1791.
