Jerónimo Zurita

JERÓNIMO ZURITA Y CASTRO (Zaragoza, 1512- 1580).
"Los cinco libros postreros de la primera parte de la Anales de la Corona de Aragón" 2 volumes, 1585.
Printer: imon de Portonarijs, Zaragoza.
Presents annotations, damages, humidity and active xylophages.
Measurements: 37 x 26,5 x 8 cm.
Jerónimo de Zurita y Castro was a renowned Spanish historian of the 16th century. He studied in Alcalá de Henares with the Hellenist Hernán Núñez. Under the influence of his father, Miguel de Zurita, physician to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, he entered the civil service as a magistrate in Barbastro, and in 1537 was appointed deputy secretary of the Inquisition. In 1548 Zurita was appointed official chronicler of the Kingdom of Aragon, and in 1566 Philip II of Spain appointed him secretary of the council of the Inquisition. Zurita resigned these posts on January 21, 1571, obtained a sinecure in Zaragoza, and devoted himself entirely to the composition of his Annals of the Crown of Aragon. Zurita's style is somewhat coarse and dry, but his work showed a new conception of the duties of a historian, and, not content with the ample materials stored in the Archives of Aragon, he continued his research in the libraries of Rome, Naples, and Sicily.