Alonso de Espina ( – after 1464) was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

. He was the author of ''Fortalitium Fidei'', a treatise on arguments to be used to oppose detractors of Catholicism.

Biography

Thought by many to be a convert from

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

, Alonso de Espina was for many years superior of the House of Studies of the

Friars Minor The Order of Friars Minor (commonly called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the t ...

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

, Spain. Recent scholarship suggests that Alonso was not a converted Jew (''

converso A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert" (), was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of their descendants. To safeguard the Old Christian popula ...

'').

Fortalitium

He was a man of

great learning The ''Great Learning'' or ''Daxue'' was one of the " Four Books" in Confucianism attributed to one of Confucius' disciples, Zengzi. The ''Great Learning'' had come from a chapter in the '' Book of Rites'' which formed one of the Five Classi ...

and attained considerable renown as a preacher, but his chief claim to fame was being the author of ''Fortalitium Fidei''. The ''Fortalitium'' was written in 1458, but it was added to by Alonso at different times up to the year 1464. The edition published at Nuremberg in 1485 begins thus: The fact that the Fortalitium appeared

anonymously Anonymity describes situations where the acting person's identity is unknown. Anonymity may be created unintentionally through the loss of identifying information due to the passage of time or a destructive event, or intentionally if a person cho ...

gave rise to some difference of opinion as to its authorship. The Fortalitium Fidei is a

treatise A treatise is a Formality, formal and systematic written discourse on some subject concerned with investigating or exposing the main principles of the subject and its conclusions."mwod:treatise, Treatise." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Acc ...

on various types of arguments to be used by

s and others to oppose detractors of

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. It is divided into five books: the first directed against those who deny the divinity of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

; the second against "

heretics Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

"; the third against the

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

s; the fourth, against

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s; the fifth gives instructions on the battle against the

devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

. In this last book Alonso dwells at length upon the demons and their hatred of men; the powers they have over men and the diminution of these powers, owing to the victory of Christ on the Cross, the final condition of the

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...

s, and so on.

Other works

Alonso de Espina published at least three other works: #''Sermones de Nomine Jesu Vigintiduos'', issued about 1454 (which has been erroneously confounded with the Fortalitium by at least one noted Catholic scholar); #''Sermones plures de excellentia nostræ fidei'', preached in 1459; and #A treatise on fortune, dedicated to

John I of Castile John I (; 24 August 1358 – 9 October 1390) was King of Castile and List of Leonese monarchs, León from 1379 until 1390. He was the son of Henry II of Castile, Henry II and of his wife Juana Manuel of Castile. John ascended to the throne in 137 ...

(1404–1454). In ''The Complete Book of Devils and Demons'' Leonard R. N. Ashley says that Alonso is quoted as stating that the total number of angels who sided with Lucifer's revolt was 133,306,668, a figure, Ashley remarks, so precise that one hardly knows what to say; he adds that the

Book of Enoch The Book of Enoch (also 1 Enoch; Hebrew language, Hebrew: סֵפֶר חֲנוֹךְ, ''Sēfer Ḥănōḵ''; , ) is an Second Temple Judaism, ancient Jewish Apocalyptic literature, apocalyptic religious text, ascribed by tradition to the Patriar ...

puts the number at 200.The Complete Book of Devils and Angels, p. 72
/ref>

References

External links

Alfonso de Spina on Sacred Warfare
{{DEFAULTSORT:Espina, Alphonso de History of the conversos 15th-century Castilian Jews 15th-century Castilian Roman Catholic priests Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism Conversos Year of birth unknown University of Salamanca alumni Academic staff of the University of Salamanca