Francisco Javier de Burgos y del Olmo (22 October 1778—22 January 1848) was a Spanish

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

, politician, journalist, and translator.

Early life and career

Born in Motril, into a noble but poor family, he was destined for a career in the

Roman Catholic Church 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 ...

, but soon abandoned his studies in Granada and left for Madrid - where he took law courses. When the French invaded under

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

, at the start of the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

(1808-1814), Burgos, as one of the '' afrancesados'' (supporters of

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Joseph I), took up administrative duties in

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

. His willingness to collaborate had made him an enemy of the

House of Bourbon The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Kingdom of Navarre, Navarre in the 16th century. A br ...

, and made him leave for

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1812. In France, Burgos completed his academic training by studying the works of the

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

, and started translating the works of

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

into Castilian (a version notably analysed by

Andrés Bello Andrés de Jesús María y José Bello López (; November 29, 1781 – October 15, 1865) was a Venezuelan Humanism, humanist, diplomat, poet, legislator, philosopher, educator and philologist, whose political and literary works constitute a ...

, who deemed Burgos "a poor translator, but an excellent commentator"). Much later (1844), Burgos published a revised version, which, although still flawed, has remained a reference - for instance, it is appreciated for its use of the

sapphic stanza The Sapphic stanza, named after the Ancient Greek poet Sappho, is an Aeolic verse form of Quatrain, four lines. Originally composed in quantitative verse and unrhymed, imitations of the form since the Middle Ages typically feature rhyme and accen ...

with

free verse Free verse is an open form of poetry which does not use a prescribed or regular meter or rhyme and tends to follow the rhythm of natural or irregular speech. Free verse encompasses a large range of poetic form, and the distinction between free ...

Prominence

He returned to Madrid in 1819, and was appointed editor of '' El Imparcial'' in 1822 (the paper was a rallying point for moderate

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

and the ''afrancesados''). During the same period, Burgos showed himself to be a prolific author, writing a publishing a multiple volume work entitled ''Biografía universal''. He was also integrated in the Bourbon administration of

Ferdinand VII Ferdinand VII (; 14 October 1784 – 29 September 1833) was King of Spain during the early 19th century. He reigned briefly in 1808 and then again from 1813 to his death in 1833. Before 1813 he was known as ''el Deseado'' (the Desired), and af ...

, being appointed undersecretary of State in Francisco Cea Bermúdez's Ministry. Under the

regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

of Maria Christina, as the driving force behind the

1833 territorial division of Spain The 1833 territorial division of Spain divided the country into provinces, in turn classified into "historic regions" ().

, Burgos used his influence to turn Spain's previous administrative system into a provincial one, advocating for the need of a centralized government. However, his design overtly conflicted with the self-government status held by the Basque districts, especially with Navarre, heavily conditioned but still a free-standing Kingdom. The move was approved in November–December 1833, the same year he became

Home Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergenc ...

. He was elected to seat ''R'' of the

Real Academia Española The Royal Spanish Academy (, ; ) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with national language academies in 22 other Hispanopho ...

, he took up his seat on 7 January 1830. He was a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

of the ''Moderado'' liberals regime established during the

reign A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., King of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, List of Belgian monarchs, Belgium, Co-princes of Andorra, Andorra), of a people (e.g., List of Frankish kin ...

of Isabella II, as well as a royal counsellor and Interior Minister for the first

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

of Ramón María Narváez y Campos, Duke of Valencia. His office as Minister was taken over by Narváez's successor, Francisco Javier Istúriz. He died in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. He also wrote poems marking events such as the death of María Isabel de Braganza and the wedding of Ferdinand VII and Maria Christina, as well as the notable ''Oda a la Razón''.

Bibliography

* ''Biografía universal'' (3 parts, 1823) * ''Los tres iguales'' (1827) * ''El baile de máscaras'' (1832) * ''Oda á la razón'' * ''El porvenir'' * ''La primavera'' * ''Historia del reinado de Isabel II'' (6 parts, 1850–51)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burgos, Javier De 1778 births 1849 deaths People from Motril 19th-century Spanish historians Spanish journalists Spanish untitled nobility Spanish poets Afrancesados Members of the Royal Spanish Academy 19th-century Spanish writers Economy and finance ministers of Spain Government ministers of Spain Spanish male poets 19th-century Spanish male writers 19th-century Spanish translators