Juan Francisco Masdeu, '' SJ'' (4 October 1744 – 11 April 1817), 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 ...

historian and scholar of Spanish literature.

Biography

He was born in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

in 1744 to a

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family that served

Charles III of Spain Charles III (; 20 January 1716 – 14 December 1788) was King of Spain in the years 1759 to 1788. He was also Duke of Parma and Piacenza, as Charles I (1731–1735); King of Naples, as Charles VII; and King of Sicily, as Charles III (or V) (1735� ...

when he was

King of the Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in Southern Italy was ruled by monarchs from its establishment in 1816 to its incorporation into the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. History Joachim Murat was the first king to rule a kingdom called "Two Sicilies" by th ...

. He lived in Italy for much of his life, and his historical vocation came rather late and was marked by his anti-Italianism. Moreover, despite being a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

, he was a staunch

regalist Regalism is the idea that the monarch has supremacy over the Church as an institution, often specifically referring to the Spanish monarchy and the Catholic Church in the Spanish Empire. Regalists sought reforms that "were intended to redefine the ...

, that is, a defender of the traditions, privileges, and autonomy of the Spanish Church vis-à-vis the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

. He joined the

Company of Jesus A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether natural, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specifi ...

on 19 December 1759 and became professor in the Jesuit seminaries at

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and Ascoli. He visited Spain in 1799, was exiled, and returned in 1815, dying at

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

on 11 April 1817. His ''Storia critica di Spagne e della cultura spagnuola in ogni genere'' (2 vols., 1781–1784) was finally expanded into the ''Historia crítica de España y de la cultura española'' (1783–1805), which, though it consists of twenty volumes, was left unfinished; had it been continued on the same scale, the work would have consisted of fifty volumes. Masdeu wrote in a critical spirit and with a regard for accuracy rare in his time; but he is more concerned with small details than with the philosophy of history. Still, his narrative is lucid, and later researches have not yet rendered his work obsolete.

References

External links

* ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Masdeu, Juan Francisco 18th-century Spanish historians 1744 births 1817 deaths 18th-century Spanish Jesuits 19th-century Spanish historians