Pascual de Gayangos y Arce (June 21, 1809 – October 4, 1897) was a Spanish scholar and orientalist.

Life

Born in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, Gayangos was the son of

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

José de Gayangos, intendente of

Zacatecas Zacatecas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 31 states of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Zacatecas, 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas City, Zacatec ...

, in

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

(Mexico). After completing his primary education in Madrid, at the age of thirteen, he was sent to school at Pont-le-Voy near

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the mos ...

. There, he began the study of

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

in the École spéciale des Langues orientales of Paris under Silvestre de Sacy. Gayangos visited

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

, where he married Frances, daughter of Henry Revell, in 1828. He then obtained a post in the Spanish treasury, and was transferred to the foreign office as translator in 1833. In 1837, Gayangos returned to Britain, wrote extensively in British periodicals, like ''The Athenaeum'', and in publications of the SDUK, like ''The Penny Cyclopaedia for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge'' and ''The Biographical Dictionary''. In these years he completed his

magnum opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

as an

arabist An Arabist is someone, often but not always from outside the Arab world, who specialises in the study of the Arabic language and Arab culture, culture (usually including Arabic literature). Origins Arabists began in Al Andalus, medieval Muslim ...

: the translation, for the

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society, was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encourag ...

, of the first part of Al Makkari's biography of Ibn al-Khatib. The edition was entitled the ''History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain'' and appeared in two volumes in 1840 and 1843 . While in England, he entered in the

Holland House Holland House, originally known as Cope Castle, was an early Jacobean architecture, Jacobean country house in Kensington, London, situated in a country estate that is now Holland Park. It was built in 1605 by the diplomat Sir Walter Cope. The b ...

circle, where he made the acquaintance of George Ticknor, to whom he was very helpful. In 1843, he returned to Spain as professor of Arabic at the University of Madrid, a post he held until 1871. In 1861, the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

elected him an international Member. He entered in politics in 1881, when he was made director of public instruction. He resigned on being elected senator for the district of

Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...

. His latter years were spent in cataloguing the Spanish manuscripts in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

; he had previously continued Gustav Adolf Bergenroth's catalogue of the manuscripts relating to the negotiations between England and Spain in the Simancas archives. His best-known original work is his lengthy introduction on Spanish romances of chivalry in volume 40 (''Libros de caballerías'', vol. 1, 1857) of Adolfo Rivadeneyra's ''Biblioteca de autores españoles''. This was the first survey of Spanish chivalric romances. Gayangos died in London.

References

* Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Gayangos y Arce, Pascual de 1809 births 1897 deaths Spanish scholars Spanish orientalists 19th-century Spanish linguists Spanish Arabists People from Seville Spanish expatriates in the United Kingdom International members of the American Philosophical Society