Remigio Crespo Toral (August 4, 1860 – July 8, 1939) was an

Ecuadorian Ecuadorians () are people identified with the South American country of Ecuador. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Ecuadorians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source o ...

writer from

Cuenca Cuenca may refer to: People * Cuenca (surname) Places Ecuador * Cuenca Canton, in the Azuay Province ** Cuenca, Ecuador, capital of Cuenca Canton and Azuay Province ** Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cuenca Peru * Cuenca District, Huarochirí ...

Biography

Born in Cuenca,

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, on August 4, 1860, into a well-known family of the region, Crespo Toral went to

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in the Seminary College of

, from 1873 to 1877, the year in which he entered the

University of Cuenca The University of Cuenca (Spanish: ''Universidad de Cuenca'') is an Ecuadorian university located in Cuenca. University of Cuenca is the principal university of Azuay Province. The university was officially founded in 1867 and is the first univ ...

, to study law and thus obtain a

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

degree, a fact that happened nine years later, in 1886. That same year he married Elvira Vega García (1868–1965), with whom he had ten children. He was Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies in 1888. In 1894 he was Director of Studies of

Azuay Azuay (, ), Province of Azuay is a province of Ecuador, created on 25 June 1824. It encompasses an area of . Its capital and largest city is Cuenca. It is located in the south center of Ecuador in the highlands. Its mountains reach above sea le ...

Province. In the 1880s, he began his journalistic career, writing under the pseudonym "Stein". In 1905, President Leónidas Plaza Gutiérrez appointed him

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

of the Republic, to defend Ecuador in its

diplomatic Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents, especially historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, pr ...

conflict with

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. In 1909, in the centennial of the first cry of independence, Crespo Toral published a book titled ''Cien años de emancipación''. In 1913, he participated in the foundation of the ''Banco del Azuay'' (first bank in Cuenca) led by the prominent businessman

Federico Malo Andrade Federico Eulogio Malo Andrade (5 July 1859 – 14 February 1932) was an Ecuadorian entrepreneur and financier born in Cuenca, Ecuador. Early life and education Andrade was an Ecuadorian entrepreneur, he exported panama hats and quinine. He was b ...

. In 1917, he was crowned national poet, by decree of the President Alfredo Baquerizo Moreno, in the Central Park of Cuenca. This was a very important ceremony, which was attended by the entire city, including senior officials like President Baquerizo Moreno, the Ambassadors of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, among others. In 1919, he founded, with Alfonso Moreno Mora, "La Fiesta de la Lira", which was a

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, ...

contest, held just outside the city, in quiet countryside land. In 1925, he was appointed Rector of the University of Cuenca (where he studied five decades before), holding this post until his death in Cuenca, on July 8, 1939.

Works

* ''Últimos pensamientos de Bolívar'' (1889) * ''Canto a Sucre'' (1897) * ''Mi Poema'' (1898) * ''Cien años de emancipación'' (1909) * ''América y España'' (1909) * ''La Leyenda de Hernán'' (1917) {{DEFAULTSORT:Crespo Toral, Remigio 1860 births 1939 deaths Academic staff of the University of Cuenca Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies of Ecuador 19th-century Ecuadorian lawyers Ecuadorian poets Ecuadorian male writers