Alfonso de Santa María de Cartagena (variants: ''Alfonso de Carthagena'', ''Alonso de Cartagena''; 1384 in

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of ...

– 1456 in Villasandino) was a Jewish convert to Christianity, a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

bishop, diplomat,

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

and writer of pre-

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Biography

Alfonso de Cartagena was the second son of Rabbi Paul of Burgos, who converted from Judaism to Christianity in 1390 or 1391. At the same time, Alfonso and his four brothers, one sister and two uncles were baptized. His mother, however, was not. Cartagena studied law in Salamanca, and "was a great lawyer in canon and civil law", according to ''Claros varones de Castilla'' (1486). He served as dean of

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of S ...

and

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau ('' Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of t ...

, later becoming

apostolic nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international ...

and canon of Burgos (1421). He was equally distinguished as statesman and as priest. In 1434 he was named by King

John II John II may refer to: People * John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (1455–1499) * John II Casimir Vasa of Poland (1609–1672) * John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (died 1302) * John II Doukas of Thessaly (1303–1318) * John II Komnenos (1087–1 ...

de Trastámara (1405–54) as the representative of Castile at the

Council of Basel The Council of Florence is the seventeenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held between 1431 and 1449. It was convoked as the Council of Basel by Pope Martin V shortly before his death in February 1431 and took place in ...

, succeeding Cardinal Alonso de Carrillo. There he composed a famous discourse in Latin and Castilian (''Propositio... super altercatione praeminentia'', 1434), calling on the council to recognize the superior right of the King of Castile over the King of England. The humanist Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who became

Pope Pius II Pope Pius II ( la, Pius PP. II, it, Pio II), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini ( la, Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus, links=no; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August ...

, in his memoirs called Cartagena "an ornament to the prelacy".

Pope Eugenius IV Pope Eugene IV ( la, Eugenius IV; it, Eugenio IV; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 3 March 1431 to his death in February 1447. Condulmer was a Venetian, and ...

thanked him for his services by making him

bishop of Burgos The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Burgos is one of Spain's Latin Metropolitan sees.
''

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being bot ...

studied. These included

Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo ( la, Rodericus Zamorensis; Santa María la Real de Nieva, diocese of Segovia, 1404 – 4 October 1470) was a Spanish churchman, historian and political theorist. A learned Spanish bishop, after studying law at Sal ...

, Alfonso de Palencia,

Diego Rodríguez Almela Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. Et ...

and perhaps

Fernán Díaz de Toledo Fernan or Fernán is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: * Fernán Blázquez de Cáceres, Spanish nobleman * Fernán Caballero (1796–1877), Spanish novelist * Fernando Fernán Gómez (1921–2007), Spanish act ...

. Cartagena was a friend of fellow writer and humanist

Fernán Pérez de Guzmán Fernan (or Fernando) Perez de Guzman (1376–1458) was a Spanish historian and poet. He belonged to a family distinguished both for its patrician standing and its literary connections, for his uncle was Pero López de Ayala, Grand Chancellor of Cas ...

(1378–1460), nephew of

Pero López de Ayala Don Pero (or Pedro) López de Ayala (1332–1407) was a Castilian statesman, historian, poet, chronicler, chancellor, and courtier. Life Pero López de Ayala was born in 1332 at Vitoria, County of Alava, Kingdom of Castile, as the son of Fe ...

and señor de Batres, who included an affectionate biographical outline in his ''Generaciones y semblanzas'' (1450). Cartagena dedicated his ''Oracional'' (1454), a treatise on prayer, to him. Cartagena went to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

as an emissary of King John II, where he negotiated peace. He was also emissary to the kings of Germany and Poland and intervened in the conflicts of Castile with Aragon and Granada. He helped with a large sum to build the monastery of San Pablo of Burgos and rebuilt other churches and monasteries of his see, among them the Cathedral of Burgos, whose construction had been interrupted a considerable time before. In 1422 he undertook the translation of some works of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

(''De officiis'', ''De senectute''), ordered by the secretary of King John II,

Juan Alfonso de Zamora ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

. He also translated Cicero's ''De inventione'', for use by then Prince Duarte of Portugal. His translations into the vernacular followed a clear humanistic intent, that of teaching the wisdom of the classics to gentlemen interested in the works, but not scholars themselves. For the same reason, but also for another reason (his inclination to Stoicism), he translated the ''Treatises'' and ''Tragedies'' of

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca was born in ...

. He disputed with the humanist

Leonardo Bruni Leonardo Bruni (or Leonardo Aretino; c. 1370 – March 9, 1444) was an Italian humanist, historian and statesman, often recognized as the most important humanist historian of the early Renaissance. He has been called the first modern historian. ...

of Arezzo or Aretino (1370–1444) over a new translation by Bruni of the ''Ethics'' of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

. The conflict became extended in scope when Pietro Candido Decembrio (1399–1477) came to the defense of Bruni, and Cardinal Pizolpasso (1370–1443) also became involved. At least six texts and 19 letters related to the dispute passed between Cartagena and Decembrio, including Cartagena's ''Declinations''.

Heinrich Graetz Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (now Książ Wielko ...

ascribes to the influence exercised by Carthagena over Eugenius IV the latter's sudden change of attitude toward the Jews. Carthagena alone, says Graetz, could have been the author of the complaints against the pride and arrogance of the Castilian Jews, which induced the pope to issue the bull of 1442, withdrawing the privileges granted to them by former popes. He wrote besides some treatises on moral philosophy and theology. At the age of 60 he went on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, but died on the return to his diocese.

Works

Burgos - Catedral 032 - Capilla de la Visitacion 2

Besides his translations of twelve books of Seneca, in which he was particularly interested, and of the works of Cicero mentioned above, he wrote ''Rerum in Hispania gestarum Chronicon''. Around 1456 he wrote a history of Spain based on

Flavius Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

, Florus and Jiménez de Rada and entitled ''Anacephaleosis'' that emphasized Castilian Gothicism. This was translated by Fernán Pérez de Guzmán and Juan de Villafuerte under the title ''Genealogía de los Reyes de España'' (Genealogy of the Kings of Spain) (1463). The translation was composed of a prologue and 94 chapters, of which seven contain a summary of the origins of the Spanish monarchy from Atalaric to the kings of Asturias and of Castile and León, and a genealogical tree showing their relationship to the monarchs of Navarre, Aragon and Portugal. Among Carthagena's writings on history, morals, and other subjects, there is a commentary on the twenty-sixth Psalm, ''Judica me, Deus''. ''Defensorium fidei'', also called ''Defensorium unitatis christianae'' (1449–50), is a plea in defense of converted Jews. ''Oracional de Fernán Pérez'' (Burgos, 1487, written about 1454) is a treatise on a prayer edited around 1454 and addressed to his friend and confidant Fernán Pérez de Guzmán, in 55 chapters and an afterword on virtues and the Mass. He also wrote ''Doctrinal de Caballeros'' (Burgos, 1487, written around 1444), which consists of an adaptation of the second ''Partida'' of

Alfonso X the Wise Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germ ...

in four books covering faith, laws, war, rewards and punishments, revolts, challenges and duels, tournaments, vassals, bad actions and privileges. Other works include ''Memoriales virtutum'' or ''Memorial de virtudes'', various songs, aphorisms and compositions of love that appear dispersed in songbooks; ''Prefación a San Juan Crisóstomo'', ''Allegationes... super conquista insularum Canariae'' (Allegations About the Conquest of the Canary Islands, 1437), which defends Castilian rights to the islands; ''Epistula... ad comitem de Haro'' (c. 1440), prescribing a program of readings to educate the nobility, among them the moral texts of Cato, and ''Contemptus mundanorum''. He also wrote ''Duodenarium'' (1442), where he answers twelve questions of Pérez de Guzmán; ''Tractatus questionis ortolanus'' (1443–47), to

, in which he defends the superiority of sight over hearing; a response to the ''Questión sobre la caballería'' (1444) of Íñigo López de Mendoza, 1st Marquess of Santillana; a ''Devocional'' that has been lost, etc.

References

* L. Fernández Gallardo, ''Alonso de Cartagena (1385-1456): una biografía política en la Castilla del siglo XV'', Valladolid, Consejería de Educación y Cultura, 2002. * L. Fernández Gallardo, ''Alonso de Cartagena: iglesia, política y cultura en la Castilla del siglo XV'', Madrid, 2003, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. * A. Birkenmajer, "Der Streit des Alonso von Cartagena mit Leonardo Bruni Aretino", en Clemens Baeumker (ed.), ''Vermischte Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der mittelalterlichen Philosophie'', Münster, 1922, pp. 128–211. * L. Serrano, ''Los conversos D. Pablo de Santa María y D. Alfonso de Cartagena, obispos de Burgos, gobernantes, diplomáticos y escritores'', Madrid, 1942. * F. Cantera, ''Burgos, Alvar García de Santa María y su familia de conversos. Historia de la judería de Burgos y sus conventos más egregios'', Madrid, CSIC/Instituto Arias Montano, 1952. *N. Fallows, ''The Chivalric Vision of Alfonso de Cartagena: Study and Edition of the Doctrinal de los Caualleros'', Newark, DE: Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Monographs, 1995. * M. Penna, "Alfonso de Cartagena", Prosistas españoles del siglo XV, Madrid, Atlas (BAE), 1959, vol. I, pp. xxxvii-lxx. * M. Morrás, "Sic et non: En torno a Alfonso de Cartagena y los studia humanitatis", ''Euphorosyne'', 23 (1995), pp. 333–346.

External links

Prose in the age of Juan II

''Alonso de Cartagena: iglesia, política y cultura en la Castilla del siglo XV'', edición digital de la obra

Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Medieval and Early Modern Jurists: Alphonsus de Cartagena
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartagena, Alfonso de 1384 births 1456 deaths 15th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Castile Spanish male writers 15th-century writers in Latin Bishops of Burgos 14th-century Castilian Jews Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism Spanish Roman Catholics Conversos University of Salamanca alumni