Alfonso de Valdés (; c. 1490 – October 1532) was a Spanish humanist, who worked at the chancellery of the

Emperor Charles V Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) fr ...

. He was the twin brother of

Juan de Valdés Juan de Valdés (c.1490 – August 1541) was a Spanish religious writer and Catholic reformer. He was the younger of twin sons of Fernando de Valdés, hereditary ''regidor'' of Cuenca in Castile, where Valdés was born. He has been confused ...

. Alfonso de Valdés was born c. 1490 in

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 ...

, Castile,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Among his ancestors were Jews who had converted to Christianity. His talents gave him early advancement and he accompanied Charles V in 1520 on the journey from Spain to the coronation at

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

, and in 1521 to the

Diet of Worms The Diet of Worms of 1521 ( ) was an Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire), imperial diet (a formal deliberative assembly) of the Holy Roman Empire called by Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V and conducted in the Imperial Free City o ...

. From 1522 he was a secretary of the imperial chancellery and as secretary wrote a number of important state papers: in 1525, he drew up the report of the

battle of Pavia The Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of 24 February 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–1526 between the Kingdom of France and the Habsburg Empire of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, Holy Roman Empero ...

; in 1526 the energetic, graphic, and at times deliberately sarcastic state paper addressed to

Pope Clement VII Pope Clement VII (; ; born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the most unfortunate o ...

, in which the faithlessness of the pope is stigmatized, and an appeal is made for the convoking of an

Ecumenical Council An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote are ...

. After the capture and sack of Rome in 1527, Valdés wrote the dialogue ''Lactantius'' in which he violently attacked the pope as a disturber of the public peace, an instigator of war, and a perfidious deceiver, declared the fate of Rome the judgment of God, and called the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

the worst governed dominion in the world.''Juan and Alfonso de Valdes'', K. Benrath, The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol.12, Ed. Samuel Macauley Jackson, (Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1912), 125. The dialogue was printed in 1529 and was widely read. The

papal nuncio An apostolic nuncio (; 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 organization. A nuncio is a ...

at Madrid,

Baldassare Castiglione Baldassare Castiglione, Count of Casatico (; 6 December 1478 – 2 February 1529),Dates of birth and death, and cause of the latter, fro, ''Italica'', Rai International online. was an Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent Renaissan ...

, brought an accusation before the Inquisition, but the trial amounted to nothing because Charles V took his servant under his protection, while the

grand inquisitor Grand Inquisitor (, literally ''Inquisitor General'' or ''General Inquisitor'') was the highest-ranked official of the Inquisition. The title usually refers to the inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition, in charge of appeals and cases of aristoc ...

also declared that it was not heretical to speak against the morals of the pope and the priests. Consequently, it was decided that the dialogue was not calumnious. Valdés was full of enthusiasm for the ideas of

Erasmus of Rotterdam Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and theologian, educationalist, satirist, and p ...

and sought to gain currency for them in Spain. In 1529 he accompanied the emperor to Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. At the

Diet of Augsburg The diets of Augsburg were the meetings of the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire held in the German city of Augsburg. Both an Imperial City and the residence of the Augsburg prince-bishops, the town had hosted the Estates in many such se ...

in 1530 he was an influential negotiator with

Philip Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, an intellectual leader of the L ...

and the Protestants, and met them in a pacific and conciliatory spirit; yet it cannot be said that he shared their views or showed that he understood

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

's motives; his point of view was solely that of a statesman. In October, 1531, he wrote from Brussels the letter of congratulation to the Catholics of Switzerland after the victory over

Zwingli Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a Swiss Christian theologian, musician, and leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. Born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swi ...

. He died in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

in October 1532.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valdes, Alfonso de Spanish Renaissance humanists 16th-century Spanish people Spanish twins People from Cuenca, Spain Year of birth uncertain 1532 deaths 16th-century Spanish philosophers Spanish people of Jewish descent