Alonso de Espinosa (1543–?) was a Spanish priest and historian of the sixteenth century. He was the first official historian of the island of

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

. Little is known of his early life. He is first heard of towards the end of the sixteenth century in

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

where he had become a Dominican. It was while he was in

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

that he first heard of the reported miracles of

Our Lady of Candelaria The Virgin of Candelaria or Our Lady of Candle ( es, Virgen de Candelaria or ''Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria''), popularly called ''La Morenita'', celebrates the Virgin Mary on the island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands (Spain). The cen ...

. This was an image of the

Virgin and Child In art, a Madonna () is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent in ...

that had been among the

Guanches The Guanches were the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean some west of Africa. It is believed that they may have arrived on the archipelago some time in the first millennium BCE. The Guanches were the only nativ ...

since long before their conversion to Christianity, and had been venerated not only by the Guanches, but later by their conquerors, the Spanish. Inspired by the fame of this image, Espinosa soon found a member of the fraternity which had possession of it, and resolved to research and write a history of the image and its miracles. The result was his ''Guanches of Tenerife'' published in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

in 1594. Although the author's main purpose was to record the history of Our Lady of Candelaria, the work is also a rare account of the Guanches; he also gives a good account of the conquest and settlement of the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

by the Spanish. He divides his work into four books, in the first of which he describes the island of Tenerife, gives its early history, and an account of its inhabitants, their customs, food and dress, marriages, training for war, and mode of

interment Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

. The second book gives a detailed history of the image, from its mysterious appearance, on the east coast of the island, to Espinosa's own time. The third book is devoted to the invasion, conquest, and settlement of the island by the Spanish. The fourth and last book contains an enumeration of various cures and other alleged miracles performed by the image. A reprint of Espinosa's book appeared in

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife, commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz (), is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and capital of the Canary Islands. Santa Cruz has a population of 206,593 (2013) within its admi ...

in 1848, as one of the ''Biblioteca Isleña'' series. A translation by

Sir Clements Markham Sir Clements Robert Markham (20 July 1830 – 30 January 1916) was an English geographer, explorer and writer. He was secretary of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) between 1863 and 1888, and later served as the Society's president fo ...

was published by the

Hakluyt Society The Hakluyt Society is a text publication society, founded in 1846 and based in London, England, which publishes scholarly editions of primary records of historic voyages, travels and other geographical material. In addition to its publishing rol ...

in London in 1907. The text also includes a brief vocabulary of the

Guanche language Guanche is an extinct language that was spoken by the Guanches of the Canary Islands until the 16th or 17th century. It died out after the conquest of the Canary Islands as the Guanche ethnic group was assimilated into the dominant Spanish cultur ...

, in addition to nine sentences.

References

External links

Biography in the Catholic Encyclopedia

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espinosa, Alonso History of the Canary Islands Spanish Dominicans 16th-century Spanish historians