Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola (August 1562February 4, 1631),

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

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Biography

Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola was baptized at

Barbastro Barbastro (Latin: ''Barbastrum'' or ''Civitas Barbastrensis'', Aragonese: ''Balbastro'') is a city in the Somontano county, province of Huesca, Spain. The city (also known originally as Barbastra or Bergiduna) is at the junction of the rivers C ...

on August 26, 1562. He studied at

Huesca Huesca (; ) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon between 1096 and 1118. It is also the capital of the Spanish Huesca (province), ...

, took orders, and was presented to the rectory of

Villahermosa Villahermosa ( , ; "Beautiful Town") is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Tabasco, and serves as the municipal seat (governing county) of the state. Located in Southeast Mexico, Villahermosa is an important city because of its ...

in 1588. He was attached to the suite of the count de Lemos, viceroy of Naples, in 1610, and succeeded his brother Lupercio as historiographer of

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

in 1613. He died at Saragossa on February 4, 1631.

Works

His principal prose works are the ''Conquista de las Islas Molucas'' (1609), and a supplement to Zurita's ''Anales de Aragón'', which was published in 1630. His commentaries on contemporary events, and his ''Alteraciones populares'', dealing with a Saragossa rising in 1591, are lost. His poems (1634), like those of his elder brother, are admirably finished examples of pungent wit. His poetry is Classical and he was acclaimed as an ally by Góngora's enemies, but took little part in the controversies. His religious odes (deriving from those of

Luis de León Luis de León ( Belmonte, Cuenca, 1527 – Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Castile, Spain, 23 August 1591), was a Spanish lyric poet, Augustinian friar, theologian and academic. While serving as professor of Biblical scholarship at th ...

) have a Miltonic flavour, e.g. battles in heaven in 'A San Miguel'. He also commands a light, satirical style as when he warns his brother against

palmistry Palmistry is the pseudoscientific practice of fortune-telling through the study of the palm. Also known as palm reading, chiromancy, chirology or cheirology, the practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those w ...

, or a pleasing realism as in the description of a country banquet; but in his religious sonnets, he reveals an existentialist malaise. In the second book of the ''Conquista de las Islas Molucas,'' under the title 'Grandeza de la Isla de los Papuas', Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola reports that the Spaniards call white children born to the black people in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

'' Albiños''. This mentioning is considered the first report of the term, older than the use of the term by

Balthazar Telles Balthazar, Balthasar, Baltasar, or Baltazar may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Balthazar'' (novel), by Lawrence Durrell, 1958 * ''Balthasar'', an 1889 book by Anatole France * ''Professor Balthazar'', a Croatian animated TV series, ...

.Pasini, Enrico. 2016. A Prodigious Bodily Nature. Debates on Albinism 1609-1745. In: Adelino Cardoso, Manuel Silvério Marques & Marta Mendonca (eds.). ''Natureza, causalidade e formas de corporeidade''. Ribeirão - V. N. Famalição: Húmus. 193–236. An interesting life of this writer by Father Miguel Mir precedes a reprint of the ''Conquista de las Islas Molucas'', issued at Saragossa in 1891.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonardo de Argensola, Bartolome 1562 births 1631 deaths People from Barbastro Spanish poets 17th-century Spanish historians Spanish male poets University of Salamanca alumni 16th-century Spanish Roman Catholic priests