Juan Nicasio Gallego was a Spanish

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

and

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 ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

. He was born in Zamora, Spain, 14 December 1777, and died in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, 9 January 1853.

Biography

He received his training at

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

; entering into Holy orders, he soon went to Madrid, where he was given a post in the royal palace, being made director of the royal pages. His feelings as a patriot and his love for pseudo-classicism led him to associate himself with the coterie about the poet

Manuel José Quintana Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo (April 11, 1772 - March 11, 1857), was a Spanish poet and man of letters. Life He was born at Madrid. After completing his studies at Salamanca he was called to the bar. In 1801 Quintana produced a tragedy, ''El D ...

, and to imitate the latter's metres. It is by virtue of only seven

ode An ode (from grc, ᾠδή, ōdḗ) is a type of lyric poetry. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structured in three majo ...

s and

elegies An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

that Gallego is known. Of these the first was the ode, ''A la defensa de

Buenos Ayres Buenos Ayres is a town in Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in southwestern Trinidad, north of Erin and southeast of Point Fortin. Buenos Ayres is the hometown of the calypsonian Cro Cro. The Erin Savannas, one of the last remaining natural ...

'' (1807), directed against the

British invasions of the Río de la Plata The British invasions of the River Plate were two unsuccessful British attempts to seize control of areas in the Spanish colony of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata that were located around the Río de la Plata in South America – in p ...

. Another was his elegy on the death of the Duchess of Frias. With intensified liberal tendencies, Gallego presented himself for election and was returned a deputy to the

Cortes Generales The Cortes Generales (; en, Spanish Parliament, lit=General Courts) are the bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house), and the Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meets ...

. He had consistently opposed

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's invasion of Spain, with both pen and voice, yet the despotic

Ferdinand VII , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_plac ...

, after his return in 1814, imprisoned him because of his liberalism. During the second constitutional period, now free again, he was appointed

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. The

Royal Spanish Academy The Royal Spanish Academy ( es, Real Academia Española, generally abbreviated as RAE) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with ...

took him into its membership, and made him its perpetual secretary. The most famous of the few compositions left by Gallego is the elegy ''El Dos de Mayo'', which commemorates the events of the patriotic uprising of 2 May 1808, by a few hundred Spanish civilians and militarymen, including the artillery captains Daoiz and Velarde, and infantry lieutenant Ruiz. The revolt in Madrid inspired a general rising in Spain against

. Gallego's words, urging his countrymen to resist unto death, are said to have had a major effect.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallego, Juan Nicasio 1777 births 1853 deaths People from Zamora, Spain 18th-century Spanish Roman Catholic priests 19th-century Spanish poets Members of the Royal Spanish Academy Spanish male poets 19th-century male writers University of Salamanca alumni