José Amador de los Ríos y Serrano (30 April 1818 – 17 February 1878) was a Spanish intellectual, primarily a historian and archaeologist of

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. He was a graduate in history of the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

Museo Arqueológico Nacional - 1990-123-11 - José Amador de los Ríos

In 1844 he was the secretary of the Comisión Central de Monumentos. He was co-director with Antonio de Zabaleta of the ephemeral ''Boletín Español de Arquitectura'', the first Spanish journal dedicated exclusively to architecture.José Enrique García Melero (2002), ''Literatura española sobre Artes Plásticas: Bibliografía aparecida en España entre los siglos XVI y XVIII'' (Encuentro), 176. It was only in publication from 1 June to December 1846. In 1852 he published the complete works of

Íñigo López de Mendoza Inigo derives from the Castilian rendering (Íñigo) of the medieval Basque name Eneko. Ultimately, the name means "my little (love)". While mostly seen among the Iberian diaspora, it also gained a limited popularity in the United Kingdom. Ear ...

. It was Amador de los Ríos who first used the term '' mudejarismo'' to describe a form of architectural decoration in 1859. In 1861 he published the first volume of ''Historia crítica de la literatura española'', the first general history of Spanish literature written in Spain.David Thatcher Gies (2004), ''The Cambridge History of Spanish Literature'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 28–30 It was to remain incomplete. Ideologically Amador de los Ríos, a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and romantic, conceives of Spain as a unit, at once

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 lette ...

and Castilian, a

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

(though it was not one yet) united with its past by an ''idea luminosa'' (luminous idea). Countering the foreign historians who regard medieval Spain as a backwater, he also defended Spanish literature as the foremost among those which appeared after the

Fall of Rome The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vas ...

. Though he only covered the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, he demonstrated that he regarded Spanish American literature as part of the Spanish tradition. In another work, ''Historia social, política y religiosa de los judíos de España'', he accepts the Spanish

Jewish literature Jewish literature includes works written by Jews on Jewish themes, literary works written in Jewish languages on various themes, and literary works in any language written by Jewish writers. Ancient Jewish literature includes Biblical literature a ...

as part of the tradition, since it "bloomed" in Spanish soil. Unlike Adolf de Castro, however, he did not condemn the

Spanish Inquisition The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( es, Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition ( es, Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amador De Los Rios, Jose 1818 births 1878 deaths Spanish art historians Complutense University of Madrid alumni 19th-century Spanish historians