Álvar García de Santa María (1370 – March 21, 1460) was a Spanish

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

convert to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

during the late Middle Ages. He was born in 1370 into a prominent Castilian Jewish family, but converted in 1390 at the time of evangelization of the Jewish community by St. Vincent Ferrer. His brother Pablo de Santa María also converted and later became Bishop of Burgos, as did Álvar's nephew Alphonso de Cartagena, another Jewish convert. Álvar later became a senior court historian and chronicler of the reign of King

John II of Castile John II of Castile (; 6 March 1405 – 20 July 1454) was King of Castile and León from 1406 to 1454. He succeeded his older sister, Maria of Castile, Queen of Aragon, as Prince of Asturias in 1405. Regency John was the son of King Henry ...

, probably compiling the ''Crónica de Juan II'' (or ''Chronicle of John II''). He has also been put forward as the potential author of the book ''Crónica de don Álvaro de Luna'' written in the 1450s, the authorship of which is in dispute. Álvar died on March 21, 1460, at a great age.

References

* ''This article is based on a translation of an article from the

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''
Brief Biography from Biography.com
1370 births 1460 deaths 15th-century Spanish historians Jewish historians 14th-century Castilian Jews Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism Spanish Roman Catholics Conversos 15th-century Castilian writers Date of birth unknown {{Spain-historian-stub