Ignacio López de Ayala (18 October 1739 Grazalema, Cádiz – 24 April 1789 in Tarifa) was a Spanish writer, astronomer and historian.

Life

He was a professor of poetry at the Reales Estudios de San Isidro in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. He authored a neoclassical tragedy, ''Numancia destruida'' (1775). His works were mainly heroic romances. He was also a respected historian, authoring history books on

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

(''Historia de Federico el Grande, rey de Prusia'') (1782), the History of

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

(''Historia de Gibraltar'') (1782) and the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most ...

(''El sacrosanto y ecuménico concilio de Trento'') (1787). These works gained him membership of the

Real Academia de la Historia The Royal Academy of History (, RAH) is a Spanish institution in Madrid that studies history "ancient and modern, political, civil, ecclesiastical, military, scientific, of letters and arts, that is to say, the different branches of life, of c ...

. In his later years he also wrote on astronomy, ''Disertaciones astronómicas'' and ''Filosofía moral de Aristóteles'', astronomical dissertations and the moral philosophy of

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

. He was a member of the

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the centre of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal aca ...

. He died on 24 April 1789 in Tarifa.

References

1789 deaths 18th-century Spanish poets 18th-century Spanish historians 18th-century Spanish astronomers People from Cádiz 18th-century Spanish philosophers Commentators on Aristotle Spanish male poets 1739 births {{Spain-writer-stub