Pedro Mejía (old Spanish spelling: Pero Mexía), (between 17 January and 6 September 1497 – 17 January 1551) was a Spanish Renaissance writer, humanist and historian. He was born and died in Seville, where he lived for the majority of his life and for which there is always a special affection in his writings. He studied humanities and law at Seville and Salamanca universities. He maintained correspondence with Erasmus of Rotterdam, Luis Vives and

Juan Gines de Sepulveda ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish language, Spanish and Manx language, Manx versions of ''John (given name), John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronoun ...

. In 1548, he was appointed official chronicler of the court of

Emperor Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) ...

. His major work is ''Silva de varia lección'' (''A Miscellany of Several Lessons'') (1540), which became an early best seller across Europe. It was reprinted 17 times in the sixteenth century and was translated into Italian (1542), French (1552) and English (1571). Within a century, ''Silva'' reached 31 editions in Spanish, and 75 in foreign languages. It is an encyclopedic miscellany or mixture of subjects of interest across the diverse repertoire of humanistic knowledge of the time. The work takes material from the ''Attic Nights'' by

Aulus Gellius Aulus Gellius (c. 125after 180 AD) was a Roman author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome. He is famous for his ''Attic Nights'', a commonplace book, or ...

, the ''Banquet of the Sophists'' by Athenaeus, the ''Saturnalia'' of

Macrobius Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was ...

, the ''Memorable deeds and sayings'' of Valerius Maximus, the ''Inventor of all things'' by Polidoro Virgilio, the ''Moralia'' and ''Parallel Lives'' of Plutarch and, above all, the ''Natural History'' of Pliny the Elder. It also contains work by Erasmus of Rotterdam. Traces of this miscellany can be found in works by Mateo Alemán, Miguel de Cervantes, Shakespeare and

Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...

, to mention only a few of the authors he influenced. Other major works by Mexia are ''Historia imperial y cesárea'' (1545), ''Historia del Emperador Carlos V'' (unfinished and unpublished) and ''Coloquios y Diálogos'' (1547).

References

*''Mexia, Pedro''. Ed. Antonio Castro Díaz. ''Silva de varia lección''. Ed. Cátedra. Vol 1-2. Madrid, 1989.
History of Spanish Literature
by George Ticknor, Ticknor & Fichers, 1864. Pages 10–15.
Pedro Mejía
The Power of the Word website, Spanish, 2011 Renaissance writers Spanish Renaissance humanists Spanish Renaissance people 1497 births 1551 deaths Spanish male writers Spanish philosophers 16th-century Spanish historians Spanish encyclopedists University of Salamanca alumni 16th-century male writers {{Spain-writer-stub