Frontispiece of the princeps edition of Herrera's Historia General.

Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas (1549 - March 29, 1625), Spanish historian, was born at Cuéllar, in the province of Segovia. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (376x603, 294 KB) Summary Fronstpice of the Historia de Antonio de Herrera, a Spanish historian of the 16th century. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (376x603, 294 KB) Summary Fronstpice of the Historia de Antonio de Herrera, a Spanish historian of the 16th century. ... Events July - Ketts Rebellion Francis Xavier arrives in Japan. ... March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (89th in Leap years). ... Events March 27 - Prince Charles Stuart becomes King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland. ... A historian is a person who studies history. ... Cuéllar is a town in the north of the Segovia region of Spain. ... Comarca Capital and Metropolitan Area Province Segovia Autonomous community Castilla y León Postal code 40001-40006 Coordinate systems  - Latitude:  - Longitude 40°57 N 4°10 0 Surface 1636 km² Altitude 1002 m Distance 87 km from Madrid 111 km from Valladolid Population  - Total (2004)  - Density 55. ...

Biography

His father, Roderigo de Tordesillas, and his mother, Agnes de Herrera, were both of good family. After studying for some time in his native country, Herrera proceeded to Italy, and there became secretary to Vespasian Gonzago, with whom, on his appointment as viceroy of Navarre, he returned to Spain. Gonzago, sensible of his secretary's abilities, commended him to Philip II of Spain; and that monarch appointed Herrera first historiographer of the Indies, and one of the historiographers of Castile. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Historiography is writing about rather than of history. ... Flag or Pendón de Castilla A former kingdom of Spain, Castile comprises the two regions of Old Castile in north-western Spain, and New Castile in the centre of the country. ...

Placed thus in the enjoyment of an ample salary, Herrera devoted the rest of his life to the pursuit of literature, retaining his offices until the reign of Philip IV, by whom he was appointed secretary of state very shortly before his death. Philip IV of Spain Philip IV (Spanish: Felipe IV) (April 8, 1605 – September 17, 1665) was the king of Spain, from 1621 until his death, and king of Portugal as Philip III (Portuguese: Filipe III) until 1640. ...

The Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos

Of Herrera's writings, the most valuable is his Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las islas y tierra firme del Mar Oceano (Madrid, 1601-1615, 4 vols), a work which relates the history of the Spanish-American colonies from 1492 to 1554. The author's official position gave him access to the state papers and to other authentic sources not attainable by other writers, while he did not scruple to borrow largely from other manuscripts, especially from that of Bartolomé de Las Casas. Bartolomé de Las Casas Bartolomé de Las Casas, O.P. (1484 – July 17, 1566) was a 16th century Spanish priest, and the first resident Bishop of Chiapas. ...

He used his facilities carefully and judiciously; and the result is a work on the whole accurate and unprejudiced, and quite indispensable to the student either of the history of the early colonies, or of the institutions and customs of the aboriginal American peoples. Although it is written in the form of annals, mistakes are not wanting, and several glaring anachronisms have been pointed out by MJ Quintana. "If," to quote Dr Robertson, "by attempting to relate the various occurrences in the New World in a strict chronological order, the arrangement of events in his work had not been rendered so perplexed, disconnected and obscure that it is an unpleasant task to collect from different parts of his book and piece together the detached shreds of a story, he might justly have been ranked among the most eminent historians of his country." Manuel José Quintana (April 11, 1772 - March 11, 1857), poet and man of letters, was born at Madrid, Spain. ...

This work was republished in 1730, and has been translated into English by J Stevens (London, 1740), and into other European languages.

Herrara's main works

Herrera's main published works are the following:

• Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las islas y tierra firme del Mar Oceano (Madrid, 1601-1615, 4 vols)
• Historia de lo sucedido en Escocia a Inglaterra en quarenta y quatro annos que vivio la reyna Maria Estuarda (Madrid, 1589)
• Cinco libros de la historia de Portugal, y conquista de las isles de los Acores, 1582-1583 (Madrid, 1591)
• Historia de lo sucedido en Francia, 1585-1594 (Madrid, 1598)
• Historia general del mundo del tiempo del rey Felipe II, desde 1559 haste su muerte (Madrid, 1601-1612, 3 vols)
• Tratado, relation, y discurso historico de los movimientos de Aragon (Madrid, 1612)
• Comentarios de los hechos de los Españoles, Franceses, y Venecianos en Italia, etc., 1281-1559 (Madrid, 1624, seq.).

For more information on Antonio de Herrera's works, see William H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, vol. ii. William Hickling Prescott (May 4, 1796 - January 29, 1859) was a historian. ...

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain. Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-1911) represents the sum of human knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, it was advertised as such. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...