GONZÁLEZ de MENDOZA, JUAN. - Born at Torrecilla de Cameros (Spain) in 1545, around 1563 he entered the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine in Mexico. Having returned to Spain, in 1580 Philip II appointed him ambassador to China. In 1581 he reached Mexico; however, after the news he received about China and various difficulties, he returned to Spain in 1582 and continued his journey as far as Rome.

Here he wrote the celebrated work: Historia de las cosas mas notables, ritos y costumbres del gran Reyno de la China. It was the first book to deal extensively and systematically with China and therefore enjoyed an enormous success. In 1593 G. was named bishop of Lipari (Sicily), in 1607 bishop of Chiapa, in 1608 of Popayán, where he died on 14 February 1618.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: Streit, Bibl., IV, pp. 531-33, in which many editions of his work are listed; G. de Santiago Vela, Ensayo de una biblioteca ibero-americana de la Orden de s. Agustín, III, Madrid 1917, pp. 201-37.

Giovanni Rommerskirchen

@incollection{ec6_gonzalez_de_mendoza_juan, author = {Rommerskirchen, Giovanni}, title = {González de Mendoza, juan}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {924--925}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/gonzalez-de-mendoza-juan} }

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González de Mendoza, Juan

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