Also known as:
Spanish: Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
JOVELLANOS, GASPAR MELCHIOR DE. - Statesman, man of letters, economist, b. at Gijón (Spain) on 5 February 1744, d. at Puerto de Vega on 27 November 1811.
At Alcalá and Ávila he completed his legal, philosophical and literary studies. As "alcalde de crimen" in Seville, he composed the verse tragedy Pelayo (1772) and the sentimental comedy El delincuente honrado (1774). Having become "alcalde de casa y corte" in Madrid in 1778, he devoted himself to economics, following a moderate free-trade line (Informe sobre el libre ejercicio de las artes, 1785). Implicated in the fall of his friend the financier Cabarrus, he was confined to Gijón, where he founded the Asturian Institute for the Sciences with the aim of advancing Spanish agriculture (Informe acerca de la ley agraria, 1795). Together with Cabarrus he returned to Madrid, appointed minister of Justice (1797), but shortly afterwards he was relegated to Majorca (1801) on account of his Informe del Tribunal de la Inquisición; there he wrote on history and art until he was freed by the French occupation (1808). He refused to accept offices from the invaders and had to withdraw to Puerto de Vega. Besides his works, his correspondence with Lord Vassal Holland on the war of independence and a private diary have been published. The Informe de la sociedad económica de Madrid was placed on the Index as advocating ecclesiastical jurisdictionalism and the tax against the higher clergy.
Bibliography4 worksE. Gonzales-Blanco, J., su vida y su obra, Madrid 1911; J. Jukerias, Don G. M. de J., su vida, su tiempo, sus obras, su influencia social, i
BIBL.: E. Gonzales-Blanco, J., su vida y su obra, Madrid 1911; J. Jukerias, Don G. M. de J., su vida, su tiempo, sus obras, su influencia social, ivi 1913; M. Casella, s. v. in Enc. Ital., XIX, p. 466; G. Casati, s. v. in L'Indice dei libri proibiti, Milano 1939, p. 191.
Moreschini, Augusto. “Jovellanos, gaspar melchior de.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, coll. 597–598. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/jovellanos-gaspar-melchior-de.
MLA
Moreschini, Augusto. “Jovellanos, gaspar melchior de.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, coll. 597–598. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/jovellanos-gaspar-melchior-de.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec7_jovellanos_gaspar_melchior_de,
author = {Moreschini, Augusto},
title = {Jovellanos, gaspar melchior de},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VII},
pages = {597--598},
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/jovellanos-gaspar-melchior-de}
}
One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.
Click or scroll to zoom · drag to pan · Esc to close
