LOPEZ de GOMARA, FRANCISCO. – Spanish writer, b. at Gómara in 1512, d. at Seville probably in 1572.
Chaplain to the conquistador Hernán Cortés, he wrote *Historia de las Indias y conquista de Méjico* (Zaragoza 1552), in which he drew on his experience of overseas lands but gave excessive prominence to the figure of his patron, overshadowing that of his comrades, and attributed predominant interest to the conquest of Mexico. He is nonetheless an estimable writer for his ethnographic information, his critique of sources, his clear style, and, in his anecdotes, even his picturesque manner.
A chronicle history of the exploits of Charles V by him was edited by R. B. Erisman under the title *Annals of the emperor Charles V* (London 1912).
Bibl.: The *Historia* was published in *Biblioteca de Autores españoles*, vol. XXII; the part relating to Mexico by Y. Ramirez Cabanas, in 2 vols., Mexico 1943. – Studies: E. Jos, F. L. de G., *Apuntes biográficos*, in *Rev. occ.*, 18 (1927), pp. 274 ff.; E. Fueter, *Storia della storiografia moderna*, I, Naples 1944, pp. 358-61; II, ibid., 1944, p. 363. Constancio Egui