He studied in Salamanca and in 1548 was appointed court historian. He traveled through Aragon, Naples, and Sicily in search of documents, having obtained from Philip II in 1550 free access to public and private archives. After more than thirty years of research, he published the *Annales de la Corona de Aragón*, from the Moorish invasions to the death of the Catholic King: the first historical work conducted with scientific criteria, as Z. extended the critical scrutiny of sources, including diplomatic reports, to the most ancient historical phases.
Z. was also secretary of the Inquisition in Madrid and, from 1569, intermediary between this tribunal and the Court. He spent his final years among the Girolamini of S. Engracia in Saragozza.
BIBL.: A. Palau y Dulcet, *Manual del librero hispano-americano*, VII, Barcelona 1927, pp. 263-64; E. Fueter, *Storia della storiografia moderna*, trans. it., I, Napoli 1943, pp. 282-84; II, ibid. 1943, p. 355. Enzo Navarra