author
Gregorio Mayans y Siscar
1699–1781
A leading figure of the early Spanish Enlightenment, he brought together history, law, language, and literary criticism in a career devoted to scholarship and reform. He is especially remembered for his careful classical learning and for helping shape modern interest in Spanish letters.
1 Audiobook
Vida de Cervantes
by Gregorio Mayans y Siscar
About the author
Born in Oliva, near Valencia, in 1699, Gregorio Mayans y Siscar became one of the best-known Spanish scholars of the eighteenth century. He studied in Barcelona, Valencia, and Salamanca, and built a reputation as a jurist, historian, linguist, and editor whose work ranged across many fields.
Mayans is often described as a major representative of the early Spanish Enlightenment. He cared deeply about clear writing, serious historical method, and the recovery of Spain’s literary and intellectual heritage. Among his lasting contributions was an important early biography of Cervantes, and he was widely known for his letters, essays, and scholarly editions.
He spent much of his life connected to Valencia and died there in 1781. Today he is remembered as a learned and independent-minded writer whose work helped link humanist scholarship with the reforming spirit of his age.