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Alfonso de Santa María de Cartagena (variants: Alfonso de Carthagena, Alonso de Cartagena) (1384, Burgos—1456, Villasandino) was a Jewish convert to Christianity, a Roman Catholic bishop, diplomat, historian and writer of pre-Renaissance Spain. History Early man of Neanderthal occupied sites around Burgos as early as 800000 years ago Villasandino is a Municipality located in the province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain.

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Biography

Alfonso de Cartagena was the second son of Rabbi Paul of Burgos, who converted from Judaism to Christianity in 1390 or 1391. Paul of Burgos (born at Burgos about 1351 died 29 August 1435) was a Spanish Jew who converted to Christianity and became an Archbishop, Lord At the same time, Alfonso and his four brothers, one sister and two uncles were baptized. His mother, however, was not. Cartagena studied law in Salamanca, and "was a great lawyer in canon and civil law", according to Claros varones de Castilla (1486). He served as dean of Santiago de Compostela and Segovia, later becoming apostolic nuncio and cannon of Burgos (1421). Santiago de Compostela (also Saint James of Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia and a UNESCO World Segovia is a city in Spain, the capital of the province of Segovia in Castile-Leon. Nuncio is an ecclesiastical Diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin word Nuntius, meaning "envoy

He was equally distinguished as statesman and as priest. In 1434 he was named by King John II de Trastámara (1405-54) as the representative of Castile at the Council of Basel, succeeding Cardinal Alonso de Carrillo. John II ( March 6 1405 &ndash July 20 1454) was King of Castile from 1406 to 1454 The Council of Florence (originally Council of Basel) was an Ecumenical Council of Bishops and other ecclesiastics of the Roman Catholic Church There he composed a famous discourse in Latin and Castilian (Propositio. . . super altercatione praeminentia, 1434), calling on the council to recognize the superior right of the King of Castile over the King of England.

The humanist Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who became Pope Pius II, in his memoirs called Cartagena "an ornament to the prelacy". Pope Pius II, born Enea Silvio Piccolomini ( Latin Aeneas Sylvius; October 18, 1405 &ndash August 14, 1464) Pope Eugenius IV thanked him for his services by making him bishop of Burgos when his father died (1435). Pope Eugene IV (1383 &ndash February 23, 1447) born Gabriele Condulmer, was Pope from March 3, 1431, to his death Eugenius, learning that the bishop of Burgos was about to visit Rome, declared in full conclave that "in the presence of such a man he felt ashamed to be seated in St. Peter's chair".

After living in Rome for some time, dedicated to study, Cartagena returned to Burgos, where he founded a public school "of all doctrine", in which the most advanced latinists of the Spain of the Catholic Monarchs studied. The Catholic Monarchs (los Reyes Católicos is the collective title used in history for Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon These included Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo, Alfonso de Palencia, Diego Rodríguez Almela and perhaps Fernán Díaz de Toledo. Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo ( Rodericus Zamorensis) (diocese of Segovia, 1404 - 4 October[[ 470]] was a Spanish churchman historian and political Cartagena was a friend of fellow writer and humanist Fernán Pérez de Guzmán (1378-1460), nephew of Pero López de Ayala and señor de Batres, who included an affectionate biographical outline in his Generaciones y semblanzas (1450). Fernan (or Fernando) Perez de Guzman (1376-1458 was a Spanish historian and poet Don Pero (or Pedro) López de Ayala (1332 &ndash 1407 was a Castilian Statesman, Historian, Poet, Chronicler Cartagena dedicated his Oracional (1454), a treatise on prayer, to him.

Cartagena went to Portugal as an emissary of King John II, where he negotiated peace. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. He was also emissary to the kings of Germany and Poland and intervened in the conflicts of Castile with Aragon and Granada.

He helped with a large sum to build the monastery of San Pablo of Burgos and rebuilt other churches and monasteries of his see, among them the Cathedral of Burgos, whose construction had been interrupted a considerable time before.

In 1422 he undertook the translation of some works of Cicero (De officiis, De senectute), ordered by the secretary of King John II, Juan Alfonso de Zamora. Marcus Tullius Cicero ( Classical Latin ˈkikeroː usually ˈsɪsərəʊ in English January 3, 106 BC &ndash December 7, 43 BC was a Roman He also translated Cicero's De inventione, for use by then Prince Duarte of Portugal. Edward ( Portuguese: Duarte duˈaɾt(ɨ Viseu, 31 October 1391 &ndash Tomar, 13 September 1438 His translations into the vernacular followed a clear humanistic intent, that of teaching the wisdom of the classics to gentlemen interested in the works, but not scholars themselves. For the same reason, but also for another reason (his inclination to Stoicism), he translated the Treatises and Tragedies of Seneca the Younger. Stoicism, a school of Hellenistic philosophy, was founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early third century BC Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca, or Seneca the Younger; Σένεκας in Ancient Greek literature (c He disputed with the humanist Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo or Aretino (1370-1444) over a new translation by Bruni of the Ethics of Aristotle. Leonardo Bruni (or Leonardo Aretino) (c 1369 &ndash March 9 1444) was a leading humanist, Historian and a Chancellor Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. The conflict became extended in scope when Pier Cándido Decembrio (1399-1477) came to the defense of Bruni, and Cardinal Pizolpasso (1370-1443) also became involved. At least six texts and 19 letters related to the dispute passed between Cartagena and Decembrio, including Cartagena's Declinations.

Heinrich Graetz ascribes to the influence exercised by Carthagena over Eugenius IV the latter's sudden change of attitude toward the Jews. Heinrich Graetz ( October 31, 1817 - September 7, 1891) was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish Carthagena alone, says Graetz, could have been the author of the complaints against the pride and arrogance of the Castilian Jews, which induced the pope to issue the bull of 1442, withdrawing the privileges granted to them by former popes.

He wrote besides some treatises on moral philosophy and theology. At the age of 60 he went on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, but died on the return to his diocese.

Works

Besides his translations of twelve books of Seneca, in which he was particularly interested, and of the works of Cicero mentioned above, he wrote Rerum in Hispania gestarum Chronicon. Around 1456 he wrote a history of Spain based on Flavius Josephus, Florus and Jiménez de Rada and entitled Anacephaleosis that emphasized Castilian Gothicism. Josephus (AD 37 – c 100 also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu (Joseph son of Matthias and after he became a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus Florus, Roman Historian, lived in the time of Trajan and Hadrian. Rodrigo Jiménez (or Ximenez de Rada ( Puente la Reina, Navarre, Spain, c This was translated by Fernán Pérez de Guzmán and Juan de Villafuerte under the title Genealogía de los Reyes de España (Genealogy of the Kings of Spain) (1463). The translation was composed of a prologue and 94 chapters, of which seven contain a summary of the origins of the Spanish monarchy from Atalaric to the kings of Asturias and of Castile and Leon, and a genealogical tree showing their relationship to the monarchs of Navarre, Aragon and Portugal. Aragon ( Spanish: "Aragón") is an autonomous community of Spain.

Among Carthagena's writings on history, morals, and other subjects, there is a commentary on the twenty-sixth Psalm, Judica me, Deus. Defensorium fidei, also called Defensorium unitatis christianae (1449-50), is a plea in defense of converted Jews. Oracional de Fernán Pérez (Burgos, 1487, written about 1454) is a treatise on a prayer edited around 1454 and addressed to his friend and confident Fernán Pérez de Guzmán, in 55 chapters and an afterword on virtues and the Mass. He also wrote Doctrinal de Caballeros (Burgos, 1487, written around 1444), which consists of an adaptation of the second Partida of Alfonso X the Wise in four books covering faith, laws, war, rewards and punishments, revolts, challenges and duels, tournaments, vassals, bad actions and privileges. Alfonso X (November 23 1221 Toledo Spain &ndash April 4 1284 Seville Spain) was a Spanish monarch who ruled as the King of Castile,

Other works include Memoriales virtutum or Memorial de virtudes, various songs, aphorisms and compositions of love that appear dispersed in songbooks; Prefación a San Juan Crisóstomo, Allegationes. . . super conquista insularum Canariae (Allegations About the Conquest of the Canary Islands, 1437), which defends Castilian rights to the islands; Epistula. . . ad comitem de Haro (ca. 1440), prescribing a program of readings to educate the nobility, among them the moral texts of Cato, and Contemptus mundanorum. He also wrote Duodenarium (1442), where he answers twelve questions of Pérez de Guzmán; Tractatus questionis ortolanus (1443-47), to Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo, in which he defends the superiority of sight over hearing; a response to the Questión sobre la caballería (1444) of the Marqués de Santillana; a Devocional that has been lost, etc. Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo ( Rodericus Zamorensis) (diocese of Segovia, 1404 - 4 October[[ 470]] was a Spanish churchman historian and political Don Íñigo López de Mendoza y de la Vega Marquis of Santillana ( August 19, 1398 - March 25, 1458) was a Castilian

References

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia article "Carthagena, Don Alfonso de" by Richard Gottheil and Isaac Broydé, a publication now in the public domain. The Jewish Encyclopedia was an Encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone

External links

Preceded by
Paul of Burgos		 Bishop of Burgos
1435–1456		 Succeeded by
Luis de Acuña y Osorio
Paul of Burgos (born at Burgos about 1351 died 29 August 1435) was a Spanish Jew who converted to Christianity and became an Archbishop, Lord
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