Juan Francisco Masdeu

Background

Juan Masdeu on October 4, 1744, at Palermo, Italy.

Career

He joined the Company of Jesus on December 19, 1759, and became professor in the Jesuit seminaries at Ferrara and Ascoli.

He was also the author of His Storia critica di Spagne e della cultura spagnuola in ogni genere (2 vols. , 1781–1784), which was finally expanded into the Historia crítica de España y de la cultura española (1783–1805), which, though it consists of twenty volumes, was left unfinished; had it been continued on the same scale, the work would have consisted of fifty volumes. Masdeu wrote in a critical spirit and with a regard for accuracy rare in his time; but he is more concerned with small details than with the philosophy of history. Still, his narrative is lucid, and later researches have not yet rendered his work obsolete.

Masdeu visited Spain in 1799, was exiled, and returned in 1815, dying at Valencia on April 4, 1817.

Achievements

• Juan Francisco Masdeu was a well-noted historian and scholar of Spanish literature.