Gayangos y Arce, Pascual

Family and Education

Born in Seville in a family of hereditary military. His father is the brigade leader Jose de Gayangos, formerly the quartermaster of Zacatecas , in New Spain . Mother - Francisco de Arce and Retz, Frenchwoman. He began his studies in Madrid at Escuelas Pías , graduated from the Royal College of San Isidro. During the period of King Ferdinand VII's fascination with liberalism, in 1822 he received the opportunity to study abroad, enrolling in a college in Blois , where his mother was born. Having chosen Arabic philology as his occupation, he entered the Parisian L'École spéciale des langues orientales vivantes under the direction of Sylvester de Sacy . In Paris, he met his future wife - the Englishwoman Francis Revell. The marriage was concluded in London in 1828.

Life in Spain. 1829-1837

In 1829 he returned to Spain, at first he worked in the financial department of Malaga . Between 1833 and 1837 He served in the translation department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the same time he held a position in the National Library, where he was engaged in the analysis of the numismatic collection received from the royal palaces. He also cataloged the collection of oriental manuscripts in Escorial , and in 1836 he occupied the Department of Arabic in the Madrid Athenaeum . In this regard, he made an exit to Paris and London with the aim of improving himself in the Arabic language. In 1837 he went to London, where he remained until 1843.

Life in the UK. 1837-1843

In London, Gayangos was admitted to the circle of Lord and Lady Holland (there at different times included Byron , Macaulay , W. Scott , Dickens and Disraeli ). In London, he met the American Spaniard George Ticknor (1791-1871), who had close friendly ties with the blinded historian William Prescott . In London, Gayangos collaborated with scholars and educators, especially with the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge , and also wrote articles for The Athenaeum and The Penny Cyclopaedia for the Difussion of Useful Knowledge and The Biographical Dictionary . He did not leave classes in philology, was accepted into the translation commission of the Royal Asian Society, by order of which he translated the biography of the 14th century Andalusian encyclopedist. Ibn al-Khatib. The biography was part of the work of the Algerian historian al-Maqqari (1591-1632), and his translation became the main work of Gayangos as an Arabist. The translation was entitled “History of the Mohammedan Dynasties of Spain” ( English History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain , Spanish Nafh al-tīb o Historia de las Dinastías Musulmanas en España ; 2 vols. 1840-1843). The work was met with scathing criticism of the Dutch Arabist Dozi , who discovered a number of minor inaccuracies in the text. Gayangos has also been instrumental in writing Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico.

Professor. 1843-1871

In 1843, Gayangos returned to Madrid to take up the position of professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of Madrid, which he held until 1871, raising a whole generation of Spanish Arabists. In 1844, Mr .. elected a member of the Royal Academy of History. In the post of academician between 1850-1857. organized a series of archaeographic expeditions in Spain, with the aim of saving the archives of the closed monasteries. These funds became the basis of the National Historical Archive, created in 1866 with the lively participation of Gayangos.

Later years

Since Gayangos was married to an Englishwoman, he was closely connected with Great Britain, and since his retirement in 1871 he lived in two houses, moving from Madrid to London and back. Working in the library of the British Museum , in 1875-1893 he published a consolidated catalog of Spanish manuscripts in the collections of the British Museum ( Catálogo de los manuscritos españoles conservados en el Museo Británico ). In those same years, he prepared a study of diplomatic relations between England and Spain at the turn of the XV — XVI centuries.

In 1881, after Sagasta came to power, Gayangos was appointed Director General of Education, after resigning from this post, he was elected senator . He spent five terms in the upper house of parliament: once elected from the province of Huelva , and four times appointed from the Academy of History. He died in London.

Gayangos was an extremely prolific author; he wrote a wide variety of works on Arabic studies, Spanish literature, as well as reviews and catalogs, not counting the scientific editing of old Spanish texts. The following trunk lines can be distinguished in his legacy:

• Arabistics . In addition to the History of the Mohammedan Dynasties, he published a study of the Chronicle of Ar-Razi (887–955), which is still relevant today.
• History of Spanish literature . Together with Enrique de Vedia in 1851-1857. translated the three-volume History of Spanish Literature by Tiknor (1849) into Spanish, adding many original materials and compiling bibliographies later translated by Tiknor and included in subsequent English-language editions of his work. Gayangos was considered the greatest expert on chivalric novels of his time. His research on this topic was published as a preface to the novels by Amadis Gali , published in the book series “Spanish Authors” by Manuel Rivadeneira. It described all the chivalric novels that appeared in Spain and Portugal until 1800.
• Archeography . His most important achievement is the publication of the Catálogo de los manuscritos españoles en el Museo Británico y el Calendario de cartas, despachos y asuntos de Estado relativos a las negociaciones entre España e Inglaterra (Catalog of Spanish manuscripts, as well as maps and diplomatic documents of Spain in the collection of the British Museum) .

• “Arabic Mss. in Spain ”, Westminster Review , vol. XXI, nº 42, (1834), pp. 378-94.
• “Language and Literatura of the Moriscos,” British and Foreign Review , London, VIII (1839), pp. 63-95.
• "The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic of Spain. By WH Prescott ”, The Edinburgh Review , LXVIII, nº CXXXVIII, 1839. Review of the work of William Prescott .
• The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain ; extracted from the Nafhu-t-tíb min Ghosni-l-andalusi-r-rattíb wa Táríkh Lisánu-d-dín ibni-l-Khattíb, by Ahmed ibn Mohammed Al-Makkarí, a native of Telemsán. Translated from the copies in the Library of the British Museum, and illustrated with critical notes on the History, Geography, and antiquities of Spain, by Pascual de Gayangos, member of the Oriental Translation Comittee, and late Professor of Arabic in the Athenaeum of Madrid . In two volumes. London, Printed for The Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland, 1840-1843.
• Plans, elevations, sections and details of the Alhambra from drawings taken on the spot in 1834 by the late M. Jules Goury, and in 1834 and 1837 by Owen Jones ... with a complete translation of the Arabic inscriptions and an historical notice of the kings of Granada from the conquest of that city by the Arabs to the expulsion of the Moors, by Mr. Pasqual de Gayangos. 2 volumes. London: Owen Jones, 1842-1845.
• Memoria sobre la autenticidad de la Crónica denominada del moro Rasis leída en la Real Academia de la Historia por Pascual de Gayangos al tomar posesión de su plaza de académico supernumerario , Madrid, Real Academia de la Historia, 1850. (Publicada también de las la Real Academia de la Historia , tomo VIII, 1852).
• (Ed.) “Sumario e recopilación de todo lo romanceado por mi, el Licenciado Alonso del Castillo ”, Memorial Histórico Español , III (1852), pp. 1-164.
• (Ed.) "Tratados de legislación musulmana", Memorial Histórico Español , V (1853).
• (Ed.) “Crónica de los Barbarrojas por Francisco López de Gómara ”, Memorial Histórico Español , VI (1853), pp. 329-439.
• (Ed.) Memorias de Garibay, Memorial Histórico Español , VII (1854).
• (Ed.) "Relación de los fechos del mui magnífico e mas virtuosos señor, el señor don Miguel Lucas , mui digno Condestable de Castilla", Memorial Histórico Español , VIII (1855).
• (Ed.) “Ilustraciones de la casa de Niebla de Pedro Barrantes Maldonado,” Memorial Histórico Español , IX — X (1857).
• (Ed.) Libros de Caballerías . Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, t. 40, Madrid, Rivadeneyra, 1857.
• (Ed.) La gran conquista de ultramar . Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, t. 44, Madrid, Rivadeneyra, 1858.
• (Ed.) Miscelánea de Zapata , Memorial Histórico Español , XI (1859).
• (Ed.) “Comentarios del desengañado, o sea Vida de D. Diego Duque de Estrada , escrita por él mismo”, Memorial Histórico Español , XII (1860).
• (Ed.) Escritores en prosa anteriores al siglo XV . Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, t. 51, Madrid, Rivadeneyra, 1860.
• (Ed.) Cartas y relaciones de Hernán Cortés al Emperador Carlos V , París, Imp. Central de los Ferrocarriles, 1860.
• (Ed.) “Cartas de algunos Padres de la Compañía de Jesús sobre los sucesos de la monarquía entre 1634 y 1648”, Memorial Histórico Español , XIII (1861), XIV-XV-XVI (1862), XVII (1863), XVIII (1864), XIX (1865).
• (Ed.) Cartas de Eugenio de Salazar , Madrid, Sociedad de Bibliófilos Españoles, 1866.
• (Ed.) The Fifth Letter of Hernán Cortés to the Emperor Charles V, containing an account of his expedition to Honduras . Translated form the Original Spanish by Don Pascual de Gayangos, Londres, The Hakluyt Society, 1868.
• (Ed.) El libro de las aves de caça del Canciller Pero López de Ayala con las glosas del Duque de Alburquerque , Madrid, Sociedad de Bibliófilos, 1869.
• (Ed.) Cinco cartas político-literarias de D. Diego Sarmiento de Acuña , primer Conde de Gondomar ; Madrid, Sociedad de Bibliófilos Españoles, 1869.
• (Ed.) Historia de Enrrique Fi de Oliva rey de Iherusalem, emperador de Constantinopla (Según el ejemplar único de la Biblioteca Imperial de Viena), Madrid, Sociedad de Bibliófilos Españoles, 1871.
• (Ed.) Relaciones de Pedro de Gante, secretario del Duque de Nájera , Madrid, Sociedad de Bibliófilos Españoles, 1873.
• (Ed.) Memorias del cautivo en La Goleta de Túnez (el alférez Pedro de Aguilar) , Madrid, Sociedad de Bibliófilos Españoles, 1875.
• (Ed.) Viaje de Felipe II a Inglaterra por Andres Muñoz , Madrid, Sociedad de Bibliófilos Españoles, 1877.
• Calendar of letters, despatches and state papers, relating to the negotiations between England and Spain preserved in the Archives at Simancas , v. III — VI, Londres, 1871-77, 1879-82, 1886-88, 1890-95.
• Catalog of the manuscripts in the Spanish language in the British Museum , 4 vol., London, William Clower and Sons, 1875, 1877, 1881, 1893.

• Roca, Pedro, “Noticia de la vida y obras de Pascual de Gayangos”, en Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos , vol. I (1897), pp. 544-565; vol. II (1898), pp. 13-32, 70-82, 110-130, 562-568; vol. III (1899), pp. 101-106.
• Manzanares de Cirre, Manuela (1972), Arabistas españoles del siglo XIX , Madrid: Instituto Hispano-Árabe de Cultura.
• Monroe, James T. (1970), Islam and the Arabs in Spanish Scholarship. (Sixteenth Century to the Present) , Leiden: Brill.
• Ricardo Navas Ruiz, El romanticismo español . Madrid: Cátedra, 1982 (3.ª ed.), ISBN 84-376-0318-8
• Vilar García. Docentes, traductores e interpretes de la lengua inglesa en la España del siglo XIX: Juan Calderón, los hermanos Usoz y Pascual de Gayangos. 2004. Murcia: Universidad de Murcia. ISBN 978-84-8371-451-5
• Jones, Owen - Goury, Jules - Gayangos y Arce, Pascual de - Campos Romero, Mª Ángeles (ed.), Planos, Alzados, Secciones y detalles de la Alhambra , Madrid: Akal, 2001. ISBN 84-460-0990-0
• Álvarez Ramos, Miguel Ángel - Álvarez Millán, Mª Cristina; Los viajes literarios de Pascual de Gayangos (1850-1857) y el origen de la archivística española moderna , Madrid: CSIC, 2007. ISBN 978-84-00-08520-9
• https://web.archive.org/web/20120118200433/http://www.senado.es/historia/senadores/index.html

• Gayangos // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• This article (section) contains text taken (translated) from the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica , which went into the public domain .