Surita i Castro, Jeronimo

He was educated at the Alkala Academy, where he thoroughly studied classical languages ; held various administrative posts, in 1547 he was sent by the supreme council of Castile to Germany . Upon returning from there, he was first vested with the rank of Cortes Aragonese historiographer . During the reign of Philip II, Surita took a scientific journey through Aragonia , Italy and Sicily and collected a lot of interesting historical material in the city and monastery archives there.

He was later secretary of the royal cabinet and the inquisitorial tribunal. Impartiality of judgment, an assessment of events from the point of view of a philosopher and a politician, a thorough acquaintance with archival material, a critical attitude to the news of old chronicles, an expert language - these are the merits of Surit as a historian. His main work is Anales de la corona de Aragon ( Zaragoza , 1562–1579 ), covering the history of Aragonia from ancient times to Ferdinand the Catholic . In it, Surita sets himself the task of showing how the national constitution of Aragon arose and developed.

Surita is an adherent of the old free institutions of her homeland; but, illuminating the republican principles of the Aragonese Cortes, he had to be very careful in his judgments, so as not to incur anger from Philip II. The 1610 edition contains the defense of the annals of Surita, written by Ambrosio Morales against criticism of Alfonso de Santacruz , and an index compiled by the Zaragoza Jesuits . Chronicle of Surita brought to 1516 ; his work was continued, as official historiographers, by the brothers Argensola and Vincente de Blasco Lanus ( 1622 ).

In a rare edition entitled: “Indices rerum ab Arag. regibus gestarum ab initiis regni ad annum 1410 etc. "(Zaragoza, 1578 ), the Surites' Annals" are abridged, translated by him into Latin , and the story of the conquest of Sicily by the Norman princes, reprinted from a manuscript discovered by Surita; he also holds the honor of opening the Chronicon Alexandrinum or Chron. Paschale ”, published by Rader with a Latin translation and then Ducange , in the“ Byzantine ”collection. Other numerous manuscripts found by Surita are stored partly in the library of the Saragossian Cartesians , and partly in Eskurial .

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