Jerónimo Román de la Higuera

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Jerónimo Román de la Higuera (also Gerónimo Roman de la Higuera, Hieronymus Romanus de la Higuera, Jerónimo Román de la Higuera y Lupián; * 1538 in Toledo ; † September 14, 1611 ibid) was a Spanish Jesuit and historian who was considered a notorious forger applies.

After studying in Toledo, he received the degree of Magister artium et theologiae . After he had previously been ordained a priest, he joined the Jesuit order in 1563. At the Jesuit College of San Eugenio in Toledo, founded in 1584, he was professor of Latin. Higuera was the author of numerous, mostly unpublished writings of historical content, for example on the history of the Church in Spain, especially in Toledo ( Historia eclesiastica de Toledo , 1596), and was known as a historian in his time. Later, many of his sources turned out to be forgeries made by him, in particular the chronicles of Flavius ​​Dexter (allegedly the son of Paciano, Bishop of Barcelona), who was invented by him and from whom Lessing , for example , M. Maximus (Bishop of Saragossa), Julián Pérez, Luitprand (Deacon of Pavia) and others whom he said he wanted to have received from Fulda . He left the editing of these sources to his successors (Tomás Tamayo de Vargas, Juan Tamayo de Salazar, Lorenzo Ramirez de Prado, Francisco de Vivar, Rodrigo Caro ). The forgeries were discovered early in Spain, in particular by Nicolás Antonio (1617–1684), whose Censura de historias fabulosas, however, because of the resistance of the Inquisition of Valencia only about a hundred years after it was written in 1742 in Valencia by Gregorio Mayáns y Siscar (1699– 1781) could be published. Due to this delay, however, individual historical, bibliographical and topographical information from these forgeries found their way into historical works until the 19th century. Higuera's dexterity also contributed to this, as he usually did not use his own imagination in his forgeries, but rather followed well-known inscriptions and sources.

He is not to be confused with the eponymous member of the Augustinian Order Jerónimo Román de la Higuera (1535–1595) from Logroño .

literature

  • Julio Caro Baroja: Las falsificaciones de la historia (en relacion con la de Espana) , Barcelona, ​​Seis Barral 1992
  • José Godoy Alcántara: Historia critica de los falsos cronicones , Madrid, Rivadeneyra 1868
  • Klaus Reinhardt: Biblical Commentaries by Spanish Authors (1500-1700) , Volume 2, CSIC, Madrid 1990, p. 266 (short biography)
  • Monthly reports of the Prussian Academy of Sciences , Philos.-Historische Klasse, 1861, p. 529 (with a letter from Emil Hübner)
  • Richard Hitchcock: Mozarabs in medieval and early modern spain , Ashgate 2008, p. 119
  • Katrina B. Olds: "Forging the Past: Invented Histories in Counter-Reformation Spain", Yale 2015

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biographical dates according to Klaus Reinhardt Biblical Commentaries by Spanish Authors (1500–1700) , Volume 2, Madrid 1990. 1551 is also mentioned as the date of birth.
  2. ↑ Reinhardt: Biblical Commentaries by Spanish Authors , Volume 2
  3. ^ Hitchcock: Mozarabs in medieval and early modern spain , 2008
  4. ↑ Not published but preserved in two copies.
  5. ↑ Also a notorious forger, author of the Martyrologium hispanum .
  6. ↑ The Bishop of Segorbe , Don Juan Bautista Pérez, to whom Higuera sent his fragments , including the chronicles of Dexter and Maximus, immediately recognized them as a forgery. Higuera remained silent until a few years after the bishop's death. Cf. Nicolás Antonio, quoted in Hitchcock: Mozarabs in medieval and early modern spain , 2008, p. 119
personal data
SURNAME Higuera, Jerónimo Román de la
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Higuera, Gerónimo Roman de la; Higuera, Hieronymus Romanus de la; Higuera y Lupián, Jerónimo Román de la
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish Jesuit
DATE OF BIRTH 1538
PLACE OF BIRTH Toledo
DATE OF DEATH September 14, 1611
Place of death Toledo