For other people with this surname, see Torquemada

Antonio de Torquemada (c.1507, León, Spain

León, Spain

León is the capital of the province of León in the autonomous community of Castile and León, situated in the northwest of Spain. Its city population of 136,985 makes it the largest municipality in the province, accounting for more than one quarter of the province's population...

 - 1569), was a Spanish writer of the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

.

He studied humanities

Humanities

The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....

 in Salamanca. Between 1528 and 1530 he lived in Italy and he was secretary of the Count of Benavente.

This author composed popular works that were translated in France, Italy and England. His Satirical Colloquies are developed in a pastoral frame, that is an advance to the pastoral

Pastoral

The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...

 literature. His most famous work, Garden of peculiar flowers, was mentioned by Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...

in the first part of Quijote. His complete works were published in the '90s in Madrid.

Work

• The game (Valencia, 1547) - lost
• Satirical Colloquies (Mondoñedo, 1553)
• Don Olivante de Laura (Barcelona, 1564) - a book of cavalries
• Garden of peculiar flowers (Salamanca, 1570)
• Manual of writers (1574) - for secretaries.