Real Academia de la Historia
Encyclopedia
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History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
) is a Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
institution based in Madrid that studies history "ancient and modern, political, civil, ecclesiastical, military, scientific, of letters and arts, that is to say, the different branches of life, of civilisation, and of the culture of the Spanish people".
The Academy was established in 1738. Since 1836 it has occupied an 18th-century building designed by the neoclassical architect Juan de Villanueva
Juan de Villanueva
Juan de Villanueva was a Spanish architect. Alongside Ventura Rodríguez, Villanueva is the best known architect of Spanish Neoclassicism....
. Some Spanish historians consider it an obsolete misogynist institution, without any authority, and that still considers history as a matter of kings and battles.
Biographical dictionary
In 2011 the Academy published the first volumes of a dictionary of national biography, the Diccionario Biográfico Español, to which some five thousand historians contributed. The publicly-funded publication has been subject of controversy for failing to achieve the standards of objectivity associated with, for example, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The historian Henry Kamen has argued that it was a mistake to include living figures among the entries. However the main allegations of bias concern articles relating to Francoist Spain, notably the entry on Francisco FrancoFrancisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
, in which he is defined as an autocratic head of state rather than a dictator. Another focus of complaint is the entry on the democratically elected President Negrin, whose administration is described as dictatorial.
The dictionary sparked an outcry with most objections coming from voices on the left such as the party United Left
United Left (Spain)
The United Left is a political coalition that was organized in 1986 bringing together several political organisations opposed to Spain joining NATO. It was formed by a number of groups of leftists, greens, left-wing socialists and republicans, but was dominated by the Communist Party of Spain...
and the newspaper Público
Público (Spain)
Público is a Spanish daily national newspaper launched on September 26, 2007. It is owned by the media group Mediapro....
. For his part, Green party
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
senator Joan Saura
Joan Saura i Laporta
Joan Saura i Laporta is a Green ICV politician in Spain. He was born in Barcelona, Catalonia, in 1950. He studied at the Escola d'Enginyeria Tècnica , where he specialized in Industrial Chemistry...
asked for publication of the dictionary to be stopped and the offending volumes withdrawn, while the Minister of Culture asked for a correction. The Academy confirmed in June 2011 that amendments would be made to the text on line and in future paper editions.
Collections
As formerly the main Spanish institution for antiquaries, the Academy retains significant libraries and collections of antiquitiesAntiquities
Antiquities, nearly always used in the plural in this sense, is a term for objects from Antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures...
. The keeper of antiquities is the prehistorian Martín Almagro Gorbea
Martín Almagro Gorbea
Martín Almagro Gorbea is a Spanish prehistorian.Professor in prehistory, Ph.D. in history by the "Universidad Complutense de Madrid" with extraordinary prize....
.
Items held include:
- The Glosas EmilianensesGlosas EmilianensesThe Glosas Emilianenses are glosses written in a Latin codex. These marginalia are important as early examples of writing in Basque and a form of Spanish...
- The Missorium of Theodosius IMissorium of Theodosius IThe Missorium of Theodosius I is a large ceremonial silver dish preserved in the Real Academia de la Historia, in Madrid, Spain. It was probably made in Constantinople for the tenth anniversary in 388 of the reign of the Emperor Theodosius I, the last Emperor to rule both the Eastern and Western...
, a large ceremonial silver dish, probably made in ConstantinopleConstantinopleConstantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
for the tenth anniversary (decennaliaDecennaliaDecennalia were Ancient Roman festivals celebrated with games every ten years by the Roman emperors....
) in 388 of the reign of the Emperor Theodosius ITheodosius ITheodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...
, the last Emperor to rule both the Eastern and Western Empires. It is one of the best surviving examples of Late Antique Imperial imagery and one of finest examples of late Roman goldsmith workGoldsmithA goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...
.
Members
The Real Academia de la Historia is composed of 36 members, with Academic Correspondents covering all the provinces of Spain and the rest of the world, taking the actual number to 370 (2006). The members of the Academy are (after the number of chair):- Vicente Pérez Moreda
- Hugo O'Donnell, 7th Duke of Tetuan
- Francisco Rodríguez Adrados
- Luis Suárez FernándezLuis Suárez FernándezLuis Suárez Fernández is a Spanish historian, originally a medievalist, who has extended his studies to include modern and recent history...
- Guillermo Céspedes del Castillo
- José Ángel Sánchez Asiaín
- Josefina Gómez Mendoza
- Julio Valdeón Baruque
- Joaquín Vallvé Bermejo
- Luis Miguel Enciso Recio
- Martín Almagro GorbeaMartín Almagro GorbeaMartín Almagro Gorbea is a Spanish prehistorian.Professor in prehistory, Ph.D. in history by the "Universidad Complutense de Madrid" with extraordinary prize....
- Carlos Seco Serrano
- José María Blázquez Martínez
- Manuel Jesús González González
- Gonzalo Anes y Álvarez de Castrillón (Director de la Academia)
- Antonio Cañizares Llovera
- José Alcalá-Zamora y Queipo de Llano
- José Antonio Escudero López
- Luis Ribot
- Fernando Díaz Esteban
- Vacant
- Juan Vernet Ginés
- Mª del Carmen Iglesias Cano
- Vacant
- Miguel Ángel Ladero Quesada
- Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez
- Miguel Ángel Ochoa Brun
- Manuel Fernández Álvarez
- José Manuel Pita Andrade
- Carmen Sanz Ayán
- Faustino Menéndez Pidal de Navascués
- Carlos Martínez Shaw
- Eloy Benito Ruano
- Miguel Artola Gallego
- Vicente Palacio Atard
- Luis Agustín García Moreno
Academic Correspondents
Notable Academic Correspondents of the Academy include -- Sir Raymond CarrRaymond CarrSir Albert Raymond Maillard Carr FBA FRHS FRSL , known as Raymond Carr, is an English historian specializing in the history of Spain, Latin America, and Sweden who was Warden of St Antony's College, Oxford, from 1968 to 1987....