Jovellanos, Gaspar Melchor de

Jovellanos, Gaspar Melchor de

▪ Spanish statesman
born January 5, 1744, Gijón, Spain
died November 27, 1811, Veja

      Spanish statesman and author, one of the most important figures of the 18th-century Spanish Enlightenment.

      After studying law, Jovellanos was appointed to judicial posts at Sevilla (1767) and Madrid (1778). He gained fame for his literary and scholarly activities and for his personal integrity, but from 1790 to 1797, after unsuccessfully intervening on behalf of a disgraced friend, he was banished from Madrid to his native province of Asturias. There he founded an institution to promote Asturian reform and completed his most influential work, Informe de la sociedad economica de Madrid al real supremo consejo de Castilla en el expediente de ley agaria (1795; “Report on . . . Agarian Law”). In it he argued for Spanish agricultural reform on the basis of liberal economic principles.

      In 1797 Jovellanos served for eight months as minister of justice. His political views, especially his opposition to the Inquisition and advocacy of the emancipation of the Spanish national church from Rome, contributed to his fall and his imprisonment in Majorca in 1801. Released in 1808, he refused office under the French invaders and committed himself to the patriotic party. He then played an important role in the central junta, the national governmental group opposing the French, and played a part in convoking a Cortes, or national assembly. He believed in monarchical sovereignty but advocated a Cortes as a check on arbitrary regal power. After the dissolution of the central junta, he returned to Asturias but died fleeing the province in the face of the French advance.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos —     Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos     (Also written JOVE LLANOS).     Spanish statesman and man of letters, at Gijon, Asturias, 5 Jan., 1744, d. at Puerto de Vega on the borders of… …   Catholic encyclopedia

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  • Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos — Infobox Person name =Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos image size =250px caption =Jovellanos painted by Goya birth date =birth date|1744|1|5|df=y birth place = Gijón, Asturias, Spain death date =death date|1811|11|27|df=y death place = occupation… …   Wikipedia

  • Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos — (* 5. Januar 1744 in Gijón; † 27. November 1811 in Vega, Asturien) war ein spanischer Staatsmann, politischer Schriftsteller und Dichter der spanischen Aufklärung. Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos D …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos — (Gijón, Asturias, 5 de enero de 1744 Puerto de Vega, Asturias, 27 de noviembre de 1811). Escritor, jurista y político ilustrado español …   Enciclopedia Universal

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