Jerónimo Zurita y Castro

Jerónimo Zurita y de Castro ( born December 4, 1512 Zaragoza, † November 3, 1580 ) was a Spanish historian.

Zurita came from an Aragonese noble family and studied rhetoric, Latin and Greek at the University of Alcalá, as well as Italian, French, Portuguese and Catalan. In 1530 he became a magistrate in the service of the Spanish crown. 1537 he was appointed as secretary of the Inquisition, and in 1548 as the official chronicler of the king. On January 21 In 1571 he resigned from all mandates and dealt with the state of his " Annals of the Crown of Aragon " ( 1562-80 ), the last part he published on April 22 in 1580. Zurita was a tireless researcher in Italy collected documents both in Spain and in the Spanish possessions and helped to enrich the historic National Archive was founded in Simancas 1567. Zurita is considered the first Spanish historian.