Guevara, Fray Antonio de (1480–1545)

Spanish writer and historian. His best-known book is Libro áureo de Marco Aurelio/Golden Book of Marcus Aurelius (1528). First published anonymously and extremely popular in Spain and elsewhere (it was translated into English in 1532 by Lord Berners), it is in the form of a series of letters addressed to the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius on the virtues of an ideal ruler.

It was later included in an enlarged, moralizing ‘mirror for princes’ (a book of advice for rulers) entitled Reloj de príncipes (1539), which was translated as The Diall of Princes by Thomas North in 1557. Guevara's rhetorical excesses and his ability to invent facts when it suited him were criticized even in his own day.

Guevara, who was born in Treceño near Santander, was from a prominent family and grew up at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, for a time being page to their son Don Juan (died 1497). Guevara became a Franciscan friar and left the court when Queen Isabella died in 1504, returning to serve as preacher and chronicler under Emperor Charles V. He became bishop of Guadix and finally of Mondoñedo in 1537.

Guevara was steeped in classical learning and particularly influenced by Cicero. His own style was extravagantly ornate, and his view of his material was medieval: he missed no opportunity to include anecdotes, digressions, and curious lore, often passing off fanciful inventions as truths. His Epístolas familiares (1539–41) consist of 112 highly rhetorical essays, mainly in the form of letters to various eminent people. His other works include Decada de los Césares (1539), which is an account of the Roman emperors. He also wrote a handbook for courtiers, and a panegyric on rural life.