Person
Jovellanos, Gaspar Melchor de (1744-1811)Other forms
Gijón (Asturias, España) 1744-01-05 - 1811-11-27
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos y Jove Ramírez was born in Gijón, on the 5th of January, 1744. He was a Spanish writer, jurist, politician and erudite. He studied in Oviedo, Osma, Ávila and Alcalá, and although he had prepared himself to the ecclesiastic career, he chose to work for the State Administration. He arrived in Seville at the age of 24, where he would stay until 1778. During this stay he got to know Pablo de Olavide and read French authors such as Montesquieu, Voltaire or Rousseau, apart from studying English and Italian. From this period are, for instance, the tragedy “Pelayo” (1769) and the drama “El delincuente honrado” (1773).
He moved to Madrid in 1780 to work at the Consejo del Real de las Órdenes but, due to his defense of the agrarian reforms and the economic freedom, he was exiled to Gijón, where he wrote his “Informe sobre la Ley Agraria” (1795). He went back to Madrid in 1797, after being appointed minister of Grace and Justice. His reforms about the religious politic caused his imprisonment in Mallorca since 1801 until 1808. He passed away three years later while he was travelling to Gijón, escaping from the French.