Person
Lafuente, Modesto (1806-1866)Other forms
Rabanal de los Caballeros (Cervera de Pisuerga, Palencia, España) 1806 - Madrid (España) 1866
Spanish writer, historian, and politician.
In the beginning, he followed in the steps of his brother Manuel, who was a priest, but later on, he left the ecclesiastical career in between 1828 and 1829. As he was a liberal writer, and he published the newspaper Fray Gerundio, thanks to the enactment of freedom of the press (1837), which allowed him to become famous for his satires. He also published Teatro Social del Siglo XIX (1845). Later on, he started to investigate in archives and published his main work: Historia de España. He was the first historian in Spain, and member of the Royal Academy of History, and he is considered the highest representative of Spanish historiography in the 19th century.
He was married to María Concepción Mellado Salvador, sister of his editor Francisco de Paula Mellado, who was the owner of the newspaper La Estafeta. They were parents to three sons: Justo Pastor, Modesto José and Ramiro Bruno Lafuente Mellado. He was the first president of la Junta Facultativa de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos in 1858 and 1860.
Date of the event: 1820 - 1823
Gil Novales, Alberto. Diccionario biográfico de España (1808-1833) : de los orígenes del liberalismo a la reacción absolutista. Alberto Gil Novales. Madrid: Fundación Mapfre. 3 v. (3406 p.). 978-84-9844-236-6 (Vol. 3).