PARES | Spanish Archives

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Bonilla San Martín, Adolfo (1875-1926)Other forms

Dates of existence/Biographical dates:

Madrid (España) 1875-09-27 - Madrid (España) 1926-01-18

History:

Spanish professor, historian and Cervantes scholar. He was the son of Saturnino Bonilla y Sevilla, who was the Colonel of Chivalry, and Patrocinio San Martín Arrieta, niece of the composer Emilio Arrieta. He got married to María Luisa Terson de Paleville y Espinosa.

He started his academic training in 1879 with the elementary and secondary studies in places such as Madrid, Badajoz, Valladolid, Guadalajara, or Alicante, due to the constant moving of the family residence. When his father was destined to La Mancha he started to be fond of Cervantes’ work.

He started the baccalaureate in 1889 at the High School of San Isidro in Madrid and he studied two degrees, Law and Philosophy and Literature at the Universidad Central in Madrid. He was Doctor in Philosophy and Literature with the thesis: “Luis Vives y sus tres libros De anima et vita” [Luis Vives and his three books De anima et vita]. He received a scholarship by the Committee of Extension of Studies to study Latin manuscripts of Spanish philosophy in the libraries of London and Paris.

He started his academic career in 1897 with the chair of Natural Law at the University of Valladolid. He then got the chair of Political Economy, Statistics and General and Spanish Tax Authorities as well as the chair of Commercial Law in Spain and the Major Nations in Europe and America.

In 1901 he signed the chair of Literature Theory and Arts at the universities of Madrid, Barcelona, Granada and Salamanca. The following year he signed the chairs of Natural Law at the University of Oviedo and the History of Philosophy at the Universidad Central, where he also received the chair of Senior Psychology.

As a scholar in Cervantes, he carried out wonderful editions about the work of Miguel de Cervantes in collaboration with the North American Hispanist Rudolphy Schevill, professor at the University of Berkeley (California). To be more specific, in 1926 they published “Obras Completas by Miguel de Cervantes”. According to the experts, this piece of work became one of the best editions of Cervantes’ work because it was prepared with great rigour and it offered textual notes and documentation attached

Occupations

Profession (carried on by):

Catedráticos de Derecho

Places

Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de. Bonilla y San Martín, Adolfo. Schevill, Rudolph. Don Quixote de la Mancha. [Copia digital]. edición publicada por Rodolfo Schevill y Adolfo Bonilla San Martín. Madrid: [s. n.]. 4 v.. [http://bdh-rd.bne.es/viewer.vm?id=0000036124&page=1].

PARES: Caja AGA 32/16077 (legajo 7488 / expediente 1) : Expediente personal de Catedrático de Universidad de Adolfo Bonilla San Martín.

Diccionario de Catedráticos Españoles de Derecho (1847-1943)

CCBAE: Registro de autoridad de Adolfo Bonilla y San Martín

Villanueva Toledo, María Josefa. Archiveros, profesores y catedráticos cervantistas en la primera mitad del siglo XX : fuentes documentales en el Archivo General de la Administración. En: Villanueva Toledo, María Josefa. Mª José Villanueva Toledo. Guadalajara : Anabad Castilla-La Mancha . T. II, p. 575-605.