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Royal Academy of History
Native name Spanish: Real Academia de la Historia
Location	Madrid, Spain
Coordinates	40°24′48″N 3°41′56″W / 40.413466°N 3.698992°W / 40.413466; -3.698992Coordinates: 40°24′48″N 3°41′56″W / 40.413466°N 3.698992°W / 40.413466; -3.698992
Architect	Juan de Villanueva
Spanish Property of Cultural Interest
Official name: Real Academia de la Historia
Type	Non-movable
Criteria	Monument
Designated	1945
Reference no.	RI-51-0001170
Location of Royal Academy of History in Spain

Real Academia de la Historia (English: Royal Academy of History) is a Spanish institution based in Madrid that studies history "ancient and modern, political, civil, ecclesiastical, military, scientific, of letters and arts, that is to say, the different branches of life, of civilisation, and of the culture of the Spanish people". The Academy was established by royal decree of Philip V of Spain on 18 April 1738.^[1]

Building

Since 1836 the Academy has occupied an 18th-century building designed by the neoclassical architect Juan de Villanueva. The building was originally occupied by the Hieronymites, a religious order. It become available as a result of legislation in the 1830s confiscating monastic properties (the ecclesiastical confiscations of Mendizábal).^[2]

Collections

As formerly the main Spanish institution for antiquaries, the Academy retains significant libraries and collections of antiquities, which cannot be seen by the public. The keeper of antiquities is the prehistorian Martín Almagro Gorbea.^[3]

Items held include:

• The Glosas Emilianenses
  


• The Códice de Roda
  


• The San Millán Beatus
  


• The Missorium of Theodosius I, a large ceremonial silver dish, probably made in Constantinople for the tenth anniversary (decennalia) in 388 of the reign of the Emperor Theodosius I, the last Emperor to rule both the Eastern and Western Empires. It is one of the best surviving examples of Late Antique Imperial imagery and one of finest examples of late Roman goldsmith work.

Criticism

Some Spanish historians have considered it an obsolete misogynist institution, that still considers history as a matter of kings and battles.^[4][5]
However, the image has changed since Carmen Iglesias, the first woman director, took over from Gonzalo Anes.^[6] By some authors RAH is considered "thoroughly undemocratic" institution "unrepresentative of Spanish historical profession" and a hotbed of historical revisionism.^[7]

Biographical work

Biographical dictionary

In 2011 the Academy published the first 20 volumes of a dictionary of national biography, the Diccionario Biográfico Español, to which some five thousand historians contributed. The publicly funded publication has been subject of controversy for failing to achieve the standards of objectivity associated with, for example, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The British Dictionary restricted itself to persons who were deceased, and the historian Henry Kamen has argued that it was a mistake for its Spanish equivalent to include living figures among entries.^[8] However, while there was criticism of entries for some living people (such as the politician Esperanza Aguirre), the main allegations of bias concern articles relating to Francoist Spain. A notable example was the entry on Francisco Franco, written by Luis Suárez Fernández, in which Franco is defined as an autocratic head of state rather than a dictator.^[4][9] In contrast, the administration of the democratically elected President Negrín is described as dictatorial.^[10]

The dictionary sparked an outcry. Most objections came from voices on the left such as the party United Left and the newspaper Público.^[10] For his part, Green party senator Joan Saura asked for publication of the dictionary to be stopped and the offending volumes withdrawn.^[11] There was also a call for corrections from the Ministry of Education. The Academy announced in June 2011 that amendments would be made to the text on line and in future paper editions.^[12] In 2012, when the Minister of Education, Culture and Sport, made a statement on the subject of the dictionary, it was still not clear whether the Academy was willing to describe Franco as a dictator.^[13] However, by 2015 with Carmen Iglesias as director, the situation had changed.^[14] In 2018 a ceremony was held at El Pardo to launch the online edition, Diccionario Biografico Electronico.^[15] Press reports noted that Franco's status as a dictator was confirmed.^[16]

Metro collaboration

In 2015 the Academy entered into an initiative in collaboration with Metro de Madrid to provide information about people who have given their names to metro stations.^[17]

Members

Per article 6 of its statutes, the Real Academia de la Historia is composed of a maximum of 36 "Numbered Academics" who must be Spanish citizens. There are also Academics of Honor and Academic Correspondents, who may be of any nationality.^[18] The Director since 2014 has been Carmen Iglesias.^[19]

The Numbered Academics are (after the number of chair):^[20]

Royal approval of the first statute of the Real Academia de la Historia 17 June 1738

1. Vicente Pérez Moreda


2. Hugo O'Donnell y Duque de Estrada


3. Francisco Rodríguez Adrados


4. Luis Suárez Fernández


5. Feliciano Barrios Pintado


6. Pedro Tedde de Lorca


7. Josefina Gómez Mendoza


8. José Remesal Rodríguez


9. María del Pilar León-Castro Alonso


10. Vacant


11. Martín Almagro Gorbea


12. Carlos Seco Serrano


13. Jaime Salazar y Acha


14. Francisco Javier Puerto Sarmiento


15. Juan Pablo Fusi Aizpurúa


16. Antonio Cañizares Llovera


17. Vacant


18. José Antonio Escudero López


19. Luis Antonio Ribot García


20. Fernando Díaz Esteban


21. José Ángel Sesma Muñoz


22. Enriqueta Vila Vilar


23. María del Carmen Iglesias Cano


24. Fernando Marías Franco


25. Miguel Ángel Ladero Quesada


26. Serafín Fanjul García


27. Miguel Ángel Ochoa Brun


28. Luis Alberto de Cuenca y Prado


29. José Luis Díez García


30. Carmen Sanz Ayán


31. Faustino Menéndez Pidal de Navascués


32. Carlos Martínez Shaw


33. María Jesús Viguera Molins


34. Miguel Artola Gallego


35. Xavier Gil Puyol


36. Luis Agustín García Moreno

Academic correspondents

Notable Academic Correspondents of the Academy include:

• Sir Raymond Carr (1919–2015)

References

External links

Media related to Real Academia de la Historia at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website