Herrera Tordesillas, Antonio De

, a Spanish historian of great fame, was born in 1565. He became first secretary to Vespasian Gonzaga, viceroy of Naples, and afterwards grand historiographer of India, with a considerable pension under Philip II. He did not receive his money unearned, but published a general history of India from 14^2 to 1554, in four volumes, folio. A very short time before his death he received from Philip IV. the appointment of secretary of state. He died in 1625. His History of India is a very curious work, carried to a great detail, and chargeable with no defects, except too great a love for the marvellous, a degree of national vanity, and too great inflation in the style. There is an English translation by capt. John Stevens, published in 1725 and 1726, 6 vols. 8vo. He published also a general History of Spain, from 1554 to 1598, which has been less esteemed than the other work. It is in three volumes, folio. ²