Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda

Timeline

1. c. 1490–1515Pozoblanco · EuropeBorn in Pozoblanco in the province of Córdoba, he first studied at the University of Alcalá, then went to the Spanish College in Bologna, Italy, where he trained under humanist scholars and studied Aristotle's philosophy, Greek, and Latin rhetoric deeply.
2. 1515–1536Rome · EuropeLong resident in Italy, he translated Aristotle's Politics, Nicomachean Ethics, and Physics into Latin and won the favor of Pope Clement VII. In 1529 he completed Democrates I, a dialogue on war and Christian ethics. His Aristotle translations were regarded as the most accurate Latin versions of the day and were widely cited across European scholarship.
3. 1536–1551Madrid · EuropeReturning to Spain in 1536, he was appointed court historian to Charles V, recording imperial conquests and political affairs. Around 1545–1547 he wrote Democrates Alter, arguing the justice of Spain's conquest of the Americas from Aristotle's theory of natural slavery, holding that the natives were inferior to Europeans in reason and civilization and that war against them was morally justified. Strong opposition from Las Casas and the School of Salamanca prevented the book's formal publication.
4. 1550–1573Pozoblanco · EuropeIn 1550–1551 he debated Las Casas at Valladolid; both sides presented their views and the reviewing committee issued no clear verdict. He continued as historian afterward, later becoming court historian to Philip II and writing chronicles of the Spanish Empire, dying in his hometown of Pozoblanco in November 1573.