Gregorio López de Tovar

Who was Gregorio López de Tovar?

Gregorio López de Tovar was a president of the Consejo de Indias, humanist, jurist and lawyer for the Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon.

López de Tovar's most important work is an annotated edition of the Siete Partidas published for the first time in 1555. The Siete Partidas is a legal code divided into seven parts compiled under the reign of Alfonso X the Wise, and which was followed for centuries in Spain, Latin America, and the United States. It was considered to be the authentic text of the medieval work of the Castilian king. The annotated copy contains López de Tovar's certification as of September 7, 1555 that it is a true copy of the earlier text; however, no one has established which manuscript or manuscripts were used for the edition.

López de Tovar served as mayor of the Puebla de Guadalupe, a municipality in the province of Cáceres. He married the niece of Conquistador Francisco Pizarro. He died in Guadalupe in 1560, and was buried in the city's Monasterio de Santa María. The front of his Italian Renaissance-style palace survives to today.